on turning four

Apparently Four is a big deal.

Three, two, one are fun, too, but four is ... big fun. Not just fun. Not just big. But big fun.



Saturday, the day before Lovie's actual birthday, we partied it up at a jumpy house like last year. (Taye took photos, I'm hoping, during the jumpy part. It pretty much looks like last year's party except not quite as many kids and they're bigger.)

The party was 2:30-4:30 and at 5:30 we had dinner reservations with a bunch of family. Not really in honor of Lovie's birthday, but just to gather in a calmer setting.

Then the morning of her actual birthday, Lovie woke to a (messy) room full of balloons for the fourth year in a row. It's a fun tradition I stole from the interwebs that I plan to do for as long as she lives in our home.

Besides her party, her gift from us was a pink electric guitar. Like a real one. Lovie was quite smitten and that made us quite happy. After a late breakfast and a late nap, we headed out to a kiddie place that has games that spits out tickets that you can collect to win prizes. Lovie, being the big 0-4, insisted she now can have gum, so she had her eyes set on winning a little gumball machine.

We finished off her birth day night with some ice cream at 9:30 at night... well past her bedtime, but hey, you only turn four once!

Yesterday, much like the day following Christmas, I stayed home with Lovie to relax and play with new toys. We didn't play much with anything other than the balloons though-- having balloon fights and ballet balloon (twirl balloon instead of smacking it toward your opponent). All per Lovie's request.

This morning, two days after her birthday, Lovie asked when she'd be five.

She loves being four so far and she does not want to get old like me and daddy, but I guess she wouldn't mind being five already. Me, on the other hand, I still need to catch up to this business of my baby doll being four years old already. 

on turning three

December 29, 2012- 7:30 AM(ish):

she insisted on the bandage on her forehead, nothing is wrong.

After waking up to a room full of balloons, Lovie made her way into the living room where she was greeted by an unwrapped keyboard set up for her and one wrapped gift (new baby doll) on top. After playing the keyboard for a while, she wanted to watch TV. I was planning on making her favorite breakfast- pancakes- but she insisted I just sit and watch TV with her. Could she be any damn sweeter?

We left the house around 11:30 AM and drove slowly out to the burbs where her party was going to be held. I had to stop at Costco for the cake and water bottles and Taye and I ate Arby's in the car all while Lovie napped. I knew getting a brand new 3 year old in the car for a couple of hours was the only way she'd nap.

The party started at 2:30 and ended at 4:30.



this is my favorite collage- love some of the parents climbing OUT of the inflatables. :)



Such a fun, fun day.

 

Big shout out to PUMP IT UP for an amazing, amazing space and set up. We went from one jump house room to another before going into the party room to have cake and open presents. We were the only guests in each room during our time period and they brought in cake, etc, and set up all the presents, cut the cake, piled all the presents and belongings onto a cart, cleaned everything up... I mean, I just cannot say enough good things about this experience and I have a feeling we'll be jumping back over there in a year for her 4th birthday party.

 

Happy 40th Birthday to me!

When I was younger I was damn cute.

So damn cute when I was younger.

on loving me, life, & the big four oh

Just one month ago I was on the beach laying on my stomach with my back baking in the sun. A Cabana boy walked by asking if we’d like an “iced towel” just as beads slid from my back to the front, creating a pool of sweat under my ridiculously ample chest. The iced towel felt like absolute bliss on the back of my neck and soon my eyes dropped for a bit until I could no longer take the heat from the sun, the sweat laminating my skin. My bare feet swept across the prickly hot, shell-littered sand as I made my way into the warm salt water of the Gulf of Mexico which held me up with such ease. I floated with the back of my head submerged in water, marveling over the pristine blue sky with its cotton balls painted ever so daintily here and there.

 
Just one month ago I was in heaven…on earth. And I was there celebrating the first 40 years of my life alongside my BFF/cousin who also turned 40 this year.

We laid around for three full days doing absolutely nothing, and, when we grew tired of that, did a little more Nothing. It was glorious and it was by far the best birthday celebration I’ve had to date.

Oh, but there were other memorable birthdays, don't misunderstand me:  

• 10: I was super giddy to be hitting the double digits; there was no turning back!
• 20: I found my very first gray hair whilst sitting on the stoop outside my sister’s house in Utah where I was spending the summer taking care of her children. I was more than ready to return home, return to my life as a college student at one of the country’s largest arts and media colleges: Me, myself, and my new gray hair.
• 21: Cheap beer in hand, brand new driver’s license with blue background ready to be whipped out, I left the grocery store plastered with WE CARD ANYONE UNDER 30 signs without ever being asked for my ID. The one time I wanted to get carded, I didn’t get carded.
• 25: I had a date with the dentist after biting into a Now and Later candy while working the customer service job I hated and feeling and hearing a POP from inside my mouth (the candy pulled off one of my caps).
• 28: I felt like a 12-year-old with the case of the giggles as my boyfriend (now husband) took me on a “romantic getaway” to a little suite adorned with mirrors EVERYWHERE and a swing in the closet that was to be hung above the illuminated bed.
• 36: I got shingles IN MY MOUTH after spending the day at an apple orchard with little kiddies just one month after having a d&c.
• 39: I spent 6 hours in the emergency room after having been feverish and extremely exhausted for nearly 2 straight weeks (turns out I had some cousin virus to mono).

