Just call me Flynn Rider...

...because I am a(n idea) thief!  I love the kids' birthday parties.  I don't mind putting a little extra effort into them.  But very rarely are my ideas original!  Google is my best friend!  I found these invitations on etsy...make the purchase, change the little girl, change the wording, change the font...voila!  An invitation I can email to our guests!

In my search for a cake idea, I found a tower made out of pecan twirls.  When I showed Nathan the picture, he said, "You can make something better than that."  Oh, I can, can I?  That same afternoon was one of those rare afternoons when all three of them were napping, and I started watching one of those wedding cake shows.  They made a tower out of rice krispie treats formed in a PVC pipe.  I had low expectations, but I figured I'd only be out a $3 if it was unsuccessful.  Friday morning I fill the PVC and put it in the freezer.  That evening I iced the tower and put it back in the freezer overnight.  Thirty minutes before the party, Nathan and I rigged a stand for it (didn't think of that ahead of time!) and added the ivy.  And then we snapped some quick pictures, in case the tower decided to fall.  Which it did.  We used two lefse flippers for support, and then the bottom started to warp.  I sliced the tower into pieces, and it was eaten right up!

The tower was surrounded with flower cupcakes. I tried to make it look like a meadow...

Part of Amelia's present was a Rapunzel dress to wear to her party.  (She wore it to the Y and her doctor's appointment today, too.)

Okay, I guess those were all original ideas, but here comes some thievery.  Little boats made out of oranges, sitting on blue jello "water"...

And a 20-foot braid that went over the front door.  (I do NOT recommend trying this at home.  If you want to have a Tangled-themed party, borrow this one!)

I printed out coloring pages of the various characters from the movie...(not very original...a lot of moms do this):

Right after Christmas, I ordered this tower on the cheap.  It took forever to get here, and the kids started working on it and lost interest.  On a whim, I set out watercolors so the kids could paint during the party.  It was a hit!

My original idea for the tower was to take pictures of all the little girls standing next to it, wearing this Rapunzel hair made of curling ribbon.  Seth and I spent two afternoons working on the headband.  He was a huge help with party preparations!

Another "borrowed" idea...pin the frying pan on Flynn Rider.  Grandma Sarah made this awesome wanted sign, and the kids had a blast playing the game.

Amelia was very stoic during the singing of the "Happy Birthday" song, and was ready to open presents after one lick of frosting.  I would have preferred to open presents after the party, but I couldn't refuse.  Our friends are awesome.  While Amelia was opening presents, the mommies were taking turns cleaning things up around the house (I hear I do not even want to know all the places they found watercolor paint.).  And then, the awesome kids asked to play outside.  Of course!  I cleaned up tissue paper while Nathan supervised the swingset. 

This is the finished tower:

And here is one tired Rapunzel...she fell asleep on Gram and took a 2 hour nap! 

As you can see, it was some party!

Busy!

Yes, I have put a lot more than usual on my plate this month, but it has been a lot of fun.  After I took Seth back to school Thursday, I went to an after-baby shower for one of my coworkers.  Paige just had her third baby.  She got a LOT of diapers and a LOT of wipes. 

Friday it was time to get serious about party prep.  Amelia and I ran last minute errands, and then she stayed home with a sitter while I went to Seth's school to be the mystery reader and to help Seth's teacher with a project, because I like the woman so much, I just can't say no.  When we got home, we made the m&m/hersey's kiss/pretzels that are always a hit, and I put the kids to work making chocolate covered strawberries. 

Then it was on to making jell-o and cupcakes...we ordered a pizza Friday night! 

ENT

I haven't been accurately documenting the saga of Seth's left ear on the blog.  Prior to this year, whenever Seth got an ear infection, it was in both ears, and he almost always acts the same way every time he gets one.  On a Saturday in November, we had to go to urgent care to get antibiotics...left ear infection.  Same diagnosis, four more times between then and now.  Last Thursday we had an ENT consult.  Because Seth is "so old", and winter is almost over, we are managing symptoms trying to prevent another cold, rather than put in tubes.  Hopefully by next year this will no longer be a problem. 

some great news!

