Crazy Hair Day 2013

After Crazy Hair Day last year, we got a wonderful suggestion from my mother for what Cara could do the following year. Yes, we were planning one year in advance for an event that no one really participates in at her school any longer. So?

Well, about a month after last year's Crazy Hair Day, my daughter went and did something that, while completely selfless and generous and incredible, totally put a crimp in that plan. She donated over 10 inches of her hair to Locks of Love.

So, it's getting close to the end of the school year (Crazy Hair Day is on the last day of school) and we toss around a few other ideas. But my mother's idea had been stuck in our brain for so long, we thought we'd try and make a go of it with the length Cara's hair was now.

My daughter is about as much of a morning person as I am (especially now that she's in the pre-teen years), so we wanted to do something where some of the work could be completed the night before.  Even with her ends having been dyed purple the week before (just for fun, and only temporary), I think it still turned out pretty well. 

Thanks for the idea, Mom!

Night-before prep

Rainbow side

Rainbow and cloud

Mario Birthday 6.0

My son has had a fascination with all things Mario for years. So, when I asked him what kind of birthday party he wanted, his answer was no surprise.

Now, you'd think that, since we did a Mario birthday party last year, having the same theme again would be a piece of cake. Um, hello. I'd like to introduce myself to you. I'm the one that likes to make things complicated.

First step, the invitations. Since I don't have a color printer (and I REALLY like to cut), I set out to make Mario faces out of card stock. A quick template made from a Google images search, a download of a free Mario font, and I had these guys made up in no time.

Once the invitations were sent, we got to work on the party itself. Connor had some specific ideas about things that he wanted at this party which made the planning go that much easier.

If someone would have asked me, "What's a party without a pinata?", I would have breezed past the fact that it was probably a rhetorical question and answered "A safe party!" But then I saw those pinatas that you pull on strings to open instead of swinging a bat and my brain stopped thinking of checking our homeowner's policy and instead started trying to come up with a creative pinata-esque solution.

We ended up taking a wine box (thanks, Costco) with dividers, large pieces of yellow cardstock, tissue paper, and a computer printout of the Mario question marks.

Since Connor was the genius that came up with the idea of covering peanut butter cups as well as Oreos with gold foil to make gold coins, he was nominated to help bring his vision to life. We picked up the gold foils in squares from our local cake & candy supply shop.

? Block Pinata

He tried to break a cookie so he could eat the "accident".

Our pile of gold coins

All filled up and ready to punch!

The next thing I went to work on was the fire/ice ball toss game. I cut out some Goombas, Koopas, and a Piranha Plant with card stock (much like with the invitations) and glued them to some old water bottles that I had filled partially with dried rice. For the fire and ice balls, just come craft felt and more dried rice after consulting my friend, Google images, for a fireball pattern.

Bad guys ready to be taken down.

I am lucky enough to have other creative people in my life. If I didn't, the pin-the-M-on-the-Mario game would not have been possible. My talented friend, Phaedra, drew freehand on a large piece of poster board and copied the Mario head from our invitation. After a few letter M's cut out, this portion of prep work was done.

And a party wouldn't be complete without a pinata party favors. We picked up some foam visors and crowns at the craft store, some white craft foam, and some adhesive jewels and made Mario and Luigi hats and Princess Peach crowns.  One of the things I did reuse from last year was the sticks from the chocolate mustaches. This time, I just used foam sticker mustaches and put them on the sticks. The wands were foam flower and heart stickers and some extra ribbon I had on hand. (Yes, I know Princess Peach doesn't have a wand, but not one of the girls complained about accuracy, so there.)

The favors on display.

Connor fills the treat bags.

Now, it was time to decorate. Cara requested to be a part of making the Boo balloons, so I let her take on this task herself. She found three Boo faces to copy and drew them freehand with permanent marker on the white balloons that I bought at Target. Once those were completed, we just used thread and tape and taped them to the ceiling of the living room.

Hiding Boo

Scary Boo

Banner reused from last year.

Games were set up. Decorations were in place. Treat bags were filled. And the cake was made. All that was left was party time.

It's Mario Party O'clock!

We started out with the games. While it seemed that all of the kids enjoyed the activities, I would probably look toward having more games where all of the kids got to participate at once. Everyone did very well taking turns, but not all 6 year olds are big fans of waiting.

Each kid had an M to try and get on Mario's hat.

Fire & ice ball toss.

Punch the ? block pinata.

I should add that this version of the pinata worked wonderfully! Since the object was to punch a hole in a section of the box, the targeted hitting was much safer than the indiscriminate swinging of a stick while blindfolded. Plus, each child had their own section to punch and, therefore, their own amount of candy. No one had to elbow anyone else to try and get to their candy. If I were to do a pinata again, I would definitely look for another one I could work similarly.

We did end up heading to the nearby park to burn some additional time (and energy) and we still had time for cake and ice cream, presents, and treat bags.

Star Power cake.

Another successful Mario birthday party!

Thanks to my helpers and a huge thanks to the parents of these amazing kids. It's because of them that Connor has some really great friends! 

They're Not Called "Greenies"

Me: "Did you take the brownies out of the oven?"
Cara: "Yes. I tested them and they came out fine."
Connor: "I hope they're sneeze-free!"

Mother's Day 2013

When Craig and I were at the hospital during Connor's birth, Cara and her grandmother planted petunias along side our garage.  When we came home, our path up to the house was lined with flowers.  For months, the petunias thrived, continuing to bloom until the snow stamped them out (and even then, they hung on until the snow was serious about sticking around).  Seeing the flowers each time we arrived home was such a sweet reminder of that day, that I wanted to continue that in the following years.  Mother's Day seemed to be the perfect opportunity to do so.

