Oh What A Night!

I only wish I were posting about the song -- and yes, I have it going through my head right now, so you can share in my misery.

Last night, we were invited to a friend's house for dinner. They live in our neighborhood, and ordinarily we'd walk, but it was raining, so we needed to drive. And about forty-five minutes before we were supposed to be there, I realized that I didn't have anything I was bringing. Oops.

So I made Nana's Apple Cake because a) it's dairy free -- her son also has a lactose issue, so it's appreciated b) it's yummy and c) it has three ingredients so I can get it cooking quickly. Yeah.... At 4:52 I finally called her and asked if I could borrow her oven to finish cooking it. We were supposed to be there at 4:30.

Her kids are both boys, and very (stereo)typical boys, at that. Little Miss was super excited to see them, and she ran into the house and started playing. Eventually, they migrated into the basement where the bouncy house was turned on. That required adult supervision, as four children in a two person bouncy gets a little dicey. Especially with some kids who like to turn it on and off. And some kids who like to try to make the walls fall down.

My friend and I left our husbands downstairs to monitor the situation while we chatted and got dinner finalized.

Fun Event A: Mister Man came upstairs holding his arm and crying. And no, I don't know why my husband didn't handle it while downstairs, so don't ask.... He'd fallen on his previously broken arm, at which point we all decided maybe the bouncy house wasn't the best thing to play with right now. Tears gone, we started dinner.

Fun Event B: My friend made great chicken fajitas. She crock potted the chicken in salsa. Neither child would eat the fajitas, although both tried them, to their credit. Neither child would eat the spanish rice my friend made either. She very kindly made them chicken nuggets. And I only twice had to shush Mister Man from going on about how yucky the food was.

Fun Event C: After dinner and before dessert, the kids were all playing upstairs. We had each gone upstairs to check on them a few times when her older son suddenly burst into loud howls. Yep, Mister Man stabbed him in the eye with a Lego toy. We're still not sure of the whole story as Mister Man didn't get much of a chance to explain himself beyond the typical "but it was an accident" story. And her son never game many details either. Mister Man was too wound up from the long weekend and was sent on his merry way home with my husband to go to bed.

Fun Event D: After dessert -- ok in the middle of dessert after my friend's younger son decided he was done eating watermelon and Little Miss quickly followed suit -- the two went upstairs into his room. I checked, and he had turned on a Baby Einstein video. Whatever. I went back downstairs until a couple minutes later when we felt and heard the thud. And then the screaming. I was closest and made it up the stairs first, and my friend's husband was close behind. I opened the door to the room and saw the dresser tipped over with her son underneath. I pushed the dresser back onto the wall, by which point the dad was scooping up the boy to check him out. The television that was atop the dresser had crash landed on the bed, missing Little Miss by about three inches. Her son appears to be fine, although many of the objects that were atop the dresser previously had broken in the fall. The dresser didn't land all the way on her son, as the foot of the bed stopped it. Apparently, he had tried to climb the dresser to reach the VCR to change the movie, and it had tipped. He fell back against the footboard of the bed and probably has a pretty bruised back. The drawers also fell out and landed on his legs, but thank GOD the dresser was stopped by the bed.

We left after that.

I asked her to let me know how both her boys are doing today, but I've gotten a few good reminders and lessons here.

1) Tonight when I get home from work, I am anchoring Little Miss's dresser to the wall. Mister Man only has a very low bureau that he could never topple. But I'm still considering anchoring that, as well.

2) Dinners need to be earlier. We'd been invited for 4:30 with dinner around 5:15 or 5:30. That's too late for an evening out for us. We need to be eating between 4:30 and 5 because social dinners take so long to eat. And the dinner never starts on time anyway -- my friend had forgotten to make rice, so we didn't start our meal until almost six.

3) These kids need to be supervised when playing. While the wee ones can play with some kids with only check ins every five minutes or so, with these friends, there needs to be an adult present at all times.

4) My husand needs to stop showing the wee ones Spiderman. Spiderman cartoons from the 1970s has turned into his little ritual with them, and I've been against this for a number of reasons: it pushes bedtime too late, they get into a very demanding mode where they expect Spiderman, I don't like them watching much tv anyway, and although this is a very sanitized version there still is cartoon violence. In talking to Mister Man after I got home (who was absolutely filled with shame and crushed and could hardly talk, poor kid) I determined that he wasn't trying to hurt anyone but that Spiderman shoots things out and throws things and the bad guys just get captured and don't get hurt. He can't draw the line between what's ok and not, and with his issues in knowing where to draw the line already in some of his social issues, Spiderman is just too much for him. Spiderman didn't necessarily cause the Lego stabbing, but it certainly didn't help the matter. My husband, fortunately, had already thought of the same thing, so we're on the same page.