Tara and Chris met with the doctors out-of-state yesterday, and a real-time ultrasound confirmed that Georgia's heart defect isn't nearly as bad as what was originally thought.  There is a defect that requires surgery, and they will still fly out about a month before her birth so she can have surgery there, but this is a MUCH better diagnosis from one of the premier peds cardiologists in the country.  What a difference a month makes!

I smell good...

...for a Dirty Girl!  Mary-Margaret recently became a consultant for a new line of bath and body products using all natural ingredients.  I was intrigued, so I offered to host a party at our house.  We had a nice brunch-like setting last Wednesday, and my mommy friends had a great time sniffing all the scents with the silly names.  Amelia loved putting on all the sample lotions after the party was over.  I can't wait for them to get here, so I can start smelling like Lemon Cuppycake and Closet Freak, ha!

President's Day

Seth had school yesterday as a snow make-up day.  The weather was BEAUTIFUL.  It would have been a perfect day for a picnic.  Amelia stayed up late the night before, and I could barely get her out for a walk.  I spent the day with the windows open.  After we picked up Seth, we played outside.  Now is the time to get use out of the swingset, before it gets too buggy. 

And as a side note...Seth must have really been paying attention at school that day, for amount of information he regurgitated to us at dinner that night.  That kid can memorize some stuff when he wants to.  I first realized he learns like me when we got his ring of popcorn words and he told me, "That one is 'white', because it is the only one that starts with 'w.'"  His kindergarten progress reports are mimicking mine at that age (which isn't necessarily a good thing).  But heck, he's learning a lot more than I did in (half-day) kindergarten. 

This book used to be mine when I was a kid:

I read it to Amelia the other day, and when I was done, I said, "Amelia, that doesn't sound like kindergarten; that's preschool!"  Finger painting and naps!  Ha!  Try reading, writing, and 'rithmetic! 

organized chaos

I sometimes use our guest room as a place for projects, where I can just lock the door when I leave, and my things will remain undisturbed.  Well, I have outdone myself this month.  I have a lot of events stacked back-to-back, and the guest room is taking the brunt of it (although the back room of the basement is a close second).  So starting at the door:

yellow-fall boutique consignment, blue-birthday gift for one of Seth's classmates that I need to stuff in her backpack on Friday, red-dress I need to dry clean.

(In the next picture I forgot #6.  Oops)

1-consignment items that are missing pieces, 2-goodie bags for Amelia's party, 3-partially completed diaper cake for a coworker (shower Thursday), 4-present for the shower, 5-paper products for a party I am hosting tomorrow (more on that in a later post), 7-diaper stash for future diaper cakes (2-3 to make in March), 8-banner for Amelia's party, 9-box of stuff for my mom (not pictured, stuff on bed for Nathan's mom, Marie, and Elise), 10-stuff for Amelia's party.

1-spring boutique consignment stuff, tagged and ready to go on hangers, 2-spring neighborhood consignment stuff, tagged and ready to go on hangers (matching bag already in the basement as well as three boxes of toys and some bigger stuff), 3-tagging supplies.

bottom-baby clothes I can't part with, middle-blankets I'm keeping, top-fall neighborhood consignment stuff (with two just like it already back in the attic).  I still have two or three more containers to go through in the attic.  I'm actually having a lot of fun with the project.  We'll see how much fun it is when I have to earn my keep at the sales!  Boring post, I know, but it has definitely been a significant part of the second half of my February!

bracelets

Several years ago (I can't find online when, and it's probably been like a decade, so maybe I don't want to find out), the Lance Armstrong Foundation revolutionalized fundraising by creating those little yellow bracelets.  I have a Team Fox one I wear when I run.  Remember Zoe and Georgia?  Soon, they will both have bracelets made to help support them.  Send me a note if you'd like to buy one or both, and I will get in contact with the right people. 

my little valentines

What a sweet little Valentine's Day we had.  The kids opened their gifts from Gram and Pops before school.

