Best Laid Plans and The Unexpected Doctor Visit...

***Update at end of entry***

I finally got a phone call from the folks at the AAC center and was told that a contract was being drawn up for me and got some specific dates that they were hoping I could work. They had expected to do an eval today and I was thinking I might be going in today so I had set up childcare for both E (all day) and A (after school). When I got the phone call yesterday they told me that the eval for today was canceled. I figured I'd keep the childcare arrangements and have a "mental health day" for myself. But, you know the old adage about 'best laid plans', right?

This morning I went on my walk at 6am with my neighbor. When I got home at 7am I found out that A was having some leg pain and refusing to walk! She had complained earlier in the week of some pain but I dismissed it because it didn't seem to be impacting her activity level and because she only mentioned it when I suggested we take a nature walk (she can be hard to motivate for such things even though she has fun once we get out and do it). She had originally complained on Monday and on Tuesday morning she thought she might not want to go to gymnastics because of her leg. Again, it sounded like an excuse for no real reason and she actually went to gymnastics and did just fine.

She has been acting out of late and I have been wondering in the back of my mind if she is bothered by the thought of me returning to work - it's been a regular topic of conversation around here of late (as if you couldn't have figured that out given my recent blog fodder). Today Rick was going to drop her off at preK on his way to work and I wondered if she was reacting to that change in schedule. She was so adamant about the pain that I could not doing anything but keep her home. I was a bit annoyed thinking that maybe she was overreacting or faking it...

After we'd been home together for a few hours and she was literally refusing to move off the couch I knew she wasn't faking it. I called the pedi and they suggested bringing her in. Two hours later we left the office having had x-rays of her hip and leg done and blood work taken! I thought he'd say it was a muscle strain or something similarly innocuous. No such luck.

The suggestions of possibilities ranged from relatively innocuous (viral infection that moved into the hip called 'toxic or transient synovitis') to rather serious ('aseptic necrosis'...which was rather unsettling considering the fact that my own father had that when he was a boy and was in a hospital in traction for most of two years to fix it!!!). As well a few other possibilities of varying degree. The doctor was taking things seriously and ordered a battery of tests that would allow for a differential diagnosis one way or the other.

The doctor called a short while ago to let us know that the x-ray results were normal (phew!) which ruled out the more serious bone related possibilities ('aseptic necrosis' and some other equally evil sounding disease involving the hip joint). We are still looking at a viral or bacterial cause and the blood work should give us a better idea of what is going on. We'll know more later tonight and again in about 48 hours when the cultures come back. I'm leaning towards viral at this point since Andrea seems to be doing a bit better tonight after resting all day. The treatment for a viral infection is just to rest and give ibuprofen as needed. If I'm right she should be back to normal in under a week.

So, that was my day-off-turned-stressful-and-worrisome-day today! One thing I firmly believe is that everything happens for a reason (not always know to us right away...if ever). And today I was expecting to be at the eval that got canceled. Seems as if there was some divine intervention that meant I was home and was able to get Andrea to the doctor and get her the necessary tests. And because I kept the daycare slot for Eliza, it meant she didn't have to hang with us for two hours DURING lunchtime/nap time at the doctor's office! That would have just added stress and complications to the day.

I'm in the process of finishing off my second glass of wine for the evening and saying a prayer of thanks that A is doing much better and that the more serious causes have been ruled out. Sometimes I find that I take for granted the immense blessings of a healthy family.

**Update 3/14***
The doctor just called again to report that the blood work results have come back normal! So, the diagnosis (given lack of evidence pointing to anything else) is a viral infection of some sort which should clear up on its own. We are to check back in if things don't improve but so far A is doing much better today so I am confident that she will continue to improve.

A Weekend of Celebration!

This weekend we hosted a lovely brunch for my parents 50th wedding anniversary. The night before we had a delicious time with just my siblings, their spouses (or significant other, in one case) and my parents at one of their favorite local establishments. It was a fun and festive night and a great prelude the event on Sunday afternoon. My niece, Hilary, and her boyfriend, Anthony, babysat my girls that evening and did a fabulous job! I was nervous about how E would handle being in a somewhat strange place with babysitters that were not that familiar to her but they handled it all so well and she did great! They helped the girls decorate mini pumpkins, ate cupcakes and popcorn, and watched a movie together. I think the girls had as much fun as we did!

