Tonight we invited everyone from our Church over for a Hot Dog roast and bonfire. I know that sounds like we must have had hundreds of people over, but the invite was so last minute (emails, facebook, and phone calls the day before) that we only ended up with a couple dozen -- which was the perfect amount!
Why the gathering? One of my dear friends has been planning a move all Spring. Her husband has already found a job on the West coast and has already been out there for a couple months. Because the rest of the family's move always felt so distant "it won't be till Summer," we didn't plan any going away party. This week marked the end of the school year and it suddenly hit all of us at Church, my friend and her five kids are going to head out as soon as they can. Their house still hasn't sold and a place out West isn't finalized, but they really could leave any day now.
So, I panicked. I had to do something before we sent them off. Next weekend I am in Illinois for Youth Conference and after that I am in Utah for vacation -- I'm certain they'll be gone by the time I am back. So this weekend was it! Luckily everything worked out perfectly and almost all the families with little kids her children's age were able to come.
I have no pictures.
But trust me, we BBQ'd and bonfired it up! We provided hot dogs, drinks, and paperware, and some of the other moms brought sides and deserts. The macaroni salad and jello fluff were to die for. Reid had thirds on the salad and Nell scrummaged around all the used plates for more jello. Mostly, they loved having a backyard full of people their size. Reid really was in heaven, and I must say he was quite the host. As people first started showing up he'd say things like "Come here, let me show you our fire," or "You can come over here, this is where we are having the fire," and then he'd guide them to their seats. Considering the fire pit is the center of our backyard (and certainly hard to miss when surrounded by 10 deck/lawn chairs), I don't think anyone needed an usher, but his skills were adorable anyway.
Aside from the BBQ, lets talk about the need to have a clean house when company is over. What is that all about? I spent the entire morning cleaning my house. I should be more specific, I did not go on a none stop cleaning rampage, but I spent an hour here, an hour there. It was a process.
I started in the toy room and kid's bedroom -- which made perfect sense since absolutely no one would see those rooms. No one! So why? I don't know, but for some reason my house just doesn't feel clean unless those rooms are clean. And the toy room needed some serious re-organization, so that was nice to get out of the way. Also, Reid was a great help in those two rooms. He loves vacuuming. He even helped me push the beds around and get under the rugs. Yes, I'm talking a serious deep clean around here.
During the kids' nap I tackled the kitchen, which mostly means my counter piles. Oh curse you endless piles of paper! And curse you endless piles of "things to go downstairs." How do these piles become so invisible until it's time to have guests over?
Luckily the bathroom and front room only needed a tiny bit of tidying, since they are cleaned fairly regularly each evening. Reid was bummed I wasn't going to bother scrubbing the toilet. That might be his favorite chore.
But seriously, I knew that almost no one would come into my house. And none of the women did (a couple kids and dads had to use the bathroom, but that's it). One of the mom's and I discussed this need to clean later in the evening. She talked about how she doesn't have people over often cause she feels like she has to have a spotless house. I told her I did spend most the day cleaning even though I knew no one would see the end results. We insisted neither of us cared if the other's house was spotless when we come over ... but still that need to have a show ready house is so strong!
I'm not really complaining about it, because I must say, I love a clean house. But my gosh isn't this the truth:
Why the gathering? One of my dear friends has been planning a move all Spring. Her husband has already found a job on the West coast and has already been out there for a couple months. Because the rest of the family's move always felt so distant "it won't be till Summer," we didn't plan any going away party. This week marked the end of the school year and it suddenly hit all of us at Church, my friend and her five kids are going to head out as soon as they can. Their house still hasn't sold and a place out West isn't finalized, but they really could leave any day now.
So, I panicked. I had to do something before we sent them off. Next weekend I am in Illinois for Youth Conference and after that I am in Utah for vacation -- I'm certain they'll be gone by the time I am back. So this weekend was it! Luckily everything worked out perfectly and almost all the families with little kids her children's age were able to come.
I have no pictures.
But trust me, we BBQ'd and bonfired it up! We provided hot dogs, drinks, and paperware, and some of the other moms brought sides and deserts. The macaroni salad and jello fluff were to die for. Reid had thirds on the salad and Nell scrummaged around all the used plates for more jello. Mostly, they loved having a backyard full of people their size. Reid really was in heaven, and I must say he was quite the host. As people first started showing up he'd say things like "Come here, let me show you our fire," or "You can come over here, this is where we are having the fire," and then he'd guide them to their seats. Considering the fire pit is the center of our backyard (and certainly hard to miss when surrounded by 10 deck/lawn chairs), I don't think anyone needed an usher, but his skills were adorable anyway.
Aside from the BBQ, lets talk about the need to have a clean house when company is over. What is that all about? I spent the entire morning cleaning my house. I should be more specific, I did not go on a none stop cleaning rampage, but I spent an hour here, an hour there. It was a process.
I started in the toy room and kid's bedroom -- which made perfect sense since absolutely no one would see those rooms. No one! So why? I don't know, but for some reason my house just doesn't feel clean unless those rooms are clean. And the toy room needed some serious re-organization, so that was nice to get out of the way. Also, Reid was a great help in those two rooms. He loves vacuuming. He even helped me push the beds around and get under the rugs. Yes, I'm talking a serious deep clean around here.
During the kids' nap I tackled the kitchen, which mostly means my counter piles. Oh curse you endless piles of paper! And curse you endless piles of "things to go downstairs." How do these piles become so invisible until it's time to have guests over?
Luckily the bathroom and front room only needed a tiny bit of tidying, since they are cleaned fairly regularly each evening. Reid was bummed I wasn't going to bother scrubbing the toilet. That might be his favorite chore.
But seriously, I knew that almost no one would come into my house. And none of the women did (a couple kids and dads had to use the bathroom, but that's it). One of the mom's and I discussed this need to clean later in the evening. She talked about how she doesn't have people over often cause she feels like she has to have a spotless house. I told her I did spend most the day cleaning even though I knew no one would see the end results. We insisted neither of us cared if the other's house was spotless when we come over ... but still that need to have a show ready house is so strong!
I'm not really complaining about it, because I must say, I love a clean house. But my gosh isn't this the truth:
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