I am delighted to introduce you to Gianna as my guest blogger today!
Traveling over from Sweet Peas & Buddies, my name is Gianna. I met Ginny through a project called Mommy’s Piggy Tales in 2010 and have been checking up on her ever since. I really like Ginny and I believe her to be so genuinely comforting and hilarious. That’s a great combination!
Ginny, thank you so much for having me guest post. I appreciate the opportunity.
Have you ever done something that at the time it seemed like a great idea, but as it came closer to the idea materializing, you didn’t think it seemed like a good idea anymore?
That’s what happened to me on May 1, 2012.
Let me set the stage:
Characters
Chris–husband, dad–works retail so has a funny schedule
Gianna–me, wife, mom–works 24/7 at home without a lunch break.
Sweet Girl–in 1st grade at the local public school–very friendly–wanted to have a party
Storygirl–5 years old, starting Kindergarten next year–kind of is too smart for her own good–will do whatever her sister wants to do.
Sir–3 years old, loves to be included with his sisters–very social
Squirt–2 years old, can entertain himself fairly well
Setting
Our house, maybe 1200 square feet with one bathroom and almost a 1/2 acre yard. We live in Minnesota (very important to know this).
Springtime
Plot
In March, Sweet Girl asked me to have an Easter Party. Easter this year was on April 8. Living in Minnesota does not afford well to outdoor parties before Memorial Day. If you live in Indiana or south, you have no idea what I’m talking about as the trees are in full bloom by April 10. But in Minnesota, the trees may be lucky to be starting to bud by then. So even though this past year was an exceptional winter, I have lived too long in this state (like my entire life) to change what is ingrained in me.
I looked at her and said, “Nope. That’s not going to work.”
I watched the disappointment creep into her face and decided to not squelch her spirit of hospitality and quickly fumbled, “Ahh, but how about umm a May Day Party instead?”
Which was met was much cheering and hooting and joyous shouting.
It was set. We were going to have a May Day party.
No problem. Easy peasy…..especially when you have someone tell you want to do–in this case, my sister-in-law Ruhama who I love to pieces.
She said, crepe paper flowers
flower hunt
maypole dance.
That’s easy. I could totally do that. Especially since Chris would have to work the night of the party. He wouldn’t be around. But I had it all under control.
I had nothing to worry about.
Then…..
I started to invite people. We invited Sweet Girl’s 1st grade class (not the entire grade, just her class). We invited all of our neighbors. We invited Sir’s Wednesday night Cubbies class. We invited Storygirl’s Wednesday night Cubbie’s class. And to top things off, I got on facebook and invited a bunch of old co-workers and friends from different times in my life.
Before I knew it, we had invited over 100 people.
It was about that time that I started getting on my knees and praying for good weather because there was no WAY I was going to be able to have that many people in my house. 1200 square feet, remember?
We adjusted some of the activities so that it looked like this.
4:30 arrival
4:40 group story
4:45 Stations: crepe paper flowers, mayday wreaths, make-whatever-you- want booth, face painting, and games (that I put the neighbor boys in charge of).
5:30 Maypole and a grand exit.
We also had snacks. That was easy. A friend had loaned me a 5 gallon cooler for lemonade, and I had baked 4 cakes, 2 pans of brownies, and 2 pans of rice krispie bars (do you bake those?). People had offered to bring things so I had taken them up on it. We had plenty of food, too.
Everything was set. I knew how we were going to make the Maypole, and people were coming over early to help. I even had an answer for the issue of bathrooms.
“The party is one hour.”
This was going to be a piece of cake.
Except the morning of May 1st, Sir came up to our bedroom and crawled into bed with us. I think he had gotten cold so he wanted to snuggle.
As we lay there, just minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off, I held my little boy and thought, “What have I done?”
And it didn’t matter because I had no way to back out. Even if the weather was bad (which it wasn’t).
Beep! Beep! Beep!
It was go time!
Come back tomorrow to see if Gianna survives May Day, 2012!
What fun!
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Thanks for stopping by!
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Gianna is a wonderful guest blogger. I can't wait until the next post to see how the May Day Party went!! And yes, I still make Rice Krispie Bars for my family too!!!
"Which was met was much cheering and hooting and joyous shouting."
Because I know everyone involved here, I can totally hear this happening. 🙂
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Okay, you've got me hooked… I have to see what happened!
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How cool your day was really terrific, I hope more days like this to come to you..