Thank you Mary for reminding me of this.
So we are sitting at dinner Thursday night, Mary is with us.
Madison looks up at her aunt & says "We have a garden".
Mary asks "Oh, what's in it?"
Madison responds "Weeds".
There is no doubt, Madison is definitely Michael's child.
Friday, February 19, 2010
These are the moments you live for as a parent
Standing around after Madison got out of school today, her teacher approached me. She let me know that she's doing pretty well with her numbers, but gets stumped after 69, so some work on that, she's reading pretty well, and then she tells me...
"Madison always does the things she's supposed to be doing, always listens to directions & tries her hardest to be doing the right thing." Yayayayay!
But even better the conversation continued on and she said "Madison is probably the most empathetic child I have in class. She always is caring to the other kids, never causes issues and when we talk about situations and how would you feel, or how do you think the character feels, she says things like "Oh that must make them very happy, or that would make me very sad".
I would be thrilled to know she is doing perfect in reading or with numbers, but I am so proud to have someone else recognize that I am raising a decent human being. Numbers are great but being a good person goes a lot farther in my book. I am seriously beaming ear to ear.
"Madison always does the things she's supposed to be doing, always listens to directions & tries her hardest to be doing the right thing." Yayayayay!
But even better the conversation continued on and she said "Madison is probably the most empathetic child I have in class. She always is caring to the other kids, never causes issues and when we talk about situations and how would you feel, or how do you think the character feels, she says things like "Oh that must make them very happy, or that would make me very sad".
I would be thrilled to know she is doing perfect in reading or with numbers, but I am so proud to have someone else recognize that I am raising a decent human being. Numbers are great but being a good person goes a lot farther in my book. I am seriously beaming ear to ear.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Ahoy there Maties!
Okay, so next up after Riley's party was Madison's 6th birthday. With her wanting to invite her school friends & all the family we have, add in our small house, I decided the only way we could do this is if we did 2 parties, one for her friends and one for family. I figured if I was doing 2, I might as well just do them both the same day. I did the kids one @ noon & the family one was a dinner starting at 5.
She decided she wanted a Pirate birthday party. Wow, this was work, but I think it turned out real well & was a lot of fun. I am bummed though, with being so busy, I didn't get many good pictures of the party & decorations.
First we handed out the invites to her classmates. They were message in a bottle invites. I printed the wording up on regular computer paper, dipped them in coffee, then set them in a low temp oven to dry. It gave them a nice aged look. We reused water bottles we collected from family members. Put a new label on them that said "Pirate So&So" "Open if ye dare" and a skull & crossbones underneath. The label was also aged. I then rolled the invites up, tied them with a string & had the rest of the string hang out of the bottle. I figured this would make it easier to get the invites out of the bottle.
For decorations: Michael made a "pirate ship" out of plywood for the front of the house & we had a "plank" for the kids to walk up to the front door. We also concocted a sail for the ship, and one for inside the house, using bamboo that we cut down from the yard as the mast, and neutral sheets for the sail itself. Oh, we also had a repetitive playing of Pirates of the Caribbean "Yo ho ho A Pirates Life for me" at the front of the house, so the kids heard it as they came up.
Inside we had two pirates on the walls, fishing nets with parrots, pirate pennants, swords, money bags & other loot along with previous said sail, which was up against the wall behind our couch.
Upon coming in, the kiddo's received a pirate hat, that Tessa & Katelyn helped me make and red sashes, to help them get into the swashbuckling mood.
I read them a story "The Night Pirates" which was really cute & fit well since it had girl pirates in it. Then we moved on to pirate bingo. I used pictures of pirate things so that all the kids could play easily. They used gold plastic coins to mark their papers (which they kept). Next up was Toss the Fish (think Hot Potato)and Pin the Parrot on the Pirate (thanks Katelyn!).
Some where in between the games the pirates got their grub: corn dog swords, ocean blue jello, gold fish crackers, fresh fruit & veggies.
After Madison blew out her candle & the kids had consumed their cupcakes we began the treasure hunt. The kids had clues that led them from place to place with the idea that on the back of each clue was a letter, that was to spell out the location of the treasure, which was TABLE. The treasure chest with the goody bags inside was hidden under the food table. Unfortunately, my planning went poorly here. First off, the kids didn't even need to put the clue letters together, they had figured it out. But, I also thought that they would find the treasure chest & pull it out from under the table before trying to open it. NOPE. Half the nearly 20 kids that were here, dove under the table all scrambling to try & get into it. Madison for one, bumped her head on the bottom of the table, then whacked her chin on the top of the chest. So after the melee subsided, we were able to hand out the goody boxes in a somewhat organized manner. But hey, what pirate party is complete with out a pirate brawl?