Amelia and I had a picnic with preschool friends, while Seth partied at school.  When he got home, we looked at all this goodies and taped all his cards to his closet door.  (We repeated that part on Tuesday after Amelia had her party on Tuesday.)  I made french toast for dinner, and the kids bought me flowers while I was at work that night.  Nathan told me via FB that I was the bee's knees.  It was a good day.  :)

making her debut...

Amelia has started attending Sunday School, even though she is technically not old enough yet.  Last Sunday was Youth Sunday.  Seth played the handchimes at the beginning of the service (no mishaps this time), and then the kids sang right before the Children's Message.  I didn't think she'd actually go up to the front and sing, but she did!

we LOVE projects

These kids love nothing better than to make an absolute mess at the kitchen table.  Multiple games, puzzles, playdoh, it doesn't matter.  Last Saturday we got a jump start on Valentine's Day.  Seth needed a box for school, Amelia didn't; but try to tell her that.  We had red paper left over from last year, and bought some stickers at the dollar store.  Between decorating the boxes and signing cards, we were at the table for two hours!



mommymobile

Last Thursday ended the era of the Altima.  When I bought it, I thought I'd keep it until I had kids.  Right after Seth was born, I seriously considered getting something bigger, but I found I could do my daily errands in it, and we could fit all the baby gear in Nathan's car for trips.  The double stroller didn't take up much more space than the regular one did.  And then we started kindergarten and preschool this fall.  My poor, old Altima sits in a carpool line 14 times a week.  I turn my car off before the line starts moving, but we rattled our way to the front of the line for five months.  My good, old Altima made it until February, like we asked it too.  I have moved on to a mommymobile.  Or swaggerwagon.  Or spaceship.  Or really, a Toyota Sienna.  It is a used 2010 with low mileage.  It has a lot more bells and whistles than we need, but after the winter we've had, I'm not going to turn down seat warmers! 

 Mommy and daddy aren't the only ones happy with our new purchase, see?

It's almost time...

...for Jonah's EB Auction. Jonah is a sweet little boy who I took care of the night before Amelia's first birthday, and he has forever touched my heart. Last year, an auction created by Jonah's mom and her friends raised $7000 for dEBra, to help find a cure for EB. Like last year, I am donating a diaper cake. It looks like I never posted a picture of last year's custom cake:

The auction will be from Feb 24-27.  Please check it out!

wow!

...their scooters do work someplace other than the basement!

We went to the neighborhood playground Saturday...and brought the scooters!  It was even warmer Sunday, so I took Seth on a bike ride while Amelia took an afternoon nap.

Movie Night

I dragged the kids kicking and screaming to Seth's school Friday night.  It was movie night, sponsored by the PTA.  All it took was them seeing a handful of familiar faces, and they were fine.  There was a really good turnout:

 What did we watch?

That's right.  Toy Story 3.  I'm pretty sure Seth didn't blink the whole time.  I don't think Amelia saw any of the movie.  She was too busy getting refills of popcorn and lemonade.  She is going to be notorious by the time she gets in kindergarten!  And mommy learned something too...the grownups bring lawn chairs to sit in, and don't forget the pillow pets for the kids!

special delivery

Thursday we got a special delivery...my parents' piano!  My parents were ready to have it out of their house, and we were ready to have one in our house, so it worked out perfect!  The piano has been in my mom's family for 65 years, and we're glad to continue the tradition.  The kids don't mess with it too much.  I haven't sat down and cracked out any sheet music yet, but I can't help tapping out a tune every time I walk to the back room. 

Georgia

Georgia is still in utero, but yesterday she was diagnosed with a horrible heart defect.  Georgia will be born in another state, where she will be given the best chance at life by the best doctors in the business.  Georgia's mom is a friend.  Please pray for sweet Georgia and her family.  I have seen medical miracles before, and I'm praying for one now.

