The Party~ Let’s Dish # 68

Most of you know I have been mostly  absent from blogland the last month.  There are so many chores to do in the Spring to get ready for Summer.  I washed, power washed, scrubbed, painted and planted.  I planned  and prepared for our fifth gchild’s first birthday.  But, we can never prepare enough!

The weather was perfect!  Warm enough for the 21 kids to enjoy the giant water slide, but a slight breeze to keep the adults comfortable!
But the weather was the only perfect thing!
A few days before the party, dh put his back out, and being the procrastinator that he is, he had a lot left on his list to do!  Ah the stress!  Thought about postponing, but muddled through on my own.

All the chairs and tables had to be carried up from the garage and set up.

Finishing touches had to be scrapped.
THEN…the morning of the party as I was working in the kitchen I noticed there was no HOT water.  What?  We had just had the oil burner checked and cleaned a month ago!
Now I had a mountain of pots and pans, and no hot water!
So while the 60 guests hopefully enjoyed themselves, the oil burner repair guy came and fixed the problem.
I have very few pictures , I was stuck in the kitchen most of the time!
The lady I hired to help, never showed up, her car broke down.
I have never had help before, but with all the glitches, I could have used her!  My dil is a great helper, but I hated for her to be stuck in the kitchen too!
My friend, Pam, came over and blew up the helium balloons for me and tied them to the sailboats I had on the tables.  I never would have gotten to it in the crunch!




The Birthday Boy fell earlier in the week and sported a huge black and blue mark on his nose and was not feeling himself.

We had appy’s including 6 lbs of homemade chicken salad on crackers.
Goldfish in a fishbowl, trying to carry through on the beach/water theme. :)
Platters of hot giant pretzels were a hit with the kids young and old!
  I served dh’s special chili and 10 qts of Long Island Clam chowder from the buffet server so it stayed warm.  Not a drop left over!


Grilled brats and hot dogs,
followed by Baked ham,
homemade coleslaw,
Baked Beans
Pulled Pork,
Baked Mac and Cheese,
Pork Fried Rice,
Pasta Chicken and Snow Peas , and a huge green salad.
Tray of rolls, rye, pumpernickel, and Italian bread and butter.
Desserts were trays of chocolate cupcakes dipped in chocolate and topped with whipped cream and a chocolate shell. I got the cupcake cups in Christmas Tree Shop last month.



Fresh blueberries and whipped cream on top of a cake baked in a Heritage Pan.

Of course, beautiful Birthday cake with a beach theme.  Collins is Eamon’s middle name.


Our bruised little birthday boy!
Pin the nose on the clown!


If that is too noisy , you could sit in the shade and rock and enjoy the flowers.



One more thing that went wrong…

The coffee pot went on strike and presented pale , I mean very pale coffee!  I had to quickly make 2 pots of coffee in the regular pot!
As much as you plan, things do go wrong!  I hope no one noticed but me.
Now the putting away…it will take all week!

And then, it is time for July 4th!

Happy Summer everyone, it is just getting started here!
Thanks so much for visiting!
I enjoyed visiting all the entries to Let’s Dish last week.
Remember, it doesn’t have to be a full tablescape.  You can show us something new you found to do a scape, anything table related.  If you show food, please show a setting with it, like dear Kitty does every week.
If you don’t have time to visit at least 5 others, please don’t link up.  I totally understand being busy, but I really want the entrants to get visited and comments.  Thanks for understanding!  It is a busy time of year for most of us.
Be a follower to link up, One link per week,
BLOG NAME FIRST, a link back to this party, and no word id blogs.
Thank you very much, Ladies!
Now let’s see what a little group of dishies came up with this week!
I am joining Gollum for Foodie Friday