You're going to have to excuse me if this post rambles incoherently. We're nearing the end of the Great Twelfth Birthday Weekend and I'm a bit ... punchy.
Friday night was Kaitlin's "Family Birthday Dinner Party." She chose Red Lobster, which was quite fine with her lobster and shrimp-loving mother, once I got over the flash-panic thought of paying the bill. And yes, that drool-worthy picture above was my selection - the Seaside Shrimp Trio. As for the cost - all the grandparents were agreeable to going Dutch, and some anonymous donors - OK, it was my Dad and his wife Laura - were fantastically generous to slip Kirk and I a gift card to help pay for our part. Then they gave us TWO more to enjoy another night so we can (gasp) have a date night sometime in the future.
I suck at keeping secrets, huh?
I figured it was OK since I was being slobberingly grateful. Right? (I don't care if SpellCheck doesn't think slobberingly is a word - it is appropriate and I'm not changing it.)
Sing it with me ... Happy Happy Joy Joy. (You'll get that joke if you know Ren & Stimpy)
Kirk and I haven't had a date night in such a long time, (our anniversary in October?) and have been so supremely and suffocatingly stressed and depressed (hey, that rhymes) that if we didn't still have the rest of the Birthday Weekend to deal with I'd have grabbed Kirk's hand and bolted out of the joint. The grandparents all looooove the kidlets, so the only problem might have been who gets them first. I should add that our kids are the only grandkids - on both sides - so you can imagine how spoiled and adored they are.
Saturday morning we got up and began the Frantic Pre-Slumber Party Cleaning. Since we were turning the first floor over to the girls, we only had to clean the living room, kitchen, family room and bathroom. ONLY, ha! Oh, and I mustn't forget the hallway to the garage where the litter box is - you know, the one used by the blind, deaf, senile cat? Without sharing too many revolting details, let's just say she TRIES to use the litter box - it's a wonder she can find it. The problem is that more times than not she doesn't realize that although she is technically IN the litter box, her ass is hanging over the side. You can imagine the results. Ick.
I am happy to report that after many hours of back-breaking work (no, I didn't trip and I didn't throw my back out) the first floor of my house looks FREAKING awesome. It hadn't looked that good in such a long time I had to call my friend, neighbor and fellow blogger Anne to come over and look at it. I swear - she's seen my house at it's absolute worst. (Most every day of the week.) She'd never seen it so clean. Hell, she'd never seen it clean, period.
We had just finished cleaning when the doorbell rang, announcing the first arrival for the Slumber Party Without The Slumber. (That's what Katie dubbed it.)
Friday night was Kaitlin's "Family Birthday Dinner Party." She chose Red Lobster, which was quite fine with her lobster and shrimp-loving mother, once I got over the flash-panic thought of paying the bill. And yes, that drool-worthy picture above was my selection - the Seaside Shrimp Trio. As for the cost - all the grandparents were agreeable to going Dutch, and some anonymous donors - OK, it was my Dad and his wife Laura - were fantastically generous to slip Kirk and I a gift card to help pay for our part. Then they gave us TWO more to enjoy another night so we can (gasp) have a date night sometime in the future.
I suck at keeping secrets, huh?
I figured it was OK since I was being slobberingly grateful. Right? (I don't care if SpellCheck doesn't think slobberingly is a word - it is appropriate and I'm not changing it.)
Sing it with me ... Happy Happy Joy Joy. (You'll get that joke if you know Ren & Stimpy)
Kirk and I haven't had a date night in such a long time, (our anniversary in October?) and have been so supremely and suffocatingly stressed and depressed (hey, that rhymes) that if we didn't still have the rest of the Birthday Weekend to deal with I'd have grabbed Kirk's hand and bolted out of the joint. The grandparents all looooove the kidlets, so the only problem might have been who gets them first. I should add that our kids are the only grandkids - on both sides - so you can imagine how spoiled and adored they are.
Saturday morning we got up and began the Frantic Pre-Slumber Party Cleaning. Since we were turning the first floor over to the girls, we only had to clean the living room, kitchen, family room and bathroom. ONLY, ha! Oh, and I mustn't forget the hallway to the garage where the litter box is - you know, the one used by the blind, deaf, senile cat? Without sharing too many revolting details, let's just say she TRIES to use the litter box - it's a wonder she can find it. The problem is that more times than not she doesn't realize that although she is technically IN the litter box, her ass is hanging over the side. You can imagine the results. Ick.
I am happy to report that after many hours of back-breaking work (no, I didn't trip and I didn't throw my back out) the first floor of my house looks FREAKING awesome. It hadn't looked that good in such a long time I had to call my friend, neighbor and fellow blogger Anne to come over and look at it. I swear - she's seen my house at it's absolute worst. (Most every day of the week.) She'd never seen it so clean. Hell, she'd never seen it clean, period.
We had just finished cleaning when the doorbell rang, announcing the first arrival for the Slumber Party Without The Slumber. (That's what Katie dubbed it.)
I, of course, smelled like a noxious blend of 409, Pine-Sol, Comet, dust, sweat and cat pee. You can imagine how attractive I looked. I told Kirk (who had already showered and dressed) that I wasn't fit for company yet ... actually, I think I yelled that over my shoulder as I ran upstairs ... and let him greet the girls.
We had 4 girls attending (not including Katie) and only two could spend the night. A much smaller group than the original NINE Katie wanted to invite. ("Good God, No!!" was my immediate reply to that request.) They're all really good girls, but seriously, no way !!
