My 3 year old will be turning 4 this weekend, Sunday to be exact.  But her party is scheduled for Saturday.

I got a bit spoiled by my 5 year old's party this year.  She had hers at the museum, and all I had to do was show up.  They decorated, brought the cake and ice cream, planned the events and even supplied goodie bags for all the kids. 

This one is a swimming party at the YMCA.  And I have to do all the work.  We get to swim for an hour and have the party room for an hour.  We get to arrive a half an hour before the party to decorate.  I have to bring the cake and drinks and all the other stuff that is involved with having a birthday party for a 4 year old. 

So last night, the girls and I went shopping for decorations, plates, napkins, and of course, new swimsuits, because why would they wear last year's swimming suits to this years birthday party?  I had planned on buying the birthday girl a new suit for her party, but when you go shopping with two girls, there is no way you can get away with just buying one new swim suit. 

So, we went to Factory Card Outlet and bought plates and napkins, tableclothes, a center piece and wrapping paper.

Then we went to Deals to buy goodies for the guests, and a bunch of other stuff that we REALLY needed, like new flip-flops and headbands and pony tails holders. 

Then we went to Target to buy swimsuits.  They both picked out bikini's.  My husband will kill me when he sees that I bought his little girls bikini's.  Oh well, they just looked too darn cute to say no.

And this was all after soccer practice. 

After all these stops, we realized we had not eaten supper yet and American Idol was starting in about 10 minutes and we were on the other side of town.  (We have priorities, you know, 1. Shopping, 2. American Idol 3. Meals)  We drove through McDonald's and raced home for the start of AI.  We made it, just in the nick of time.

As I sat on the couch to enjoy my grilled chicken sandwich, I realized the girls had not taken bathes yet, and bedtime was less than a half hour away. 

I threw them in the shower, ran back and forth between the bathroom and the TV, shuffled around my husband trying to get ready for work (he slept late because we were out shopping, oops), and rather than enjoying my chicken sandwich, I more like, ummm...  inhaled it. 

Guess what?  After all that, the girls were ready for bed only 15 minutes later than their normal bedtime!  WooHoo!!

I, of course, still had a lot of work to do, but it could all wait until after American Idol.  I still needed to clean up the living roon (you know, pick up the fries and pickles that did not end up in anyone's tummy), go through the back packs, get my bag ready for work, wash pj's (Thursday is pajama day at school), fold the laundry that was in the dryer so I could put more in, and, well, cry for a while.

Why was I crying, you ask? 

My man, Matt Giraud, was sent home on American Idol tonight.  I kind of knew it was coming, but still...

So for now I will make it through the rest of the week, party on Saturday, and wait for Matt's cd to be released.  Come on, Matt, I'm waiting.....