#435 - Inside Wild Island

Last summer, TLG and I spent a day at the water park at Wild Island in Sparks. It was awesome. I've been meaning to post this "new thing" for a while now, but a couple of weekends ago, TLG attended a birthday party inside the Coconut Bowl area at Wild Island. Having never been there ourselves, we all went... and were highly impressed! The main attraction of the party was an indoor, 3-story structure with foam balls, launchers, slides, stairs, and play areas. TLG and some of his friends from daycare were all over this place while the adults watched from outside. At one point, I went in to see why TLG was standing all alone, and when I discovered TLG and his friends were too short to put the foam balls in the launchers very well, I stayed a few minutes to help load it up. (It was lots of fun, but I didn't want to be one of those hovering moms so I tried not to stay too long.) After a pizza lunch, TLG and my wonderful hubby went with some of the other families outside to try the go-carts. My two boys rode on the big cars together, with TLG grinning the whole time his daddy drove. Then it was on to the little cars, which TLG was plenty big enough to drive by himself. TLG and the birthday boy had a race in the little cars, which TLG handily won (probably because he is taller and could reach the pedals better). I do hope we'll have a chance to take TLG back here again before too long. What fun!

#413 - Kid Party

Last year, for The Little Guy's birthday, we rented a bounce house place and had a huge party (jointly with another family). This year we decided to go more low-key: we invited TLG's friends from daycare to our house for a birthday party. Two families joined us for lunch, cake, and a pinata (which all the boys loved!) We decorated the house with balloons, streamers, and Hot Wheels stuff everywhere - which was a little overwhelming with all the Christmas decorations already out - but hey, if you're going to have a party, you need to go all out! I don't know for sure if the snow kept some other families away - we sent out a bunch of invitations that people did not let us know if they were coming or not... next time I will know to follow-up with the parents when I run into them or daycare or something! One thing is certain: TLG had a fabulous time showing off his toys to his friends, and got a huge kick out of the pinata. It was definitely a great birthday!

#387 - (Really Old New Thing) 50's Party

Waaaaaaaaay back in May, my sister hosted a costume party with a 50's theme, which we happily dressed up to attend. It was an awesome party, and each of my family members showed up dressed to the nines. Even my then-5-month-old niece had a poodle skirt! It was really fun to dress up outside of Halloween, and we had everything from Elvis to a beatnik to a high school coach (see left).

Rather than go back and re-number all my new things, I decided to just add this now, with this totally adorable photo of our family.

#385 - Surprise!

This weekend, I threw a surprise birthday party for my wonderful husband. I had lots of help from my hubby's parents, who assisted with everything from planning to getting him out of the house... it turned out to be about 30 people over for dinner and cake, ping pong and good times. All of my family from California drove in, which helped add to the surprise (they had all called to say "happy birthday!" throughout the day). I know it wasn't a complete surprise for him (he told me I asked him some weird question about surprise parties months ago, so he suspected something was going on). But all the logistics were a surprise - where, when, who. It was especially hard for me not to mention it in front of TLG, who is really good at surprising me with what he'll remember and bring up later! And since I'm a terrible liar, that part was difficult too. But what a special birthday party! Thanks, everyone, for your part in the surprise.

#336 - Raining Gifts

Today I threw a really fun baby shower for my sister, who as I reported in an earlier post, is expecting her first baby in a couple of months. As part of the excitement, I tried two new games, including a "Price is Right" type of game, and a cartoon-character recognition game... both of which seemed really good with the group of ladies who attended. My sister's friends are really nice and it was so nice to see them all together after a long time apart. Everyone brought such wonderful gifts for my niece-to-be (who I can't wait to meet!) and it was an all-around great afternoon.

#312 - Old-School Birthday Party

Many of TLG's friends from daycare are starting to turn three. We attended a few parties last year when they were turning two, and the parties were a little intimidating to me as a parent: expensive-looking parties at bounce house gyms with lots of food... looks expensive, even if it may not be as much work as an "old school party" where you hunker down with your friends for an hour or two to hang out, eat some cake and open presents. Well, this afternoon, TLG (and us parents too) attended an old-school birthday party in Idlewild Park. I've never been to the playground at Idlewild before, it was very large and had tons of fun equipment to play on, including a giant lion's head you could walk through. The party was small, just enough kids to keep track of easily, and they had a blast taking wagon rides (pulled by a parent, obviously) and running around everywhere. TLG helped his friend open his presents, which nobody seemed to mind, and was pretty cute. A good time was had by all.

#238 - Water Balloons

Our daycare held their annual picnic in Manzanita Park today, so the little guy and I attended - and we got to try out some water balloons! Ours was (I believe) the last unpopped balloon, because TLG didn't really understand the concept and he kept handing it back to me instead of throwing it. Finally it sprung a tiny leak and I got to chase him around the park, giving him a "shower" (even though he wasn't really getting very wet). We also enjoyed a yummy lunch, fun company, and Otter Pops together. It was a nice afternoon in the park for both of us.

#192 - Evites

I sent my first Evites today, to a party I will be hosting for a friend in a few weeks. I found the system deceptively simple, and yet not very user friendly. On the main page of the electronic invitation page, there was a giant button for getting started, so I did. Ten minutes later, after having finished entering all the e-mail addresses, etc. I thought I was all done - until the "Send" button wouldn't work. My whole computer froze up. So I started all over, and it happened exactly the same way AGAIN. Frustrated, I did finally figure out that I needed to create a user account and sign in before it would send anything. Geez. I know the party will be lots of fun and I sure am glad this process is done! Ei yi yi.

