It's done. My son's graduation party is over and my daughter has been confirmed. If my stupid camera dock wouldn't be acting so flakey today, I could post a few pictures...
Anway - a verbal recap...
Friday - worked on various items around the house getting ready. As soon as Maddy got home, I sic'ed her on taping all Ryan's photos to the 3 big poster boards that I was going to set up in the livingroom with the mounds of scrapbooks that he's in. She could only get to 2 of them and pooped out. Oh well, maybe 3 was a little overkill. I did some massive grocery shopping in the morning so Robb could get the potato salad and beans done in the afternoon. At the checkout at Sams Club, I noticed that I only had 2 buckets of ice cream on the bottom of my shopping cart... I had put 3... Somewhere in Sam's a bucket of ice cream is melting... My guess is the produce isle.
I was on my feet all day. Except when I got a hair cut that night. What was I thinking??? I always set up a hair cut 5-6 weeks in advance because we love our stylist and she's hard to schedule at a last minute. So we're on a schedule. But the night before a big shindig? Oh well. It did give me an opportunity to sit for 45 minutes and get pampered. Then off to the school carnival and send Meri to a friends for the night.
Saturday - I finished the cleaning and yard work, then ran to Sams for the pork loins and other items that we couldn't live without for the party. I almost left without the buns... oops! Turned around for that. Two of my sisters showed up around noon, so I set them to work wrapping the tables on the deck for autographs and putting the pad on the trampoline. We set up the 1919 rootbeer keg on the deck along with a barrel full of other types of pop. Set up a narrow table in the kitchen for a buffet style serving and let 'er rip. The party started at 4pm and suddenly it was 8. Wow - how did that happen?
So many people came and I was pleasantly surprised on a few that I certainly didn't expect. Meri stood guard in the livingroom and pointed people she knew to certain pages of the scrapbooks that featured Ryan proudly showing off something in the toilet as a toddler... Or photos of him (at the age of 2) kissing a girl... acting goofy or just showing off his baby pictures.
Maddy did a fabulous job of mingling and keeping guests entertained in the same room.
I felt spread a little thin and didn't get to talk to everyone as much as I'd've liked... oh well. that happens when you've got that many to entertain. I think people understood.
Ryan sat on the front porch and strummed his guitar, seranading everyone that came to the door. He'd visit with them before sending them inside for some food. My niece and her husband hung out out there with him. The husband was a music major and helped Ryan by taking turns on the guitar. He'd make up quirky little songs like a old time bard. "It's Ryan's graduation, something something rhymey, It sure is sunny, hope your card is funny..." Also several of Ryan's groupies hung out out there and held lighters... Ok - they didn't have lighters, and kind of looked at me funny when I suggested it.
After the party, my sister and Mom hit the kitchen hard. I took care of putting food away and they washed up counters, washed dishes and helped garner child workers to fold up tables and clear off the decks. Melanie - Thank you!!! You were a God-send.
We had finally gotten everyone settled in and fell asleep within moments of hitting the bed. Our feet were screaming, as we'd been on them for 2 days straight. We had 14 guests stay over night because Maddy's confirmation was the next day.
Sunday - We got up early, but Robb told me to stay in bed. A little bit later, Maddy brought me up breakfast in bed for Mother's Day. cool! Then Robb made breakfast for all the mothers in the house (5 in all) and had their kids wake them up to eat it in bed.
Then we loaded up all the leftovers into the cars for the meal after church. The dear ladies of my church took care of all the sides, setup and cleaning, but we brought paper goods, meat and buns and tons of relatives.
I stopped at a florists and bought roses for all the mother's in my group and Meri bought a corsage for Maddy's big day. We also stopped for a bunch of Panera bagel packs because we have fellowship time before Sunday school and no one can turn down a bagel...
At church, Maddy did a fabulous job reciting her many, many Bible verses and showed great knowledge in what she'd learned. We're very proud of her.
The ladies at church did all the meal work, so I was able to visit with relatives and friends. It was a great time... exhausting, but good.
I feel so bad! My sister asked me to keep an eye on her crawlie baby and I got distracted for a moment. When I looked back, the baby was gone... Meri and I started looking under tables, coat room and out the open front door. She was nowhere to be seen. Then we realized she was in the bathroom with her mom. hmmm... I wasn't very trustworthy, was I??? Apparently my sister had gone out to her car for something and on the way back in the front door, came across her child crawling out to find her... She scooped her up and took her to the bathroom with her. I'm so sorry!!! But that little girl is definitely going to be in the Olympics someday.
We got home around 3pm and I crashed on the couch. I slept from 3 until 5. We were supposed to pick the dogs up at the kennel at 4:30, but obviously missed our window of opportunity. They'll stay there til Monday. A few of us attended another graduation party that evening and enjoyed looking thru the photos of that graduate.
Then came back home and lounged...
Oh - what a weekend! We didn't do much for Mother's Day itself outside of giving flowers to the mothers, but oh well. I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!
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