Graduation Party

We celebrated The Banana’s graduation last Saturday with a backyard party. Grandma Kathy came, along with Auntie Dot, Uncle Don and cousins. Neighbors popped in, along with a few teachers and scores of teenagers from swimming, orchestra, choir, and school. It was overall a success! I was so happy the weather cooperated, because Plan B was holding the party inside our house, which would have been difficult! The weather forecast made me very nervous all week, but in the end, it worked out perfectly!

I am a terrible party planner, but luckily, The Banana is a very good party planner! She even made her own fantastic sign (pictured above). We combed the photograph archives and The Banana made a photo board with pictures from growing up. We hung extra pictures on a little clothesline next to the shed by the deck. My favorite part was the table of photographs of all sorts of people we thought might come to the party with The Banana. It was a little activity where each person searched for their photo and then wrote a message on the back and stuck it in a basket. The Banana also had a little table with friendship bracelet supplies, and we covered the eating tables with big paper from our paper roll and put out paint sticks for people to draw. So many people drew so many fun things, and the tables were covered by the end. Those paint sticks are irresistible.

We had tables for random treats: brownies, veggies, fruit kabobs, and make-your-own-waffles with toppings. I was nervous about the waffle bar, but it ended up working great! The Banana also had a Shirley Temple bar.

Unfortunately on Wednesday before the party I was weeding a flowerbed and somehow managed to really hurt my back. There was no specific “ouch” moment, but by the end of the day I couldn’t really stand or walk, which meant a quick trip to the doctor Thursday morning. She gave me some medicine (highly sympathetic about the grad party situation, since she has kids who know my kids and knows the scoop about graduation parties), which helped, but even with the medicine, there were many truly painful days. I made it through the party, but It was as painful as C-section recovery, and I’m so, so thankful that now after a week things are finally feeling better and I can walk and move again.