The Calm After the Storm, or Post Party Peace

And so as the craziness of the last 3 months begins to wind down, as I try to re-group and find myself again, to find my voice that had until now been such a constant companion of both my waking and sleeping hours (figuratively, folks!  My husband will readily tell you that my voice is already loud and clear on most days...), I can honestly say that while it was all such a whirlwind, it was the most exhilarating and rewarding whirlwind.  Never, ever, in my whole life, have I felt so fully-scheduled, so busy with interesting things and events and plans and dreams and burgeoning creativity, both personally and with/for Samantha.  It's been a real ride, and while I'm glad it's nearly at an end with the start of the summer season, I can look back with a real sense of accomplishment.

 

Saturday was Samantha's birthday party.  And while my creative juices did not flow as well as I'd hoped they would, while things didn't look quite as rich or as well put together as I'd planned, I believe that was because I never really felt the theme, was never truly sold on it.  I began setting things up in the park pavilion at 8:45am, and when Samantha arrived at 10, she looked things over, took a harder look at the pictures from Mike the Knight that were glued down to the tablecloths, and promptly dismissed it all in favor of a good romp on the playground.  I really suspected it would be that way, too, so I honestly wasn't at all bothered.  Now that that's out of the way, I can do something completely different next year, plan earlier in advance for it, and perhaps do a color theme again.  SO much easier, and with so much more visual aesthetic reward!!

 

The day was beautiful, sunny and hot.  A TON of Sammi's classmates showed up, which really made us happy, and her teacher, her resource teacher, and her former preschool teacher all came to celebrate as well.  A little bit of bittersweet came when a parent told me that upon receiving the invitation to the party, her daughter, a very, very sweet girl, told her mother that she absolutely had to go to Sammi's party because Sammi is so nice and because she was worried that there wouldn't be very many children there. 

 

I won't lie and say that statement didn't bother me. 

 

And, in the same breath, I will say that it elated me. 

 

She was honestly looking out for my girl. 

 

But it made me sad all the same.

 

Okay, enough of that.

 

There was lots of food, nearly not enough drinks, definitely not enough watermelon (so noted for future events...), and massive amounts of cake, since my mother's beautiful cupcakes went first, like wildfire!

 

We're so grateful to everyone who came, to everyone who cares about my girl, brought her lovely gifts, and spent time with her to celebrate her 7th birthday. 

 

If any of you are still reading these days, I hope you'll stick around!  I'm hoping to revive things a bit, get cracking on lots of new posts, and start babbling incessantly once again, as things should be.  Stay tuned!