Coming home and waking the dead...

So, this weekend was a whirlwind of activity.

It was Homecoming weekend for the girls which meant a football game and a dance. Kyle and I were planning on going to the game on Friday night, but we decided against it. Kyle had just picked up all the parts to his Halloween costume and was really wanting to play with the voice changer thingy. I'm glad we didn't go... it ended up being chilly, and windy and worst of all rainy. Poor Nikki came home looking like a wet cat. Kay bailed on the game and her and some friends walked to the Haunted House. I don't blame them, although I would have walked anywhere else besides there since I don't do haunted houses... I'm a wimp.

Saturday was the dance. I couldn't believe how beautiful they looked. I also couldn't help getting a little teary... this is Kay's last high school homecoming and Nikki's first. Nikki was a little nervous since it was a semi-formal, and she's never been to a dance like that. She didn't have a date, but she decided early on that she really didn't want one because she didn't want to have to deal with the drama of a guy at the dance. She instead went with a group of friends, and they had a great time. After the dance they went bowling. She said that was almost more fun than the dance. She told me that there were lots of people not sure what to think when a group of about 6 teens all dressed in thier dance clothes shows up to go bowling.

Kay went with her current boyfriend, James. They met up with some of her friends first. She went with one of her best friends, Heather and her boyfriend, Aaron. Kay's ex-boyfriend, Tony and his new girlfriend, Monica. They met up with some of her other friends at the dance. She stayed at the dance the whole time then they went out to eat afterward.

Both reported having a great time, and Nikki said that once she got there, she wasn't nervous anymore.

Yesterday was Kyle's bday party... wow. I must be insane. I had 14 kids in my house, all 10 and under. I'm so thankful that the weather was so nice, because I sent them all out to play. They played tag outside for a while, then they came in to make TP mummies, then back out side for team Simon Says and some relay races. Back inside for cupcakes, ice cream and presents and then time to go home. It was a lot of fun... we made mummy hotdogs (hotdogs with refrigerator dough breadsticks wrapped around them), mummy pizzas (english muffins with pizza sauce and string cheese with olive eyes) and some Alien salad (fusili pasta, spanish olives, diced tomatoes, italian dressing). The biggest food hit was the punch... well not really the punch, but the presentation of the punch. (In my find of the year, my $1.50 punch bowl from Goodwill!) I had lemon-lime punch (it was green) and the night before the party, I filled a rubber glove with water and red food coloring. Put that in the freezer to get it good and solid. When the party started, I poured the punch, and ripped the rubber glove off the ice hand and floated it in the punch. It was great. One of Ky's friends said that it was "the most funnest birthday party ever!" Coming from an 8 year old, I would say that's a great compliment.

I guess just letting the kids be kids was the best part.

By the time everyone was gone and I had gotten my house back to normal, I was exhausted! I sat down with a tall glass of iced tea, the cat curled up on my lap and just vegged for about 20 minutes. I listened to the quiet. It was wonderful.

Pictures will be up soon...