A week ago Candy and I hosted our first social event since the Baby Explosion (tm): A Sunday brunch to celebrate the lovely bride's 35th birthday. This event had a lot to live up to, as the last major celebration had been the (Annual?) Turkey Fry Extravaganza, complete with immolation danger. We set the event to start at 11:30am, because, well any later and it would be lunch, wouldn't it? Turns out we probably could have used a 3pm start.
As I have probably mentioned before, getting anything done with two babies is difficult. If the babies refuse to be put down, as they are occasionally inclined, then there is a limited set of tasks one can perform. Things involving boiling, frying, whacking, heavy lifting, or scouring are just not do-able. Even more mundane or limited tasks, like organizing piles of paper, are greatly slowed by the presence of a baby tucked under the arm. With two adults, one can be assigned to baby duty, but not only does this cut man power in half, but a full baby freak-out (the odds of which seem to increase the more babies one is forced to juggle) will rapidly reduce either adult to a puddle of broken dreams.
I preface with all this info to let you know that even though we had a full week to plan, clean, and prep it should not come as any sort of surprise that virtually nothing was ready come Sunday morning. Some things we managed to scramble and address (garbage/table setting/cooler set-up), others were triaged away (backyard doggie-present clean-up/dresser remained solidly in the middle of the living room/extra table set-up). Some things just got dropped in the midst of the swirl people arriving, like all the cheeses were put out, but the giant box of crackers never left the cupboard. One nice thing was that everyone was more than willing to help out with the babies, so Candy and I were able to concentrate on our more party-ly duties.
Despite all the pre-game madness, the party appeared to be a rousing success. We had bagels, cheese, fruit, pastries, quiche, and waffles for roughly 25 people. Candy made something apparently called a "strata" that looks suspiciously like a giant omelette bake (heavy on cheese and egg). One thing I know for sure: People Love Bacon. I cooked up three pounds of the stuff on my stove's griddle (may it rest in peace), and it never seemed to last long enough to go from one side of the room to another. I cooked so much bacon that I over-flowed the stove's grease trap, which led to a more than mildly disgusting adventure in internal stove cleaning.
With all our running around, we did not get a camera out until rather late in the party, so you will notice a general lack of photos of the actual food. Scattered throughout this post are the shots we did get, which I like to call variously: Soft Focus of Caer and Child, Millie Angering a Baby, Kelly Takes Liberties With Our Bear, What Are Amy and Steve Looking At?, and Tim "James Dean" Powers.
I don't think we got any photos of ourselves, which was probably also for the best. I was running around so much that morning I never even got around to combing my hair, not to mention taking a shower. Luckily I generally sport a "ruggedly unkempt" look. That is the best way possible of saying I am kinda a slob.
It my cross to bare.
1 comment:
It was a rocking brunch. The best combination meal I've had in a long time. Thanks to your party, we have decided to get a belgian waffle iron.
I don't usually have full control of my face. It displays what it will.
Post a Comment