The Funover

What do you get when you cram every ounce of fun you possibly can into one day? One super mom with one super headache.

I planned Elijah's 4th birthday around UB's homecoming weekend because I thought it was convenient. This way, my parents and one of Elijah's best friends, E.J., could be here for a small party and catch a fun football game. So we kept Eli's birthday small, and, other then E.J. and his parents, only invited family. After planning that, I planned to also see old college friends...being that it was homecoming and all. So the plan was to start our day with Eli's party around noon, head to the UB tailgating to see my friends at around 3 or 4 for a 6 o'clock game, and then go out to eat with said friends after the game. I also promised to make a guacamole salsa, and jalapeno poppers for the tailgating party mostly because I love making food. Then I realized that one of my good friends was unable to make it to the tailgating for any of the fun and food and I, of course, promised to bring her a plate of food at work between the party and the game. After planning all that, I discovered that my one year anniversary of blogging was that very same day, and of course there had to be some fun involved there too, right? And so I planned a drawing between my group of followers on blogger, and my followers on facebook for some fun free give-aways.

So lets list the things I had to do:
1. Clean
2. Clean a lot! There are people coming, for goodness sake.
3. Make a cake. Did I mention Elijah specifically requested a Nemo cake? Super.
4. Make frosting.
5. Make salsa and jalapeno poppers.
6. Don't forget the chips!
7. Clean some more.
8. Get the air mattress ready for my parents.
9. Make sure we have tickets to the football game.
10. Make food for Eli's party of about 15 people.
11. Oh my gosh! I didn't wrap his presents!
12. Write all my followers down on tiny pieces of paper for drawing contest.
13. CLEAAAAAN! 

By Friday night I had begun to panic. Suddenly I realized how very little time there actually was for doing everything I had actually planned. To top it off, we planned on a brunch style meal for Elijah because he loves pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage, and because it was an early party. Late Friday night we changed the menu. What was going to be homemade pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage turned quickly into a taco chili I could throw in the crock pot, and Jelani volunteered his famous cheddar garlic biscuits. At approximately 10 pm on Friday night the yellow cake had been made, but not frosted. I had hoped to have that completely done and out of the way before Saturday, but...what can ya do?

I spent all morning Saturday running around like a maniac. I quickly realized that the cleaning I had done all week really should have been optional because once you cram 15 people, including about 6 children into our small apartment, plus food, plus presents, it looks as though the place hasn't been cleaned in months. Do you think I'll remember this next time and stress about it less? Nope.

At about 3 I realized I still had food to take to my friend (thank God I'd already set that aside), and we probably weren't going to make it to the tailgating until closer to 5. No big deal. I ran the food out, and got back to get myself ready for the football game. At about 5 I realized we'd be lucky to make it in time for the kick off...forget about tailgating. We rushed to the game, rushed to park, rushed to visit for a few minutes with my friends on our walk toward the stadium, and rushed to get our tickets and find our seats...in time for the second quarter. Phewww. The jalapeno poppers never got made, and the guacamole salsa was still in our fridge.

But through all of this rushing, and all of the chaos, it was such a fun and blessed day! Elijah got his first bicycle.

 Thanks to my baking, and Jelani's decorating skills, Eli's cake turned out pretty great!

 And we had a great time with family and friends!

...And then there was Sunday.

My eyes have always been bigger than my stomach, so to speak, and so when I envisioned a fun-filled birthday/homecoming/party/eating/contest drawing weekend, I consumed it all and vomited it all back out, spewing my crazy, one step behind, out of control antics all over our fun-filled time, leaving me with what I affectionately call the "funover."

Sunday morning I woke up with a headache that continually got worse. On our way out the door for church, my mom dropped her perfume bottle on the bathroom floor, shattering it to pieces, cutting open her thumb, and leaving our whole apartment smelling like Perfumania. After chuch, just when I thought my headache and nausea were subsiding, Chastity threw up all over the table at IHOP, and we came home to dog poop all up and down our hallway floor. FunOVER if ever there was one.

So I guess, now you can see why I am just now getting to this long overdue announcement. And with no further ado, the drawing went as follows: the first drawing is for those of you following me via facebook.

 Drum roll please!

And the winner is:

The next drawing, and for the grand prize...




<---This was super dramatic.















The grand prize winner is: 

Congratulations to Kara, and Megan on your winnings! Now I hope you didn't expect to get them right away because it would have been no fun to make them first for random people and then send them to whoever won. Now that I have my winners, I can make them more personal, and once they're ready I will contact you for your address.

And just like that, the fun is back on!