They played dress-up (complete with my large box of costume jewelry they dip into every year) put make-up on (which de-evolved into looking like ladies of the night wearing Indian warpaint - I am soooo not exaggerating) and then running out onto the porch to scream at the slightly-older boys across the street. The boys that were conveniently playing basketball and hanging out across the street from a girls slumber party. Hmmmmm.
It's good to know teenage boys are not much more sly than they were twenty-five years ago.
I am pleased to report that the extent of their interaction was calling out each other's names (they all go to school together, some of them since elementary school) and then yelling "Shut UP" at the top of their lungs. The girls managed to reach a note that made the neighborhood dogs bark. (A week ago I warned the neighbors of the impending party and advised them not to sleep with open windows on Saturday night, or there would be no sleep.)
The five girls then spent quite a while playing the Playstation SingStar (kind of karaoke) that Katie got from us. Three of the girls are in choir, one's in band and one's in theater - and they all have pretty impressive voices for twelve and thirteen year olds. I'm a bit biased, I know. And jealous, because I can't carry a tune in a bucket, as they say. Two of the girls had to leave a little after 10, and the remaining three went right back to singing.
Of course, mass quantities of pizza, soda, Hot Cheetos, regular Cheetos, popcorn, cake and ice cream were consumed. And Oreo shakes were made at midnight - I know this because I had to find the blender parts for them, and make them promise not to cut off any fingers. This is a vast improvement over last year, when the group decided to have a fight with silly string, whipped cream (in cans) and food coloring. I kid you not. And yes, I hid the food coloring this year.
This morning, they got a massive breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage patties, sliced watermelon and cantaloupe, milk and orange juice. They ate while watching yet another scary movie, and then went right back to SingStar.
I think it was a successful party, and all the girls had fun. The parents will be here to pick them up in the next hour or so. Kirk and I are then going to try to squeeze in a nap before Payton gets home from the Grandparents' house, where he "vacations" when Sissy has a slumber party. Kirk's Aunt Vicky is visiting from Indiana, so we were lucky to have her join us at the Family Dinner Party, and Payton gets another grown-up to entertain at his sleepover. Let me tell you, that boy is entertaining. You've heard tidbits here and there before - but just wait until his birthday in July. That will give me enough post-fodder for weeks.
We had 4 girls attending (not including Katie) and only two could spend the night. A much smaller group than the original NINE Katie wanted to invite. ("Good God, No!!" was my immediate reply to that request.) They're all really good girls, but seriously, no way !!
They played dress-up (complete with my large box of costume jewelry they dip into every year) put make-up on (which de-evolved into looking like ladies of the night wearing Indian warpaint - I am soooo not exaggerating) and then running out onto the porch to scream at the slightly-older boys across the street. The boys that were conveniently playing basketball and hanging out across the street from a girls slumber party. Hmmmmm.
It's good to know teenage boys are not much more sly than they were twenty-five years ago.
I am pleased to report that the extent of their interaction was calling out each other's names (they all go to school together, some of them since elementary school) and then yelling "Shut UP" at the top of their lungs. The girls managed to reach a note that made the neighborhood dogs bark. (A week ago I warned the neighbors of the impending party and advised them not to sleep with open windows on Saturday night, or there would be no sleep.)
The five girls then spent quite a while playing the Playstation SingStar (kind of karaoke) that Katie got from us. Three of the girls are in choir, one's in band and one's in theater - and they all have pretty impressive voices for twelve and thirteen year olds. I'm a bit biased, I know. And jealous, because I can't carry a tune in a bucket, as they say. Two of the girls had to leave a little after 10, and the remaining three went right back to singing.
Of course, mass quantities of pizza, soda, Hot Cheetos, regular Cheetos, popcorn, cake and ice cream were consumed. And Oreo shakes were made at midnight - I know this because I had to find the blender parts for them, and make them promise not to cut off any fingers. This is a vast improvement over last year, when the group decided to have a fight with silly string, whipped cream (in cans) and food coloring. I kid you not. And yes, I hid the food coloring this year.
This morning, they got a massive breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage patties, sliced watermelon and cantaloupe, milk and orange juice. They ate while watching yet another scary movie, and then went right back to SingStar.
I think it was a successful party, and all the girls had fun. The parents will be here to pick them up in the next hour or so. Kirk and I are then going to try to squeeze in a nap before Payton gets home from the Grandparents' house, where he "vacations" when Sissy has a slumber party. Kirk's Aunt Vicky is visiting from Indiana, so we were lucky to have her join us at the Family Dinner Party, and Payton gets another grown-up to entertain at his sleepover. Let me tell you, that boy is entertaining. You've heard tidbits here and there before - but just wait until his birthday in July. That will give me enough post-fodder for weeks.
I'm going to leave you with the Birthday Serenade. Cha-Cha-Cha !!
3 comments:
Sounds like you throw a mean slumber party. I've got two girls, but I've got 9 and a half years before the oldest turns 12... yeah, I think I can manage to clean the house before then! Love your blog:)
Wow! Can I come to the next slumber party? That sounded like a blast...
Robin and Heather -
I think we've gotten a lot of practice. She's had a slumber party almost every year since she was seven (or was it eight?)
And I'm seriously thinking about having a Big Girl's Slumber Party. We "grownups" deserve some fun too!
I'll pick you up at the airport.
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