But now, maybe you can see why laying on the beach with nothing to do for a couple days seems heavenly to me, yes?

So heavenly.

And well deserved, dammit.

I'm not saying my life my 30s haven't been good to me because while there’s only been a couple memorable birthdays in my 30s and not for good reason, I have absolutely no doubt and pause not one bit to say that my 30s have been the best years of my life. There were some damn trying hard times and some very dark days, but overall, they were the best days of my life:

• I learned to love all of me
• I learned to truly not care what others think, how others live
• I learned to live each and every day as fully as I can
• I learned to grab life by the horns and celebrate, which landed me in Heaven on earth one month ago.

And now tomorrow, I really celebrate; because tomorrow is the day I finally turn 40. Yay me!


 

 

 

 

Party recap

Lovie's 2nd birthday party was Saturday and it was a blast. Better than anticipated, really. Absolutely no regrets for doing this. Sure she's still very young and won't remember this party, but she'll have pictures and some video to help remind her. And she had the time of her young life (and we had very little set up and clean up to do!).

Look at that smile!

When we first arrived, she didn't really think much of it. We were just at Gymnastics (as she calls it). But then her first little friend from school came and she started getting super excited as she wanted to show her friend around.

notice her shirt? it's a big 2 with Team Umizoomi characters on it- matching her invite

They jumped on the trampoline. They dove into the ball pit. The ran around squealing and giggling.

After a bunch more people started to arrive, the teachers gathered everyone around a large circle and sang Happy Birthday to my Lovie who sat with a big grin on her face. Then they brought out a huge parachute and laid it down for everyone to grab a hold of and start to shake. And sing Happy Birthday. Then Lovie laid down on top of the parachute and everybody shook her back and forth. Then others joined in.

They played with puppets. One of the teachers hid a bunch of small toys around the place so they had to run around and collect them and bring them back. They brought out a buttload of pom poms for the kids to play with.

They hooked up a huge swing that all the kids were able to sit on and ride. (This was funny to watch because all the parents grabbed their cameras to take photos.)

They built a fort and played hide and seek (Lovie hid by covering her eyes with her hands- *cutest thing ever*) for a couple of minutes before hiding Lovie in the back room for everyone to find.  After a minute, they directed everyone to the front of the gym to wait as they brought Lovie out in a car.

And it was the cutest 30 seconds of her life. I swear to god. She was smiling from ear to ear as one of the teachers wheeled her out in circles while everyone clapped and the Beatles Birthday song played in the background.

Then the teacher got her out of the car and brought her to the cake (Team Umizoomified with little toppers I DIY'd), lit the candles, we all sang and she blew out her candles.

The kids ate pizza and cake and went back out to play for another 10-15 minutes.

The party ended with another sock puppet show followed by bubbles. Lots of bubbles (they brought out a fan and huge thing of bubbles they placed in front of the fan causing all these little kids to try to pop all the bubbles).

After the last bubble was popped, the teachers announced that all the kids needed to get their socks and shoes on so they could get a goodie bag. The party was over but hopefully not forgotten for a while.

Nearly two hours of smiles, giggles, laughter erupting from all corners of the room. It was pure fun, fun, fun.

I'm pretty darn sure we'll be doing this again in another year, too. Yahoo for winter birthdays keeping us indoors!

everybody craaaazy shake!

Tomorrow. Her party is finally tomorrow! : )

I designed the invites myself. Not too shabby, eh? Well I don't think they are (I mean did you see I got a photo of Lovie inside of Bot's belly-screen?!??). I think they're damn cute, tyvm!

Because I blurred it all out, the party is going to be (for little kids) at a little kid gym place...The place Lovie's been going to since October for her "Gymnastics." She loves this place. Loves it. So it was really fitting to have the party here. And the price really couldn't be beat- especially considering we don't have to worry about doing any kind of set up, clean up, entertaining, etc. Nope. We just show up with a cake. Play. Pizza will be delivered at 3:30 (party starts at 3). We'll eat pizza and have cake- after singing Happy Birthday to my girl, of course. Then it's back to play play play!

My header at the top of the blog? That's from the last time we were at Gymnastics. They have a ball pit which Lovie adores. Ack, she's going to have SO much fun. She always does but once she realizes that everyone is there for HER... eek! :) I can't wait to see her reaction.

