Party Time

So, I don't have my Christmas photos uploaded (surprise surprise), but I hope everyone's holidays were fantastic.  We decided that we were such ridiculous slackers and so terribly out of touch with our friends that we needed to have them all over at once.  Ok, this was decided awhile ago, but it HAPPENED recently.  And, thank goodness.  I don't know how we get so wrapped up in the standard, daily grind of work, play, clean, sleep, that "people" just don't happen.

When I started inviting people, I anticipated lots of "No's" because of the holiday season, so went wild.  And I continue to think of people I missed and feel terrible!  HOWEVER, once I hit 7 toddlers (plus their parents and real-life adults that didn't add to the kid craziness) I started to freak out.  Not only 7 toddlers, but FIVE of them were between 10 months and 20 months.  3 18's.  WOAH.  And, let me tell you, there could have been 5 more if everyone came!  Must...consider...the toddler ratio to protect my sanity in the future.

As I got to planning, all thoughts of "fancy" went out the window.  Paper products, comfort food, and child-proofing were the plan.  Ok, child-proofing SHOULD have been the plan, but it wasn't.  I left my tree up, the glassware in an accessible cabinet, and didn't gate all the stairways.  For the most part, this went fine, though it worried one mom that wasn't as fancy-free with letting her kid have access to stairs.  Yes, mine rolled down them once last week, why do you ask?  (He was fine, and it's the only time it's happened.)

Robby and I baked cookies pretty much every night the week before, though I took one day off to have a 24-hour stomach bug.  I'm sure my guests appreciate that I didn't bake them some germs.  He learned the wonders of cookie dough, though it's not really my thing.  I know!  Blasphemy!  I really don't have that much of a sweet tooth, but Robby's got his father's.  While making Chocolate crinkles, he snagged some dough.  And then...woah...all bets were off.  He was lunging for that bowl.

The ultimate menu:
Mac n cheese (crock pot)
Meatballs (crock pot)
Pigs in blankets
Spinach dip
Pizza pinwheels
Chocolate crinkles
Peanut butter blossoms
Chewy ginger cookies
Fudge
Way too much to drink

And lots contributed by other people.

You should now be as shocked as me that there were virtually no leftovers.  How dare everyone!  My meal plan included a night of raiding the fridge!  ;)  Really, I'm glad that I didn't have more junk left in my house!  I'm sure I would have eaten it all.

Honestly?  It couldn't have gone better.  The kids were all largely well behaved, with only a couple scuffles over their preferred chair.  It was so great to get to see everyone, even if the girls' parents ruined the lie I've been telling Chris of, "It's just the mama's boy/daddy's girl phenomenon.  A girl would choose you."  Apparently, all the toddlers prefer mom, except one BOY prefers dad.  Who knows.  It'll change.

So, there's a quick glipse into our holidays.  Below, since I failed to take pictures, I swung the video camera around when I caught Robby and Kaden being cute.

The Lion's 1st Birthday Party

No, Robby's not 1 yet.  I will deny that fact until Wednesday, when I can't anymore.  But...we did have his party.  Lil man was really well behaved, and seemed to have a great time!

I'm disappointed that my practice cakes all seemed to turn out better than my "real" cakes.  Don't get me wrong, they TASTE fantastic.  I could have done better on the decorations, though.  That's ok.  Robby didn't care to eat too much of it anyway.

The cakes...not surprisingly were a bit of an obsession for me.  I did multiple rounds of test cakes figuring out what the best flavors were, and a couple rounds working on decorations.  I still need to practice decorating, but it's really hard to do without putting a lot of extra weight on your family's waistline!  I did get frustrated with my mom as she kept suggesting that I BUY cupcakes.  Which, any of you that know me know that would never happen.  I may have less time these days, but no.  I would not do that.  Uh uh.  So...I may have only slept 5 hours a night for a few nights in a row, but at least they were mine.  

Robby REALLY loves balloons.  Which is adorable, cheap entertainment, and all of that, but really can be worrisome.  Especially when he starts chewing on the "weight" which is a balloon filled with sand.  Consequently, they've already been disposed of.  I suppose it was fun while it lasted.  

Secondary obsession of mine.  I wanted the cute banners you see everywhere.  But I did not want to pay the exorbitant rates you see.  Of course, I thought, "I can make those, no problem."  The issue is I do not have a cricut or any similar device.  That is ALL done by hand.  And the characters I free-handed and cut out of paper.  One friend said, "I hope you at least bought the circles."  Um...nope.  Traced my tupperware.

Food.  Pretty self-explanitory.  It wasn't fancy.  Grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, salad, pasta salad, fruit salad, chips.  Think that's it.  All stuff Robby likes.

As always, Jen took on a lot of the baby-wrangling.  She's a natural.  Even if she usually teaches kids that are a bit older (8th grade).

And, of course my mother-in-law got roped into playing with all the outside toys.  He's obsessed already, but not quite steady enough to do it on his own.

This is about as much as he ended up eating.  I was a little surprised he wasn't more into it.  He LOVES sweet things (mostly fruit), but perhaps this took it a bit farther than he wanted.  Oh well.  

The party was largely lacking in kids.  There were only 4 there including Robby.  Kaden is only 2 weeks younger than Robby, Maddie's 3, and not pictured is Maddie's little brother, Noah who's only 3 months.  They still had a good time.  I hope!  Maddie was very sure she wanted to help with Robby.  It was very cute.

So, there it is.  My little man is all grown up.  Oh, ok, not quite.  But it's hard to believe it's moved so fast!