PAR-TAY!

Yes I am indeed alive.  Barely.  I wasn't sure I was going to be awake this week considering I had about a total of 10 hours sleep all last week.  See Andy and I decided to have a Christmas party on Saturday night.   The amount of time and energy that goes into preparing a party like that is one thing.  We did it before we had kids.   Add taking care of 3 kids while doing it, and you put yourself on a different playing field.  One that means you're up making Christmas cookies until 12:30 every night.  This is our second year doing it. So yeah, not much time to update on here.  So sorry about that, but the party was a success even if we are a little crazy to do it with three kids.  Let's just say, all the Christmas DVD specials have been watched at least once at this point.  (Some twice.)  

Some of you may be wondering, "where did the girls go on Saturday night?"  This was probably the part that caused me the most anxiety.  Trying to get them to sleep BEFORE the party started.  I'd love to say we just dropped them off at my parents or in-laws, kissed them goodnight and told them we'd see them early afternoon the next day, giving us enough time to sleep off whatever hangovers we were bound to wake up with.  Unfortunately, both sets of our parents live in Florida, therefore we were stuck trying to prepare for the party and get them to bed, mostly on our own.  So, they got to have a slumber party in mine and Andy's room.  We moved Lana's mattress to our room, Sonya has a little inflatable bed, and Georgia got the pack and play.  

Georgia was actually pretty easy to put to bed, since she had one nap that lasted only an hour and a half.  She protested for about 30 seconds, then passed out.  One down!  The other two proved to be more of a challenge.  I expected this. 

 First we let them stay in their beds in our room and put TV on to watch, which was a big treat.  Then I went to turn off the TV around 7:45,  to try and get them to sleep.  At that point they wanted to know who was at the party.  Thankfully, nobody had arrived yet since the party wasn't even starting officially for another 15 minutes.  Not to mention it was raining.  Lots and lot of rain like we never get in Los Angeles, so people would be arriving late or not at all.  Rain here is like snow anywhere else.  People FREAK out.  However, I knew some people would be arriving soon and then it would be all over, so I had to get them to sleep fast.  

I promised them both some sort of prize the next day if they would just be good and go right to sleep.  Who was I kidding?  Right before I left the room Lana said to me, 

"Mom, can I come to your party?"

It broke my heart, just a little bit.  She asked so genuinely, like she really wanted to come and party with us.   There was a part of me that wanted to tell her sure she could come, but then the rational I- still-have-shit-to-do side of me took over, and turned her down. 

"Not this time, Lana.  This is a party for mommies and daddies.  Next time okay?"  I promised her.

"Ooookkaaayyy," she said a little sadly, then laid down.  

 I closed the door, went to finish my party prep, and they went to sleep like little angels. The End.  I wish.  If you actually believed that you haven't been reading this blog very long.  Or at all.  So no, I was back in there at least 6 or 7 more times.  Each time I gave them a new threat or a new bribe.  I finally ended with promising them a cookie in the morning, if they would just go to sleep.  This is what seemed to finally work.  A cookie.  For breakfast.  Yup, I was desperate.   I think they fell asleep somewhere around 8:30-8:45 and luckily, there weren't a lot of people at our house yet.   

The good thing is they did sleep throughout the party.  I think the murmur of a party going on is actually very comforting.  I know it was when I was a kid and my parents would have parties.  I would get excited about the party too, and for some reason felt comforted when I woke up to hear it going on.  Lana did wake up toward the end of it, but that is her usual wake up in the middle of the night time.  Andy brought her out so she could see what was going on and then she went right back to sleep.  She did get to come to the party after all!  

The next morning they were up WAY to early.  I made Lana lay down in bed with us for a while, then put a show on for them to watch in the living room.  Luckily, Georgia was still sleeping.  Sonya took it upon herself to get the cookie I had promised them.  I guess a promise is a promise, so I wasn't upset about it.  Even if they did leave cookie crumbs all over the floor. Oh well at least  I didn't have to get out of bed to give it to her, so that was a plus!  

Overall putting together a party like that with three kids in tow is quite a task, and perhaps a little crazy, but we managed to get it done.  Truth be told we had a great time and I do like throwing parties, so it's totally worth it to me.  Not to mention the fact that even though we don't have family here to help us, we have a ton of friends who pitched in.  My friend Julian, some of Andy's friends from work, and especially our neighbors across the street, Kelly and John, who helped by playing with the girls on Saturday and CLEAN UP on Sunday.  You guys rock!  Because really isn't that what the holidays are all about?  Helping each other out so we can ALL get drunk, eat lots of food, and have a great time.