Parties, Parties, Parties

It seems like it has been FOREVER since I updated, and it also seems like I have been busy beyond myself, and been doing a lot of partying. Last Tuesday I had a scrap book party at my house. The next day was my first Modbe party since the new line came out. It went SO well. It was at my next door neighbor Candace's house. You should have seen me rolling my huge racks of clothing up the street. Then I put the rest in my car, put it in reverse, backed up to her sidewalk, unloaded, and then drove back into my garage! It was a huge success of a party!-Thanks Candace.
Thursday I had a catch up day to prepare for the next few days. Friday was a big day for Hallie!! I took birthday treats to her class-donuts and chocolate milk. Little kids are so funny. They were saying things like, "I don't like donuts" and "I am allergic to milk"....they don't know how to be grateful for a treat....throw the dang donut away and dump your milk out for all I care...lol. Anyways, they all said thank you...VERY loudly, and I had Kayler with me and he replied back very loudly, "Hey, be quiet!!!"
After she got out of school, we had a mad dash to piano lessons, and then we had to prepare for the storm of 16-yes I said 16 little 7 and 8 year olds to hit our house. You know you usually have a party and plan on a few not showing up….well NO, they ALL came. It was wild.
The party agenda went as follows: It was a luau theme, so when they arrived they made a cute Hawaiian necklace while they waited for all the little girls to come. Then they ate pizza and had little drinks with the little umbrellas in them. Then we opened gifts, all 16 of them. She got so many cute things, and was SO happy and funny. While we were opening gifts, G.J. had cupcakes and we had pre-scooped ice cream into paper cupcake wrapper things so that he just got them out of the freezer, popped them onto the plate and wa-lah....cake and ice cream in a jiffy!!!
After that, I had them all get changed into their swimming suits. (Most of them had them under their clothes) They drew a number from a cup and that solved the fight of who rode with who to our next destination, the Rec. Center. Me, G.J., and my cousin Nancy drove. We arrived, and I was expecting to have to pay $3.50 for all of them to get in, but 9 of them had a yearly pass, so I only had to pay $24.50 for all 16 of them to get in.
I was really nervous about keeping track of 16 little girls. Thank goodness for all the life guards. G.J. stayed at one end of the pool, and me at the other to keep an eye out for trouble. They swam very happily for 1 hour, and then I rounded them all up, we gathered at the entrance where their parents were waiting, and we were done!!! Did I mention that all of this took place from 5-7 p.m.? After all was said and done, even though it was mass chaos, things went very smoothly, they all had SO much fun, and it made Hallie so happy, and that is what matters the most.
Moving on to Saturday. I had a joint open house with my friend Whitney who sells At Home America home decor, which is SO cute. We invited close to 150 people. Well....guess what, we sat alone for the first hour. Then people slowly trickled in, and then we had quite a few near the end. I got a lot of orders for Modbe, and Whitney got several for her stuff, so even though a lot of people didn't come, it was a fun way to spend a few hours on a Saturday!
After that, I pretty much crashed, I was so tired from all the events of the week, and I knew I still had one party left, which was today-Hallie's real birthday, Sept. 28th. Gavin and Kayler had runny noses, and G.J. wasn't feeling well, so Hallie and I got to go to church all alone. It was so nice to get to listen for once, and I really enjoyed all my meetings. When we got home, I felt a little sorry for Hallie. Having a birthday on Sunday is kind of hard. You can't go too many places or spend money, so we took a trip to the park. Nothing makes her happier than swinging and doing the monkey bars.
We arrived home, ate dinner, and prepared for yet again another party. This time the guests were: Both of my sets of Grandparents, My parents, My In-Laws, Both of my brothers and their wives, and my niece Rachael and brand new nephew Kolby. Hallie got spoiled absolutely rotten. She got clothes, LOTS of money-I might need a loan from her!-and the sweetest new bike that I have EVER seen. She wanted to ride it so bad, but it was dark, so here are some pictures:









This is my brother Kris giving Kayler a ride on my Grandma's motorized scooter/wheelchair thing...They both thought it was great!
So, I survived, it all went great, and I am so greatful for that. Now, I have 2 weeks of rest until the big baptism day, which is Oct. 11th...Until then...I hope you all have great days, and me too.