1. Spring track season is upon us. That means two evenings a week spent at the track when I should be home fixing dinner... I need to get serous with better meal planning! On the plus side, this season instead of sitting in the car with a good book, I am walking the track for the whole time. It's not much, but a start!
2. Confiicts in scheduling. What are the odds that three of my children would have conflicts with the wedding in May? Poor Ben will have to miss his Spring Championship meet and Thomas and Hannah will not be able to make the qualifiying meet for their champs either! Since they miss the qualifying meet, they won't have to go the meets on 6/16 and 6/17, which happen to be the dates of my and Jessie's birthdays, so I can't say I'm too broken up about it.
3. The reverse surprise party. That's what I am calling the party we hosted here for my brother's fiftieth birthday this past Sunday. Because he lives in Manhattan and I don't really know many of his friends, I had this idea to have the guest of honor show up before the guests. He thought he was coming to a small family gathering for Becky's birthday. After about forty-five minutes, the doorbell rang and in walks one his friends from the city and her mother, who my brother just adores. He thought it was nice of us to invite her, and didn't suspect anything yet when the doorbell rang again five minutes later. Again, a random friend from the city and her husband. Now he began to get suspiscious. This went on for about an hour as the guests trickled in. He greeted each one himself and was completely surprised. It was so much fun.
I had my own motive for handling it this way, instead of the traditional surprise moment with everyone jumping out and scaring the heck out of the guest of honor. My motive was a bit selfish. Since I didn't really know many of the guests, I wasn't comfortable having to entertain them for an hour while waitng for my brother to arrive. An added benefit I didn't think of was this: usually when the guest of honor shows up at a surprise party, he is overwhelmed by the crowd and chaos when he first gets there. I know with Kate's shower a few weeks ago, she was still finding out who was there an hour later as she worked her way through the room! Doing the reverse surprise allowed my brother to spend a lttle time with each guest as they arrived. It was much more personal and less overwhelming for him . I am still getting emails from his friends saying what a terrific idea it was ... and all because I was feeling anti-social about entertaining them.
4. Wedding update: response cards are being returned at a nice pace. It is really happening and we are all getting excited as the reality sinks in that our nest will be getting a little lest crowded come May 23!
5. Mixed emotions. Why is it that at this time of year, homeschool mom burnout sets in, but oddly enough there is an underlying excitement to begin planning for the coming school year?
6. Planning. Planning is one of those activities that eludes me. I resist menu planning, housework planning, schoolwork planning, and probably any other planning you could name. But I am at a point where I see it as necessary to my keeping my sanity. Who knows, things might even start to run more smoothly around here and I may not have any more nights like Wednesday, when I put a roast in the oven, went to ballet class with Hannah, got home and realized that I had to pick the two high-schoolers up, Dan was going to be late, the three college students were also late. So here was this nice roast , its delicious aroma hanging in the air, and no one was here to enjoy it! Bad planning on my part. I knew by the time I returned it would be almost 9PM and the last thing I wanted was a dinner mess at that hour. My solution? Well, Wendy's for Thomas and Hannah; Becky and Ben ate at school; the olders had to fend for themselves; and Dan and I ordered Outback curbside take-away! An expensive mistake, but enjoyable nonetheless.
(p.s. We ate the roast last night and since I slightly underocoked it Wednesday, it was yummy after all!)
7.Prayers. I just got word that a dear homeschooling mom in our group has been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer. I am so saddened by this and I ask any who read this to send up a prayer for both her physical healing and peace in her soul knowing that God is in control. Thank you!
And don't forget to visit Conversion Diary to read more QuickTakes!
Have a great weekend!
hi chris! i love your quick takes today! love the reverse surprise party idea! i am not going to tell anyone i know so that i can save the idea ;)
fyi: i am going to email you another question now...
Posted by: Donna | April 16, 2010 at 07:36 AM