Sunday was the day of the big brunch and we had a total of 58 guests in attendance. I have not seen a lot of the people there in quite a while so it was nice to see them all. It was wonderful to have them all there to celebrate and honor my parents on such a momentous occasion! Everyone was very festive and happy and the day was such a bright, crisp, beautiful fall day. My sister, Diane, (my partner in crime event coordination) had put together some beautiful scrapbooks to commemorate the day and everyone had a great time looking through the pictures and signing the book. My parents renewed their vows and reaffirmed their love for one another with my oldest brother, Jim, as "officiant" and my brother, Bob, provided us with a heart-felt and comical toast.

It was special and inspiring to celebrate with my parents and realize that they have been together for fifty years! They have had their joys and their sorrows during the course of their marriage. Their love has stood the test of time and they have been through all those years together, side by side. They are an inspiration and a testament to true love and devotion.

Happy 50th Anniversary, Mom and Dad! We love you very much and hope that we created a day full of love and memories that you will cherish! Here are a few choice photos from the day of the brunch!

Mom and Dad arriving at the restaurant

The scrapbooks and photos.



The toast!



The bride and groom surrounded by Jim the officiant
(far left), and their best man and matron
of honor for the day!



Cutting the cake!

Family Fun Day!

Rick and I recently discussed whether or not to try to fit in another family vacation this summer or not. We talked about the possibility of perhaps spending some time in the White Mountains or going to the New Hampshire shore for a few days. In the end we decided that it might be fun to do a bunch of day trips in the local or semi-local area. So we are making that a priority for this summer in lieu of a longer trip that would potentially be farther away. Some of the possible excursions included geocaching adventures in the surrounding wilds, or longer rides to the Berkshires, southern VT or Boston to do various kid-friendly attractions.

The other night we spent some time looking at the geocaching website for easy cache sites in the Berkshires. We actually found quite a few that looked fun (and had some interesting natural attractions to see) so we downloaded the list to Rick's PDA and decided to 'wing' it from there.

In the morning we made a hearty breakfast of pancakes, sausages, bacon and juice and tanked the girls up for the adventure ahead. We found some small treasures to leave in exchange for new treasures found in the caches and we piled in the car with a bunch of water, some snacks, and the GPS and off we went!

The girls listened to an audio book (Dinosaurs Before Dark, Mary Pope Osborne) on the drive to the Berkshires. And since I had yet to drag all the crap art materials out of the back of the car from our Virginia trip they were able to draw and make artful creations for the remainder of the drive.

The first cache site turned out to be a dud. The write-up about the cache did not include any information on where to start hiking so we used the GPS as our guide, but we were not able to find the trail head. In doing some research once we got home we found that we were actually located on the opposite side of a substantial river from the cache site so we were essentially barking up the wrong tree anyway. We hope to go back in the future and find that cache along with two others that are located in the same general area. Now that we know where to go to find the parking lot and trail head so we should be a tad more successful! So, after a short delay and missed opportunity at that cache site we consulted the PDA and chose a second site to attempt that was a short 10-minute ride away.

The second cache attempt was located on land owned by a private conservation organization and therefore we figured there would be a well-marked trail and probably some decent parking to boot. We found the parking lot easily and got E loaded into the backpack for this hike. It was a loop trail that climbed to the top of a large hill (coming from the land of sand dunes I would personally call it a small mountain but Rick would strongly beg to differ) and back down again and the trail meandered through a large meadow full of cows and even met up for a brief time with the famed Appalachian Trail. On the way up the small mountain hill we came upon this rather large rock alongside the trail that begged to be climbed on...


The girls did great on the climb up the top and once we got up to the overlook we unloaded E from the backpack to let her have a look around.


We searched around for the cache...



...and managed to find it pretty quickly.


The girls had fun looking through the cache box and choosing a trinket and we left a couple of new trinkets in their place. I signed the log book and then we explored the overlook some more and happened upon a small wild blueberry patch that only yielded a few berries each but was still fun to find. There were a few odd blackberry patches that we found on the way but none were ripe yet. If we make it back next year we'll have to try for early August and get the blackberries in season!

Rebecca took this picture of Rick and I at the overlook...


After the hike back down to the car we drove to nearby Great Barrington to grab some lunch. Rick had done a bit of research and found that there was a local brewery/restaurant in town so we headed there for some grub. Rick enjoyed a nice brown ale called "Old Pluto" with his lunch (and I picked up a growler of the stuff for us to take home and enjoy since I was designated driver for the day). As a treat I got a HUGE slab of chocolate cake after lunch...



