Birthday Parties
They seem to be the only thing these days that drive me to post. I took N to two birthday parties this weekend, one on Saturday and one today. All four of us are exhausted. N from too much excitement, me from taking her to them, R from going to the one at the bowling alley, and K from taking care of R and dealing with a super exhausted N at bedtime. None of us are at our best. We need to reevaluate this whole party thing. Do we go to every party to which we are invited? No, because we end up with a weekend like this which was just overwhelming and we have no time to do fun things as a family. Do we go only to girls' parties? No, because it's good for N to hang out with little boys too. K and I are thinking capping it at one per weekend and discussing each invitation as it comes up. I worry about offending other moms in the class by not coming to their kids' parties, but we gotta keep our family functioning on an even keel. N is so naturally extroverted these days - as are most 5 year olds I presume. But she is also easily worn out and prone to horrible screaming tantrums if her schedule goes off. And we have eaten way too much cake. I need to become comfortable with graciously turning down invitations without feeling the need to give the specific reason why we cannot attend. "I'm so sorry we can't make it to little Johnny's party. We have family plans that day."