#92 - Not the Same Auld Lang Syne

Tonight, around 5:45-ish, we celebrated New Year's Eve with the little guy (TLG) - complete with noisemakers and hats. The daycare had put on a little party today too, so he came home with a noisemaker already, but when the three of us started playing all together, it was a lot more fun. We made some cupcakes yesterday, and I promised if he ate all his carrots at dinner time, he could have one for dessert... and cake, coupled with hats and taking lots of photos could only mean one thing. So TLG started singing "Happy Birthday!" It was adorable and even though he only ate a few bites of cupcake, the sugar rush lasted for quite a while. I don't know why my hubby looks so intense in the photo, but anyways, Happy Birthday! I mean, Happy New Year!

#89 - Saying Goodbye, Why Is It Sad?

Yesterday, I spent a little time making a good-bye card for a very good friend who's moving across the country with her family. This isn't new, except that it made me so darn sad to do it! I don't remember ever being so upset when making gifts for friends/family. This particular friend is one of my oldest friends, and one I'm lucky to have... and I'm excited for her and her family, but upset with myself for not making more of an effort to spend time with them these past few years. Life's funny isn't it, you take things for granted and then all of a sudden things aren't the same anymore. I felt very similar when my sister moved away earlier this year. *big sigh* Anyway, last night, we went to their going away party and it was so nice to see them before they packed up and left town. My wonderful hubby took TLG home around 9:00 but I stayed until almost 11:00 myself, just talking and giggling about nothing. The photo is TLG playing with my friend's sons' toys (and loving every minute of it).

NOTE: The title of this post is stolen from the first line of a song in the Muppets Take Manhattan movie. At least that helps me feel better.

#74 - Homemade birthdays

The daycare won't let us bring homemade treats for any celebrations in TLG's toddler room. I'm pretty sure this is because they don't want other parents to worry about what's in the treats, though it may have something to do with some standards, rules or regulations. For today's party, I brought store-bought chocolate cupcakes to share with all TLG's friends and teachers. Both my hubby and I have memories of sharing homemade goodies, so this rule was foreign to us, but times have changed and there are plenty of good reasons to be careful in today's society. Still, it's a little sad that I couldn't participate in the time-honored tradition of making cupcakes for TLG's friends. Good thing I got to bake the cake last weekend!

#72 - Gonna paint my wagon...

We celebrated the little guy's birthday today, and Poppy gave him a great wagon which was the hit of the party. But we got enough snow last week that it's still all over the ground. So for the rest of the day, we played with the wagon indoors. I don't remember if I owned a wagon growing up, but I'm not very good at steering it just yet. Though I got lots of practice this afternoon and it will be old hat before long! Thanks, everybody, for the great gifts!

#33 - Bounce houses are for kids

I'd never been in a bounce house before today. Our family attended a kid's birthday party at one of those places where they have a lot of them in a huge room. At first, the little guy was pretty shy, since there were lots of kids and standing on a giant inflatable thing can be a little intimidating when you're not even 2 years old yet. So the hubby and I were helping him out. After a while of figuring it out, the little guy decided he liked it - but of course he loved the slides best and he's too small to be able to climb up the ladder-thingys to get up the slides. As an adult, I was probably too big and in too many other kids' ways as I helped our guy to the top (over and over and over). But he had a great time, even going down the slide by himself towards the end. I tell you what, though: one hour in the bounce house, and I was exhausted! I think we will all sleep well tonight.

#25 - Early spooky celebration

The little guy and I went trick-or-treating today. He was much too young last year to understand the concept (or even walk house-to-house!) so we participated in my work's annual party for everyone's kids. At first, he was shy with all the other kids and their parents. Plus the pirate jacket (as shown in the photo) was obviously made for outdoor activities and was much too hot for walking around indoors! He only had it on for a couple photos and then we went without it. Still, he wanted me to carry him everywhere... until I let him eat some chocolate. From that point forward, he was happy as could be, and he even walked a bunch by himself.

#22 - A Birthday tribute

Two of the important men in my life have birthdays today. In their honor, I researched some birthday traditions around the world. My dad, who recently traveled to England and Egypt on vacation, probably already knows that the British like to bake tiny items into their cake, and whoever finds them gets various types of luck. (Find a coin, get good luck; find a thimble, get bad luck. Good thing I don't sew very well!) They also like to turn people upside-down and bump their heads on the floor (once for each year they've achieved... aren't you glad they don't do this one in the U.S., Dad?)

My step dad loves to cook. I find he would enjoy the tradition in Hong Kong, where they eat special extra-long noodles to symbolize a long life. Wayne's family makes their own noodles for some special occasions - something I've never done (hmmmmm...) and they are delicious. Happy, happy birthday!

#18 - Itsy Bitsy Crazy Momma

Today, though I worked all day, turned into a day full of kids stuff. On my lunch break, I went shopping for some birthday gifts for some friends who are turning 4 years old this week. I don't think I've been to a 4-year-old's birthday party since I was close to 4 myself, so today's new thing is: the little guy and I attended a 4-year-old's birthday party. (Actually, since they are twins, it was 2 4-year-old's birthday party, but that's much harder to explain.) The party was good fun, the twins were patient with my shy little guy, and the spider cupcakes were yummy. The little guy even ate some cheese pizza all by himself (a first for him!).

While I was shopping at lunch today, I also bought a new CD called "For the Kids 3" which has famous musicians performing some kids songs in a manner that's supposed to keep their parents sane. Well, none of them listened to Itsy Bitsy Spider ten times in a row... so I am one heck of an itsy bitsy crazy momma now!