So as I mentioned in my previous post, we had a pretty busy couple of weeks and the end cap on all of it was Evie’s birthday party.  We didn’t invite as many people as we could have (have I mentioned how large my family is?) so it wasn’t as bad as it could of been.  All in all I think we were expecting about 30 people, mostly immediate family, co-workers and Chicago friends.  Still, 30 people are 30 people and especially coming back from vacation just a day and a half before, we had our work cut out for us.  We had a lot of cleaning and setup to do and a lot of food to prepare.  Sara was pretty stressed out, but I think everything came together in the end.  Special thanks to my and Sara’s mom for helping with last minute stuff.

First let me say that something about the fresh air seems to stimulate Evie.  She just loved camping.  So much so that I was sad to have to come home and force her to be inside!  She learned many new skills over the trip.  She learned to point to many new things like the tent and the trees, she learned to kick a ball (“goaaaaaal” as taught by Bad Uncle Nathan), she learned a few new words, especially “shoe” and “hat”.  Every time she goes outside now she reminds us, “Hat!  Hat!”  And, of course, she learned how to walk.  She has improved every day since then and she will now walk > 20 steps no problem.

So everything went great, although it went very fast once it got going.  I don’t think I talked to a single person at the party.  If I wasn’t working on something I was snapping pictures of the birthday girl.  All of the presents she got were just absolutely perfect.  I thouht we might get a bunch of random toys, but every toy and every outfit was well thought out and just perfect.  There was one duplicate present, a Melissa & Doug band in a box, but it was such a perfect present for her that I can see why two people would get it.

I think the most important (but least mentioned) part of the party was my awesome grill master skills.  I had > 30 hamburgers plus at least 2 packages of brats and a package of hot dogs going all at the same time.  I actually got to bust out all my grilling tools that I never get to use, including my “Pirates get all the booty” apron.  Everything was grilled to absolute perfection and, though nobod complimented me, I could see in their eyes that they respected, nay feared, my awesome grilling prowess.

We ended up having a lot of extra food, so we will be eating good for a while.  Everybody said the food was good and I think we had a good selection.  Evie didn’t particularly rip into her cake that Sara made special for her, but she liked it enough I think.  After everybody left it didn’t take too long to get everything back to normal (and upload all of the pictures to Snapfish!)

All in all a good day, but not one I’d be looking to repeat any time soon!