last year, I started a “tradition” of having potluck dinners about once a week. However, our crazy travel schedule soon got in the way. The few 
weekends that we were all home at the same time were full of errands and chores that were otherwise getting put off.
Finally, four months after Rob has returned from his year in DC, I’m starting to feel like we are recovered. The girls and I were on the road quite a bit this fall, and those weekends we were home, we spent trying to catch up on house chores that had been put off for a year. While we still have some straightening to do, like clean out the storage room and garage, I finally felt ready to start back up with our gatherings.
Last night, we had a pizza party. We opened our doors to everyone in our hamlet and homeschool group who wanted to join us. Everyone chipped in for pizzas or brought a salad, drinks 
or desserts (as usual, I bought too much food — I’d rather have too much than run out). Chloe set up a snow people project. About 25 people made it to the party, and, overall, everyone had a great time catching up with each other as well as getting to know new folks.
Chloe did have a bit of a crisis. She had too many different friends and couldn’t figure out how to balance her time with them, as they all wanted to play with her. She and her future husband friend grabbed a game to play and hid out in my closet while the chaos continued elsewhere. I’m sure that most people have wished they could do that at some point or another!