My biggest concern is that Mister Man is in daycare all morning with the boy he "stabbed" (it was a Lego square ship like thing, so stabbing is a little severe of a description). The boy even when we left was playing the drama up to the hilt -- not saying that he isn't hurt but his mom said he was milking it. Mister Man has two boys in daycare who already get on his case about everything where we've been working with the teachers to ensure the behavior is appropriate. If my friend's son starts talking about what Mister Man did in daycare, we could have a problem. We'll see when I get home.

And meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out when the right time is to call my friend to apologize again for Mister Man and to see how both her kids are doing. But I'm not expecting a dinner invite anytime soon.

I'm Having A Party!

I've mentioned the SITS girls before and all the cool things they do. They aren't the only cool chicks out there though. AllMediocre is another community site that I like a lot. They feature bloggers there in a number of different ways, some of which are pretty creative like the Lonely Blogosphere Guidepost Series.

They recently posted about a suggestion that one of the members Auds at Barking Mad had around celebrating the community and friendships that the blogosphere has created. She created the idea of having an online dinner party.

Sooooo, I'm going to host a dinner party here, and I get to invite ten bloggers. So come on over, and let me know what you're bringing so I can be sure to fill out the dinner with whatever's missing. Somehow, I think we'll be fine on alcohol and chocolate, but maybe I'm wrong!

So first of all, Anymommy from Is There Any Mommy Out There? needs to come. She's so involved in AllMediocre (she hosts the traveling series mentioned above), and she's a great writer on top of that. She has three small children, and I admire her for that. That and for her fortitude, particularly with regards to potty training. She also writes some of the most honest and raw posts I read, many of which make me cry -- in a good way, of course!

And Steph from Manic Mommy needs to come. She's the one who first got me thinking that I could actually do a blog myself. Plus, she has a great kitchen and three great kids who are older than my wee ones, which means I have a lot to learn from her. Besides, she'll eat chocolate off the floor. How can you not love that?

I can't forget to invite Dawn from Because I Said So! This was the first blog I really ever read, and for a long time, it was the only one (not so anymore!). Dawn is absolutely hilarious to the point that a publisher approached her and now she has a book coming out next August. Besides, anyone with six kids needs a night out, right?

Angela from Hello, Dahrlin' definitely needs to come. She's my inspiration to do the 100 pushup challenge -- and I'm halfway through! Plus, her cooking rocks. I want to make sure my guests are eating well. And oh yeah, she cracks me up.

Angie from Angie's Spot of course needs to come, too, and not just because she's Angela's best friend since forever. She's always such a good commenter on my site (even on posts I don't mean to post!), and she's got such a good attitude. I can so see her kids playing with my wee ones. And may I just say that Big A and Little A have rockin' hair? But no kids are invited to this dinner party!

I'd love it if Kellan from On The Upside were to join us, as well. Kellan is another entertaining writer, and actually she's an overachiever with two blogs, as she writes On the Flipside, as well, which is a great thought-provoking site that I don't frequent enough. She has sixteen year old twin girls, and she's the one teaching them to drive. And she has more kids, too (cute ones at that)! The best part is that no matter what the situation, she always finds the silver lining.

Karen from The Rocking Pony is another must-have. If you don't already know, Karen makes some of the coolest kids' shirts I've ever seen. Plus, she breeds puppies, so if you're lucky you'll see cute puppy pictures (awww!). She also has some pretty entertaining kid stories that will make you laugh and cry. All her kids will be in school for the first time this year (just like Manic!), so I have a feeling that she needs some support -- or a party, I'm not sure which yet.

Debbie from This is the Life AND Blog Around the World has to come, too, along with her alter ego Betty. Not only does she keep up two blogs (another overachiever), but they're hilarious. I'm still chuckling about the Webkinz that needed chocolate milk from ummm, well, Debbie. And if you haven't signed up for her Blog Around the World (especially if you're from Illinois -- we only have six signed up, and I want more than California's 14 last I checked), head on over there. This is another fun place to find new bloggers to check out.

Kathy from Mama's Losin' It, please join us, too! She runs a daycare out of her home, which alone provides plenty of stories. Seriously, a mom wanted her to use a washcloth throughout the day for diaper changes. The same washcloth all day long. Rinsed out throughout the day. And there's all sorts of other chaos she can share with us that will keep us rolling. And maybe feeling a little better about the chaos that's in our lives. Plus, I love her apron, and I hope she'll bring it.

Oh, and I can't believe that I almost missed Jaci from Ravings of a Mad Housewife. Her face alone shows her need for a nice glass of wine to share with us. And she's so level-headed. She was blogging too much so pulled the plug on her blog before realizing that was a mistake (and I'm so glad she did!). Instead, she put together a blogging constitution that I think we can all agree with. Yep, another woman who cracks me up. I think we're going to be doing a lot of laughing at our party.

I'm getting hungry just thinking about the dinner and all the fun we'll have. And trust me, limiting this to ten bloggers was hard for me, so please don't feel left out if I didn't include you in this list. By no means does this mean I don't love your blog. Trust me, I read wayyyy more than 10 on a daily basis. Oh, heck, it's an open invitation. Just show up and let me know what you're bringing!