Zoe

Meet Zoe.  She is my cousin's cute 2-year-old.  (We were pregnant at the same time both times.)  Zoe was diagnosed with leukemia last week.  She has the most treatable form of childhood leukemia, but the next couple of years are going to be rough.  Please pray for Zoe and her family.  She (they) have been troopers during this first week, which is a good sign for the future, I hope! 

Gabs with Grands

Wow, we actually got a full week of school in this week, although we did have a two-hour delay on Thursday.  The PTA sponsored Gabs with Grands on Friday, and my parents came over Thursday night so they could get up early and eat breakfast at school with Seth.  Here are the boys, enjoying breakfast:

And Seth and Gram, outside Seth's classroom:

Amelia had Gram and Pops to herself throughout the school day, and had fun shopping with the girls and watching videos with Pops.  Seth was diagnosed with his fourth left ear infection in ten weeks last Saturday (1/22), so we've taken a more aggressive treatment route and had a quiet first part of the week.  Thankfully, he feels well enough now to enjoy the beautiful weather we've been blessed with this weekend!

new favorite shirt

Now that Amelia is dressing herself, I'm starting to figure out what her favorite clothes are.  She actually stayed in the same outfit all day Friday, although she did add the tutu after her nap. 

She has started laying out an outfit on her floor the night before.  This is the outfit she has ready for today (Monday):

She must like this shirt.  (Yes, I've been doing a lot of laundry.)  I have no problem with her picking out Christmas socks to go with it.  I'm just tickled that the rest of her will look decent today!  (And the original reason for this post...please note how the underwear is jammed between the legs of the outfit...cracks me up every time I see it!)

play "date"

Seth and Ella Brooke have remained best buds, even though they no longer sit next to each other at school and they have made new friends this year.  They play together during centers, and EVERY DAY they are standing talking to each other in the car rider line.  Young love.  Ella Brooke's birthday was during that yucky weather, so Seth wanted to have her over for a playdate to celebrate.  (We got munchkins from Dunkin Donuts in lieu of a cake.)  The kids had a great time, even if Amelia tried to do everything with them.  They tested out most of our board games...this was Ella Brooke's first time playing Guess Who?:

Ella Brooke may love arts and crafts even more than my kids do.  I rolled out a long piece of paper and let them go with it.  Amelia went down for a nap, which was good, because the "first graders in training" didn't want any scribble-scrabble on their hard work. 

Ella Brooke started drawing hearts, and next thing you know it was, "Seth, let's make this a marriage banner so we can hang it up at our wedding so everyone can see we were best friends when we were kids."  Ah.  She is so sweet, and the house didn't even look like someone had been over, which you know is not always true after a playdate.  And the true test?  Colette did not bark at her the whole time she was there.  Even when she first came in.  She's welcome to come back and play any day! 

snow day sleepover

Last Thursday, the kids decided they wanted to have a sleepover on Seth's bunk beds.  The kids have slept together in hotels and on vacation, but it is not a routine thing.  Of course they decided to do it on a school night, but Seth had a two-hour delay, and let's face it, my kids don't need a lot of sleep.  When I called at 8:15, Nathan told me that he'd put them to bed around 8 and hadn't heard a peep.  It was so stinkin' cute when I got home, but I was afraid I'd wake up Nathan getting the real camera, so I used my phone to take pictures. 

They even wore their matching pajamas!  See?  Cute!  Amelia woke up at 5:15 not wanting to sleep in Seth's room anymore, so it was a short night for me, but they had fun!

Ryan is 6!

Ryan turned six on Wednesday.  He's probably one of the only kids who lucked out in getting a snow day on his birthday, only to have a make-up day the day of his party!  It was an evening party, so it didn't foul up his plans.  Ryan wanted a Wii pajama party (it was not a sleepover, everyone was picked up at 8).  The kids had a great time!  They did surprisingly well taking turns playing Wii, and when it wasn't their turn, they had fun playing in the playroom and in the boys' rooms.  It was a wild rumpus, but a ton of fun! 

