Oh, why is she in a hurry to grow up?

Ten years ago I almost gave birth in the hospital parking lot. Flashback to a few hours earlier that morning: I wasn’t even sure if I was in labor. I had to crack open my copy of “What to expect when you’re expecting” to check my symptoms. And check it again. Thankfully I made it into the hospital in time to start pushing before my doctor bothered to check in on me.

Back then I thought that a book would hold all the answers to raising this child. I threw the books out a long time ago when I realized that wasn’t the case. We are learning this together as we go along.

She couldn’t wait to be born into this world. I say that she has been impatient since the day she was born. In a hurry to be born and in a hurry to grow up. To me, she looks like she grew from 5 to 10 overnight!

Checkerboard Cake

She decorated her own cake. She also had a sleepover with 5 other girls. Of course, there was girl drama. There always is. Three of the girls made my little girl cry. The specifics don’t matter. The fact is, they were saying mean words.

Whoever said, “Sticks and stones my break my bones but words will never hurt me.” was never a girl.

I had to lay down the rules. “Girls, you need to remember we are a guest in our home. It is her birthday, so whatever mean things have been said, you better get up, and get in there and make it right. Now.” Yeah, I am pretty sure they don’t care for me much. But they did get up and move quickly and smooth it all out.

I am convinced of this: part of the reason girls think it is okay to show their “mean girl” side is because parents allow it. How many times have I witnessed this behavior in friends’ homes and they did nothing? Or, worse, they said something like, “work it out”. What does that even mean? How would an 8, 9 or 10-year-old know how to “work it out” if you, the parent, don’t show them? Or, if you appear to tolerate the behavior or don’t care that it is going on? They will think it is okay.

I don’t tolerate it in my home. If they had made another girl cry, which has happened on more than one occasion, I have handled it the same way. By letting them know that it is unacceptable.

I haven’t read a book on this subject either. We are figuring it out as I go along.

A Halloween Birthday Party

My little Park E. Bear is turning 5 years old this week. Hard to believe…isn’t it always? She is such a funny little character. She is a sponge which means she absorbs every little “bad” word I say, then repeats it. She is a kissy bear too; always giving me kisses.

This year Parker proclaimed she wanted to have a Halloween themed birthday party and a witch cake. A few years ago I attempted to bake a Barbie princess cake for Alex. I failed miserably. What do they say? Try, try again.

So I did.

Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

I used a Wilton’s Barbie Cake Mold, two 8″ rounds for the bottom of the cake and lots of sprinkles. The broom is made out of a paintbrush and the hat is made from black card stock glued to the doll’s head. Betty Crocker has this great YouTube video on how to make this cake. And you don’t need a Wilton’s cake mold…it is extremely helpful.

More details after the jump...

and she turns nine…

 

subway birthday dinner

 

I have a nine-year old daughter. Nine. Most days it’s hard to believe. Other days it’s hard to believe she is only nine. She thinks she is old enough to have a cell phone. She thinks everyone has to knock, and she has to say “come in”, before they can enter her bedroom. She wants her own curling iron. She thinks Princesses are for babies. She has her own sense of clothing style. She is starting to figure out the “label” thing with clothing. I think the hormones are kicking in. She is a control freak at times. She is beautiful inside and out.

Alex wanted Subway for her birthday dinner. She could have anything and she still chose Subway for her birthday. On Saturday she had a sleepover with 3 friends. One would think that limiting the number of 9-year-old girls at a sleepover would minimize the “girl drama”…well, you’d be sadly mistaken, my friend. Even just 2 girls together equals drama. I had to finally sit them down a let them know that under no uncertain terms were they going to suck me into their drama…Save the drama for your mama and get over it!

the ice skater cake

According to the 4 girls, they stayed up ALL NIGHT LONG. I think it was more like 2 am. Sleepovers aren’t for sleeping, you know. Even though it was “lights out” at midnight, I know it was at least 2 am because the mama across the street was texting her 9-year-old daughter at the sleepover. She was checking in on her. Did I mention she is right across the street? Anyhoo, we woke up to 6 inches of snow on Sunday morning. Bummer that the girls didn’t get snowed in. Not. So, I survived the sleepover. Alex was in a crabby mood due to the lack of sleep the night before. All is normal in the house.

