Survival of the Fittest

I'd like to think I am the epitome of efficiency and can multi-task with the best of them. I've taken this to a whole new level and really outdid myself on the scheduling of events on Saturday, May 29th.

Having two kids born one week less than 3 years apart has turned out to be a blessing. My mom and stepfather live in Florida and will do whatever is necessary to attend the kid's birthday parties. By having the parties in the same weekend, it saves them an extra trip to come up North. This year, I decided to have the parties on the same day; back to back. Ian wanted his party at My Gym and I was going to do Sam's party at the house for close friends and family. Furthermore, because the kids were each turning another year older, I wanted to get their pictures taken at Portrait Innovations. I needed help at the picture studio and didn't want to take Jeff. His threshold for this kind of thing is on the low side. I needed someone who was willing to stick it out as long as the photographer was willing to give it to get a good shot. My mom fit the bill nicely. Since the parties were not until the afternoon/evening, I decided to do the kids' photos in the morning.

The schedule for Saturday went something like this:

6:00am - 6 mile run with the Gazelles. (this was more for my mental well-being in starting the day off feeling energized and ready to tackle anything)

9:00am - Portrait Innovations for Ian's 5 year pics and Samantha's 2 year pics. Plus, fingers crossed to try to get a decent picture of them together. Ha!!

12:00pm - Pick up food from Wegman's catering department for Sam's party

1:00pm - My sister Lori arrives at Dulles Airport and needs to be picked up

2:00pm - Pick up cake from my friend Bridget who generously offered to make an Elmo cake for Sam's party

2:15pm - Swing by my friend Jen's house who also generously offered to make a dozen Cookie Monster cupcakes to go with the Elmo cake at Sam's party.

2:40pm - Leave to go to Ian's party at My Gym

4:30pm - Ian's party ends

4:45pm - Sam's party at the house begins for dinner and more cake.

Approx. 6:45pm - Sam's party ends

The timing was tight, but everything fell into the place and fortunately everything and everyone was ready at the right time. There was one or two little glitches that will take me a long time to get over. The first was the food at Sam's party. I had Wegman's package it cold so that it wouldn't be sitting hot for hours before we would be eating it. I grossly underestimated how long it would take to heat the food. I thought it would only be 15 to 20 minutes max in the oven. My goal was to be able to have the food out and ready to serve by 5:15pm. By 5:30pmish when everything was still on the cool side, Heather stepped in and helped out big-time!! It was her brilliant idea to put each of the dishes in the microwave to get it steaming hot and then transfer it to the chaffing dishes. Within 15 minutes, we had it all out and ready to go.

The other glitch was these Elmo chocolate lollipops I made. Over the course of a few days while Sam was napping, I made 30 Elmo lollipops out of chocolate in the red, white, orange and black colors. They were super cute and I totally forgot to put them out on the table during the party. It wasn't until the very end as an after-thought that I remembered I had them sitting in the freezer.

Oh, and while I am beating myself up, I underestimated the appeal of the chicken nuggets. I really thought the food we had ordered from Wegman's (Chinese) was kid-friendly enough for the kids to eat. Ian is the pickiest eater I know and if he would eat the food, then I believed the other kids would too. So we made the chicken nuggets for the one or two kids who still required their regular fare. However, once one kid sees the chicken nuggets, then they all want them. The problem came where there were only 17 nuggets left in the bag to make. Jeff even asked me if he should run across the street and get more. I told him it wasn't necessary. So there was another mistake. Oh well. What can you do?

Other than that, everything else went well and it seemed like everyone had a great time. I can now rest easy for another year before the birthday party madness comes around again. And, I can go back to March's new year's resolution to not over-extend myself or the family. I guess I fell off the wagon a little. Just a little. :)