Wow. Just WOW.

But a good WOW and what a good WOW.

Birthday. PARTY.

What a good time. Let's start with the people.

Gift # 1: Seeing our community
People full of love for Khubz and Scully and me. At one point I looked around and thought, these are the people out in the world that will make it okay for Khubz to go out in the world. And we met all of these people all over the place. Some at work. Some at play. Some at daycare. Some at school. Some at birth. And these are the people the kinds of good people that Khubz will meet as she moves through life. In fact, we live in a world full of good people and it is possible to find them and even to gather them together in park! There were people who came from down the street, down from iowa and Scully's parents who--surprise!--showed up at the party.

Gift # 2: Having a great time.
A nice balance of games and free play. The best park in town with a spongey ground perfectly made for falling down. We got our itsy-bitsy spider on and I mean really on. There was the spider toss with spiders handmade by Scully. A spider pinnata with a great goofey smile courtesy of Aunt Jalila. And of course, there was the itsy-bitsy spider itself. All in all, a slightly creepy spider theme was pulled off for a cuddle-y, cutsey (and any other -ey sort of word you can think of) one-year old birthday party. For the record, Rhiannon took one look at the pinata and said "that's not an itsy bitsy spider. that's a fatsy watsy spider." Fatsy watsy it was.

Gift # 3: Partying without excess
I am proud of Khubz for doing so well at her party. I am thrilled that there were no meltdowns from kids or from parents. And I am totally proud of me & Scully for resisting the temptation of mommy meth. And surprise, surprise. No one approached us and asked for the itsy-bitsy origami party hats that were supposed to be on the spiders decorating the cupcakes. Not one person left the party in a huff because they were expecting itsy-bitsy balloon spiders. Lemonade and water was fine. Snack mix and cupcakes was fine. The park without an onsite bathroom could have been better but was ultimately fine.

There is more to say and many more gifts. Will post more later.