First Annual Mother-Son Game Night

A few weeks ago Daniel and The Girl attended her very first Father-Daughter Dance. She wore a berry-colored sweater dress with metallic threads, white tights and her sparkly ruby slippers. We curled her hair (which I think was pin-straight again by the time she left the house!). Unfortunately they zipped out of the house so fast as she was determined not to miss one minute that I didn't even get a picture of them together!

However, in their absence The Boy, Baby D and I had our very first Mother-Son Game night!

The Boy LOVES to play games and darned if he's not a fantastic strategist. He always has been, since he was little. He picked up the rules quickly and will happily play games all day if you let him. He loves to learn and play, especially Parcheesi, card games, chess and this old fav...Yahtzee!



Don't let this casual smile fool you, this kid was giddy with excitement at finally having a Game Night. It's a regular request from him that we don't often get to fulfill so I was delighted that we had our chance. I am not a fan of learning new games with confusing rules but Yahtzee, well, we go way back and it's one of the few I enjoy playing.



I don't think that Danny and The Girl were 30 seconds away from the house before The Boy was pulling out the dice and score cards.



If only you could see the bottom of that scorecard, you'd know how handily The Boy was whipping my butt! He's such a competitor!

Baby D happily sat in his highchair, coloring and arranging the crayons. Then he'd throw them all back in the bucket and start again, pulling them out one by one, drawing circles and lining them up.



I am surprised we still have crayons that are still intact. He seems to be going through a phase where he likes to break them in half. I think he enjoys that snap!



After the fun and games were over, it was time for dessert! We sliced bananas and strawberries and served them over vanilla ice cream...yummy!



We ate our ice cream by "candlelight", so romantic. Hey Boy, hope it's not too long before we have another fun evening together and maybe this time, you'll let me win?

I saw it on Pinterest - Sesame Street Party

While planning Baby D's second birthday party, Pinterest came in handy with lots of ideas for his Sesame Street party theme. I wanted it cute. I wanted it simple. I wanted it fun. And I wanted it cheap!

I started a party board for him about six months ahead of time to glean ideas. There were so many cute things I'd have liked to do but didn't want to pour too much money into decorations. I did purchase a few packages of pipe cleaners at the dollar store which entertained the kids with twisting and creating for much longer than I expected!


Elmo inspiration (wow, isn't that a fun table!).

One thing I've learned over the years is to put money and/or work into things that guests will actually notice. Why buy cute but pricy tablecloths if you are going to cover them with your lunch spread? Or expensive plates with Elmo's face when they're just going to get ranch dip all over them?!

I bought dollar-store tablecloths and then cut a strip of leftover wrapping paper for a simple and colorful table runner. Cheap...and my guests actually commented on how clever the idea was.

I pumped up about 12 balloons that I had on hand and tied them with curling ribbon to the posts of our patio. At the end of the party we cut them down and gave them to the youngest party guests to take home with them.

Another thing I've learned over the years is to use what you have on hand and from around the house. This dessert table was decorated with a standing Tickle Me Elmo doll that we already had. I used a silver tiered tray from my dining room table for holding cupcakes. And because all I had were glass trays that I didn't want to get knocked off the table, I decided just to spread the Elmo-breadmen directly onto the table.



And honestly, don't spend a ton of time making elaborate desserts because frankly, kids don't care! Truly, they just want to EAT it! So if you want to make it cute just know your efforts are only for the grown ups who will ooh and ahhh over the sweetness. Seriously, do not mess around with rolling out fondant or taking an hour to painstakingly decorate one sugar cookie that will get devoured in 3.2 seconds. Know your audience; Kids will not appreciate the time or effort you put into the treats, they just want them in their bellies!


Drooling in anticipation!

I made a simple chocolate cake from a box mix, smeared on leftover cream cheese frosting and tossed some colorful sprinkles on the top. Super easy. If I'd had time I would have made one of these fun banners for the top but alas, I was actually still frosting the cake as my guests were arriving!


Pinterest inspiration

I did spend more time than usual making these Elmo-breadmen cookies because I knew that they kids would adore them.


Elmo-breadmen!

I already had the dough premade and frozen so it just took defrosting, rolling out and baking. Royal icing is a bit more work but I'd already had it made (you can keep it for about a month) so I just had to mix the three colors. I made it into flood icing as per Sweet Sugar Belle's instructions and using a squeeze bottle method I had these fuzzy red guys made in no time, with different expressions to boot! If you do make decorated cookies take my advice and break up the work. Make the dough one day. Roll out and bake the cookies another day. Decorate them the day before the party (or even earlier and just freeze them until the day before the event). These cookies are oversized and were taking up a lot of icing which is why I just outlined the bodies and filled in the icing on the head. Nobody complained and the cookies were gone in a flash!

