Unexpected Guests

Woke up early to rain and darkness. The sun just broke through about an hour ago. Bob is gone, off to his weekend gig. Riley ran off to the neighbor's to play. It is just Sid and I... Nice... Made us some blueberry Belgian waffles, having some coffee, planning my next move.
Yesterday was my cousin's daughter, Natalie's 7th birthday party. It was a "Barbie" party. There were about 10 1st grade girls there. Natalie's excitement at seeing all of her friends at her house was contagious. My aunt had her dressed in all of her finest and she looked gorgeous. Just like the party girl should look. She had her hair down instead of up in her signature pony tail and looked fabulous. The girls and I were there to help. Jill had two stations. The first was decorate your own picture frame. Jill took pictures of each guest with her favorite party. My aunt printed them out lickety split with her photo printer and they were in there freshly decorated frame in no time. I made Natalie's with her. I made sure I did each embellishment with her approval. Her classmates helped me interpret Natalie's choices. I am amazed at how these 6-7 year olds are so in tune to Natalie and understand her language, her disability, etc. They just treat her like another kid in their group and that is exactly as it should be. The other station was beading. Riley handled the frame decorating and Sid managed the bead/bracelet/necklace thing. I was proud of them both. My cousin and aunt thanked us many times over and I was quick to tell them that my girls and myself have been to many birthday parties and know the drill. Jill made it easy by having everything set up perfectly plus it helped to have such a great crowd of little girls. Rambunctious? Yes, but sweet and cute and cracked me up.
One of the funniest parts of the evening started out at the beginning. I was helping girls with Barbies as more guests were arriving. One mom & daughter came in the front door with a large Golden Retriever. Myself, my aunt and cousin all thought "hmm... kinda weird..." the dog was quite friendly, letting girls pet it, sniffing Barbies, and then over to the party food. That is when my aunt asked the mom if it was her dog. The mom said "no, I thought it was your dog or another guest's dog". The dog was quickly shown the door and shooed out! We are thinking it was a neighborhood dog, saw a bunch of people, smelled a party and thought "why not?" Hilarious...
This afternoon we are going to the beach house. It is high time that we all get together again and we have some more birthdays too. It's always good to see everyone and hang out, reconnect... It looks as though the sun is going to play hide and seek all day. It's out, it's gone... It's kind of out... sheesh...
Tomorrow starts a new week. I have lots of grocery shopping to do, the fridge looks like a hollow cave. Girls have a normal week of school, Riley has a field trip to the Museum of Flight. Excited for her.
The T.V. is on behind me and it is Will Farrell playing George W. Bush, sorry but it's freakin' funny. I do love me some Will. He kills me.
Tonight is Oscar night, I am setting the TIVO so that I wont miss the red carpet and the beginning. That's the best part.