It was the best of times...

it was the worst of times. Today was a really crappy day, actually. Literally and figuratively. It started with realizing that we will be unavoidably out of town the weekend I wanted to have the kids' birthday party which means we will have to have separate ones instead of the traditional combo. Then I got a phone call informing me that I failed the one-hour glucose screen and now I have to take the three hour test and quite possibly have gestational diabetes. Fun. Then I was in my bedroom folding laundry and Cameron comes to tell me that Greyson had an accident. I come out to find him sitting on the carpet taking off his poopy underwear in the dining room. Poop everywhere. Thank god for brown carpet. Not two minutes later, when I've barely only started to get a handle on the ridiculous mess that is Greyson legs, Cameron comes into the bathroom dripping blood all over - badly stubbed toe. Shall I go on?? I'd rather not. Let's just backtrack to the good days...

Friday was the best day EVER. We spent the late morning and early afternoon at the beach with our Favorite Park Day friends. The weather was nice, though a little windy, and the attitudes were all happy. The kids dug holes, jumped in the (had to have been below freezing) surf, ate sand covered fruits, nuts, and sandwiches. The adults talked and took turns escorting kids to the shoreline, bathroom, and various digging or exploring spots. All in all, a good beach day. From there we drove all the way across the county to the birthday party of one of our first homeschooling friends. I loved being able to think back to all the other parties we've been to there... I think this is our third! S was just turning 5 when we first met him. Five seemed so old at the time too since my boy was still going to be four for another two months. Such a difference between four and five! And now Cassia is going to be 5 in another month. Anyway, the best part was that it was a small intimate party and even though we seem to rarely connect with this family anymore, we were already friends with all the guests. Funny how you can be apart from a person for a while and then come back together to see that you've really been doing the same things, just different ways. I doubt that makes much sense, but I just find it funny that we've chosen different activities which have left us both too busy for time with each other, yet we've still connected with the exact same group of people. I left there feeling very full of friendship and very grateful for those relationships.

Saturday we started the day with another birthday party. This one was for the daughter of our first friends in this area. The mother used to babysit Cameron when he was a toddler and we went through our daughter's pregnancies together. But there I didn't feel the love and friendship that was so overwhelming the day before. We've been to birthday parties for various members of this family for six or seven years now and I knew all the little girls that usually frequented the daughter's parties. But this year was different. It was her fifth birthday and she's been going to preschool. She's matured a bit faster than Cassia has. She didn't want the old friends that have been at her last 4 parties there, she wanted her new school friends. She also insisted on a Hannah Montana party (though she doesn't really even know who she is) and the goody bags were full of lip gloss and body glitter. Cassia asked, after seeing the stuffed cow, tractor stickers, and rubber ball in Greyson's John Deere goody bag, why he's the only one who got fun stuff. Apparently, even with as super-pink girly as she tries to be, I have successfully shielded her from all that public school, growing-up-too-fast weirdness (for now). Phew!

From there we went to the 4-H Family Night Celebration. Now that was a lot of fun! The rainbow decorations that Cameron and the two five-year olds on the decorating committee picked out looked fabulously festive and several people commented how they'd never had better decor. :) Five and six year olds know how to party. The potluck was delish, though a bit cheese heavy for Greyson's system, and I was proud to bring home an empty bowl of Lemon-Quinoa salad. The presentations included skits this year and that really livened things up a bit. It made for a really enjoyable evening instead of just having to sit through a bunch of dry tri-fold presentations. Cameron recited the poem Mr. Nobody and he did it perfectly. I was teary eyed, I was so proud. :D There might be a video out there somewhere of him and if I can get my hands on it I will let you know. The silent auction has some amazing offerings this year (like a 1979 bottle of wine!) and made a record $577.45!! We were all spurred on to spend in the hope that this would eradicate our need for an additional fundraiser next year (like cookie dough or wrapping paper). We more than doubled what we took in last year at the auction so that may indeed have done it! WooHoo!!

Sunday was the final birthday party of the weekend and it was for one of the boys who was at the first party on Friday. So it was basically the same people again, lol. It was a nice time - even though it was at Chuck E. Cheese. The invitation said bring earplugs and Tylenol. LOL. Greyson especially had a BLAST. He was just zooming around plugging tokens into anything and everything. He rode every car thing there at least five times and that's no exaggeration. He also managed to make it to the bathroom to pee three times at Chuck E. Cheese!! And then when we got home, he woke up from his nap to pee!! It was an amazing potty day. I don't think he had a single accident. Much different from today when I don't think he made it once. Funny how that happens.

So there's the last four days in a very large nutshell. Oh one good thing did happen today - actually two good things: Cameron and Cassia both got six stars on their Star Day testing at gymnastics! Coincidentally, that meant that they both moved up to Level 4. Cameron is now a Level 4 Roller (the last level before moving up to be a Twister) and Cassia a now a Level 4 Shooting Star (I forget what her next grouping is called though). The really cool thing is that Cassia actually aced six of six skills today. She was *so* proud of herself. Big difference from the apathetic little thing who would barely participate in class a few weeks ago. Time for tv now... if I can stay awake, that is.