As you may have guessed I survived the craziness of this past weekend.  There is still much to be done and plenty of looming deadlines between now and the 31st, but the major events and stress are behind me (for now!).

Saturday was a surprise birthday party for my dad (very surprising indeed considering his birthday is not  until December).  I haven’t yet gotten back the pictures from that eventful night but months of planning culminated in a successful party all around.  More on that in a separate post, once I have the graphic evidence in place!

Sunday we threw a block party (by “we” I mean the neighborhood).  There were only 3 weeks of planning, budgeting and prep for said party, making it an impressive feat to have been pulled off, and thanks are due all around to those whose hard work made it possible.  I am afraid I was not as much help as I would have liked, between the usual solo parenting and helping my mother stress out about the surprise party.

Sunday was cold but beautiful, we had plenty of food and games and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves well into the evening.  We have the best neighbors.

Our lovely location, pre – party.

Set – up began around 11 am, but the kids couldn’t wait until the slide was ready.

Wanted!!!  This year our theme was “Rodeo”.

Oona wouldn’t keep her poncho or hat on, despite the cold.

The kids loved the slide…..in fact they almost tipped it over they were having too much so much fun!

The mistresses of the face painting and tattoo table.  Another favorite stop for all the kids.

Getting the games organized.

Waiting to run the Rodeo Relay.

The kids ran a series of obstacles in a heated “Girls vs. Boys” competition.

Waiting their turn to run.

Even the little ones got a chance.

Neve cheered loudly for her team.  In the end the boys won, but everyone enjoyed it, and as an adult it was hilarious to watch.

People started filing in in earnest once the food tables were set up.

This little cutie and his lovely mum had fun watching the kids.

I also ran into some crazy people.  Actually Paul wasn’t around for very long but at least we got to hang with Lisa here for a bit.

Towards the end of the day we had to bring out the propane heater for the adults, but the kids kept warm by learning some line dancing.

Neve found a kindred spirit to copy for the dancing contest.

All in all the food was great, the people were great and the kids had a blast playing all the games planned for them.  I stayed with the girls until it was dark and I could no longer feel my face from the cold (thank goodness for the coffee pot – I’d have packed it in much earlier if not for the 5 cups of hot coffee keeping me warm!).  When we left there was a good sized bonfire going and marshmallow roasting, so my older girls were rather reluctant to leave.  They didn’t, however, argue with the nice warm bath and Sleepytime Tea once we got home and they were out pretty quickly once they were jammied up and in bed. My only regret was not getting more pictures of everyone that was there.

The cold and the extreme busy – ness of the weekend made sure that I woke up Monday with one heck of a stuffy head and body aches (although I think most of the aches were due to holding Oona continuously Sunday with little break).  So Monday I gave myself the day off, yesterday was spent cleaning ( as if you could even tell….) and now I am on to getting Emily and Oona’s costumes made for a party Friday.  Busy busy!