Make-up & the Melting Pot

On Friday night, I had dinner plans with a big group of friends. We were going to the Melting Pot as a good bye for Lea who is moving to England. It started out pretty funny. I made my family dinner, then went upstairs to finish doing my hair and finalize getting ready. I thought to myself, "make up would be fun." Well, if you know me, you will know that I haven't put make up on....well.....at least since Landon was born, and probably way before that.

So Darin says "you don't do that for me." I told him it was because he never noticed or said anything. He said "it is because you look nice without it." Thanks. But tonight I decide I wanted some. So I go downstairs and am saying my goodbyes. Spencer looks at me and in all seriousness says "you're not my real mom." Soo cute. He asked me what I did to myself. So funny. Guess I looked pretty strange in their eyes:)

Oh, it continues. I went to pick up Jill. She wasn't quite ready so I chatted with Andrew and the girls. When I walked in and Lizzy looked at me, she starred and kind of paced back and forth just looking at me. It was so funny-I love kids! Guess I should wear it more often. When I got home, realizing that I didn't put it away before I left, Darin told me that he found Jordan and Spencer upstairs at bedtime with mascara on. Yesterday Jordan had a little purse with all my stuff in it and had my eyeshadow on. Funny.

So we all made it to the restaurant before Lea. She was only expecting to have dinner with a group of about 5 of us. We had to plan with her so we would know she would be there. Well, we all realized that she would see part of the group, so we all stood on one side of the room. Andrea, the one bringing her texted and said she was almost there....
but we were all so busy chatting that we didn't even notice her coming in. Duh!!! But really, she was truly surprised!
I was impressed that when we got there, they had all the cheeses going. Planning a party in advance is the way to go!! We all sat down and made quick work of the cheeses!

Here's one of the most popular pots of the night. It was the oil. I had never heard of it, but it was on the other table. I was going to go over and try it once, but it was always very full. My friend at my table would stuff her mushrooms and batter them and put them in the oil. I just stuck with the usual broth ones.
Oh man, the food at the melting pot is so yummy. I tried a new cheese and a new broth, oh and the white chocolate. Darin isn't a fan, so we never have it when we go together. We all wanted to know where they got their strawberries because they were so good.

We had so much fun just chatting and hanging out. I didn't know all the ladies there, but knew all the ones at my table. I think the other table was all the ladies from Lea's neighborhood.

Here's Jill, Lea and I. And yes, my hair was doing something weird.
It really was a fun group of ladies. There was lots of laughing, story telling, more laughing, etc. We had so much fun, then stood in the parking lot forever and talked after we left the restaurant. Lea was so surprised and was even more surprised when she found out her husband had kept the secret for over a month.

Here's the whole group.
Such a fun night, but I wish it could have been just for fun and not to be saying goodbye to Lea. I am so excited for her, though. What a fun experience for her awesome family. But I will sure miss her. So glad Ryann introduced her to us a few years ago. It's been so fun to hang out and do things with her family.

So, our little playgroup continues to dwindle. It's me and you, Jill. Please don't leave me:)