On Crazy Kids and Angry Birds

The Drama Queen turned six on Friday. Six going on sixteen, if you ask her. Suddenly my little girl wants to be treated like a grown-up. Still, she did not hesitate to put her new rainbow hair clips in and jump around in a circle to show me how high the curls could bounce...

She requested an Angry Birds cake. I had received a Cake Pops book from my mom for my birthday and had wanted to try my hand at them for a while now, so we decided on Angry Birds cake pops.

As usual, I ended up staying up way too late to try to make them perfect and agonizing over every crooked eyebrow and beak askew. The Drama Queen liked them just the way they were and gave me her Angry Birds face in approval.

We took the cake pops to John's Incredible Pizza and happily ate a variety of pizza and pasta while watching Curious George and Inspector Gadget in the cartoon room. And of course, our Drama Queen was showered with gifts from us and her grandparents.


Then we braved the noise and crowd chaos of the game room, playing game after game and trading in our tickets for silly little prizes. Totally worth it when a beaming, not-so-grown-up-after-all face looked up at me and said, "That was the greatest birthday ever, Mom!'

Wordless Wednesday - Thirty-One

(Iphone photos - hence the blurriness)

a little fun at John's Incredible Pizza for the Nerd's 31st birthday!

more wordless fun at 5 Minutes for Mom. . .

InstaFriday #2

It's time for another Iphone photo dump, courtesy of InstaFriday from Life Rearranged and my everpresent phone to catch those little moments. So, without further ado, here's our week in grainy Iphone photos:

The Boy Scouts have been selling ice cream treats after church each week to raise money for their troop. For several weeks, we had been steadfast naysayers until the Nerd finally gave in this past Sunday, allowing the kids to pick whatever they wanted while I visualized my laundry detergent at home and fervently hoped it would erase any damage made by the popsicles.

I was very proud of Davey - although the ice cream cart advertised Spider Man popsicles, they ended up not having any. Instead of having a major meltdown, he very calmly chose another character and seemed pleased with his selection. (and in case anyone is wondering, the SpongeBob and Sonic popsicles taste awful! My kids didn't think so, but I ended up with a taste or too and they were disgusting. )

I managed to catch a few shots of party guests at our "Monkeyin' Around" bash on Saturday.

That's full-on party excitement, folks!

The birthday boy wanted me to take a picture of him and his cookie cake with my "funny phone camma." I obliged.

I have slowly been getting my feet wet in the whole couponing thing - this week I really managed to get some great deals without stressing myself out too much. With coupons and a quick trip to the local bakery outlet, I managed to get all of this for five dollars. Go me!

Surprise! They were serving up 25 cent bowls of ice cream at the splash park on Tuesday. This was a perfect scenario for me - eat the ice cream, get it all over yourself, and then go rinse off in the splash park. I call that a "win-win."

Halloween costumes have emerged from the closet as various little people around here have taken turns being Ironman, Spiderman, a shark, and Thomas the Tank Engine. Apparently the Shark likes himself a little TV time.

Library time is always a fun excursion for me. I take four kids and tell them repeatedly to be quiet and pick out their two books without disturbing the other patrons. The Spud always picks his books out in record speed because that leaves him more time to terrorize the library. Here he is searching for the key in a treasure chest "can you find?" book.

I scored some much needed girl time with my Rachels last night - no it's not a secret club; I just happen to have two close friends named Rachel. :) We hit up Panera Bread where I greatly enjoyed the above meal. The cashier had the nerve to ask me if I would like the pastry packaged up to take home later. I said to her, "Lady, look, I'm pregnant! Just put it on the tray with all the rest of the food!" We fully intended on walking through the mall or visiting the local bookstore after we ate, but conversation led us to stay firmly at that table until closing time. Ah yes. The food was very good, but the fellowship was far greater.

And that's it for this week. Now my phone is ready to capture whatever is in store for us this coming week.

How to Have a Monkey Party

I debated a long time over the theme for the Spud's birthday party this year. He is an avid lover of cars, trains, and really anything with wheels; so any of these seemed natural choices for party themes. However, the Spud just happened to born at the same time as a bunch of girls in our group, and I wondered how many of his little girly friends would enjoy a car-themed party. I finally settled on a monkey party, since he wanted to have his party at the local park. (Plus, we call him "little monkey" all the time!)

