As John said, all we had to do was clean the house and ta da, a party! It's true it took a lot of cleaning. I don't think the toy bookshelves have been moved in years. Same with the toy kitchen, which we hauled off to John's office. I have moved the sofa, but I'm still finding pine needles from Christmas. John took down the storm windows, and I mowed the lawn. Rose rather grudgingly wiped the outside table, and David insisted on using his toy broom to help sweep.

The relatives keep being startled by how clean and tidy the house is. Today, however, David, N., and Ariana are playing ponyville and dress up, so it should be getting back to normal.

The party was just fine. Our zydeco dance class came over and brought lots of yummy food. We were hoping they'd all stay and dance a bunch, but they seemed to have suitcases to pack and shopping to do. I'm always startled by people having tasks that don't involve childcare. I keep assuming life gets mellower when the kids get older. I am blithely forgetting all the week-ends I spent grading.