Xanthapalooza

If you want a week to zoom by, return from a trip Sunday night, plan a birthday party Monday.  Tuesday, find out you're having a baptism Saturday.  Wednesday, plan the baptism and run a million errands.  Thursday have the stomach flu and still run a million errands, Friday finish the baptism details and throw a birthday party.  Suddenly, it's almost Saturday! 

Tuesday night, I was annoyed.  I was on the brink, mostly mad at myself for making this pitiful mistake.  The ward missionaries had come over to give us a special Family Home Evening lesson on baptism.  They brought a plate of cookies, blindfolded Xanthe and told her she would have to find the cookies with my help.  Oh, the layers of stress for Xanthe!  Food, blindness and confusion.  She crashed right into the kitchen counter and started to cry.  I was frustrated that I put politeness above protecting Xanthe's feelings.  The missionaries, our neighbors whom we love, did a wonderful job, but between Xanthe being super-stressed and all of us finding out the hard way the Ptolemy wasn't wearing underwear, I was on edge.  As our friends were leaving, I said, "See you Sunday!"  That's when they realized I didn't have a clue when Xanthe's baptism was. 

By the time Scott got home from guitar a few minutes later, my voice had gone up two octaves.  I had already ordered new invitations, emailed or texted everyone, posted the info on the blog and arranged to pick up the white dress.  Scott peeled me off the ceiling and I was able to calm down enough to identify the problem:  I could do the baptism on short notice, but I wanted to have fun doing it.  These are the things moms live for!  I felt like the fun had been zapped out of it and replaced with frustration.  I felt a little better when I was able to take Xanthe to Sister Foote's house to choose her white dress she will wear in the water.  I tried to feel peaceful and enjoy the moment.  Xanthe was cute.  She asked for a dress with no buttons or zippers, and we found the perfect one.

For the rest of Tuesday night as I taught violin and then sat at Golda's flute lesson, I made my lists and gathered my thoughts and basically decided that this week was going to be about me enjoying the birthday and baptism preparations.  And I did, I truly did...after a brief freak-out phone call to Jennie.  :)

Thank heavens I live in a culture where the typical response to an invitation is, "What can I bring?"  In actual fact, the food is mostly assigned out, and I have had all of my whims (pink ribbon...glass vases...beach umbrellas...tablecloths...) answered by friends and family.  It's been a fun week.  I week with a purpose, a week with a peaceful energy, a week with a color scheme.

Here's day one of Xanthapalooza, the beach birthday party.  It began with a half-dozen kids tearing down the street from school and ended with those same kids slurping blue jell-o out of plastic cups.  In between, there was beach-themed nuttiness.

 Xanthe gets a little overwrought.

 We made necklaces with seashells and beads.

Then we blew up balloons and opened presents.

 While all this was going on, Ruby made cupcakes, which the girls dipped in graham cracker crumbs and topped with umbrellas.

 I have learned something about parties:  You could do one right this minute if you had to, yet you could plan for a month and still have things you had to leave undone.  You're ultimately going to do something that falls somewhere in the middle, so relax.  Like I'm always telling Xanthe, "Go with the flow.  Just go with the flow."