Back in The Saddle Again

Last night we hosted had a party of 9 for our new 9 year-old, Kelsey D.  Without a doubt, the fiesta went off without a hitch.  Despite my worries that we would run out of food (best remember to freeze the extra bacon), we had more than enough everything, to include fantastic home-made cupcakes courtesy of Dr. Crafty Salty Dog and the Other Jen (Super Cake Lady).  

I was a bit worried when I had trouble waking up Saturday morning, as we still had much to do.  I also realized that since I was not stressed about heading to a treatment appointment, I could actually sleep.  Therefore, Peter and Nick 'cleaned' while I caught a few extra winks.  They took care of the mid-level, I finished up the basement and by early afternoon I was running grocery and decoration errands.  

We decorated with a few balloons and paper streamers to cheer up the dining room.  The kitchen was the crafting and cooking area, and thus a constant hub of activity.  We began cooking at 5 p.m. to ensure the girls could eat by 6:30 or so and by 5:58, the first girl had arrived.  Nicholas and Peter left for their guys night out and the girls trickled, stowed their sleeping bags in the basement and headed up to congregate and play in Kelsey's room. 

Once most of them arrived, we pulled out the craft of "decorate your own wooden door hanger." They loved this project and finished in time to enjoy chocolate chip and plain pancakes, homemade potatoes and bacon (cooked in the oven…so much easier and less mess!).  We followed up dinner with the A-Mazing cupcakes and even Nick joined in the fun, as GNO ended quite early (we suspect he knew cupcakes were on the agenda and he couldn't miss them…).

The last event of the night was popcorn and a movie.  I caved on the popcorn and did microwave for the ease and the lack of the need for firefighters since I tend to scorch it.  I generally let Cait make it, but she was busy enjoying the party, too.  Everyone (including Nicholas), headed to the basement, arranged their pillows and sleeping bags and settled in for a viewing of Tangled.

An hour and twenty minutes later, the moms and dads arrived to pick up tired, but happy kids.  Despite my worries that A.  no one would like my cooking B.  the kids would not enjoy for some (any) reason, it all went extremely well.  Not overdoing it and giving them plenty of free time just to play and chat worked well as always and keeping things simple worked well for me.

As usual, I stressed too much…not because the kids wouldn't be fine, but due to me feeling like I just wasn't up to it.  I didn't want to disappoint Kelsey, and needed to prove to myself that we could pull off a simple, fun party at home with the help of a few friends.  I definitely can't say I did the lion's share (we all know who did the majority of the work, from cupcakes to favors), but was so glad we did something at home.  I finally felt like we were opening up our house and giving back a bit to other parents who had helped us over the past few months.  It's not the huge party we'd like to throw (might be in the works for a while), but it's a start.