Procrastination
I'm leaving at 4:30 in the morning to head to the airport. Yes, it's 12:20 am right now, I'm not done packing, and I'm blogging. Aaaaack!!
But I did organize my underwear drawer a few minutes ago. Way to prioritize!!
Steve and I (and Samuel) are heading for Montreal for a few days. There are some real pluses to a husband who travels non-stop for work. Lots and lots and lots of frequent flier miles that just have to be used up.
Now, must go pack!!!
A belated birthday post
I would be a very very bad sister if I wait any longer to post about Chloe's birthday party.
Andrea is kind of the most talented party planner/crafter/all-around amazing sister.
She helped me with Chloe's 5th birthday party and it was so completely fun. We read about petite fours in a book we were reading called
The Saturdays, and she latched on to the idea of having those for her party. So around that idea, we built the theme of a paperdoll party. The invitations Andrea made were paperdolls with real fabric dresses, there's a paperdoll banner in one of the photos, we made dolls as party favors with a wardrobe of 5 dresses for each girl, and of course, there's the petite fours.
We played classic party games like the clothespin drop and bingo, but my favorite game was pin-the-part-on-the-paperdoll, who ended up looking like a bad Picasso.
In the first photo, there's a big old doll holding a basket. Years and years (we're talking 20+) ago, my mom had a shop where 6 of these were in the front window. They've followed her from house to house, and finally a few months ago she gave some to me and my
sister-in-law. I groaned at these ginormous dust-catching random things, but they did come in handy for the party! The girls have the doll that resembles them the most--my niece called hers the "giant Jane".
My Chloe is the sweetest, most winsome little creature you can imagine. She is soft and snuggly, and spends most of her time in a dream world. She loves to read and write and is a delight to be around. Mostly. She's the kind of kid that people just fall in love with. I can't believe she's five already!
Labels: Kids, parties
Ice cream for days
Such a backlog of posts in my brain!!! Amazing pictures waiting to be posted, amusing anecdotes, scintillating discussions of events. But I can't play catch up right now--far too late. Instead, I'll blog about the incredibly fabulous birthday party we had for my Steve last night.
We do a lot of themed parties--fancy/funky drinks, different chips and salsas, stuff like that. So for Steve's birthday this year, he requested an ice cream tasting party.
I made 4 different flavors of ice cream, then cheated by buying the 5th. On the menu were Buttermilk Cherry, Avocado, Blood Orange Sorbet (the one I bought), Lavender Honey, and Double Dark Chocolate.
Holy cow. Those were some killer ice creams. I served them in tiny little cups and we had them in 5 separate courses. The buttermilk was awesome, and the avocado was unusual, fun to try, but overall a little odd. The blood orange sorbet was so fresh and bright tasting. I was very surprised that the Lavender Honey turned out as delicious as it was. I expected it to be more of a novelty flavor like the avocado, but it was really fabulous. And of course chocolate is always a hit.
Fun party, great food, and the best husband ever. What a great life!!
Labels: parties, Steve
Definition of family
We just spent a fabulous couple of days at a condo in the mountains with my whole family. Swimming, games and more games, movies and snacks were the only things on the agenda.
In the middle of an afternoon swim, surrounded by cousins, aunts, and siblings, my little Calvin stopped in his tracks. He looked around, then announced joyfully, "All of dese people is makin' me SO HAPPY!"
That's gotta be the perfect definition of a family.
Labels: Calvin, family
Trying to catch up
Ummm, is this blog still working?? I am actually still here, even though my blog doesn't reflect that. This summer is just rocketing past, and I'm trying desperately to hang on for the ride. Does anyone else feel that way? That instead of a nice, leisurely relaxing summer, there's just a constant whirlwind of activities and vacations and just plain
stuff. I can't keep up.
So some updates. I just don't know where to start!! It's been a packed couple of weeks. We spent a wonderful day at the Alpine Slides in the mountains. I hung out with the baby while all the kids went down the big old slide. Very very expensive--can they really charge 20 bucks for that?? But good times. My darling sister Steph was there and my cute cousin from Austin.
Parties everywhere, a wonderful fabulous 4th of July, then the next morning on a plane to Northern California. Steve's family is there, and it was so fabulous to see them and show off our little Samuel. Steve's brother and his wife had their first baby 10 days before Samuel was born. The two babies got to meet--2 adorable little newborn guys side by side? Priceless.
We spent a couple of days hanging out in San Francisco. Steve lived there before we got married, and he can never get enough of the city. My sister Steph came with us to nanny, and I have to highly endorse bringing someone along if you happen to be traveling with 4 children six and under. That made it actually doable. Steph, Steve and Hazel spent a day thrifting and poking in some of the fun funky shops. Hazel, who's six, suddenly morphed into a teenage shopaholic. "Steph, this is
so you! It is
adorable. You
have to try this on!!!"
Can't you just hear the italics? Too funny. While they shopped, the littles napped then we hit Union Square to chase the pigeons. Ice cream makes it even more fun!
Fisherman's Wharf and a visit to the sea lions. The little dress Hazel is wearing is one that they found at a cute little vintage shop.
So I can remember them for posterity--some of my favorite kid moments from the last few weeks.
I was dressing Samuel, and Calvin became fascinated with his chest. He asked Hazel what they were, and she told him they were nipples. Calvin grew very thoughtful. "Mom, Nipples do NOT fly airplanes!!"
Truer words were never spoken. Although we did decide that with a strategic piercing, you just might be able to make it happen.
Chloe got hurt one night on the trip. It was at the end of a long day, and she was just tired. I hugged her, then offered to go sit in between my two big girls. She sniffled and two big tears rolled down her face. "Mom, I just don't feel like I want to be a big girl right now!"
Calvin asked me if I was "having the feelings". What feelings?, I asked. "The feelings of having your toes fall off." Umm, pretty sure I'm not having those feelings, buddy.
Tomorrow is my sweet Chloe's birthday. We've got big plans for her party, and I'll post some pictures to show off my amazing sister Andrea's party skillz. It's going to be so dang cute!!
Labels: funny, Kids, vacation
