survival.

so i'm sure that you are all on the edge of your seats, wondering about last night??
t'was fine.
we more than survived...we enjoyed.

it's always good to see family that you've missed, meet family you've never met...

and incredibly humbling to realize that you were just complaining about it's possibility a mere 24 hours ago.

i pulled off pasta with a choice of alfredo or tomato-based sauce (thank goodness for canned items!) ... garlic bread (thank goodness for the freezer aisle!) ... caesar salad (thank goodness for pre-packaged lettuce!) ... and brownies with peppermint ice cream (thank goodness for boxed chocolate-yums and my schwans man - that convinced me to try it last weekend!)

the kids ran around and played dress up and terrorized our new play area downstairs. they laughed and giggled and bossed each other around. they made new friends and hugged old ones.

there was only one episode of tears...when my belly splashed pop in her eye. which led to indication that boy-families and girl-families are so different...the boy-families immediately thought that she had gotten "popped" in the eye. i, on the girl-family side...remarked that i knew instantly what she meant. i'm not even sure that she knows what "popped" could mean in a semi-violent sort of way! and the infamous pop vs. soda controversy...

the cats hid for awhile and decided to join the fun later. the dog consistently placed herself in the middle of the action and demanded much attention. she gave rides to the littlest of the kids and displayed her awesome sense of child-friendly canine.

survival was definitely trumped by enjoyment.