Last weekend was a total blast. Friday was our usual TGIF (which we actually had to do inside since it was raining). Saturday, we did a little garage sale-ing in the morning before getting everything ready for the big party. It was the town-wide garage sale weekend so a number of our neighbor's were also participating. I had no time to prep any sale items last week so we just grabbed anything we could find in the house, threw it on the driveway, luckily sold the things I simply could NOT have anymore (like our old patio set that I just wanted out of our house) and then put a few big children's toys down on Susan's driveway. We closed shop and focused on the day's main event...the Rock Band Party. This was also the first time that we were sending all three boys to Meemaw and Grandpa's house so I packed the most organized and efficient bag I could think of. I put in 6 labeled zip-lock bags with all the necessary items for: Brady bedtime, Logan bedtime <-- including lotion and socks for his poor dry feet...which he obviously inherited from me, Aiden bedtime, then one bag per boy for the morning including a change of shirt for each. I also prepped and packed every one's drink bottles with their usual watered-down propel and sippy cups with milk in them for the morning.

Brian worked all day, with intermittent help from the neighborhood boys, setting up 3 different Rock Band stations. We had one up in our room, one in the living room and then one set up via a projector and an audio receiver in the basement. That one was the most awesome, but also the most difficult since we had to find so many components to get it going. Brian, as always, amazed me with his technical knowledge and had it rockin' in no time.

I dropped the boys off, rushed home and literally started running around the house getting signs in place, drinks out, tables covered, team clipboards organized etc. With no time to spare, everyone started rolling in. What an AWESOME crowd too!! We had around 24-ish people here including everyone from the hood, a couple of Brian's close college friends, a few of my good friends and even some of our neighbor Pete's work friends. Those work friends, I have to say, were SO great. The came DECKED in rock wear, declared it an awesome party before we even started and just made themselves right at home. We started with 2+ hours of practice time rotating all 5 teams through the 3 stations and then went into our battle. When all was said and done, we handed out first and second place medals to some well-deserving teams and then started playing for fun...some of us until the weeeeeee hours of the morning. AWESOME!

On Sunday, we picked up the kids around 10 (yes....10!), went directly to brunch and then spent the rest of the day playing with our friends. We even organized a last-minute dinner with Pete and Susan just because we knew we would never be able to drag the kids away from each other. Brian made awesome mini hamburgers for the kids while we scored with ribs that Pete had been smoking all day for the adults.

So...What's even better than a great weekend and FINALLY rocking the party we've all been contemplating and planning for so long?? Oh...and by "we", I mean the neighborhood Rock Band crew....of about 12 people...who started talking about this thing a year ago?? Anyway...what could be better than that? The fact that Brian is taking the ENTIRE week off. yeah yeah YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!! We're doing a little stay-cationing and also giving him some time to finally take care of a few projects around the house. I'll do a big post on our entire week later. Today we did the Brookfield Zoo....SOOOOO fun. Wednesday we're going to the Arboretum again and then Friday is the members-only preview day at the aquarium.....before it's OUR turn to host TGIF on Friday. Did I say YEAH yet??

Back to last weekend: below, pictures of a rockin' good time! P.S. A bunch of us were sitting outside Sunday afternoon (on our so awesome new patio sectional) and talking about how it feels like Christmas is over (yes....we are all a bunch of losers!). Now we all have to find something else fun to look forward to...we decided it's got to be Mike and Joe (a favorite cover band) at the upcoming Prairie Fest....adults only!

Before I address the party pics, here is a cute one of the boys all having a snack together on Saturday.
Here are the 1st and 2nd place party medals I ordered for the party.

I even had them put these little notations on the back. The 1st place ones say Champions (or is that just "Champion", Karen...I can't remember!) ;)

I think Lisa got best rocker costume....although some of Pete's friends had some hysterical get-ups. One guy dressed himself like a Beastie Boy and even managed to find a GIANT clock to hang around his neck....hysterical.

This is Christine....the ONLY person who actually wanted to sing all night long. She became like my prized player during team set-up (<--which I had to do over and over and over again last week). Most people told me they would rather get shot in the foot than sing. Almost every team had to scramble to find someone....anyone who would sing, but Christine rocked the mic all night long...happily! I even ended up singing some for our team while Brian took over the drums (I'm a big drum hog in our house and Brian usually rocks the guitar...but we switched it up a bit which was totally fun) Christine tells me that her hair does NOT normally look like that - she was part of Pete's work crew....well....the girlfriend of one.

Here is Pete with his team: Christine, Todd and Karen - our 1st place winners!!

Joel and his team rolled into 2nd place. Pictured: Jeanette, Anna, Mike and Joel (Kristin, Joel's wife, was also on the team, but had to leave early). I guess Joel and Kristin are sharing their medal :)

Here are some of the party-goers relaxing by the fire pit outside. After I finish this post, I'm taking a glass of wine out there to sit by the fire with Brian!

I took some pictures of my party signs. I made ones for each "venue" as well. Our bedroom was called "The Condo", the living room was "The Main Stage" and the basement was "The Yacht Club". The Condo comes from when Brian and I first got Rock Band. We set everything up in our bedroom sitting area and used to play up there. We called it The Condo because it was like our own little get-away after the kids were in bed...just like when we owned our Condo downtown. Our band name is "In the Condo"....I even had tee shirts made for us last year (yes....yes....I AM a huge loser...that's already been established). The Yacht Club in the basement is a reference to a bar at Iowa where Brian went to school. I guess there was a bar that was literally in the basement of a house called The Yacht Club.

Here is a sign I put on our bar....which also had coasters, votive candles and a couple bowls of mixed nuts on it.

I put this in the bathroom.

A banner I had over the back door. Jeff pointed out that I put 4 for May instead of 5....details, details!

I didn't take a picture of it, but Brian also set up our front porch table in the middle of the dining room with chairs as a sort of bar table. It was adorable. Off to the back porch!!!