Guest post: it's party time

Everyone needs a Rachael in their life. This sister in law of mine is not only my very best friend but also the most fun and creative aunt! My girls crave time at Rachael’s knowing they will always leave her home with an armful of crafts and enough treats to keep them on a sugar high for days. I’d like to say that all the fun talked about below was just to make a great blog post. However, Rachael and her neighbors are THE definition of fun. Really and truly, it’s a constant party on Appaloosa Street! 

I often joke that I am a much better aunt than I am mom.  When my kids get home, it’s generally straight to homework, cleaning up their rooms, and usually some yelling and time outs in between.  But if the cousins come over, all of a sudden we hit party mode.  When I agreed to take on 3 extra littles this weekend, I knew I needed to come up with a plan.  Going from a measly two kids to a whopping five can be frightening. So I called one of my funnest neighbors and friends to help me come up with some super easy activities to keep this bunch from remembering that they love their mom more than me. 

(Chrissy & Rachael)

This particular friend Chrissy never ceases to amaze me with her energy and the patience that she has for not only her kids, but mine as well. She is a constant reminder to me that it’s more important to have fun and make memories as a family, than it is to stress about keeping an immaculate house, a clean face, or making beds. So, first of all, we decided to put together an after school donut bar for the kids. This was so easy and the kids had a blast. Gold and I got straight to work making homemade mini donuts on the handiest little donut maker. We did this while the kids were at school in order to minimize the chaos. Then we set up a table in the front yard so that all the neighborhood kids could come by and make a donut.  Keeping the donuts outside meant no mess inside my house. We made tons of donuts and frosting and had  lots of toppings to choose from.

 Since it was a Friday night, we thought it would be fun and easy to have a backyard movie night. Again, this allowed us to keep all the kids outside where they could run, play, and be wild without worrying about messes or breaking anything. We set up a projector and chairs, snuggled into some blankets and  popped some popcorn.  Settling in to watch a movie helped the kids wind down and relax before bed. Slumber parties generally scare me when I think about how little slumbering there is compared to partying.

 After the movie, it was off to bed. I have to say I am pretty lucky to have the husband that I do. He was so great to spend his day off making little tents out of PVC and sheets so the kids could have an indoor “campout” together. When they saw them, they were actually excited to hit the hay. The idea of camping was so much more fun than going to bed and really helped us to get all those yahoos to sleep.

 The girls were excited to wake up from their campout and have a craft ready and waitin
g for them. After all, it’s not a party with these girls if there isn’t some crafting.  When picking a craft for more than one child, remember to minimize your workload by picking something easy enough for them to do themselves. I’ve made that mistake way too many times. So this time we went simple with little paper bouquets. I bought  a kit so that everything was already cut out and ready to be put together. This helped the girls not lose interest before they even got started. I feel so blessed to be able to spend such fun quality time with my family. I know they won’t be little forever and try to always remember to embrace their craziness and just go with it, instead of trying to keep everyone in perfect order. In the end, a fun time was had by all… Especially me.

xxo