The Lovings were here...again.

I'm not sure when I'll learn my lesson. It is just pretty much inevitable that our family's presence at a school or birthday function will bring with it chaos, embarrassment, and/or infamy. That's just the way it goes.

This weekend, of course, was no exception. Saturday we had a pool party for a friend of Kai and I managed to completely forget about a church obligation Thomas and I had that night so it meant the kids could only stay about 45 minutes at the party and wouldn't be able to swim. I explained it to them before we got there and the girls were fine with it (yeah right) so I thought everything would be fine.

We got to the party. Dropped off the present. And, prepared to have a bit of cake before the rest of the party jumped in the pool. But, as always, things did not go according to plan.

Ivy, my resident daredevil, really wanted to swim. Really badly. She kept walking around crying and trying to take off her pants (classy, no?). Finally, she "accidentally" fell headfirst into the pool. In the deep end. In front of everyone.

I did the whole shrieking/screaming for help thing 'cause (and here's where it gets embarrassing) I was fully clothed in the outfit I had to wear to church in 30 minutes and, uh, I wasn't about to jump in. Let me be clear, she popped right up to the surface and was not-so-gracefully treading water. There was no danger of drowning. Within about 15 seconds her dad came to the rescue but not before I managed to dive to the ground (prematurely big belly and all) and reach for her - breaking my sandal in the process.

I limp around the party for about 10 minutes with a broken shoe until finally giving up and going completely barefoot. But, wait, it gets better (or worse) 'cause then Kai, thinking it is unfair that her sister got to "swim," starts pouting and moping. She lays down on the ground and covers her eyes and just silently puts on a dramatic show. She looks not the least bit bratty and instead like the child of a completely cruel mom who would bring her child to a pool party and torture her with the inability to get in the water.

One of the moms (who was an angel) gave Kai a pair of her son's shorts and tshirt to swim in for a couple minutes. Kai proceeds to get just a little too far out into the deeper end and loses her confidence thus resulting in a half-drown/half-tread water move reminiscent of her sister's earlier move. She's not drowning but she's panicking. So, I have to walk down the steps a little to get a float out to her. I soak my jeans in the process. You know, the jeans I'm going to be wearing to church in about 10 minutes? Yeah, those jeans.

And, now we're all wet and guess what? We don't have towels either. Who doesn't bring towels to a pool party? The mom who assumes her kids are absolutely not going to get in the water, that's who, but it doesn't stop me from looking like a flake. I am the only mom there without a Land's End tote packed full of every single supply my children need. So, I beg and borrow towels off of moms who are more grown-up, more organized, and infinitely more together than I, all the while thinking the one thing running through their mind is, "Yeah, this girl needs another kid."

The best part? I got to go to our church's GroupLink function in a pair of soaked blue jeans and completely inappropriate sparkly dress shoes. Never a dull moment in this family. But, oh how I could use one...