The angel food cake dinner

While Bryn and I were in Texas over the weekend, Brevan decided he wanted to throw an impromptu surprise party for one of his friends, Clayton.  Ryan agreed to help him pull it off, and they started planning the event that would be at our house Saturday afternoon.  From a few states away, I was very excited about the fact that Brevan was having many of his best friends over (and he even thought to invite a brand-new boy who just moved here!), but was feeling a bit OCD about the fact that I was not involved in planning the party.  I LOVE to have people get-together, so an impromptu party is right up my alley, but the mom/detail freak in me went into overdrive and kept asking the boys many questions on the phone, such as: 

"Did all the boys ask their parents if they could come?  Do the parents know they will need to drop off their boy and pick him up later?  Is the house clean?  No, I don't mean just the kitchen area.  I mean like the whole house - all those areas that I clean because I seem to be the only one in the family that notices they are dirty?  What activities will you guys be doing?  Oh, I think that movie is PG-13. You better check with the parents before showing it at the party.  Did you get enough decorations?  What will you serve for dinner?  What desserts do you have?  I think we are out of sour cream.  Don't forget to run to the store and get some first.  And when the boys arrive, make sure they all feel comfortable and are included in every activity."  I'm sure they were thrilled that I can even lecture them from afar. 

After getting home on Sunday, I found out the details of the party.  There had been plenty of food (pizza, soda and some homemade desserts that Brevan MADE HIMSELF).  The house had been clean enough, none of the parents had been asked about the rating of the movie, and one boy had burst into tears at one point and ran upstairs, but he wouldn't tell anyone what was wrong.  I've spoken to his mom about it, and she assures me that he had a great time and didn't mention getting upset.  So for the most part, I guess the party was a success.  I've been cleaning up candy wrappers, empty soda cans and popped balloons for days, so it looks like it was great fun.

Well, like I said, I got home from our trip late Sunday night.  I had all kinds of plans to get the house cleaned up the next day, come up with some fun ideas for a Valentines dinner the next day, get the bills paid, etc.  Instead, we had a snow day so all the kids were home.  And it turned out to be a lot of fun, but the already messy party-house became an episode of Hoarders.  That evening, I realized the girls had not prepared all their valentines to pass out the next day.  They had decided to create their own valentines this year, so I had purchased all the supplies, but they had run out of steam half-way through the project.  I stayed up until 11:30 creating glittery, colorful valentines.  Ryan thought I was crazy and gave me a lecture on doing too much for the kids and not requiring them to be responsible.  Dangit, I think he's right.

So on Tuesday morning I had so much to finally get accomplished before the afternoon when I had volunteered to help at both Lindsey and Brynlie's Valentines Day parties.  I was also in charge of bringing strawberries to both parties, since the room moms wanted the kids to make chocolate-covered strawberries.  After getting a few things done in the morning, I rushed to get Logan from preschool before having lunch with some friends.  Christine came with me in my van, and we decided that after meeting the others for lunch, we would stop by the store for the party food before driving to the Elementary for the parties.  On the drive there, she noticed my gas light was on and commented that I was almost out of gas.  I told her I would get some gas later, and that I had never run out of gas.  But that brought up a great story from the previous weekend when I'd been out of town and Ryan HAD run out of gas on his way home from church with the kids.  A new family in our ward happened to drive by soon afterward and rescued my stranded crew. 

After lunch, we ran to the store for the supplies before getting on the freeway to head to Kearney. Suddenly I noticed that my van was slowing down, even when I was pushing on the gas pedal.  Then I noticed that my power steering was gone.  Neither Ryan or I have ever run out of gas, and then it happened to both of us in the same week!  I quickly called Brenda, who I knew was shopping nearby, and she came to the rescue about 15 minutes later.  She took me (and Christine and Logan) to the gas station to buy a small gas can.  After returning to the van, I put the gas in and tried to start it.  Nothing.  So we had to go back to the gas station again.  Then back to the van.  We were all laughing pretty hysterically by this point.  What a crazy adventure!  This time the van started up, so I was able to drive it back to the gas station to fill it up ALL the way.  But by this time the parties were almost over.  I felt horrible that not only were my two girls going to be disappointed that I didn't attend the parties, but so were the rest of their classmates because they wouldn't have the food!  Not to mention Christine's 3 elementary school kids and Brenda's 3 kids, who also had to party without their moms.  While driving to the school, I realized that Brevan was going to get home before I would and the house alarm was set.  I haven't yet showed him how to operate the alarm, so by the time I called him he had already triggered the alarm and the cops were dispatched.  I got a hold of the police and reassured them that everything was fine at the house.

Once Christine and I picked up all the kids, we had a good laugh about the bags full of strawberries I still had.  On the way home from the school, we stopped at the store and bought the rest of the supplies for a Valentines Day angel food cake.  I figured my day had been so crazy that I wouldn't have time anymore to put together a great Valentines dinner, but at least we could have a yummy cake after dinner that would use up many of the strawberries. 

Unfortunately, the evening consisted of getting the girls to choir, picking up Brynlie early from choir so she could attend Activities Days at the church, picking up Lindsey when choir was actually over, and having Brevan, me and Ryan attend the Youth activity.  We didn't get home until after 9:00 pm, and no one had even eaten dinner yet.  I put the cake on a plate, sprayed whip cream all over it and topped it with a handful of strawberries.  Happy Valentines Day, family. 

I cleaned and organized for hours today, and I feel like order has returned to our lives.  I even made a yummy dinner to make up for the insane Valentines Day yesterday.  All is well, and I will never let my gas tank get that empty again.