While the cat's away...

 ...the mice will play!

A friend asked me before Christmas to host a craft night, but we couldn't seem to get a date pinned down because of holiday stuff, sickness, and life. So when I found out my man had to do a bit of traveling, it seemed the perfect time to have a girls night.

I must say that it is incredibly handy to have minions kids around to not only help clean the house, but decorate, too! As long as I have a list in my head, I can bark out orders ask my son to vacuum, clean bathrooms, and empty trash all day long and he does it willingly (especially when he knows he can ultimately retire to the man cave once the girls appear). And my daughter somehow convinced me that decorating for the evening qualified as school because it is teaching her hospitality. All I really had to do was prepare our craft supplies (which mainly involved cutting many strips of burlap and rolling them up). Remember this on the days your preschoolers are driving you mad: one day, they will be useful individuals {smile}.

We tried to think of a craft that would be simple to make, would appeal to most anyone, wouldn't require hot glue or drying time, and was inexpensive. We chose a burlap-wrapped wreath with felt flowers, which my daughter had learned to make at an SBTS Koinonia Pinterest night last fall.

And, of course, there was food. A couple of ladies brought some amazing desserts, and I spent hours on an elaborate hors d'oeuvre called Cowboy Candy. (Actually, I quickly spread some cream cheese on crackers, then topped each with a jarred jalapeno slice. But it really is called Cowboy Candy.)

Source: tastykitchen.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

As we worked, we laughed, chatted, helped, shared, snacked, and generally had a good time. I use the phrase we worked rather loosely, as I turned my wreath over to my daughter as soon as I finished wrapping my wreath (which I finally did correctly about the fifth time).

Through it all, there was plenty of laughing, talking, helping, and eating. At the end of the night, we all had lovely wreaths and were refreshed by the fellowship. And we were already planning our next girls night, which may be less crafty and more laser tag-ish. We are multifaceted women, you know.