A Very Merry Unbirthday To You!

May was a rough month . . . a busy and rough month. There were many days (including weekends) when I went without seeing or spending time with my family because of all of the craziness that was going on at school. But things have settled now, and it is time to catch up.

Gracie turned 8 on May 28th. May 28th is not a great birth date for the child of an educator. Things tend to be a bit hectic every year as I am trying to wrap up the school year and am pulled in many different ways for activities and assemblies. So, I have become the master of manipulating. I am GREAT at coming up with wonderful ideas that DO NOT include me cleaning the house, buying party favor bags, and hosting a traditional birthday party. For years we have gotten away with saying, "You can pick whichever friends you want and we will take them to _____ (fill in the blank with build-a-bear, the movies and out for ice cream, etc.) for your birthday." And it has worked fabulously! Until this year . . .

Like I said earlier, May was CRAZY so I convinced Grace that we would have to wait until June to have her party, but that we would do something super special since she had to wait. I tried everything - all of the usuals, plus a few new tricks - gymnastics party, jumping party, Main Event. Nothing worked! Every time we talked about what she wanted to do for her birthday, her only answer was, "I just want to have a party at our house with a sleepover." EVERY TIME!!! I couldn't get her to budge. So, in the end, I gave in. We had a few friends over. Took them to Mimi and PawPaw's house to swim. And they got to sleepover. Although there was very little sleeping at this sleepover. I tried to sleep, believe me, but there seemed to be a constant string of giggles coming from the other end of the house for most of the night. I think they had a great time, and I'm sure it was only the beginning of having a houseful of girls over for the night - isn't Brad a lucky guy?!?