... the damn thing was too big to fit on the plate! I ate some of it and shared some with the girls but I literally took home about two-thirds of this piece of cake. Insanity at its best!

With full bellies we got back in the car and decided that we would try for one more cache before heading home. (Nothing like the 18 cache days that Tuxbaby has managed recently, but hey, we do what we can! LOL)

Rick consulted the PDA and found a cache site located near a river with a waterfall. We knew the girls would enjoy a splash in the river and the cache description indicated that the cache was not far from the parking area so we figured it was the perfect end to the day. The cache was indeed fairly close by and we found it without much difficulty. The girls made their trinket trade and I signed the log book and then we got down to the serious business of playing in the river! The first area we chose to let the girls loose in seemed a bit risky for little Miss E so she was stuck in the pack and none too happy about it...



The older girls were having a great time, though...


Then we moved a bit further downstream and found a great little area with a small pool, no rushing water, and large boulder to shelter and more or less contain E (with a little help from Mom-turned-baby-gate). I stripped E down to her diaper and let her have a go at it...



The older girls ventured a bit farther afield and got a bit damp but certainly had a ball...



They really want to go back (or at least to another fun waterfall or two) sometime this summer. We told them that could be arranged and we will plan to bring bathing suits and towels so they could really go to town!

The ride home was uneventful. R read some of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to herself, A ended up napping (guess the hike up that mountain hill did her in!), and E should have been napping but was way too overtired and ended up being kind of whiny and fussy for part of the ride. We got home and made a quick dinner and then got the kids to bed by about 9pm. Both Rick and I were exhausted and so glad to get to bed, but overall I think we all had a great day. And the kids were tired enough to actually sleep in past 8am this morning. Will wonders never cease?

I'm already hoping for more good weather next weekend and looking forward to our next "Family Fun Day"! Time to start scouring the maps and the geocaching website for more fun waterfalls...

Stressed for Success...

At least I am hoping for a modicum of success this coming weekend.

My mom turned 70 this past month and since she was away in Bermuda for her actual birthday we are having her celebration this coming weekend. I live three hours from most of the rest of the family so we are having the celebration down where they all live. I ended up with the role of "Party Planner From Afar" and have managed to pull things together as best I can. There will be approximately 28 people in attendance from toddler to adult so I made reservations for brunch at a restaurant not too far from my parents' house. I have sent countless emails to my sibs and made follow-up phone calls to be sure that we are all on the same page and that everyone has all the information and knows where they need to be and when. After the brunch we are hoping to get the family all in one place (preferably a picturesque beach locale) for a family picture - except for the one nephew who has already left for his summer job/internship HERE!...life is rough, eh? We are still working on the "where" issue for the pictures and we are also keeping an eye on the weather which may cancel any such plans for our Family Photo Fun Fest (because at these kinds of family events you have to find a way to put the "fun" back into "dysfunctional", right?) . I have a couple of locations I need to scout once we get down there but I am hoping for a spot that is actually right up the road from the restaurant. If the weather is borderline crappy I think we'll be in luck because there should be plenty of parking. It is the downpours and thunder and lightning possibilities that have me a bit worried.

After the brunch and photo nightmare event we will be heading to my sister's house for cake and ice cream (and drinks aplenty - after all, we are talking about MY family here). A couple of mimosa's a brunch followed by glass or so of wine with my cake and ice cream and I suppose I will be able to survive the day with my sanity intact... Of course, after the long day we still have a three-hour drive home to look forward to (whee).

**********************
In other news, the girls are finishing up their school years. How is it that another year has flown by? R is finishing up 1st grade and we just recently found out that the combined classroom (1st and 2nd grade) that she was in this year will not be continued into next year. So, she'll be in a full 2nd grade classroom which we feel will be more suited to her needs. Now, we just need to find a way to ensure that she gets the teacher placement that we feel would be more appropriate. I plan to send an email off to her teacher later today regarding that very issue!

