Camp-out Cookout & Bed Bugs

This past weekend we invited some friends over for a cook-out to enjoy the pool and just catch up.  Its amazing how time flies when you have kids!

So allow me to paint the picture…

Even though our house is officially “under construction” the plan was for everyone to come over to swim and play in the backyard and we would grill.  So no need for a kitchen or worrying about cleaning up my house, right?

So, 5pm the Nelsons show up with their kids (4). Just as we get everyone in swimmies and Matt lights the grill the bottom absolutely drops out! Its not just sprinkling rain but totally pouring.

Everyone comes inside to my kitchen which has 1) new countertops with weights and tape that say "don't touch" and 2) no sink fixtures (so no running water in kitchen). My dining room table is filled with all my renovation stuff: paint samples & magazines, little purchases I have made like hardware and map shades, a light fixture that is put together,etc. etc.  There are no pictures on the wall and my house is an absolute wreck because there is no point in dusting or vacuuming until all of this is over.

The Renfroes arrive about 30 minutes later with their 2 girls (God totally told them to not bring there other 2 boys!)  and then Webbs arrive with baby Mary Tyler within another hour and it is full on camp-out party.

It was total madness but I didn't even care. The kids of course ran wild but there was nothing else for them to do and my thought was “destroy the house now because after we get through with this renovation there will be no more riding bikes, pushing the cozy coupe, throwing balls, bashing the floor with the plastic golf club, etc. etc.!!”

Poor Matt still had to grill out in the rain with a rain coat and umbrella because we had bought the meat and it wasn't like our kitchen was in order to do anything else inside.  I scrambled to throw the things off my dining room table to the floor so the adults could at least have a place to sit & eat.

The girls ended up going upstairs crawling in my bed and watching Dora (after jumping on the bed first!). They had to try on each other’s shoes and talk about their princess costumes. Total girls already!!

All in all it was quite a hilarious night!  I wish I had more pictures of all the chaos but managed to get these pics of the snuggle bugs with my camera phone (hence why they are not great quality).

Mary Tyler, Addy, Kate & Campbell 

… with baby Caroline thrown in!