Now I can concentrate on planing Glenn’s birthday party this weekend. He is going to be 50. The good news is he now qualifies for AARP. Now sure what that entails but I hear it is a good thing. Lots of great SENIOR discounts, I hope.

happy birthday parker

Parker officially turns 4 years old on Monday but today we celebrated by going to the circus. Parker loved every minute of it. She clapped along, ohs and ahs came out of her mouth, even a “wow” or two…it was the Greatest Show on Earth. I know the elephants are billed as the stars of the show but I think the body benders and the daredevils are the real stars. Amazing stuff that I can’t even begin to explain in words…just go. Today. After the circus we came back to the house and had lunch and cake and ice cream with friends and grandma. Parker got into the birthday mode by telling everyone of the schedule of events for her party…lunch first, then play while mommy cleans up, then cake and ice cream, which everyone will sing “happy birthday” to me, then we open presents and play some more (in case you where wondering). That’s my girl, the program director.

What a sweet day it was. Full of  “thank you for a great party, mommy!” from my baby girl. It was not my usual over-planned affair. It was sweet and simple this year. Part of my new K.I.S.S. philosophy (keep it simple stupid).

 

at the circus, big sis on left/birthday girl on right

blowing out candles, making wishes

To see the party decor…click below.

tea party invite

Tea parties seem to be the ”in” thing right now. Alex has been invited to 3 tea parties in the last 3 months! Below is another tea party invite I designed for my friend’s daughter who is turning 6 this month. It’s designed to fit in a regular #10 envelope for easy mailing. Her mother is scouring the local thrift stores for tea cups to give away as party favors for the party.

donut party

Take 2 dozen assorted donuts, stack them up on a cake plate, add a candle…simple as that! You have a donut cake that easily impresses your friends. The small donuts scattered on the table are stickers that I ran out on my inkjet and used a circle punch to punch out and stick on the plastic table cloth. I made some extra stickers to put in the goodie bags. 

Notice the Krispie Kreme donut hat Alex is wearing… I found these on ebay - 16 for $4, including shipping! Each kid got one of these too.

These graphics were found at: http://www.lharboe.deviantart.com/gallery/

I also used the graphics to make I {heart} Donuts stickers that went in the goodie bags.

Keeping with the theme of  “donut shop” I decorated this chaulkboard advertising “today’s specials”.

 The treat bags were just plain white paper bags with a sticker of the “Alex’s Donut Shop” logo printed on it. Inside the bags was a Cutie orange, I {heart} donuts stickers, small donut stickers and a small package of donuts with the logo sticker
(see below).

Small packages of donuts with an “Alex’s Donut Shop” logo sticker. I bought the donuts at Walmart (12 packages for $3). These were in the goodie bags and also went to school with Alex to celebrate with her classmates.

I designed and printed out these water bottle labels on my inkjet. I used 2 donuts stacked on top of one another to make an “8″ since it was her 8th birthday. Just measure around the bottle to get the correct length; make it the height you desire and use double stick tape to attach.

 I also used the same pink donut graphic (found online) and made danglers and large donut cut outs to tape to the walls.

Close-up of the donut cake.

We played the donut game. Tie a donut to a string, attached string something, in this case I used my clothesline, have the kids try to eat the donut without using their hands. It’s funny watching the kids do this. They were all laughing when it was all finished and wanted to play again…but we were out of donuts! There was 16 kids lined up the length of the clothesline.

The invitation I designed using the pink donut graphics.

tea party invite

Here’s a tea party invitation I designed for a friend’s daughter to celebrate her 8th birthday. I used actual tea bags, just emptied the tea out and replaced with confetti.

donut party brainstorm

So, Alex wants a donut party for her 8th birthday. Below are some donut cake ideas I came across while brainstorming for the party…

1. beautyandbedlem.com; 2. donutking.com; 3. found on flickr.com; 4. cupcakes topped with minidonuts by justjennrecipes.com; 5. found on flickr.com; 6. found on photobucket by freemommy33

More ideas and my planning to come for Alex’s party in 2 weeks!

i’ve been featured

My Ni Hao! Kai Lan party ideas with be featured on The Creative Place http://creativepartyplace.com/ blog on Monday! Go check it out. There is lots of fun party ideas for every occasion.

candy hang-over

Halloween is over. I am over the candy. Can I dump it all in the trash without the girls taking notice? Probably not. Even though we had 23 inches of snow this past Wednesday thru Thursday, in typical Colorado style, the snow was pretty much melted by Halloween night. The air was crisp and a little bit windy but not a bad night for haunting. Alex wanted to be a vampire so bad this year (because she is borderline obsessed with vampires). We even had to carved a vampire pumpkin, which the squirrels attacked and ate the fangs. It’s the first year she hadn’t chosen to be something cute. Even her witch costume 2 years ago was “cute”. She did “cute it up” a little with some stick-on bling next to her eyes. Parker was the cutest “butterfly fairy” ever! This was the first year that she really understood the trick-or-treat concept and it didn’t take her long to get into it, running after the older girls and yelling “wait for me!”

 

The Vampire and the Butterfly Fairy