A is currently in "stay and play camp" which is a fancy way to say that we can pay extra to extend the preschool year so that it more closely matches the regular public school calendar. She is there three days a week and next week is her last week before summer vacation. Next year she is returning to the same preschool and she absolutely loves it there. The teachers are wonderful and she's made some nice friends. In fact, at their little "graduation/end of year" celebration she received a certificate for being "A Good Friend to All" (each child received a special certificate that honored something that made them special). She is such a little social butterfly who is truly kind and thoughtful of those around her. And she is so darn cute to boot!
But, hey, I'm her mom so I guess I'm a little bit biased.

E is starting to talk up quite a storm. Rick and I are now very afraid that we won't be able to get a word in edgewise at the dinner table in the near future. She is in that very cute parrot stage where she repeats - as best she can - what she hears...or at least the last or most vital parts of a sentence.

Mom:"Do you want some milk, E?"
E: "Mook!"

Mom: "Would you like some paper to draw on?"
E: "Pay-poo!"

Mom: "Peee-U! You are stinky! Let's change that diaper."
E: "Tin-kee! Die-poo!"

And of course, she is at the age where her favorite word is "NO!"

Mom: "Uh-oh. Do you have a poop?"
E: "NO!"

Mom: "Oh yes! Time to change that diaper!"
E: "NO!"

Mom: "Let's go!"
E: "NOOOOOO!" (giggling and running in the other direction)

Or better yet...I will catch her "in the act" - red-faced and grunting.

Mom: "Are you pooping?"
E: Straining...grunting. Tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Poooooop." Then, looking away, "No! No poop!"

***********************************************
I'll leave you with a few more pics of the girls. I took these while they were eating popsicles on our back steps the other day. This was the first time I gave E free-reign over the popsicle and I was quite impressed that she did not end up with half of it on the ground covered in dirt and swarming with ants. WTG, big girl!

What's that white stuff?

Woke up this morning and there was a thin layer of white stuff coating the grass and driveway. Since when are we getting snow this winter? I thought (happily, in some ways...) that we were looking at a snow-free winter this year. The girls, however, were thrilled that there was some evidence of winter out there this morning. Not possible to please everyone, I guess.

It was 5:50 when I dragged my butt out of bed and I wondered if Lauri was up for our morning walk or not. And I wondered what the roads were like. From the warm comfort of my living room they seemed clear of snow but I wondered about the possibility of icing. I glanced at Lauri's house and saw that she had not yet turned on her light. I went to the back window to turn on the back flood light to get a better look at how slippery things might be. By accident I turned on the front garage lights. Twice. The switches are next to each other and I was not yet awake. The conditions seemed pleasant enough - temp was around 30, snow was minimal, and falling from the sky were tiny, fluffy flakes of snow. I went to the front windows again and this time I noticed that Lauri's front light was on (perhaps she took my fumbled attempts with the light switch as a sign?). Ok, looked like she was game so I quickly found my exercise togs and threw them on and got outside not too long after 6:00. The walk was actually very nice. The traction was fine except in a few spots where it seemed like they had not bothered to throw some salt/sand in the wee hours of the morning. But, the accumulation was minimal so it was easy going. About halfway through our walk the snow picked up pace a bit and we did get a bit damp, but it was still enjoyable and I was glad I got up and walked this morning.

The snow continued for another hour or so and we have a coating of snow that doesn't quite cover the grass completely. R looked out the window at the falling snow and said "Ya know what, mom? It would be beautiful out there if those houses were not there." She really is a daddy's girl - she loves nature and has, it seems, an innate resentment for anything that impinges on the natural world. The snow really does look lovely on the trees out back (without all those pesky roads and houses marring the view).

It is somehow Friday once again (how did that happen?) and so it is time for a trip to the museum for story time. However, A was being extremely difficult this morning and I told her "no story time trip" because she was being such a noodge. Her attitude has improved quite a bit and now I need to decide whether to recant on my earlier statement or not. It would be nice to get out of the house this morning and goodness knows she would be thrilled. I have about 15 minutes before we need to be out the door if we are going.

Tomorrow is Saturday and we have no plans but on Sunday we will be heading to my sister's for a memorial mass for my brother-in-law, Tom. He passed away 5 years ago after undergoing "routine" heart valve surgery and having something go horribly wrong. He is greatly missed. My sister and her kids (ages 11, 13, and 15) will be participating in a walk for the American Heart Association this April 29th in memory of Tom. Here's a link to their team's web page if you want to support their efforts! I'm trying to figure out if it will be possible to join their team on the day of the walk.

