Unexpected Party

I didn’t wake until almost 8am. Once I was up I got moving right away. I prepped a pot of coffee then whipped out my sit-ups and push-ups. It was really cold outside – about 23 degrees. While enjoying my coffee I settled in at my new PC and did some writing. I planned to spend a lot of time later in the day trying to get all of my pictures, music and documents moved over. I played on my PC until just after 930am. Neither Bella or Mindy were awake. I headed out on my run at 945am after a work week-like stretching session and then bundling warmly. I ran four miles without incident. Both Mindy & Bella were up and about by the time I got back home. It was already closing in on 1030am. For the next hour I moved my data from one machine to the other using my external hard drive. Mindy planned on going to yoga at 1130am. It was gonna be my job to pick up Jacob from last night’s sleep over and then take him to get a hair cut. Unfortunately, Bella wasn’t too happy about having to go with me. She really wanted to go next door and play with Makayla but she wasn’t yet home from her grandparents. I assured her that we’d have fun (I.E. shopping, lunch, etc). She warmed to the idea. After a quick shower, we left to fetch Jacob. I knew roughly where the house was but beyond an address, I didn’t have an exact location. Mindy provided loose instruction. Insert Bella. She rode with Mindy last evening in the dark to drop Jacob. As we rounded a corner she told me to go straight ahead. Sure enough, straight ahead was the dead-end Mindy referred to, and there was Jacob out playing in the yard. Amazing! Jacob was covered in mud head-to-toe. And as soon as Bella mentioned haircut, Jacob went defiantly silent. Great! There was no way I was going to take him to get a haircut in the shape he was in. We altered our plans and headed home first. Jacob refused to exit the Trooper then refused to change his clothes in preparation for departure. I gave him a few minutes to reconsider his options before over reacting to his initial response. That worked. Soon we were off to get our haircut at Great Clips. At Great Clips I recognized Laura as the girl who’s cut Jacob’s hair a time or two past. She cuts it better than anyone else. She took Jacob, and another girl, Jessica, I think, took me while Bella sat, watched and waited. Our haircuts took no more than 15 minutes. We both looked handsome afterwards. This time I remembered to bring my good hair gel from home. Out in the car I fixed my do before heading next door to Target. At Target, I let the kids picked out Xmas presents for their mom in addition to everything else we were there to get. We also picked up two new movies, Night at the Museum II and Monsters VS Aliens, storage tubs for computer hardware, football cards for Jacob, and Sponge Bob cards for Bella. Yep, that’s right. They’re making Sponge Bob trading cards now. After leaving Target we connected with Mindy via cell phone. She was curious how our afternoon was going. She also asked that we pick her up some fast food after I shared our plan to stop at McDonald’s for Bella and Taco Bell for Jacob. We were home by 2pm and Mindy a few minutes later. I spent the rest of my afternoon moving and organizing files to my new PC. Very tedious work. For some reason my movie files didn’t get picked up by my WD external hard drive. Plus, I was struggling to find an easy way to move Outlook Express email folders into Outlook. In fact, I still haven’t figured that one out. Mindy decided to do her weekly grocery shopping around 5pm. In the meantime, I made arrangements to pick-up the grand kids, Rocky & Landon. Our plans were altered slightly when Lindsey phoned to tell us that Rocky wouldn’t be coming. He apparently elected to stay with his dad another night. She wondered if we still wanted Landon to stay. Of course we did. In addition, I called Ashley to ask if Olivia wanted to stay the night. She did. Great. The only problem, I didn’t have car seats in the Trooper. I called Mindy, who was almost finished with her grocery shopping. I’d simply wait her return then take the Honda. To further simplify our plans, Kelly and Lindsey dropped Landon off at Ashley’s so I’d only have to make one stop. Great! It must’ve been near 630pm by the time Mindy was home and I left to fetch the wee ones. We had a number of gently used household items we offered to Ashley. I loaded them (Xmas decorations, a wooden shelf, and an old computer chair) into the Honda before departing. As she often does, Olivia was bubbling with joy when I arrived to pick her up. Just can’t help lovin’ her. Landon was being his usual bashful self. I took a few minutes to carry in the gently used items then loaded up the kiddies and headed for home. Mindy asked that I phone her as soon as we were heading that way. She was planning to order pizzas and subs. The kids acclimated quickly, and it wasn’t long before the pizza and subs were there. Mindy shared that she invited the neighbors down too. By neighbors she meant Kenny, Chrissy and kids, but also Mike & Teri and kids. This was Mike’s 40th birthday. We ate pizza before any of the neighbors arrived. The kids were having a ball. They insisted I put in the new Monster Vs Aliens DVD. Keeping the house neat and tidy with the wee ones running around is nearly impossible. I started drinking Jack & Coke early.  Meanwhile, this was a big college football Saturday, but because of my determination to get my new PC situated, I didn’t catch even a snap. However, I caught a recap of the early games on ESPN radio while picking up the wee ones. Cincinnati beat Pitt. Alabama was crushing Florida. And USC lost to Arizona. Texas & Nebraska, meanwhile, were just getting underway. While the movie whirled, we got a surprise visit from nephew Joe and Jerry. Must’ve been near 8pm. They played Apples-to-Apples with Jacob and Mindy while I entertained the wee ones. Soon the neighbors arrived, first Chrissy, Jake & Makayla (no Kenny) and later Teri, Mike, Evan, and Emily. Our house was soon bustling with action, young and old alike. We sang Happy b-day to Mike and a handful of folks had some cake. I was too full of pizza. We eventually got some music whirling while the party continued. The kids were having fun too. Probably round 11pm the wee ones fell asleep and Mindy & Joe carried them up to bed. The party continued longer. Not sure what time it was when Chrissy headed home but I'm guessing near midnight. Mike & Teri headed home with their two as well. Me, Mindy, Joe and Jerry kept the action going even longer. Eventually Mindy headed to bed. I suspect near 2am. Jerry crashed a short time later. Joe & I stayed up talking about life, God, and who knows what else. I remember gazing at the clock and seeing that it was after 3am. At the same time, Joe was busy looking for something to eat. I excused myself to bed after telling Joe to treat the house as his.