Sammy's Birthday Party!

We celebrated Sammy's 4th birthday on Saturday at Chuck E Cheese's. It went much better than I expected, and except for a few terrified kids when Chuck E made his appearance (and who can blame them really? That huge mouse coming at you can be pretty intimidating!) everyone seemed to have a great time.

He was excited to wear the birthday crown (which I was surprised about), but he has since handed it over to Hannah to enjoy.

Sammy wanted a basketball cake. I am neither a cook nor an artist, so this was the best I could do. I used natural food dye for the basketball, thanks to this post--I can't say as much for the cake...it was Rainbow Chip.

There were lots of games to play!

And lots of food to eat!

Lauren having a good time!! So cute!

Opening presents!


Yet another attempt to get a decent family picture. I mean seriously people, I couldn't tell you the last time I was able to get EVERYONE to look at the camera at the same time and smile.

Hannah was miserable for pretty much the entire second hour of the party due it being her nap time--just ask anyone who was there. Here she is 5 minutes into the drive home. Poor thing. She napped for 3 hours.

Sammy had a great time and is still talking about it, so I guess it was all worth it. I'm just glad we are done for another year. Hannah is only turning 2 this year, so her expectations aren't as high yet.

Mom In Survival Mode

It's been a long week. Starting with Sammy being sick with a high fever Sunday and Monday nights and then Samuel coming down with the full-blown flu Tuesday and not getting out of bed until pretty much Friday. Hannah was next with a 104.8 degree fever Tuesday night (why is it ALWAYS at night?) and me just trying to function with a sick family and about 4 hours of sleep per night.

By Thursday night, everyone was better (except Samuel), so I was thinking that I was getting by relatively unscathed--until 1:30am Friday morning when I now had the fever and muscle aches. Staying in bed isn't an option, as any mom will tell you, so up and out of bed to take Sammy to school with his birthday cupcakes bright and early at 7:00am. After a long hot shower I felt marginally better, so we still went to music class and even grabbed a Taco Bell lunch and went to the park (it WAS Sammy's birthday after all).

Fortunately, Samuel was feeling better by the time we got home, so Hannah and I took a much needed nap. Ahhhh, 2 blissful hours!

Since Sammy's birthday party was on Saturday, I still had to make the cake and wrap presents. I finished up and went to bed, fever gone, but definitely with a stuffy nose and headache. Despite all the sickness, everyone was well for Saturday and Sammy had a blast at his party--I'll do a separate post about that.

After all the festivities, it all hit me like a ton of bricks Sunday morning as I dragged myself out of bed for church. It's always amazing to me what a nice hot shower will do for you--now I know why my mom always made us at least get up and take a shower on the mornings we tried to stay home sick from school, it really does help. Or else, it totally defeated the purpose of trying to skip school and sleep in.

Anyway, I digress. Church was fine--after my usual hour of chasing Hannah around during Sacrament meeting we finally headed home for lunch and a much needed nap. Can I just tell you how much I hate trying to sleep with a stuffy nose and having to breath out of your mouth. I also hate not being able to taste anything. There is lots of yummy leftover birthday cake that is just waiting for me, but I can't taste it. Sigh. The kids have had to survive on cereal, leftover pizza, Ritz crackers and cheese sticks for food today because I just can't bring myself to make some real food. And we won't even talk about the absolute disaster my house is...dishwasher full of clean dishes, sink full of dirty dishes, 4 days of mail piled on the table, toys/pajamas/shoes everywhere and cheerios all over the floor.

Hooray for President's Day (i.e. no school for Sammy tomorrow) and a hope that we can all sleep in. Now, I've got 2 Tylenol and a pillow on the couch calling my name so I'll post about the birthday party later.

Happy Birthday Sammy!

Time sure does fly...

Happy 4th birthday my sweet little boy!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The difference between boys and girls

So, I continue to marvel at how some things are just ingrained in boys and girls as if they were born that way. I remember the first time Sammy played with a car and he made the vrooom vrroom noises and ran it all around the house. It just seemed like second nature to him.

Since we had a boy first, there were pretty much only boy-type toys for Hannah to play with, so I'll never forget the first time she held a doll. She picked it up and held it tight in her arms and cuddled it with such love. How do they instinctively know to do that? Now, don't get me wrong, Hannah totally enjoys playing with trucks, trains, cars and bulldozers with all the boys--but there is definitely a maternal side that showed with that first dolly.

I've decided the same thing is true about boys and girls and fashion. Hannah LOVES purses, clothes--and most especially SHOES. She loves trying on shoes and carrying them around whenever we are out shopping. I've been doing some Ebay shopping lately since all the stuff I purchased for her back when I was pregnant and when she was first born just isn't fitting in the right seasons. Sammy was (and still is) small for his age so I figured Hannah would be the same. WRONG.

She is already in 18-24 mo and has been for a few months now--and all the summer stuff I bought for her is also 18-24 mo, which totally won't fit her come June. So, I've been getting some good deals on 2T clothing on Ebay--some of which just arrived today. (Sammy, by the way, is still in 2T--go figure).

I told Hannah that I had some new clothes for her--and even a new pair of shoes. She ran right over and sat down and held up her foot and said "shoes." So, we put on her new top and shoes and she added a purse--it was too cute. She totally posed for the camera--a rarity, usually she cries and puts her head down when she sees the camera.

Check out those shoes!

On the flip side of that coin is Sammy, who put this outfit together all by himself. He seriously came downstairs from his room one day wearing this outfit--I HAD to take a picture. Admittedly, this was last March (hence the diaper), but still he was older than Hannah is now.

I think the frog boots really make the outfit--or maybe its just the lack of pants

At least I now have the perfect shopping partner...well, I will when she doesn't have the attention span of a gnat.

The time has come...

Well, we've managed to avoid it for 4 years now, but the time has finally arrived. Sammy will be having his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this year.

I know--the pizza tastes like cardboard and the mouse is seriously frightening, but ever since Sammy attended the birthday party of one of his classmates there back in October all I have heard from him is "I want my to have my birthday at Chuck E Cheese." So, being the nice mom that I am, I conceded and said yes. Let the planning begin.

Fortunately, Chuck E Cheese lets you schedule your entire party online, so that was the easiest part. The hard part was guessing the number of kids that would be attending. I originally planned on inviting his entire preschool class and the kids in his Sunbeam class--that makes 23 kids, plus 2 more counting my brother's kids--so 25 total. Then I started panicking. 25 kids...TWENTY FIVE KIDS...am I CRAZY??? Even if only half show up that is at least 12 kids...under the age of 4...at Chuck E Cheese...on a Saturday which is sure to be packed with people. I decided I wasn't that brave--or insane.

So, after hand-writing 24 invitations that I had purchased at Target at the beginning of the week when I had planned on that many people, I decided to just invite the 7 kids from his Primary class and the rest of my family. I am going to take cupcakes to his preschool class on his birthday to celebrate and have a little mini-party there. That seems like the best solution to still have him include everyone he wants to--just not all at the same party.

Now my only dilemma is what to do about the cardboard pizza...do you think they'll notice if I bring in my own lunch? At least they have self-serve fountains featuring Coke products and most especially Barq's root beer--that makes it all better.