Preparations were in full swing on Friday the 18th for Ainsley's big birthday party the following day WHEN...dun, dun, dun...our refrigerator stops working AGAIN!!!!! I'm really just too tired and fed up to even go into it, and thinking about it just burns me up inside, but basically same story different day. We notice that the butter is slightly melted, check the temp...42 degrees and climbing. By the time I went to bed Friday night it was 50 degrees, Saturday morning 55 degrees. So, I had planned on having all food made and ready to go into serving dishes, but it all had to wait until the day of, which put me super behind and super stressed on Saturday. I was not fun to be around...sorry to everyone who had to endure it.
However, the party was very nice. We put all the food in coolers and everything went fine.
We had a ladybug theme, of course, and decorated with black and red everywhere. It was pretty cute. I even found red balloons with black polka dots. Ainsley wore a little red and white ladybug dress, and even though she only had about a 45 minute nap all day, she was in very good spirits for all her visitors.
There were so many kids. It was great, but it made me look around and take note of where I am in my life. Just about 2 years ago, I threw a 30th birthday party for Clif and invited a lot of the same people. That night we started about 6 o'clock, and drank keg beer, skip and go naked, and frozen daiquiris until 3 in the morning. Now, the party started at 3 and I think everyone was gone by 7. Gotta get those kids home and to bed! Funny how quickly life changes.
Ainsley made out in the gift department...thank you everyone. Good thing we set up the playroom upstairs or we'd have to start getting rid of our couches! Opening gifts with all those kids was crazy!! Ainsley couldn't do any unwrapping, so I had some of the other kids help and they were more than happy to tear into those gifts.
After the gifts we let Ainsley dive into the cake. She was covered, of course.
It was a lot of fun and I was so glad that so many of our friends could make it. I wish I could of spent more time with everyone individually.
The night ended with a few close friends and family hanging out on the deck drinking off the keg. It was a very relaxing end to the day. Of course, the mess in my kitchen was not so much fun, but hey it was worth it.
So, on the refrigerator front, my mom drove 2 hours south on Sunday to meet my dad who drove 2 hours north to get a refrigerator that my brother was storing at their house. Thank you to all parties involved in that (mom, dad, Nathan, Jeff). So now I have 2 refrigerators sitting in my kitchen, one works, one doesn't. For all of you that have been to my house, you know that I really don't have room for 2 refrigerators in my kitchen. Now we are going to start the long battle of getting some kind of compensation for this piece of crap Samsung calls an appliance. I would refer to it more as a storage container. The most expensive storage container I've ever bought. Anyway, I can't even go into it, I just get too mad. It's ridiculous how completely uncaring some companies can be about their product and their service, it's really a tragedy in this country...but like I said, not going to go into it.
Turning 1 has been a really big step for Ainsley, in the past couple of weeks she's become such a little girl. Baby Ainsley is just about gone. If you ask, she'll tell you how old she is. She pets Gatsby nicely instead of slapping him in the face. She can hold a watermelon slice and eat it to the rind. She knows where all of her toys are and insists on going up there every night. And her talking is becoming more like actual language. Still babbling, but she actually holds conversations with her dolls, the dog, us, the TV, whatever. All good things. Of course, with the good comes some bad. We have experienced some temper tantrums. For now, she is very easily distracted, and therefore they are short lived...I hope they stay that way, but I am not confident about that. She is very opinionated and persistent. The girl knows what she wants and is not easily persuaded.
So that catches you up. Hope everyone has a good week.