Amelia was the only girl invited to the party, and she held her own with all those boys!

fashion forward

Amelia is stubborn, and comes by it naturally (I'm going to say it "skips a generation" the way my parents used to).  But a little over a week ago, a new and improved Amelia entered our room one morning....fully dressed.  Once she realized she could dress herself from head to toe, she's been much sweeter.  This means one outfit in the morning, another outfit mid-day (including new socks and underwear), and pajamas at night, as well as not being able to see the carpet in her room for all the clothes on the floor, but I'm choosing my battles.  At first I wanted to take her dresser out of her room, but Nathan made me realize it's not a big deal.  It's a phase.  This too shall pass.  In the meantime, it's entertaining seeing what she comes up with!  Here are a couple of gems:

1) pink shirt with drum set on it, yellow based flower leggings, mismatched socks, shoes 1.5 sizes too big:

2) leotard (with underwear underneath), brown courdoroys, matching pink socks...hunting for shoes to wear (she ended up picking hte white sneakers)

Today she was wearing a fuschia shirt with a zebra-print heart in the middle, brown leggings with pink and purple butterflies on them, white socks with multi-color stripes, and the pink glittery shoes in the box in the picture above.  Before her nap, she laid out which pajamas she wants to wear to her cousin's themed birthday party tonight. 

tasty turtle

By snow day #3, I was pretty bored.  Elise had emailed me a recipe for turtle bread.  I cheated and thawed out some Rhodes dough and shaped it following the directions.  But it was fun to try something new and the kitchen smelled heavenly.  And if you know me well, you will not be surprised that this turtle was missing an arm about 3.2 seconds after I took this picture.  The rest of him was enjoyed the next two nights at dinner.

Ice is NOT nice

It's been awhile, but we finally got one of those nasty winter storms that shuts everything down for a few days.  The last few years we've been lucky enough to mostly get snow.  And  I definitely haven't had to venture out in it since pre-Amelia.  Sunday night they cancelled school.  Why?  So we can make up a second day that we didn't need to.  The weather wasn't supposed to come to our area until at least lunchtime.  They could have at least had an early release day.  So we sat at home all day on Monday, and the snow finally started after 2pm.  Sheesh.  By the time I went to work at 6, the grass was barely covered with snow, but there was slush on the roads (I drove the Xterra).  At 11 when I was driving home, it was quite slick.  Someone did a 180 in front of me leaving work, but it was so graceful, it almost looked intentional.  I drove slow home (max speed=32 mph, and that was on the interestate), and I had the roads to myself, and I made it home safe and sound.  The next morning, Nathan had a 3-hr delay, and he said the roads were still pretty bad.  It never did warm up too much, but mid-afternoon I took the kids outside.  Here is our driveway (see why I didn't go anywhere?):

And here is our street.  Nice black ice.  The only good thing about it is that I was able to pull the kids along in a sled so we could go for a little walk.

It made for some fast, slick, sledding.  This was Seth's first run down the driveway...

 ....where he somehow maneuvered himself through the gate...

 ...and down the backyard.  Luckily he listened to me yelling behind him to stop at the swingset, so he didn't fall in the creek!

But man, he had fun!

He would have stayed out all afternoon, but his sister was upset that we couldn't make a snowman, and it really ruined our fun.  Which is weird, because usually he wants to go in before she does.  I did make them go on the aforementioned walk before we went in, though.  Yesterday Nathan had a two-hour delay, and he said the roads were much better, so the kids and I ran a couple errands in the afternoon, just to get out of the house.  And the YMCA did have BodyStep, so I felt like a million bucks last night.  School was cancelled AGAIN for today (which I think could have been a 2-hr delay), so my poor children were forced to run a dozen errands with me, and then we met friends at Funigans to burn off some steam.  I am seriously hoping Seth has school tomorrow...they have not made Monday a make-up day, so as it is, we're already looking at another 3-day weekend.  His teacher does a much better job at entertaining his brain than I do!

