Birthday Party Double Header

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Yeah, you read that right. We had a Birthday Party Double header over the weekend. Just in case you don’t get it, I want to be clear. We didn’t have two birthday parties in one. We had two birthday parties in one day. One right after the other. Yep.

My kids, as you know, have birthdays very close to each other. We had the 8 year old’s a few weeks ago. A simple pizza movie night. For the other two we had to wait for the grass to grow. And yeah, you heard that right too. We were waiting for the grass to grow.

We have a very difficult time getting grass to grow in our backyard.  It has a lot to do with drainage, or something. I don’t know. But I’ve been pushing for sod for the last 3 years and he, the husband, keeps just trying to grow grass. It’s crazymaking. In his defense we have to completely redo the side and backyard and buying sod for one year makes very little sense. But, now it’s been three years….so…

All my 4 year old wanted to do was have Lightening McQueen races around the backyard. That’s IT. That’s all he wanted.

So we waited.

His birthday passed and it began to get close to the 6 year old’s birthday. So now we need to have two parties that need to happen, and fast. I feel like we need to have them before the end of school crazy starts. So now we’re a week away from Memorial Day weekend. The grass is looking not half bad, so I say “Let’s just have them both on the same day. An hour in between!” Shockingly, husband thinks this is a great idea. “YES! Let’s just get it done!”

That day, I send invitations because it’s a week away. If I’m being honest I will tell you that I kinda hoped having it on the holiday weekend would reduce the numbers. I also hoped the late notice would mean people already had plans But you know what happens when you’re awful like that. EVERYBODY can come. Yep that’s right.

So we had a Cars Party and a Fancy Purple & Pink party (that’s a thing right?). I hurriedly jumped on Amazon Prime and bought all the goodies like this super cute pinwheel craft and paper straws, umbrellas, and flower mason jar lids for the girls’ drinks. I borrowed a tent, because of course it was supposed to rain (again that’s what happens when you’re awful). Then we rented some low kid tables and called it a day.

And what a day it was. It wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done, but it sure was fun! The kids were all so great. Everyone was well behaved and had fun. AND it didn’t actually rain on the parties. It rained just before the first one and then not again. I really couldn’t have asked for more.

And he got his Lightening McQueen race…

Year in Review Kid Video

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This is me cheating on my #videoaday thang. But who cares really? You don’t, I know you don’t. I don’t.

I’m cheating because I made this video LAST January. So I thought if I’m going to cheat a bit I would give you guys something in return.

Do you want to know how easy it was to make that video? How about I write a post and do a screencast about it. I can get you to do a Year in Review Video of your kids in no time at all. Wouldn’t you love that? I know you would!

Here’s last year’s video (2012). I am going to do 2013 this weekend. I’ll take notes and make a screencast and give it to YOU!

Wish I was here.

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And I mean here on the blog.

And also, HERE…

Be back soon.

xo
vc

Be pretty

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I can be pretty sometimes.

I’m not always in sweatpants sporting my signature ponytail. I don’t always have sunglasses on to hide a multitude of sins.

Sometimes, I put on makeup. Sometimes I blow out my hair. Sometimes I even put on heels. And sometimes these things all come together. When I walk down the stairs my kids will light up and say “Mommy you look so pretty!”. My little girl rushes to me to check out my jewelry and oos and ahhs over the baubles. They are always so surprised by my appearance. Sigh.

I think I need to start doing this more than sometimes. I feel better and more confident when I look better. I don’t think it’s vanity and I don’t think it’s silly. When I look better I feel better. Watch out preschool pick up line, I’m looking at you :-)

So when Be Styled asked if I’d like a complimentary blowout and style. I said “Hells yeah!”.

They call themselves a Blow Dry Lounge. It’s swanky and the stylists are lovely. I was offered champagne and watched the Devil Wears Prada while she worked her magic.

$35 for someone else to wash and style your hair so you can Be Pretty. Totally worth it.

Pause the blog.

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One of my favorite things that my kids say that I NEVER said as a kid is “Pause” the game.

They could be playing tag. “Pause! Pause the game.”  They could be playing checkers. Pause.

The TV can be paused. The game on the iPad can be paused. Anything can be paused, because they think everything can just be paused.

I love that they think this and I hope it something that they can take into their adult lives to just pause for a while. It’s very healthy and necessary every once in a while. Just pause.

I had grand plans on August 1st! I thought I would participate fully in NaBloPoMo and investigate monetizing my blog, and do the daily activities in Building a Better Blog. I even thought I would be able to keep up with something simple like a Photo a Day Challenge.

Nope.

I Paused the Blog.

I had some vacationing to do. We went to the beach, ate out, played games, had s’mores. Good stuff.

Here’s some of it:

Life is…

40 is the new…something

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I’ve had a hard time with this week’s NaBloPoMo prompts. The August theme is hot and  this week is all about what is “Hot”.

What makes a person hot? Is hotness fleeting? Would you want to be known as hot?

I have to tell you  that I was so confused by all the hotness. Because I am of a certain age I am closer to hot flashes than flashes of hot.

I am so far from thinking things in my daily life are hot that I had no idea what to write about. I have three children under 7. My life is a series of meals and driving to and fro there’s not much time to think “That’s hot!” ( please think Paris Hilton when you say that).

Gina Lollabrigida declared 40 as hot. And so did my friend’s Aunt. They BOTH said so, so it must be true. “A woman at 20 is like ice, at 30 she is warm and at 40 she is hot,” What I do know about my 40’s hotness aside is that I am more of who I always thought I would be than at any other age. I don’t really care what people think of me for the most part and I’ve always thought that was a hot quality.

What I know to be true is that ALL of my friends look hotter than they ever have. And I am talking about the ones I have know for 35 years. Truthfully, we all look better than we ever did. Also, we are far more interesting, having LIVED through some STUFF. We have advanced degrees, travelled around the world, given birth, are raising children, have careers, weathered storms, ran marathons. STUFF! We are multi faceted, layered, smart, confident, and I guess I mean this, HOT.

I’m not sure sure that 40 is the new anything. I think that 40 simply is hot all the way around. Bring on the flashes baby!

I’ve joined NaBloPoMo this month. NaBloPoMo is a daily blogging exercise centered around a theme. For August 2013, it’s HOT. The daily writing prompts can be found here.