And You Thought Your Weekend Was Crazy!

Hello, I woke up this morning from a hangover...not from drinking as I don't drink, but a hangover from my crazy, busy weekend.  First, my 18 year-old niece attended Alton Senior High School's Prom so she asked my little sister and I to come out and she her and to take pics.  As a writer and a mother of a lot of kids, I generally don't get out of the house much, so my little sister poked, prodded and laid a thick guilt trip on me so I went ahead and went.  Being that I am a writer and a mother of a lot of kids, I don't really get dressed.  My daily outfit consists of a pair of XXL Old Navy Yoga pants that I got when I was 6 months pregnant with Januari and some assorted tank top with a pair of colorful socks.  So when I was about to leave the house my trendy 17 year-old daughter looked at me with disgust and said, "Mommy I know that you are not wearing that!" Based on her disapproval I went ahead and got dressed in real clothes.
I was amazed on how beautiful some of the kids looked in their prom clothes.  For a lot of these kids prom is something that they have been looking forward to all year so they made sure that they went all out.

My niece and her date looked fantastic together, he even had the walking stick that he was lucky to have as an accessory at his young age instead of a necessity.  We enjoyed seeing all of the kids dressed to impress and filled with excitement as they paraded around in their formal attire, posed for pictures that would be uploaded on  Facebook and Myspace pages throughout and drove off in over-priced rental cars. It was an exciting time and I am looking forward to my own daughter's senior prom (I think more than she is).

Saturday my husband and I decided to shop for Januari's 1st birthday party.  We decided on Ni Hao Ki Lan as the theme for her party because she kind of looks like the popular Nick Jr. character.  We had the cake ordered and our party venue set in stone all that we needed to do was to get the party supplies.   We went to Edwardsville to find a Party Magic, but for some reason Edwardsville has every store known to man, but no party supply store!  They even have a Dipping Dots, but not a Party Magic.  We did find one small mom and pop supply store, but they didn't even know who Ki Lan was let alone carry party supplies for that theme.  So we had to decided on rather we wanted to drive to Fairview Heights to look for a Party Magic or go to the one that we knew in St. Louis.  We decided on St. Louis because we knew exactly were it was located and since we'd been on their website we were sure that they would have Ki Lan.

I suppose Boston had too much Bug Juice because en route to the Show Me State he decides to piss his pants, his car seat, his socks and every where else the pee would go oh and this one time is the time that we forgot to pack him a change of underwear and clothes!  We were already at the party store so we were going to run in, grab a few things then go home.  That was until Boston's bladder decided that it couldn't hold anything else and he said, "I HAVE TO PEEE!!!!"  As Kerri and I frantically looked throughout the car for an empty bottle or cup (which we have plenty of trust me), Kerri got the cup and I worked to pull down the already wet shorts, Javier looked on in disgust and Januari clapped at her parents looking like fools Boston pointed his penis, but missed and got up both R. Kelly style.  

Enough on that...we get into the party store and guess what? They didn't have anything at all that had Ni Hao Ki Lan on it!  At this point I was exhausted, hot and smelled of little boy piss so we just grabbed 1st birthday stuff and left in a rush.  On our way home Boston decided to pee once again just to make sure we got the point. 

Sunday, was party day...our baby girl's first birthday and we were excited...she could have cared less.  We thought that we had it all down pact because I am a great party planner, but it is always that small things that you forget such as tape, candles and not to let the helium-filled mylar balloons loose in a room that has a ceiling fan going.  After we cut the balloons out of the ceiling fan and kept Boston (who is scared of balloons) from having a nervous breakdown we finished decorating.  Januari, in true diva-style, decided to have a breakdown of her own kind and cried until we bathed her and put her to sleep.  After everything was decorate and my husband and I looked at one another through tired, stress-filled eyes we called everyone and pushed the party back an hour just so that we could rest.   I showered (finally), dressed and cuddled my guy until the guests arrived.

The party was a success and Januari, dressed in a pink tutu with matching crown, had a great time until she finally fell asleep blissfully in her father's arms.  Am I a bad parent because I didn't spend $10k on her birthday? No, because it won't make her love me anymore than what she already does.  Last night my husband and I reminised over our crazy weekend, we laughed because despite all of the things that went wrong our love for one another and that we have for our children made it all right and that is all that matters. 

TTFN