Tall Mom Club

Last week I heard through another running blog that Tall Mom was going to offer a way to track miles this coming year.   Curious, I checked it out.  I am not what you'd call a tall mom.  And I am not a hard-core runner.  And I'm sure as heck not going to run 1,000 miles this year.  But I joined this community, which has a nice google spreadsheet where I plot in my miles.  My goal is to do 600 miles this year (cross-training counts).  We'll see where I end up come December. 

ps-I love a button she has on her blog:  "You can inspire more than you ever imagined."  (And now that childcare is FINALLY back open at the Y, hopefully I am inspired to go to BodyStep tonight...)

a funny from Seth

One of Seth's buddies brought a magic 8-ball for show and tell yesterday.  When it was Seth's turn to ask it  a question, he asked, "Can I get a hot tub?"  I hope his teachers have seen this commercial, so they thought it was as funny as Nathan and I did when Seth told us about it last night!  (By the way, the magic 8-ball said yes.)

self-portrait, Jan 2011

Seth has art on Mondays, and he was very excited at the thought of starting a new project this week.  He made a very good self-portrait.  In case you can't tell, he is on the scooter he got from Santa Claus. 

ringing in the new year

We have not had New Year's Eve plans in years.  One of our friends suggested meeting at 6 at Time to Eat.  I thought it would just be a couple families.  Our group took up this entire picture and four booths.  We only stayed until about 7:30, of course, but some of the kids did "ring-around-the-rosey"...that counts as ringing in the new year when you're in preschool and kindergarten, right?

mommy's new year's resolutions

I am very lucky to be home as much as I am with the kids.  But I am a much better nurse than I am a housewife.  I spent the last couple years trying to find the perfect balance, and I think kindergarten has really helped.  There truly is such as a thing as too much free time.  I am not over-involved in the PTA, but I do choose to help with projects that interest me.  I love Seth's teacher, and I try to help her as much as I can, sometimes in the classroom, but usually with things I can do at home.  The repetition of doing things 21 times is easy work, but it is a constructive way for me to use some of my free time.  So for the new year, I resolve to do a better job around here, even if it means someone is going to spill/smudge/undo it five minutes after I finish.  I will try new recipes, give us a little more variety at dinner.  I will be more organized, starting with closets and hopefully not stopping.  I will try to remember to turn off the printer each time I use it (that one is for Nathan...it drives him crazy).

The kids' resolutions:
---Seth will not leave shoes/socks/mittens/hats/jackets in the back seat of my car, but will put them away in the appropriate location.  Nor will he ask me for a drink before he has ascertained whether or not he has a cup in the fridge left over from earlier.
---Amelia will leave lovey in her room, so we do not have to go for a hunt every time it is quiet time or bedtime.  She will try her best to tame her stubborn streak in the new year.

A girl can dream, right?

There are some things I did in 2010 that I plan to continue, and I encourage you to do the same.  Find something active that you like to do, and do it for yourself.  I have found that I like to run, though I will never be fast.  Recently, the Y has started a BodyStep class.  I have gone the past two weeks, and realized how much I have missed it.  I am going to try to go once a week in addition to running.

Make the most of your money.  In 2010, I started to seriously follow Southern Savers.  The website goes through the weekly grocery and drugstore circulars and tells you how to optimize your savings by stacking coupons on sales.  She also tells you about good deals at other retailers, rebates, and freebies.  I only kept track of my grocery savings, but I went from saving 28% this time last year, to an average savings of 46% each week at the grocery store this year.  I no longer make twice a month trips to Target or Walmart to buy toiletries.  I just stock up when I find a good sale.  I mentioned our awesome consignment shop in my last post.  Although some of my earnings at the consignment shop end up going towards books or clothes for the kids, last year I made $225 there.  $225 to not have stuff sitting in my attic that I'm never use again.   I also discovered Groupon and Living Social, websites that send you deep discount deals each day.  For me, it's worth two extra emails each day to find a deal every week or two that saves us 50%! 

Hope 2011 is a great year for everyone!