Ok, I guess we are going to story time so I'd better get these girls ready to get out the door. Have a great day!

Insert Title Here

Hello. I'm here. I have not felt very 'chatty' or 'bloggy' or what have you. Stuff has happened but nothing truly earth-shattering - at least not in my little world. I did speak with my host families in Denmark recently and found out that two of my host sisters are pregnant! Exciting stuff on the other side of the pond! One sister is due with baby #2 in September (so she's very newly pregnant) and the other sister is due in June with her first. So, of course, I started on a sweater for one of the babies and have some yarn on order to make a blanket for the other baby. Still in obsessive knitting mode. I can't help it. I go through phases with my obsessions. Sometimes I just want to read, read, read. Other times I won't pick up a book for months but I want to do some major sewing projects like dresses for the girls or a quilt. There are times when I want to cross-stitch or bake or knit constantly. And rarely, like last fall, I'm in a frenzied state of wanting to accumulate and accomplish multiple projects at once. The quilt project I started last fall is all cut out and languishing in my sewing area right now. I will get back to it at some point but right now it's not calling my name - and if it doesn't call my name than I've learned it is best to let it lie or else I'll be feeling like it's a chore and end up making more mistakes than would be acceptable to my inner Virgo. So, there it sits while I sit out here knitting like a fiend. And if the mailman doesn't soon bring my new yarn I might be having a conniption because I might finish the sweater soon (well, not in the next day or two so I'm probably safe, but maybe in 3 or so days...it's small and I've already said I'm obsessive with the knitting lately, didn't I?).

This past weekend we went for a quick overnight to visit my family for the holidays. We arrived at noontime on Saturday and had a nice lunch with my mom, dad, my nephew Rob, his wife Lori, and their two girls who are 6 and 1. Yes, I am a great aunt. Long story short, my much older brother took off when he was a young'un of about 17 and came home approximately a year later with his girlfriend and a three-month-old baby. He had scraggly hair down to his butt (my brother, not the baby) and was practically skin and bones. They had tried to make their way to sunny, warm California but apparently had only gotten as far as Ohio where they camped out with her (half?) sister for a bit and eventually decided to just head on home again, I guess. Anyhoo - I have a nephew who is 10 years younger than I am and he is now a dad with two girls who are roughly the same age as my oldest and my youngest girls. He's in the Navy and had been stationed first in California and later in Virginia but now he is stationed close to home and is working as a recruiter. We are so happy to have him living close again!!

So, back to the weekend visit - on Saturday night we went over to my sister's house where she hosted a wine-tasting party. That was a lot of fun! We each brought a bottle of wine and an appropriate appetizer to go along with it and we pigged out on good food and (mostly) good wine! One of my favorites was the Fish Eye Chardonnay - and I usually despise Chardonnay wines so that was a surprise to me! Our entire family was there for the party so it was nice to hang out with everyone and share the evening.

Since the weather was supposed to be crappy on Monday we decided to make the trip a short one and left for home again on Sunday afternoon. But, not before we had a chance to meet up with S (of the infamous S&O fame, a familiar commenter if you read Vexed in the City) for breakfast. The Divine Ms. Vexed was supposed to join us but fell ill at the last moment and was sorely missed. (Next time, right K?) It was great to see S and I hope I get a chance to love on 'lil man O' the next time we are down visiting!!

