Sunday!

Dear Em,
I'm so excited to have you guys over on Sunday! My kids are going crazy trying to be patient and wait for Sunday to come; Grace asks me, daily, with a very serious look in her eyes, if "we go see my cousins today." It would be helpful if any of them had any sense of time (I'm always being asked if today is Wednesday, or Friday, or whether this is lunch or dinner, or when we go to our dad's next...they are clueless). You're such good hosts over there in Denison that I'm feeling a little pressured to make things perfect...plus I owe you and everyone else who's coming like 10 meals each because we never reciprocate dinner invitations. My excuse is that I have 5 kids (a handy excuse in many situations, I must say), but really it isn't a good excuse at all, because I always cook for 7 people and 5 of them don't eat anything, so I should be having dinner parties every night. I had to read that a few times and count the kids in my head to make sure those numbers were right. Do I really have 5 kids? Hopefully, there will be six of them on Sunday. I'm not giving birth; Brittany is invited too and said she wanted to come (can you believe it?)!
Here's our menu - this is my project for today:
Fruit salad (honeydew, strawberries, pineapple)
Homemade maple syrup bread
Arugula & fennel salad with sweet & spicy dressing
Texas caviar & chips (no oil; baked & organic chips)
African yam stew with whole grain rice
Chocolate blueberry cake with banana ice cream (no eggs, no oil, no milk, all delicious)
Drinks - thinking about making Bloody Marys and/or Mimosas
I have vacuumed and dusted and scrubbed the bathroom too. I did this in the blinding light of the midday sun reflecting off the snow and it was horrifying. Soap scum and dust are apparently not as visible in normal lighting. Perfect hostessing is my goal, but if everyone has fun & the kids are relatively calm and polite (mine - I never worry about yours), I'll be happy.

P.S. You are a very, very good mom. And sister. And friend. The best I know of, really. I just thought I should make that clear.

Love,
Al