I should note that I am NOT one of those people that find the act of planting particularly relaxing.  I garden for the same reason I vacuum: It's a chore that needs to be done. The first Mother's Day we did this, Cara and I spent hours in the yard, cleaning out the flower bed and then planting our carefully-selected petunias.  Each time I passed the flowers, I was reminded of that wonderful, sunny day spent with my daughter.

The years following, however, I could never really get the kids to participate in this activity.  Either one kid was interested when the other one wasn't or I'd find myself yelling "come back here" and "aren't you going to help" over and over again, thereby taking all the fun out of our annual planting.  Finally, I had resigned myself to the fact that, if we were at least in the yard together, that was going to count as a day well-spent.    

Since I wasn't pressuring the kids to help, I was routinely asked to watch them or find something for them or referee one of their arguments. After quite a few hours of outdoor time, I told the kids I was going to go inside for a shower. I was dirty from the other yard work I had busied myself with and just plain tired from the "watch me's" and reffing duties. I guess I really was not destined to get the petunias planted this Mother's Day.  

After I was cleaned up and refreshed from my shower, I went out to check on the kids.  Little did I know, my Mother's Day elves had something in store for me. 

Chalk from the heart.

"You like how I remembered the apostrophe, Mom?" - Cara

Petunias planted by two amazing kids.

These flowers will be yet another reminder at how lucky I am to have such wonderful children and what a blessing it is to be able to call them mine. 

Give Peas a Chance

I'm going to start this post with a confession. My son does not eat vegetables. Not green beans, not carrots, not even corn. The only veggie that he will even entertain the possibility of eating is lettuce, and even then, it's a HUGE ordeal to get him to put it in his mouth, chew, and swallow.

I've tried the whole "present them with the food at least 10 times and then they will get around to trying it". When we have veggies at dinner, there is always some on Connor's plate.  He used to balk at their mere presence, but we're going on the 328th presentation of green beans and it still took 45 minutes of prompting to get him to even agree to put a green bean into his mouth, only to have him spit it right back out.

Now, I know kids go through phases, so I've thought that maybe this would be one that he would grow out of. Our pediatrician is not concerned as his growth and all other vital statistics are right on target. He does have vitamins daily and really loves fruit, so honestly I shouldn't be worried that he's lacking in the nutrition department.  

But there's just something in my mommy brain that says that I need to get him to eat vegetables.  And I am willing to bet that part of my brain is located right next to the part that decided to clean out the bottom of the dryer with a duster without unplugging said dryer. 

I decided that I would fill the refrigerator up with vegetables and give Connor the chance to choose what vegetables we would have with dinner. I thought that giving him control over that would help make dinner time run a little smoother.  Pretty sure the electric shock from the dryer had a longer-lasting effect on my brain because smooth is the last word that I'd use to describe the subsequent dinners.

One evening, Connor had chosen peas to go with our meal.  I thought we might have success as this was not a vegetable we've presented him with very often in the past. Maybe the newness of it would make it more appealing. Before I had even set his plate down on the table, that boy had his nose plugged. Yeah. This was not going to go well.  

Since we had discussed the fact that he needed to try the vegetables he picked out, he knew he was not going to leave the table without trying the peas.  I told him that I only required him to eat three peas. He offered to eat just one and as soon as I heard myself stand my ground at my triple pea deal, I wanted to hit me. I'd done it now. Again. Drew a line in the sand for no other reason than to draw a line in the sand.  This is probably the biggest source of conflict between my son and I. The battle of wills. The quest to see who is the most stubborn. Sure I had my reasons for him trying three peas (you can't really tell what they taste like when you only have one; they're so small, two more shouldn't make a difference; even three peas isn't a mouthful).  But, honestly, would it have been so terrible if I had let him just try one?  

After much back and forth with the three peas/one pea/just put something green in your mouth so we can get on with our lives, Connor finally put the peas in his mouth and then spit them right back out.  If I'd have gone with his number, that would have been two less peas I had to track down when he jettisoned them out of his mouth with his tongue (still plugging his nose, mind you).  I counted that as "trying", told him that he could be done with his peas for this evening, and said that he should eat the other food on his plate. Little did I know (and I, of all people, really should have known), the peas had touched the steak, rendering the meat completely inedible. 

If you're looking for me at dinner time, I'm the one dusting the dryer.

The vile peas.

One Walkie Short

"Knock knock." Connor says into a walkie talkie. The other walkie talkie is right next to him, clearly not on.

"Knock knock," he repeats, pauses,  and then gives a final "KNOCK KNOCK!"

He shrugs, turns off the walkie talkie and says, "Guess no one wants to hear something funny."

Ski Bunny

This weekend, both of the kids went to a winter park where Cara skied and Connor tubed.  Cara has only been skiing about a half dozen times but, based on her description of this outing, she's pretty sure she's awesome at it.

While describing her first time down the big slope, she told me, "I looked at the hill and saw that it wasn't that steep, so I decided that I was just gonna french fry it." (French fry being the term used where your skis are parallel to each other. The other ski position option? Pizza.)

Then she began talking about a boy she met at the slopes. I began to panic. What? She's meeting and talking to boys? In public? Without complaining about cooties? Unacceptable!

Before complete mommy meltdown commences, she says, "He told me he tubed. That's not even a sport. It's like sledding. You can't get good at sledding."

Ahh, my daughter. Regulating her mom's blood pressure with her ability to knock the wind out of a boy's sails.