Post Party

I love the calm after a storm. The day after Christmas or a birthday party when the house is full of new toys and busy happy children. All the fun and chaos has wound down and the fridge is bursting with left overs. No where to be, no pressing matters. Just hanging out with the kids playing. It's my favorite kind of day.

Riley ran happily up and down the hallway with her new pink shopping cart from Grandpa Tom and Grandma Jo starting at 7am. I helped her potty and then watched her laugh and play with her new toys until almost 9am. After a breakfast of cinnamon rolls (store bought) we watched Tangled. Mike got up as the movie was ending and made some coffee. As we were finishing our coffee Riley climbed right into the oven of her play kitchen and asked for "help! Daddy Doot." She couldn't shut the door from inside.

After Mike closed her in he sat Indian style waving at her and laughing. Soon the game evolved into Mike being the mailman trying to put mail through the slot. Sometimes she'd push it back out and some times Mike would pull it back, it was great fun.

Now that it was after 10am I got everyone dressed to go bye-bye with Grandpa and Grandma. They took turns on window patrol as I watched from the couch. It's all very exciting right now with Aunt Jessie in town. After a while I realized they were running late and called them away from the window. The next thing I knew Riley was back in the oven. This time Isaac joined in the game pretending to cook her and then delivering mail. Pretty soon it was after 11am and Isaac was back pacing by the window and Riley was starting to come unglued.

If they didn't have plans I would have given Isaac a task or started a movie and tucked Riley in for nap right then. I also would have laid back down myself. We'd read The Places You'll Go last night so I had images of the waiting place in my head. Riley tugged impatiently at the giraffe shirt her other Grandma gave her. I explained one more time why she couldn't be naked and distracted her with her new dollies (wooden dolls with magnetic clothes). I gave her a snack and decided I better get dressed as noon was fast approaching.

Soon enough I took Riley to the potty and she kicked off her shorts and jumped down to scamper to her bed. Go Dog Go was her selection for the afternoon. We read it and I texted that they maybe too late to include everyone. I have to give Riley credit for making 30min passed her nap time the day after a party at all.

Sometime after noon they arrived and my sleepy girl stumbled out of bed and ran into Aunt Jessie's open arms. We hurriedly dressed and re-shod her and off they all went to Chuck E. Cheese. I had hoped Mike and I would go for a long overdue movie date, but he was not in the mood (of course!). Honestly, Riley was coming down with a cold and I didn't know until they were walking out the door that, that cesspool was the destination. Between that, the late hour with no nap, the overstimulating environment they were off too and a nasty rash starting Mike and I were afraid to go to far from home in case they needed to bring her back early. I sent messages to all of their phones until I got a response and then we decided it was ok to go to lunch.

I like to go out in general, to movies and meals, Mike does not. So, when he wanted to go to lunch I was excited. We didn't think about it being a holiday weekend. It was very crowded. I decided as we were driving away with most of my lunch in styrofoam that I need going to movies and out to eat friends if I'm going to spend the rest of my life with someone who flees crowded restaurants and refuses to see movies in the theater. It was still nice to go out by ourselves though.

We come home to the quiet house and I wrote all the thank you cards for Riley's presents. I even delivered the first one when the kids got dropped off. They were both a little sluggish and hungry when they got home, no wonder. So, Mike grilled up some hotdogs and we fed them early.

Riley cooked and pushed her shopping cart after dinner. It was just as adorable as it had been at 7am. She took a bath and requested Cat In The Hat. After she was tucked in she scampered out to find the "baby dina-sir" (Buddy from Dinosaur Train) she got yesterday. They're in there snoozing together. Sigh. Isaac watched a Shrek movie after dinner. Then he took a long shower which sounded like it involved an epic battle between space ships and built a "Halloween Lego roller coaster." After that he went to bed.

Mike and I watched some t.v. and I finished up this blog. There's just a different quality to these post holiday days. I'm so glad everyone gets to spend the day together again tomorrow.