Breanna's Birthday Party

My little Miss Boo celebrated her 8th birthday party this year, and as it was an even-numbered birthday she was allowed to have a party and invite friends. 

She chose a Superhero Theme and it was held at the Lazer Maze in the mall.

The girls had so much fun trying to climb through the room without touching any of the light sensors.  The girls waiting for their turn also had fun watching on the TV screen how the person inside was getting along.  This was all paired with Mission Impossible style music and strobe lights to add to the excitement.

I of course found the day to be fabulous, because I could simply sit in the waiting area with a cup of hot Starbucks coffee, a fashion magazine, and my knitting.

All the girls wore a superhero costume, and Miss Boo went as Wonder Woman, the coolest superhero of them all.

I found it hilarious that as soon as I said, "smile for the camera girls!" they all immediately struck a pose.

After the party was over and the other girls had gone home, Bree and her best friend Harmony got to go to the food court for a tasty hotdog and a shave ice.

(For people local to this area, you have to check out the Sno-delicious booth in the food court.  The shave ice is fabulous with tons of different flavors and their hot dogs are nitrate free and 100% beef and taste wonderful!

We had coupons from the Lazer Maze place for the Sno-delicous booth, so I was able to get the girls two huge hot dogs and two shave ice cups for $3.

$3!!!!

They even gave Breanna a free upgrade to the Volcano Cone because it was her birthday!  She loved that especially.

After we left the food court, Breanna used some of her birthday money from Oma to pay for a bungee jump for herself and her friend.  (In hindsight perhaps I should have let them jump before filling their stomachs).

Watching those two silly girls soaring through the air all the way up to the second floor of the mall while wearing their superhero costumes was truly something I'll never forget.

It was a special day for my special little big girl.

Peter's Party

Peter and his best buddy Gavin turned 8 this year (whoops, past year!), and so they had a combined birthday party with a Lego theme.

The party invitations were a wonderful PDF purchase from Living Locurto.  My printer was acting up and the colors weren't coming out true, so we spent a little more getting the pages professionally printed at Staples Printing Online (which we then picked up in the store the next day).

While we waited for everyone to arrive, the kids played with the extra balloons.  Why is it that you can buy the most expensive toys for your kids, but when it comes to pure fun nothing beats bashing each other over the head with a 10 cent balloon?

Gavin's mom, Brianna, decorated the cupcakes.  Didn't she do an amazing job with the swirl and matching the colors?  My cupcakes always tend to look like a bird squatted on them.  I just don't have the patience for such detailed work (and I don't care for cupcakes, which is probably the bigger problem.)

Yes, I know, I'm insane.

Peter obviously doesn't take after his mother in this respect.

(His shirt says, "Survival Tip #1: Never leave uneaten s'mores uneaten".)

 

After eating the cupcakes and goodies the two boys opened their presents.

(Pretty much every picture I have of my son is blurred.  I don't think he stopped moving for 12 hours straight.)

After the gifts were all opened the kids changed into their swimsuits.  Only in the Frigid North will you see a child in a swimsuit and a polar jacket. 

I have a theory that the farther one gets away from the equator the more one's brain begins to . . . oh never mind.

I am SOOOOOO GLAD that Handyman, Gavin's dad, and one of the other dads stayed during the party. 

The. Pool. Was. CRAZY.

What did Brianna, her sweet twins, and I do while 8 year-old boys were being flung across the pool by their fathers? 

We looked on in amazement.  Despite what modern thinking would tell us, there is a definite difference between the genders.

Finally, after a few hours and the boys were tired (well, truthfully the dads were tired and the boys were starting to look a bit wrinkled), we got them all toweled off and back into their dry clothes. 

For party favors Peter had collected a small handful of random Legos from his stash.  I also purchased some cheese sticks and crackers as I figured the kids would be hungry after swimming.  The bags were just clear party bags from Wal-mart, and then I printed out the napkin rings from the PDF and stapled them across the tops of the bags. 

Cute!

3

My niece Michelle and my son Gabe have their birthdays only a few weeks apart.  Because we're going to be celebrating in a week with the rest of my family, we kept the excitement on the birth day down to a minimum.

(I wish I could completely claim this was true, but to be entirely honest, I was worn out and didn't feel like doing much.  Excuse me now while I wallow in guilt and feelings of total inadequacy.)

Not wanting to have nothing for my little man, I put together a quick quilt which I painstakingly pieced together from bits of fabric that I hand wove late into the night.

(Actually, no, I just purchased the top panel from JoAnn Fabrics and sewed fleece on the inside as batting and backed it with Gabe's favorite satin fabric in the color of his favorite "bwankie".)

Thankfully, he likes it.  Not as much as his regular "bwankie", but enough that if stanky bwankie needs a wash he can deal with the substitute without a total meltdown.

