The Girl had a wonderful birthday party on Saturday morning. We, the parents, were a bit sleepy having spent long hours the night before cleaning house and then having the birthday girl pop into our bed at 6 so she could share her wiggly-ness with us.

But everything came together, the kids loved wearing their butterfly wings and flying around, and the pink butterfly cake turned out pretty well, if a tad on the dry side. The girl was given a lot of dress up clothes and bling-bling. If it's sparkly and/or pink she probably owns it.

That afternoon we cleaned the van and rearranged carseats, because we were going to another party almost two hours from Nashville and were driving another couple. With the right combination of carseats, we can fit three across, but buckling all the children in is tricky and makes me glad that we have a van and room to spread out a bit. With modern carseat laws requiring children to stay in their special seats until they are 18 (well, maybe just 8) it becomes very difficult for a family with more than two children to own anything other than a minivan or extra long SUV.

Getting the car cleaned out was worth the hassle of moving carseats. The children were antsy on the road, but travelled pretty well and the party was a fun one. Celebrating the first marriage of two people who had reached an age where undoubtedly neither ever expected to marry, but they found each other and seem to positively glow. So the occasion was a happy one and the food was good too.

For once I was also wise and packed the children's pjs. We stripped them down and put on their pjs before heading back on the road for home and they slept almost the whole way, which certainly made more a quieter and more pleasant return journey.

Next weekend will be eventful as well. I'll be going to my tenth college reunion. How did time pass so quickly?