The invitations were handed out a few weeks in advance, all tied up with monkey ribbon.

We asked guests to come join us at our favorite local park for some "monkeyin' around" at the playground and the splash park. All they needed to bring was some stuff to get wet in and a wrapped squirt gun or water toy for the gift exchange.

Food and treats were super easy to make for this theme. The monkey cupcakes were the stars of the show - made with chocolate-frosted cupcakes, nilla wafers, and marshmallows.

I used a simple styrofoam cone from the Dollar Tree to create a monkey lollipop tree. The little monkeys were hot-glued onto the suckers and then stuck into the tree for party favors.

The funky monkey leis made of froot loops and string were a big hit with the party guests. They could run around and play while carrying their snack with them wherever they went. These actually did not take too long to make, and as a bonus, the Beast helped me and got a fine motor skills activity in for the day.

The day turned out slightly cool and overcast - not ideal for getting wet. Still, friends buddied up quickly to tackle the slides and monkey bars and swings.

The Spud was overjoyed that his friend Pursy could come to his party. (Apparently summer birthday parties are harder than I thought - everyone is already on vacation or committed to something else when you invite them!) Pursy and Spud chased each other all over the playground, and that girl never let that balloon out of her sight.

Little friends hung out near the picnic tables with the grownups and waited patiently for snacks and cupcakes.

I tried to make the snacks not only coordinate with the theme but also with the Spud's favorite treats. Besides the cupcakes, lollipops, and froot loop leis, we had "monkey munch" (chocolate animal crackers and marshmallows), peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and fruit snacks. The tables were decorated with red streamers, colorful balloons, and an inflatable monkey. (all from the dollar store - cha-ching!)

At one point, all of our monkeys were in a huge tree on the playground property.

The gift exchange went over well. Everyone got to open one wrapped water toy - we went from youngest to oldest. After all the gifts were opened, the trading commenced until everyone was happy with the toy they received.

Later, after everyone left and we had finished cleaning up our party area, the weather warmed up enough for our three kiddos to quickly change into their swimsuits and go play in the splash park for ten minutes or so. We ended our special day by driving over to the local Burgerville, where they were featuring "throw-back prices" for one day only. Three very tired and happy littles munched cheeseburgers and fries and slurped their chocolate milkshakes before heading off to bed.

Success! I still can't believe my little monkey is three! I must admit though that this preggo momma is exhausted from all the party planning. No more parties for a while!

Bathroom Reading - Volume Two

How about catching up on a week with the temporarily insane (that's me, the Nerd, and the kiddos) in a concise, easy-to-read list? Perfect for bathroom reading - that is, if you trust your electronic device near the many hazards of the bathroom. I personally consider my Iphone a necessary item to take when headed to the bathroom facilities. It's a convenient place to catch up on Facebook, read a few blog entries, answer an email, etc. Of course, I have to pretend that there aren't little fingers reaching under the bathroom door while loud childish voices clamor for my attention. "Watcha doin' in there, Momma?" "I need you now, Momma!" "Are you poopin' so you can get a lollipop?"

So...

1. The fourth (and hopefully final!) family member to get the stomach flu last week was the Drama Queen. Somehow all the germs have skipped me, and for that I am eternally grateful.

2. I apparently was in quite the baking mood last week. On Tuesday we had fresh bread (three loaves), and on Friday I made cake mix brownies and tried baking homemade granola bars for the first time.

3. Did you know that homemade bread makes the best French toast? It does - so so good!

4. A cherry Pepsi can committed suicide off the top of our fridge last week. It jumped right out of the carton, hit the floor with a crash, and began spraying soda everywhere. It didn't even leave a note.

5. The Nerd spent part of his weekend wiring up the old minivan for individual sets of headphones for the kids. This means that when they watch a movie on the DVD player or listen to their kid music, we don't have to! We can enjoy our own music! This will be especially beneficial for our long road trip coming up soon.

6. We thoroughly enjoyed a picnic/birthday party with friends yesterday in the (amazingly) nice weather. We welcomed summer with grilled hot dogs, salads, chips, and birthday cake of course; and the kids raced around getting as dirty as possible. We concluded our time with roasting marshmallows over the fire ( in which this Momma had a minor heart attack watching the littles get entirely too close to the fire!) Apparently we are raising a couple of pyros.

And that's it for this week! :) have a wonderful day and watch out for flying soda cans!