September 9, 2017-Happy 12th Birthday (party) Reagan!

(click here for today's pictures)

• I slept as long as I could this morning even though our bed became a revolving door of kiddos laying down for a few minutes. I answered more questions before my head was off of the pillow than are on the SATs.
• Birthday party days are always hard no matter how big or small the party it. I woke up thinking about the nap that I am going to take tomorrow and I will go to sleep tonight thinking about that same nap. The first order of business this morning was getting myself semi-ready, making my bed, emptying the dishwasher and pulling out the dishes for tonight.
• Campbell and Keaton want to help me so badly. They don't care what I asked them to do but they just want to help. This is great but some time, for just a few seconds of the day, I want to be quiet and do something by myself. I know soon enough my house will be empty and I'll be wishing some kiddos were still around to help. Anyway, I did my best to put them to good use and they worked hard.
• They helped me fetch things from all over the house and Reagan even let them help finish her chocolate palm trees. I don't think we ended up with any pictures of them but they were really cute. After the palm trees were finished, I sent Graham outside to help Robby, I gave Reagan a list of things to do in the house and then I loaded up Campbell, Keaton and Whitman in the car to head to the store.
• We ran to Walmart first and my Whitman could have stayed in the toy aisles forever (I could have stayed in their clearance section for a good while today buying presents but couldn't with my little helpers with me.) 
• After Walmart, it was back to Kroger. We did some speed shopping and were in the store for less than 45 minutes. I let the kids push one little grocery cart and they did great taking turns with the little cart. No strangers were ran over but by the time that we left, I was very glad that I had worn my tennis shoes and not my flip flops otherwise the back of my heels would be black and blue.
• Back at home, Graham was having a blast because after quite a bit of yard work, he was able to drive Robby's lawnmower. As soon as he came back inside, he was quick to write me and tell me that he drove it and drove it fast. 
• Reagan had cleaned all of downstairs, straighten the boys' room, (she had already made all of the beds) and vacuumed downstairs. When we came home from the store, the house was clean and straight.
• Soon Jason brought Anderson home and everyone made themselves sandwiches for lunch. Reagan and the girls made the fruit kabobs which made my entire kitchen a sticky mess. I think that I am still sticky from all of the fruit juice. 
• Then it was time for the ballgame. Most of my food for tonight had to be made at party time so there wasn't much for me to do. I did decide that I could make the rice a bit early. I followed the directions-6 cups of rice and 2.5 quarts of water. At the end of the cooking time, the rice was so incredibly watery. I was quite confused so I thought that I would try again with another cup of rice while I tried to boil out the water from the first batch. Again, that rice was soupy.
• I was puzzled about what I was doing wrong until I re-read the directions. The amount of water I was adding should have been the size of the pan for me to use-not the amount of water. I guess I probably needed the help of Keaton and Campbell to get that right. Thankfully, Jason was able to pick up another box of rice for me on his way here tonight.
• Robby and I made the shish kabobs for tonight during the last half of the game. We did cheat a bit and use chicken that we cooked in the oven along with pineapple, peppers, onions and tomatoes. That way when Robby grilled it, he didn't have to worry about cooking the chicken.
• Pops showed up soon to help make the ham and cheese croissants. Reagan had made some eyes to put on top of them so they looked like little crabs. So tonight's menu consisted of chips, dip, salsa, shish kabobs, fruit kabobs, popcorn chicken, corn kabobs and ham and cheese croissants. 
• All of Reagan's buddies started arriving-Kaleigh, Cate, Kennedy, Lilly, Emma, Sara and Camryn along with Dana, Grannymom, Grandpa, Nonna, Pops and Jason. Robby had tiki torches out front along with Hawaiian music playing. The girls played outside for a bit and then we ate.
• After eating, they were all quick to run back outside while I prepared the cake. It was one of our oreo Blizzard cakes from Dairy Queen. I put paper umbrellas around it and the top of the pineapple on top of the cake. It was delicious! (May even get me a piece when I get these kiddos to sleep tonight!)
• Then Reagan opened up her presents-Hobby Lobby gift cards, Tropical Smoothie gift cards, shirts, jewelry, a duffel bag, an amazon gift card, a beanie and probably a few other things that I can't remember.
• After the grands and brothers left, we began the games. I had about 12 minute to win it type games for the girls to play. This kept them busy for a very long time. Afterwards, it was time to watch a movie-Amber had suggested Soul Surfer and since it was a Hawaii-ish movie, that is what we watched.
• The girls are currently upstairs watching it (it is midnight now) afterwards, it will have to be teeth brushing and bed. I probably should have saved my blog writing for bedtime because I will have to sit outside the door shushing people until everyone is asleep.
• Overall, I think that Reagan had a pretty good birthday party. I just can't believe that we have a 12 year old!