We were invited to Christy's Hawaiian 'Get Leied' birthday party this past weekend (she is the wife of my husband's colleague.) We enjoy hanging out with them, they throw such fun parties, it's a house full of Canadians from the office, and we hear familiar words and "accents" that make us feel at home. They just moved into a new neighborhood, and they have a huge field beside their house. (As we were leaving, there was a huge COW not 10 feet from their front door! And 29 or so of his closest friends just wandering around near him! Behind a fence, but still, that was bizarre as we don't live in the country!)

I needed a cute little gift bag or something to give Christy her gift, and I'd been procrastinating about what to do, as I wanted a matching card too. I remembered a single page of punch-out mini bags I got from my friend Lisa just this past week, so I pulled that out and it was perfect! It came with a little matching tag, so no card was needed. Dressed it up with a bit of ribbon and some fabric roses, and ta-dah! All done :)

When I heard that we would be going to the party, I found a site on Amazon of a lady that makes and sells wooden earrings (Christy cannot wear anything with a metal post.) LOVED these earrings, 100% wood, and dark, like I've seen her wear before. And the best part, the maker of them lives in Texas, so I received them in just days. Christy really liked them, and said she will enjoy wearing them.

While we were inside, talking and laughing, and nibbling on the tons of food, and of course drinking just a tiny bit (champagne & pineapple juice punch, with strawberries and pineapple chunks added!), the kids were all playing upstairs. And there were a lot of kids, mostly boys. Nicholas & Benjamin were having a great time with Ryder & Dani and all the others. While we were laughing and talking, the kids somehow just managed to sneak into the back yard and get going on the slip and slide. Nicholas did ask me if he could play on it, which I had to say no to, as we didn't bring any change in clothes. Not five minutes later, a parent came in and said, "You know your boys are sliding and are all wet. Didn't you say no?" Yes, yes I did. But really, how could they resist? All the other kids were playing and having fun, and honestly, water isn't going to hurt anyone. The only problem was that once they were done playing, we had to leave right away, as they were truly soaked.

So, we stayed for a good time, not a long time :) We came, got leied, ate, drank, laughed and had fun. Wish Ed had been able to be home so he could come with us too. I know he had been looking forward to it, and some former coworkers that have moved on to another company were there, he would have enjoyed catching up with them. Oh, well, next time.