I'm a bit nervous because every single person RSVP'd that the were coming except for a small handful of people so we're going to be at the max the place allows! And then there's the chance that some additional child(ren) will show up as my husband's family kind of does their own thing.

I can't worry about any of that, though; we'll just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.

My main focus is Lovie having a blast... and somehow, someway getting some pictures of it all to help us remember. We can only do what we can do and the H and I have already discussed that we would swap taking pictures and playing whenever we could.  So fingers crossed we get some decent photos (I'd love to have a group shot of *all* kids but not sure how/if that could work with 20 kids.)

Eek, this is gonna be so much fun!!

• After work today, I pick up the cake (just a generic one from Costco... I made Millie, Geo, and Bot characters to stick into the cake. Was hoping to keep the cake in the car overnight but our temps are supposed to be in the 50s today!).
• Bottled water and juice boxes are in the hallway at home.
• Little goody bags assembled and ready to go (with a Team Umizoomi sticker- that I made- on them)!
• Pizza to be delivered at 3:30.
• Paper plates, napkins, plastic forks, candles all in a bag ready to go, too.
• Team Umizoomi "2" shirt ready to be worn by the birthday girl.

This is gonna be soooo much fun.

And then on Sunday, we get to go to a 1 year old's pizza party! So it's definitely going to be a busy weekend. How about you?

Waking up to balloons

December 29, 2011

I still haven't recapped our Christmas and that makes me sad- because it was AWESOME- but I couldn't really touch on it until after Lovie's birthday.

My girl turned TWO yesterday.

My big girl.

My sunshine. My love. My life.

Originally I wanted to do something special with her but because she loves going to school, we decided to just let her go to school and then celebrate there and after school. So yesterday was damn busy for me.

It actually started on the 28th when I spent nearly 2 hours blowing up balloons to cover the floor of Lovie's bedroom so when she woke she'd see something- a room full of balloons- she hadn't seen before. Something to make her day more special, you know? After the balloons were done, I spent another several hours on the computer trying to finalize her 2nd year video- which still isn't finished.

When we woke on the 29th, Lovie was surprised by the balloons (I do have some pictures just no time to get them off my camera) but pretty much over it as soon as we left. Then it was all about donuts because I told her we would stop to bring in donuts to school- for her birthday. So the entire car ride in to school on slick roads consisted of singing about Donuts! Dough-nuts! Dough-nuts! It's time to get the dough-nuts! Over and over again. We sang about these donuts so much that by the time we were driving home after a busy day at school, she still remembered the song and started singing it! =D

I left work early to pick up the cupcakes I was bringing in to her school for their afternoon snack.

Check out the cupcake toppers I made- by hand- for $1.99 (cost of lollipop sticks):

One side with Ni Hao Kai-Lan character, other side with Lovie's 2

Then I met my mom at her school at 3 where Lovie and some of the others were just waking up or still sleeping. She woke up quickly once she saw us but was a bit whiny (she likes to snuggle after waking from a nap until she's ready to get going) and stuck to me like velcro until everyone woke up and it was time to get the chairs for snack. Then I told her that she needed to help out with the chairs and sit down for her snack so that we could all sing Happy Birthday to her.

At first she was really happy and excited about the cupcakes and the Kai-Lan characters (it's one of her favorite shows- she even says Hello, Bye, and Thank You in Chinese). But then we started singing to her after lighting a little 2 candle and she was like, WTF:

hehe she cracks me up!

Once we got done singing to her, she blew out her candle like she'd done it a hundred times. Then she spent about half an hour sticking her finger in the frosting and then licking her finger.

She's never been much of a sweets person, but I'm glad she at least enjoyed the frosting.

After she was done, we left daycare and went home. Lovie watched a little TV while I tried getting most of the balloons out of her bedroom and into the front of the house and her playroom. I ended up taping a good dozen to the walls just to get them off the floor.

When daddy got home, he brought her a hot dog and fries of which she chowed down on. Then we lit a candle on a small piece of cake I picked up when I got the cupcakes, sang happy birthday to her, and she, once again, blew out her candle like a pro. She opened all her presents and played for a bit then got her PJ's on, drank some milk while watching a little TV before heading to her bedroom for some stories and bed.

She was asleep by 8 (Mama was asleep by 815) and today she's home with daddy while Mama "works."

And there you have it. A run down of Lovie's 2nd birthday. I'll probably post pictures from our little party at home at another time, but until then, just know it went really, really well.

And we still have her kid party coming up next Saturday, January 7th! I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Happy Happy Birthday

Happiest of Birthdays to the sweetest, cutest, most wonderfully awesome little chica I know. My Lovie. The past two years have been nothing shy of amazing and somehow manage to get more and more awesome with each passing day.

Thank you for making all my dreams come true and changing my life two years ago. Thank you for making me complete. Thank you for you.

I cannot wait to see what this next year has in store for us.

I love you more than words could ever say.

Mama