You know we ALWAYS get compliments that our parties are relaxing. Dh and I tend to be pretty low key and I cringe at some of the lengths people go to for parties around here. It's like a competition. If they enjoy being Martha Stewart (& then some) good for them, but it feels like a Joneses thing.

As for us, we don't play the game and we always have the best parties anyway. LOL. Anyway, yesterday was a smashing success. A wonderful party, most people stayed for 5 hours which is insane for a kid party. I was ready for a nap. I was pleased because I didn't really do much to prepare. I think it made it extra low-key and people could sense it.

All our ice cream pies/cakes came out DIVINE. I will post the recipes. Everyone seriously thought we had slaved over it all though. I laughed at that - it was really pretty easy. But it was an experiment so I am glad it came out so good. Most of it is gone.

My bacon pinwheels were also an experiment that went well. I made 4 dozen and they were all gone by the end of the party, with many recipe requests.

The meatballs were a bit of a bust. They were certainly good, but dh and I agreed they were a little too ketchup-y. I have a couple of other recipes to try though - for next time.

We went through all the food except had 1 full pizza left. Over-ordered. But I am pleased most of the appetizers and dessert went. We'll have plenty of leftovers all the same. Fine with us.

The part that was frustrating was the kids got WAY too many gifts. We asked for none, they got too many. Gah. The only people who didn't give them gifts were my mom. Grandma gave them the cash and a pile of books. I am impressed with her resistance, but she did by them 100 toys and outfits when she babysat them for our cruise. Probably why. I still get the impression they got a little less than they would have otherwise. I mostly disappointed our neighbor who had a "no gift" party before bought a gift. We figured if nothing else she would understand. Then you wonder if she meant no gifts, because we certainly took it to heart. I don't like the games people call etiquette. Where people think you don't really mean it or it wouldn't be polite. But oh well.

They got a pile of books, some cash, video game, Mr. Potato Head, Toy Story 2 DVD, some large stuffed animals (dh's pet peeve - LOL - was all he would let me purge earlier was the stuffed animals but now we got MORE!). Oh and some walkie-talkies and some travel games from SIL for their Florida trip. They made out quite well! Dh and I gave them a toy tent with a periscope. It is really cool, we just gave it to the kids in the morning since it was a joint gift. They LOVE it.

At the party LM blew out his candles in one blow. I was SO impressed. I expected he would need some help. Actually he was impatient to wait through the Happy Birthday song and wanted to blow them out sooner!

We went to a joint party where they had 2 cakes and sang twice. I think if I had to do it over I would do that. At the time I thought it was a bit much. But I think though they shared their party they probably both deserve their own time to be recognized. We had 2 cakes, but I will have to remember that next year. It is really more fair to sing happy birthday twice so they both get a turn at all the attention. Mostly I realized I was so preoccupied with LM that I didn't really get to see that BM blew his candles out well too - he was very proud.

Today we don't have much planned. Recovery. I want to take a nap. A mark of a good weekend is if I have time for a nap. LOL. I am one of those people who is wide awake at 5am every day, but then have to nap in the afternoon. But rarely get to.

Tomorrow is back to reality. *sigh* But this was in a way a much nicer vacation than the cruise even. It is nice just to be home and enjoy time with the kids.

Tomorrow is crazy. Work/preschool than take BM to karate. Luckily it is at a cool park. It is LM's birthday. We figured we would meet at the park and let the kids play and go out for a late dinner. Will probably give him his gifts in the morning so he can play with them all day, and also because it will be such a hectic evening.

I absolutely dread work. I got NOTHING done last Monday & Tuesday because so many clients were having computer issues and I was put on IT duty. I will be doing IT duty Monday - probably going out to 2 clients to install stuff. On most days I would welcome the change in pace/schedule. It is more interesting to get out of the office and meet new faces. BUT considering how behind I am on everything I am not pleased. & July 31 is a big deadline that looms. I'll probably just work weekends until things get more under control. I have been stressed and dh asked if I would do better working at home. I said hell no - been there done that - don't like working from home in the least. But after Monday & Tuesday... He has a point. If I don't have to be the go-to gal for EVERYTHING I might actually get more work done at home. I have to at least pick 1 day a week where I lock myself in the office and don't answer the phone. Pretend like I am not there. It may be possible to juggle work and everything else, but I haven't figured it out yet. Historically I always work on long-term projects and I can get through them quite fast and effectively. But since I have become the jack of all trades in the office I find I get little done. I think it is more of a function of a more managerial role. I am working on delegating more work out which really is the only solution. But I don't enjoy any of this nearly as much. I rather work for weeks on 1 project - just what I am used to.