I also took a video of his birthday present from Oma and Opa, a neat little toy from the Cars movie.  (If you're viewing this post through Facebook, you need to click here to see the original post.  Also, you might want to pause the music on the right sidebar first before playing the two movie clips.)

The Pink Carnation

The Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig has been one of my favorite book series to read, and I was thrilled when I was able to get my sister Angie addicted to it as well. It's a fun combination of a historical fiction with romance and a bit of suspense thrown in as well, or you could say it's like Jane Austen meeting up with the Scarlet Pimpernel and going on a "bit of a romp" through Napoleonic England.

(Disclaimer: I would rate this series as being for adults, not for kids).

Anyway, Angie and I have had many hilarious phone conversations and texts involving our favorite phrases from the books ("the horror of knee breeches"), and I think both of us find that the Mischief of the Mistletoe is our favorite book from the series.

When Angie came to visit for a wonderful surprise birthday trip, she got me one of the best birthday presents I've ever had - a special treat to symbolize each book from the series, starting with a Christmas Pudding (an instrumental item from the Mistletoe book)

Inside the beautifully wrapped muslin ball was an amazing assortment of items!

The first thing I pulled out of the "pudding" was this lovely necklace.  At first I only admired it for it's prettiness, but when Angie grinned at me and said, "That's a pink carnation", I totally fell in love with it!

Item #2 was an antique postcard from France with pink carnations on the front.  We had fun squealing over how pretty it was and trying to figure out where in England it was sent to and imagining what sort of person it was who sent it.

A dashing spy, perhaps?  Who knows? Maybe, "Have a lovely Christmas" was Pink Carnation Code for "beware of a man wearing a purple hat."

She also got me another funny postcard with a picture of Napoleon Bonaparte (the evil villain).  Really, no wonder the man felt he had to conquer the world.  It takes cheek to wear such silly clothes like that; he must have had a towering sense of his own supremacy.

An orchid postcard to symbolize "The Orchid Affair".

A beautiful set of earrings to go with "The Betrayal of the Blood Lily".

A stunning set of knitting stitch markers (which I guard jealously) to match "The Masque of the Black Tulip".

An emerald ring, to go with, of course, "The Deception of the Emerald Ring".

Handmade miniature paper rose earrings to go with "The Seduction of the Crimson Rose".

And finally, an exotic perfumed sachet of jasmine bath scents to go with "The Temptation of the Night Jasmine."

All of the items she got vintage or handmade through Etsy!  Awesome!!!

Coolest. Gifts. Ever!  Thanks Angie!

Dude Party

Last year, for Handyman's birthday present I got him a beer brewing kit.  He loves honey, so I purchased the Honey Nut Brown.

This year, he finally got around to brewing it.

He and a few of his fellow dudes came over for a ManPparty to celebrate.  They were either celebrating his birthday, or the tasting of his first beer, I'm not sure which.

They thought it hilarious that he stored his stuff in Bud Light containers.  I don't really get it, but then, I like wine better than beer.

There was plenty of chips and homemade Aloha Salsa.

And of course, this being a Man Party, there was the required heart attack inducing amount of meat.

 

Happy birthday Handyman!

A Birth Day

I'm really starting to have a record set for having some pretty awesome birthdays.  Last year was the awesomest way to kick of the Hot 30's, with not one, but TWO surprise parties.

This year shaped up to be just as great.

My friend Elise and I decided to treat ourselves for our birthdays and spend a day together shopping in Madison, a wonderfully trendy town.

(Any town that has a Starbucks is to me, "Trendy".  I have low standards, I know.)

First we got lunch at a wonderful Italian cafe run by a real Italian chef that had real pizza cooked in a real stone oven. 

It was the sort of place which I'd NEVER bring my children, which only added to the ambiance.

Then we went shopping at one of my favorite stores, Anthropologie, where I was able to score some really cute skirts and other various items that were on sale, plus using my extra 15% off birthday coupon.  Since I still had some gift card money left from Christmas, all my purchases were free!

(That's one of the skirts I bought)

We also went to Whole Foods where I went into a sudden paroxysm of bliss.  

Heaven will be just like Whole Foods but without the ridiculously high prices.

Thankfully I managed to come to and only purchased the basic necessities, chocolate and Greek olives.

We did some more shopping at Old Navy, and before we went home, we decided to go catch a movie.

We didn't watch this particular movie, but I thought the heading was rather appropriate.

 

We got to see The King's Speech, which in my opinion was one of the best movies I've seen in a really long time.  It was inspiring and captivating, and one I'd definitely like to see again.

Here's a video clip of the movie, in case you haven't seen it yet (you might want to pause the music player on the sidebar.)