Pizza party playdate

Yesterday I hosted a playdate for some moms and their kids. I thought it would be fun to have the kids make pizzas and eat them together. There ended up being three moms and five kids, which was a good number for our house. Each family made their own pizza as I had prepared dough for everyone ahead of time and the other moms brought toppings to share. The pizza preparation went fairly smoothly. The eating went fairly smoothly. The "play" of the playdate was a little crazy.

Two of the kids were almost 4 years old and those two along with Sam went from one "no no" to another. We didn't have a gate on our stairs, so the kids went up the stairs and came up with various strategies for getting down including feet first on their butt (a very bumpy ride), feet first on the stomach (probably the fastest), sideways (Sam's favorite, but not very speedy), head first on the belly. The moms took turns getting their kids, but then they'd move onto another "no no." Another favorite was couch climbing and jumping (neither of which Sam is allowed to do). Somehow Sam's stool ended up behind our loveseat and the kids would tumble over and jump on the loveseat. The moms again took turns getting their kids, saying no, attempting to redirect and so on, but they just fed off each other and were downright unruly and crazy.

Matthew, bless his little heart, and one other little child (just over a year old) were the best behaved of the bunch. As long as Matthew had his food he was in a good mood and played happily on the floor amidst the chaos. The older kids then took turns fighting over Lightening McQueen (at the end, one child asked to take him home), the digger and John Deere and the beach ball. The beach ball was a big hit...or a big kick, whichever the kids were in the mood for.

The playdate was about a hour and a half, and I was certainly ready for it to be done after that hour and a half. The chaos and noise was exhausting. I've been to other playdates that were much more mellow, so it must have been the mix of kids that made it so crazy. We had fun making pizza and eating pizza (using a great pan pizza recipe from America's Test Kitchen), though, and the Sam settled quickly down afterward and took a fairly good nap. Matthew took a good nap too. And I took a nap too. Today we put a gate on the stairs.