While the kids went through their loot, Madison began opening presents & shortly there after the pirate ship docked & the little mini pirates headed home.
You know what that means....Mommy & Daddy rested for about 1 hour, before cleaning up & getting ready to entertain again for her family party. This time we didn't have to worry about any games and dinner was already prepped the night before. I had a yummy lasagna I just had to throw in the oven, Salad and french bread, along with the left over fruit & veggies from the kid party that I just had to replate.
It was a very long & exhausting day, but I think it turned out great! Although, I have suggested to the little swashbuckler, maybe next year a few friends & heading to Happy Frog on a Friday afternoon! But really, who am I kidding, I love throwing her parties!
Prep work, putting together the goody boxes
The CAKE - Katelyn helped me tremendously putting this together (along with Tessa). Unfortunately, after taking this picture, I realized the right side was sagging & I did fix that, but forgot to take a picture after
Food table before the food got on it
Action shots ;-)
Rachel wants to know "Arrrgh you having a good time?" She is so cute!
Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Madison, happy birthday to you
Tweaker really wanting to know if the party is over yet
Heading out on the treasure hunt
Finding the treasure chest
And finally, after all the parties were done, Madison & Mary playing in the treasure chest
She decided she wanted a Pirate birthday party. Wow, this was work, but I think it turned out real well & was a lot of fun. I am bummed though, with being so busy, I didn't get many good pictures of the party & decorations.
First we handed out the invites to her classmates. They were message in a bottle invites. I printed the wording up on regular computer paper, dipped them in coffee, then set them in a low temp oven to dry. It gave them a nice aged look. We reused water bottles we collected from family members. Put a new label on them that said "Pirate So&So" "Open if ye dare" and a skull & crossbones underneath. The label was also aged. I then rolled the invites up, tied them with a string & had the rest of the string hang out of the bottle. I figured this would make it easier to get the invites out of the bottle.
For decorations: Michael made a "pirate ship" out of plywood for the front of the house & we had a "plank" for the kids to walk up to the front door. We also concocted a sail for the ship, and one for inside the house, using bamboo that we cut down from the yard as the mast, and neutral sheets for the sail itself. Oh, we also had a repetitive playing of Pirates of the Caribbean "Yo ho ho A Pirates Life for me" at the front of the house, so the kids heard it as they came up.
Inside we had two pirates on the walls, fishing nets with parrots, pirate pennants, swords, money bags & other loot along with previous said sail, which was up against the wall behind our couch.
Upon coming in, the kiddo's received a pirate hat, that Tessa & Katelyn helped me make and red sashes, to help them get into the swashbuckling mood.
I read them a story "The Night Pirates" which was really cute & fit well since it had girl pirates in it. Then we moved on to pirate bingo. I used pictures of pirate things so that all the kids could play easily. They used gold plastic coins to mark their papers (which they kept). Next up was Toss the Fish (think Hot Potato)and Pin the Parrot on the Pirate (thanks Katelyn!).
Some where in between the games the pirates got their grub: corn dog swords, ocean blue jello, gold fish crackers, fresh fruit & veggies.
After Madison blew out her candle & the kids had consumed their cupcakes we began the treasure hunt. The kids had clues that led them from place to place with the idea that on the back of each clue was a letter, that was to spell out the location of the treasure, which was TABLE. The treasure chest with the goody bags inside was hidden under the food table. Unfortunately, my planning went poorly here. First off, the kids didn't even need to put the clue letters together, they had figured it out. But, I also thought that they would find the treasure chest & pull it out from under the table before trying to open it. NOPE. Half the nearly 20 kids that were here, dove under the table all scrambling to try & get into it. Madison for one, bumped her head on the bottom of the table, then whacked her chin on the top of the chest. So after the melee subsided, we were able to hand out the goody boxes in a somewhat organized manner. But hey, what pirate party is complete with out a pirate brawl?
While the kids went through their loot, Madison began opening presents & shortly there after the pirate ship docked & the little mini pirates headed home.
You know what that means....Mommy & Daddy rested for about 1 hour, before cleaning up & getting ready to entertain again for her family party. This time we didn't have to worry about any games and dinner was already prepped the night before. I had a yummy lasagna I just had to throw in the oven, Salad and french bread, along with the left over fruit & veggies from the kid party that I just had to replate.
