Most of the time I have my grandsons to myself, as their other grandma lives a long ways off, in Argentina, to be specific. Last week she arrived in California for an extended visit, and I was wondering how things would go for us while she was here. What I discovered is that two grandmas are better than one!
Sunday was the older grandson's birthday party--turning 6!  My daughter and her husband are very sociable and love having friends over, so they invited all their friends with 5-7 year olds over for a morning-long brunch.  Another little girl from the same kindergarten class was having a party that same morning, so they knew not everyone would arrive at the same time.  It was just open brunching and partying from 10 a.m. until about 3 p.m.


Things got a little more complicated because the birthday boy woke up with stomach cramps and vomiting, and was curled up in his bed miserable when party time came.  But the guests all knew each other, the kids are all friends, and there's a big backyard with a trampoline in it.  There was an average of one adult per kid, so supervision wasn't a problem, and there were other fun activities such as cupcake decorating and a bubble machine. Lots of good food and lots of good friendship carried the day.

The whole family worked towards getting things set up, but once the guests started arriving, my co-grandma and I were in charge of the kitchen:  making Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger waffles/pancakes to order, replenishing dishes with fresh hash-browns and scrambled eggs, whisking away used plates and washing up or wiping  up whatever needed it.  And it was so cool to have an extra pair of hands for the job!!!!  Grandma Sara and I had only met once before, at our kids' wedding, 13 years ago (though that was a one month visit).  Everything was much different now than back then, but we fell into a comfortable camaraderie, working together to help make the grandson's birthday party as nice as possible.

By the way, about 2 p.m., the birthday boy woke up, sat up, and then ran out to jump on the trampoline with his friends!  Wow!  How can kids literally bounce back from a bout of misery like that?  There was even time to open the gifts and play for a while before guests started saying good-bye.  It was a pretty great day, and the extra pair of grandma-hands sure helped!