Tomorrow we are back to the full-fledged "grind" of life. Rick has been home quite a bit between holidays and illness over the last month and tomorrow he heads back to work and both of the older girls will be back to school. So, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming and I'm really dreading it in a way. I know I'll find my groove again but it's been so out of whack of late that it's going to be a difficult transition for me. It is going to be hard to get the whip crackin' during morning prep - lately the mornings have been unstructured and relatively free of any need to get dressed before lunchtime but now I'm going to have to get R off on the bus and A and E ready to jump in the car moments later to get A to preschool on time. And one of the hardest things is going to be the 5:30am wake-up for my walks with my neighbor. I have been such a bed sloth the last couple of weeks - in such a way as has not been possible for many, many, many moons. Since well before E was born. Rick and I have enjoyed the luxury of staying in bed most mornings past 7am and a few times even past 8am! It's been such a treat and it has felt almost miraculous. The girls have shifted their wake-up schedule from 6:15ish to 7:15 or even later! So, back when they were getting up at 6:15, or even earlier, it didn't seem so bad to drag myself out of bed at 5:30 to go walking. Heck, the girls were going to drag my sorry butt out of bed soon anyway and this way I got a whole hour to do something just for me - and with the added bonus of chatting with my good friend! But now? Ack. The thought of voluntarily pulling back those covers in the cold, wee hours of the morning when I could conceivably get another hour and a half of sleep? That's gonna hurt. And it means that I need to get this sorry (and pounds heavier than last fall) butt into bed early tonight so that I can get the maximum amount of sleep before the alarm disturbs my restful slumber and yells at me to "get in gear"! E just went to bed and I think I will not be far behind...but perhaps I'll sneak in a few more rows of knitting before I head in that direction!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We were busy elves around here over the weekend. I spent most of Friday morning trying to get this place cleaned up a bit and organized so that I felt like I could actually get down to the task of decorating. The girls were quite anxious and spent the morning hovering and asking "is it time to decorate yet?" over and over. There was a bit of kid-style helping when they got to play with their matching yellow feather dusters but otherwise it was a lot of onlooking and impatience over this trivial matter of cleaning that mom insists is necessary (geesh).

Once the cleaning, vacuuming and dusting was complete it was time for snack so I got them some fortification and they ate up quickly and were ready to help haul the boxes out of the basement!

We spent about 45 minutes unpacking and finding homes for our various snowmen, elves, santas, kid-friendly nativity, angels and other assorted decorations - and this year the challenge was to put everything in a place high enough that it was out of reach of The Mobile Menance, but low enough so the girls would also be able to enjoy the decorations and actually be able to help me do the decorating. It now looks much more festive around here! Here's a shot of our stockings hanging on the hutch with care. This is the time of year I always wish we had a fireplace with a nice big mantel.



On Saturday morning, with Rick home to help, we got the little fake tree decorated and set on a card table so that it would be (mostly) inaccessible to The Mobile Menace. As you can see in one of the pictures below she is mostly certainly a hazard to the tree and we are just praying that the damage to ornaments is minimal this year and that she doesn't manage to pull the tree down on top of herself!

The girls had a lot of fun opening the boxes and finding the ornaments which, at this age, still seem new to them each year. As we hang the ornaments I tell them the stories that go with certain ones - like the year that R begged for the fragile porcelain Rudolph ornament and then dropped it accidently. It broke into too many pieces to try to fix and I couldn't find a replacement for it anywhere. She was crushed...but Santa came through and on Christmas morning and a brand new and perfect little Rudolph was hanging on the tree! This year we put those fragile ornaments back in the box for another year and only put up the ornaments that were more or less unbreakable - just in case we do have a tree-toppling event!

All the Christmas-themed books came up from the basement along with the decorations, the fake tree and the ornaments. This year R is reading them to herself and I often find her curled up on the couch with a stack of Christmas stories by her side. A is constantly asking me to read her "one more story" from the Christmas box. We have a lot of nice ones and I like to add to the assortment every year, but by Christmas I am more than ready for them to go back down to the basement again until the next year!

Yesterday was a busy day at church. We had service, followed by choir practice, followed by pageant practice. They were assigned their roles for the pageant - R will be a dog and A will be a piggy. The Christian Education director found some cute plush masks at the Dollar Store for the kids to wear and they have one line that they repeat a number of times during the play along with a bunch of other kids dressed as farm animals. So, that was our morning. We went home for lunch and had a few hours to hang out before we headed back to church for the Advent Workshop. Our church has this nice tradition where everyone brings sandwiches to share and we have a soup and sandwich supper followed by Christmas-themed craft making. I brought along pipe cleaners and red, white, and green beads and at our table the kids strung the beads on the pipe cleaners and bent them into wreathes and candy canes. At other tables they made ornaments from old Christmas cards, placemats (also from old cards), gift tags with stamps, stickers, and glitter, pompoms out of thick yarn, and placed potpourri in Christmas fabric and tied it up with a fancy ribbon. The girls had fun bouncing between tables creating all the different crafty items. I invited my MIL along to help me out in case I was being pulled in two different directions by the girls but this year they were both quite independent and found other adults they were familiar with from church to give them a hand. Regardless, it was still very nice to have Grandma along to share the evening with! :-) It was a long day and the girls were riled up and difficult about going to sleep --- 'tis the season, I guess. And when we are busy with all good stuff, how can I complain?