It was a very long & exhausting day, but I think it turned out great! Although, I have suggested to the little swashbuckler, maybe next year a few friends & heading to Happy Frog on a Friday afternoon! But really, who am I kidding, I love throwing her parties!
Prep work, putting together the goody boxes
The CAKE - Katelyn helped me tremendously putting this together (along with Tessa). Unfortunately, after taking this picture, I realized the right side was sagging & I did fix that, but forgot to take a picture after
Food table before the food got on it
Action shots ;-)
Rachel wants to know "Arrrgh you having a good time?" She is so cute!
Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Madison, happy birthday to you
Tweaker really wanting to know if the party is over yet
Heading out on the treasure hunt
Finding the treasure chest
And finally, after all the parties were done, Madison & Mary playing in the treasure chest
Walking in a Winter Onederland
So, I really have to get better at this blogging thing. There are times through out the day that the kids will say something funny & I think, "Oh, have to put that on the blog". As you can tell, I'm horrible with follow through.
So....I need to catch up with the girl's birthdays. First up is Riley.
Riley's was held on her actual birthday, January 2nd. We had a Winter ONEderland theme (hehe, yes, corny but cute!). I double dipped & sent the invites with our Christmas cards. I made them as a long vertical rectangle. Purple card stock. Towards the top, I glued down wide ribbon & on top of that glued down a picture of her. Under that was the wording for the invites. I'm hoping I can find an extra & take a picture to show. I personally think they turned out fairly well!
We had comfort foods with an emphasis on white. White cheddar baked mac&cheese, Meatballs & penne regate, snow flake shaped sandwiches, cream puffs, a hot cocoa station and other good odds & ends. Tessa helped me decorate, Mary made the banner for me & of course, Michael filled in where ever I needed him. Just about the whole family made it, along with some friends. We were packed, but it seemed like everyone had a good time.
Riley could really have cared less with most of the present opening. Not to say, she isn't loving her gifts now, but she was more into socializing then opening at that time.
However, cake time, oh yeah, the only socializing she was doing was with her cupcake. She didn't poke around at it, smear the frosting with her finger or any of that other typical 1st birthday cake stuff. She picked up the cupcake & promptly stuffed it up to her mouth. There was barely any crumbs on her tray & clean up was honestly quite easy, because most of it went in her mouth.
And now for the photo heavy ending =)
Decorations - I was late on these & snapped most of them after the party, and I never got a good shot of the pretty snowflakes hanging down from the ceiling.
Hot Cocoa station
starting left to right
Close up of the mantle decorations
The Birthday Girl!
One of her favorites - yay!
Maddy giving her sister her doll as a present, isn't that so sweet!
READY for CAKE!
So....I need to catch up with the girl's birthdays. First up is Riley.
Riley's was held on her actual birthday, January 2nd. We had a Winter ONEderland theme (hehe, yes, corny but cute!). I double dipped & sent the invites with our Christmas cards. I made them as a long vertical rectangle. Purple card stock. Towards the top, I glued down wide ribbon & on top of that glued down a picture of her. Under that was the wording for the invites. I'm hoping I can find an extra & take a picture to show. I personally think they turned out fairly well!
We had comfort foods with an emphasis on white. White cheddar baked mac&cheese, Meatballs & penne regate, snow flake shaped sandwiches, cream puffs, a hot cocoa station and other good odds & ends. Tessa helped me decorate, Mary made the banner for me & of course, Michael filled in where ever I needed him. Just about the whole family made it, along with some friends. We were packed, but it seemed like everyone had a good time.
Riley could really have cared less with most of the present opening. Not to say, she isn't loving her gifts now, but she was more into socializing then opening at that time.
However, cake time, oh yeah, the only socializing she was doing was with her cupcake. She didn't poke around at it, smear the frosting with her finger or any of that other typical 1st birthday cake stuff. She picked up the cupcake & promptly stuffed it up to her mouth. There was barely any crumbs on her tray & clean up was honestly quite easy, because most of it went in her mouth.
And now for the photo heavy ending =)
Decorations - I was late on these & snapped most of them after the party, and I never got a good shot of the pretty snowflakes hanging down from the ceiling.
Hot Cocoa station
starting left to right
Close up of the mantle decorations
The Birthday Girl!
One of her favorites - yay!
Maddy giving her sister her doll as a present, isn't that so sweet!
READY for CAKE!
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