I also knew that Baby D was going to need a coordinating outfit and well, since that is sort of "my thing" I whipped him up an appliqued tee with Elmo! He was totally delighted. If you need your own Elmo tee, I *ahem* sell it in my Etsy shop!


Happy #2 Baby D!

Here are the Cookie Monster Cupcakes that I saw on Pinterest.


Pinterest version


My version

I was not going to pipe frosting onto these, I didn't have time for that. I simply colored store-bought cream cheese frosting with a few drops of blue gel coloring and then patted the frosting on with an angled mini spatula to make it look fluffy. Mini Chips Ahoy cookies were simply shoved into the mouth position. The tutorial I saw on Pinterest had the baker cutting out a little section from the cupcake to insert the cookie but I didn't have any issues with just pushing the cookie down into the cupcake and none of them popped out. I found the premade sugar eyes here. Ta-da, super cute! I made them with a Blue Velvet Cake mix and with a slight blueberry flavor, they were yummy. The kids and grown ups loved them!



Finally, I kept goodie bags simple and only for the littlest guests. A simple pack of crayons and Sesame Street stickers from the dollar bin inside red & white striped paper bags (I bought a pack from Pick Your Plum and used the rest for Christmas treats). I wrapped them in a bit of twine and they were just precious.





There you have it, my Pinterest-inspired Sesame Street party. To reiterate, use what you have, keep your audience in mind when party planning and spend money and time only where it's most noticed. Simple, fun and cheap! But still cute too, of course.

Ever Thankful

Mercy, it's been a whirlwind few months and I have sadly neglected my blog!

But I have a good excuse, I promise! For the past year and a half, I have struggled with pain in my wrist and thumb on my right hand. I sought help last year and received a cortisone shot, which helped for about 6 months and then the pain returned fiercely. I was sent to physical therapy and when that didn't help the pain, saw an orthopedic surgeon. By this point I had very little range of motion in my thumb or wrist and any kind of tension against it was met with sharp shooting pains in my forearm. The surgeon noted that I have DeQuervain's Tenosynovitis, essentially tendons that are inflammed within the band that holds them. She recommended surgery to release the band and thus allow the tendons to go back to their normal size. Lifting my big guy and working at the rec center teaching tumbling attributed to the problem, as in both cases my thumb was being flexed back repeatedly, injuring those tendons and causing the swelling.


My soft cast, after surgery

After months in a wrist brace, I had the surgery. 12 days in a soft cast and my hand is finally free. Too early to see if the surgery worked. I am still swollen, especially in the knuckles. My hand is very bruised and though I can type, I am still lacking any range of motion in the thumb and wrist. I have to use a mouse with my left hand (which, being left-handed, wasn't too much of a challenge). Time (and rest!) will tell!

Here are my top things to be thankful for, Thanksgiving 2013.



For my mom, who unselfishly watches my children during the day when my husband and I are at work. She allows messes, creativity, noise, imagination and fun in her house because, well, she's the Grandma!



For my dad, so thankful that he's here (despite some major troubles with his health this year) to celebrate another Thanksgiving. We love you Dad...psst, eat a BIG plate of food!



For my husband. We just celebrated our 3rd anniversary and while it's not been an easy road bringing two families together into one, our main goal is in raising strong, healthy and independent children.



For my mother-in-law. Not only am I lucky enough to have a mother-in-law that I just love as a person I am lucky enough to have her living only a few minutes from me! And right new door to my parent's house too, how wonderful is that?!





For Baby D, who just this week turned two years old. He's a hefty 32 lbs and 3'3/4" tall (98% percentile!!) and growing into a wonderful personality. He is funny, sweet, and inquisitive. He's started speaking in 3-4 word sentences and surprises us daily with words he'll say. He's a fun kid to be around, I hope he's always like this!



For The Boy, who is starting more and more to realize that what we request as parents (respect, honor, obeying, etc) is not because we are "mean" but because they are the right things for him to learn to do. Of course we still have the teenage years to get through and I am expecting a rocky road, but hoping to lay the foundation for the attitude now (prayers!).



For The Girl, who despite moving to a new school this year has been making friends left and right, not the easiest thing for her. I am so glad, friends are a good thing.





Thankful for birthday wishes and a family celebration in our first house. How wonderful for us to be able to bring family and friends here and host a birthday party for Baby D this past weekend. Sesame Street themed, as you can see!

I leave you with this shot of our Halloween evening. I love this photo for what it is. My eldest son, suffering with a cold, was a bit sluggish and tired. The Baby, who burst into tears only because I stepped outside the fence to capture this shot and my step-daughter, making her usual "dealing with it" face, while still just keeping it cool. It makes me giggle, hope it does the same for you!



Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy your family and friends. Count your blessings!

Last week of Vacation-Knotts Berry Farm

Last week I took some time off to stay at home with the kids and to work a bit from home instead of going into the office. I loved being able to wake before them, work a bit before they got up, work through their breakfast, take a break for errands or to play and then work for a few more hours during the baby's nap. I loved it!

Fortunately my time at home coincided with a rare few days off during the week for my husband. He has been working in another county, a 3-4 hour round-trip drive every day. He wakes at 3:30am and returns around 7pm after a ten-hour work day, six days a week. Between phases, they offered him a few days off.



Needless to say, a few days off were much needed! But instead of sitting around our 89 degree house, we drove north a bit and decided to take the kids to an amusement park. We spent the night before in Anaheim. The Girl had never been to Knott's Berry Farm, The Boy and I hadn't been since he was around 3 and my husband hadn't been since he was a child. We found great online ticket prices and were able to get in for the day under $150 total.




Camp Snoopy

The park wasn't very crowded and occasionally we found spots that were near empty.


In the Camp Snoopy area for the little ones we were usually able to walk right on the rides. For the more intense rides, waits were never longer than 20 minutes.




He squealed all the way through this one!


Think he might have liked this one?

We started with a few mild rides in Camp Snoopy and then while the baby slept, the big kids and dad darted from roller coaster to thrill ride around the park.

This is my absolute favorite photo of the day, The Boy looking like he's about to DIE! He was really having a blast, I think he just enjoys screaming his head off!



The X-Cellerator is pure insanity. I've been on this coaster about 15 years ago and let's just say nicely, my lunch left me immediately afterwards!






She loved it! And no, the ride didn't blow her hair bows off...Dad removed them before the ride just in case!

We took a break mid-day to walk over to Mrs. Knott's Chicken Restaurant and stuffed ourselves with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, buttered corn, boysenberry pie and all the warm biscuits and boysenberry jam we could eat!

The park has all these old statues of ladies on many of the benches throughout the park. My parents have a picture of me at about 4 years old (wearing green plaid bell-bottoms!), sitting on the lap of one of these lady statues. It's a fun little photo op, which my husband enjoyed taking advantage of.







It was nice to get away together. Now...back to reality; School starts tomorrow!

One and a half

My sweet little baby boy is 18 months old. I cannot believe it, this time has really gone by much too quickly and he's now a toddler! Here's a little update so I can remember all these details. Being the third, he has no baby book, poor kid!

He's a hefty 28 lbs and in the 86th percentile for his height. He's already moved into size 2T.

He got his first "big guy" haircut a few weeks ago and lost all his little curls.


Before the hair cut, long bangs and sweet baby curls!

It needed to be done though, it was really too long on his forehead. He didn't like the haircut at ALL!


During the hair cut


Afterwards, cute and short!

He is awesome at following directions like when we request that he clean up toys, grab a towel for his bath, or throw something in the trash. He's pretty typical however, when it comes to listening when we don't want him to do something, like jumping from the ottoman to the chair or tossing food from his high chair onto the floor!

He's still a particular eater, likes steak but not big on other meats. Likes a variety of veggies and some fruits but doesn't eat very much at a time. He prefers to snack frequently instead. Can't really take him to restaurants yet because after 15 minutes in the high chair he's clambering to be released!



He is very attentive and watches everything we do. He has figured out how the filtered water in the fridge door works and if we aren't watching, he'll grab anything long that he can find to press on the lever and make water pour out! Yesterday I found him at the desk, having pulled a battery out of the package and was attempting to put it into a toy.

He still loves his books and frequently carries a book around the house, looking for someone to read to him. He's discovered the dinosaur figures that were The Boy's (and actually his older brother's before him!) and likes playing with those often.



He likes music and has a great tempo. He bops his head right along to the beat. He has learned how to jump, which is quite cool for a toddler to be able to do. He actually gets both feet off the ground at the same time, very coordinated. I have 3-year old students in tumbling class that don't know how to do that yet.



His favorite thing right now is It's a Small World. He is fascinated with the song and I sing it multiple times to him at bedtime. He also wants to watch the YouTube videos of the Disneyland ride several times a day!

Since he had ear tubes put in surgically last month, his speech has improved quite a bit and he's attempting to say more words. He's not saying "no" yet but will just solemnly shake his head when he doesn't want to do something.

He has a very sweet heart. He likes to wave at strangers and frequently blows them kisses, which nearly always melts them! Every night he makes his rounds to each family member with a hug and kiss. He gives awesome smooches, perfectly puckered! Tonight as I rocked him before bed, he leaned in with his arm around my neck for a hug and kissed me several times on the cheek. Oh my little love, what a wonderful heart you have!