So! We did it! Corey took a few of the kids over to his parent's house after dropping Melodie off at orchestra this morning (thanks W&J!) and then after that Corey brought her home and he worked on the ice rink for a few hours while I tried to get most things ready without giving away the surprise to the kids home helping me (Ethan and Joseph), the foundational stuff like the table and food, and then after they all left, Melodie and I got to work with the "fancy it up" finishing touches. Mel and I kept giggling to ourselves over how much fun we were having "making a party" - like with making our little vegetable snowmen:
And we were so impressed with how the dessert buffet table turned out:
At 3:15 when I thought I could see the end in sight, I called Corey with instructions: "Be home at 4:00. Once home, have everyone come inside through the front door (not the garage). Everyone upstairs and get dressed in their party clothes. Then the party will begin. ...And call me when you're on your way down the street." So they called and we all went upstairs to get dressed. I put my hair up overly fancy and wore some "bling". I put bright red lipstick on Abi and Lily and gave them some of my jewelry to wear. Then everyone was ready for the big reveal! I think I could (and will) blog about all the details this next week, but here's a preview:
"Happy January!!" "Happy New Year!" "Happy Working on Improving Yourself Party!!!"
One of the funnest things about our party was that there was no real reason to even do it. :) But I couldn't fall back asleep this morning thinking of all I still wanted to do to get ready. I said a prayer and asked for help that it would go well and that Natalie would sleep or play nicely during the day so we could finish.
And she was above and beyond an angel the whole day, it was a little miracle.
So we didn't do all of what we had planned, but what we did was a hit. Not bad for our first try!!!
Dinner was simple and got that ready in a half hour, so most of the day was spent decorating. There were lots of "
cracks" in it, so it wasn't perfect, but it was very good. Thank you Lord. We're already excited for our next party in February!
We all toasted the New Year with our mango juice ~ Cheers! Here's to a great 2014! More later!! :)
So fun Tiff! What a great idea. I bet the kids were so excited. Another fun way to spice up the mundane that we've done is each month or whenever you feel like it celebrate random American holidays like national popcorn day or ice cream day or No Housework Day. Here's a website with a bunch of holidays that don't take much prep http://library.thinkquest.org/2886/
ReplyDelete