Come Hungry!

Has everyone heard of Tastefully Simple products by now? Yes, it's another home party where you drag all of your hungry friends over to pig out on their yummy food samples and encourage them to dig deep into their pockets, forking over their cash to enjoy the products over and over again.

It was good.

In fact, good is somewhat of an understatement. I'd have to say that most everyone had a really enjoyable time tonight. Back when I was a newlywed in a large house for entertaining and no kids, I had hosted just about every type of home party out there. Twice. Some, three times. You get the picture. Admittedly, I have loads of Pampered Chef, Longaberger and Mary Kay products to show for it. I guess that just seems to be a winter hobby to some of us in the north. You get to enjoy an evening sitting around with a group of friends, munching on hors'doeuvres and spending your cash as the pretty new items that you can't resist, filter through your hands. Yep. That's a home party.

So after all of this, I really thought that my home party hosting days were behind me until I attended a friend's party last month and booked from her show. The consultant is a friend of mine whose husband has been laid off and so, in a sense, I felt as though I was lending her a hand in her home based business. And as luck would have it, I really do enjoy the products from Tastefully Simple as well.

My guest count was a whopping 15 ladies at my home tonight with the guest of honor being Elaina's babysitter, Nancy. The reason that she was the guest of honor is because she has been caring for Elaina for over a year now and I have yet to have found a reason to just invite her over without feeling too awkward. Eric was occupying Elaina in her highchair playing with play-doh when Nancy made her grand entrance. Upon seeing Nancy, Elaina's face lit up and she demanded to be out of her seat at once. For the next 10 minutes, Elaina paraded Nanna around our house by her hand, showing her all of her toys, her play kitchen and provided demonstration of each. Needless to say, we started our party a little bit late.

The presentation and taste-testing went well and my efforts in preparing all of these fantastic sample dishes at 10:00 last night paid off. Once everyone was through rounding out their final orders, Nanna, once again, was lead around our upstairs by our 2 foot tall tour guide. For the second half of the tour, Elaina presented her bedroom and her favorite window in mommy and daddy's room where she likes to look at the cars passing on the street and where her toothbrush is too! No bones about it, Elaina is a goofball!

My story wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention how Elaina cried when Nancy had to leave. In fact, Nancy's sister, Mary (who often helps watch the kids) had come along too and Elaina was sobbing for her to stay also. It was heartbreaking as tears rolled down her cheeks and she cried out for "Nanna" "Mai-wee!"

It's just more evidence that our little girl knows how to love those who love her best.