We like to party

Greetings friends and family,

We are in the midst of a record breaking week of partying.  We hosted 4 parties in 3 days.  Could we have planned better to avoid this?  Yes, but hind sight is always 20/20.  We ponied up and took the challenge head on.  Our teamwork was top-notch because we had no choice. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you commit to doing something.  So here we are doing everything in excellence and to the best of our ability knowing that Monday is a holiday and we will certainly rest!

Party #1: The Valentines Gala event for the Young Adults.  The truth is that Valentines Day sucks for singles.  There is no way around this.  We are the young (single) adult leaders so I decided to plan for and host a Valentines Day Gala event.  I only take credit where it is due.  Believe me, I'm taking every bit of credit for pulling this off.  It took about two weeks of planning, phone calls, trips to the store, and an army of guys.  We (the guys) did 100% of the work with a single purpose in mind.  We wanted the ladies to be treated to a night of being loved the way God loves them.  I worked with the guys all week long and it took several discussions for them to really get it.  We helped the ladies feel WELL:  Welcomed, Enjoyed, Loved, and Led.  A completely self-LESS night of giving our best.  These is the team of well-dressed guys:

 and here are the lovely ladies we honored:

Two men were outside waiting for them to arrive.  They escorted each lady via the rose petal-covered walkway and entrance to the house.  We cooked and served a meal consisting of three different entrées and dessert.  Each lady had a (very expensive) rose she raised when she needed something.  The team of guys performed like a well-oiled machine and the ladies were incredibly impressed.  Here is the table.

The men made sure the ladies did absolutely no work, but instead just enjoyed their time together.  Kendra helped quite a bit before hand because when you stick 6 guys in an unfamiliar kitchen (or any kitchen for that matter) it is difficult to know where things are.  Everything worked out well and I was extremely happy with the results of our efforts.  I asked Kendra if she had any feedback or heard anything from the ladies that we could have done better.  Nothing!  whew...  that was worth it.

Everyone left around 10:00 PM and we started cleaning and preparing for Easton's birthday party scheduled for the next morning.  We stayed up late then hit the ground running to get everything ready.  Before Layla left to hang out with her friend I took a picture of the two of them in front of the TMNT themed backdrop, which Kendra made.

The table was set up with cupcakes for the friends and a big turtle faced cake for Easton.

The banner with his name and some TMNT pictures from Etsy were hung on the wall with care.

His good friend, Zander, was first through the doors.  Easton had enough masks and weapons for each of the four friends to join in the costume fun.

Kendra made Sewer punch from lime sherbet and ginger ale.  The boys got a real kick out of drinking sewer punch.  go figure....

 Lunch time went well as the boys were introduced to each other.  As expected, they could care less about the decorations and didn't consider the amount of effort Kendra went through.

We didn't wait 30 minutes after eating lunch before getting into the water.  We didn't even wait five minutes...  straight to the hot tub for turtle time.  

I asked the boys to give me their toughest turtle impression and this is what I got. Makes me laugh every time I see this picture.

Easton blew out his candles and dove face first into the delicious cake.  I had to drag it away from him half way through the enormous piece because of his eagerness in devouring the whole thing.

Easton is a big fan of opening presents in front of the guests.  We let him and I'm very proud of his responses and level of excitement for the gifts he received.  Here is his friend Will telling him how to play the Angry Birds game he just received.  

The party was wildly successful.  Easton was happy and all of his friends said they had a great time.  Kendra was right to guess that boys just want to play star wars and TMNT all over the house.  I'm happy we didn't go to Chuck E Cheese or a bounce house.   We may do that next year, but at age five the simplicity of just creating an atmosphere of playing is all Easton wanted.

Next up:  Layla's princess party!  and my mentoring group dinner (party #4).

See you soon!