The Perfect Weekend - Best Friends and Daniel's Pirate Pool Party

It all began with the arrival of my two best friends, who drove up from Cali for Daniel's fifth birthday party. Girl's night (or weekend) anyone?

We began our Friday evening with a pedicure. Ahh. . . I haven't had a pedicure in three years.

Then we were off to Chili's for some dinner!

And some dessert shots. Who needs alcohol when you've got sugar!

Our little adventure took us to the strip. You have to go there with out-of-towners!

Finally, we ended with a trip to Golden Spoon. I just went there for the first time this past week and I LOVE it.

Of course we stayed up late playing Truth and Dare. High school anyone?

Saturday was a busy day. We were up and getting ready for Daniel's "Pirate Pool Party". Yesterday was his fifth birthday. Kindergarten and his fifth birthday in the same week . . . my little boy and best friend is growing up.

I was running around crazy getting everything together, Cory was making the cupcakes and Eva crafting the welcome signs and footprints for the kids to follow to the backyard. Wow! I really don't know what I would do without my best friends. I'm so glad it was a pool party because I didn't have to use precious time showering and getting ready!

As soon as Carlo came home from work, us girls were off to pick up balloons and to set up at Tami's backyard. My close friend from childhood, Tami, graciously let me have Daniel's party at her house and use her awesome pool. Once again, I'm so grateful for friends. I really have awesome friends!

Then guests started arriving and the two hours went by fast! Swimming, making newspaper pirate hats and swords, cupcakes and ice cream then the grand finale of presents. Lots of fun!

I think Daniel had THE best birthday party ever.

Photos taken by Eva. Thank goodness someone was taking pictures!

The best cupcakes EVER! You can place an order at www.apartyinyourtummy.blogspot.com!

What a long day! And then Eva made us dinner (she's welcome anytime at my house) and Tami came over and we all learned how to make fondant from Cory.

Now they are leaving. :(

And No Tears Were Shed

As I am finding out, a day each mother does not look forward to at any age- the first day of school.

I decided to keep myself busy and had a good friend and his wife over for dinner last night to keep my mind off of Daniel starting school. It worked and we had a lot of fun.

Then . . . this morning came. And . . . Daniel was truly getting on my nerves and I was truly excited for him to go. And I thought to myself, "This is how it is suppose to be. He needs to get out there and experience life for himself- to learn, expand that mind and experience situations I can't create at home."

Our walk to school was short. Five minutes. Daniel was READY to go and was way ahead of us. This never happens. Whenever we go for walk, we have to keep telling him to keep us with us.

I am grateful for two things right now.

1. Carlo was able to go with me this morning. He was the picture taker and Coral Controller (more about that later).

2. Daniel has a friend from church in his class, which means I have a "Mom Friend" from church to hang out with while waiting to drop off and pick up.

I had to have one picture with Daniel and I and it looks like he can hardly wait to get away from me! He told me the sun was in his eyes. Hilarious!

He had NO problems with us leaving him at school. But that's okay, he told me he loves me.

The teacher read, "The Kissing Hand," with all the parents in the room and then each child came and said good-bye and that was it. "The Kissing Hand" is about a raccoon that goes to kindergarten and his mom kisses his palm and tells him that kiss will always stay there (something like that- Coral was being kind of crazy). And when Daniel came home, I found his hand print with a heart in the middle. My first of many mom treasures.

And then there was Coral. She had to wear her backpack to school. Daniel told her before we left that she couldn't go because she's not five. She began bawling.

She played with him on the playground while waiting for school to start. Then she followed him right in to his classroom and sat at the table with him. I grabbed her and then she followed him up to the rug where they sat for the story and made herself right at home. I had to grab her again and Carlo took her outside where I heard her screaming. Finally, I went out there and she came running to me and we went back inside just in time for the story to start.

She wanted to be with Daniel. She grabbed some blocks off a shelf. We finally left and then she cried for the first few minutes and said, "I want to go to school." When we came home, she found something to entertain her and then stood up and yelled, "DANIEL!" But she couldn't find him. Luckily there were no tears when I reminded her that he was at school. Whew!

And boy did 2 1/2 hours go by fast. I had time to do dishes from the night before, some laundry, straighten up rooms, have Coral pick up her toys, change her diaper and then walk back. As soon as Daniel saw me he said, "I was good Mom, but she forgot the stickers to put on my hand."

After the "Meet and Greet" on Friday, I read the parent's letter and the teacher wrote that she put a sticker on each kid's hand if they had been good for the day. So, I told Daniel to let him know that I would know if he was good or bad for the day. He wanted to make sure I knew he was good!

Now to the next how every many days of school for this year and the next 18!

My Prince and Princess

A few weeks ago, a crown birthday party invitation was dropped off for Daniel. The next morning, Daniel asked for me to make it into a real crown and then I had to make one for my other darling.

This Saturday, will be my first born's fifth birthday. We've decided our kids will only get "friend's" birthday parties on certain years and the fifth is one of them. So, here is the result of our party invitations. (Notice the invite rolled up inside the bottle.) I hope Daniel loves me because it took a lot of designing and thought to put these all together.

A family favorite - Reading! And might I mention ALL the books in the background. We brought home 22 books from the library for all of us!

My dear friend, Amber, let me be a part of her gender ultrasound. Yay! Her husband was unable to make it, so I was her other half. It was a precious moment to be a part of as the technician announced, "It's a boy!" and some tears were shed. Pregnancy is truly a miracle and has its own joys. Especially when you are not the one lying on the table pregnant. Thanks for letting me share your moment!

I really should . . . .

post some pictures, but I have been lazy about downloading them from my camera. I'll do it soon.

I went to Daniel's "Meet and Greet" for his school today. His teacher seems great, but her first comment was, "Wow. You are big. Shouldn't you be in first grade?" Nope. He doesn't turn five until next weekend and yes, he is a big kid. As we were waiting to meet her, Daniel was nervously rubbing my hand. Good. He's nervous and excited too. We'll make it through this transition.

He went to a birthday party all by himself last night and I had some "girl time" with Coral. It was a glimpse of what will be next week. We watched a girl movie and she cuddled with me on the couch. Of course when it was time for bed, she kept trying to sneak back out for more cuddles.

I have the best friends ever! Next weekend is Daniel's birthday party and they are both coming in to town for the occasion. I love that they are so supportive and always there for me when I need them. And I really love that one of them is making all of the cupcakes for me for the birthday party. I'm a big stresser and now I can relax about that part because she is fantastic at what she does. She should be because she sells decorated cupcakes and cakes! And the other friend is always great at helping me organize and think things through and jumps right in to help out without asking and right where I need help. They are both amazing woman and I really just feel so blessed right now and am so excited for a "Girl's Weekend." They were my first married friends and we've know each other for over seven years. I moved away and they stayed. I wish we lived by each other all the time.

Through the Eyes of an Almost Five Year Old

Daniel begins kindergarten in a week. I've been telling him I'll miss him and love him, but that he is going to have so much fun at school learning. I did. Well, he informed me he didn't want to go the other day. So, I asked him why and this was his response, "I don't want to be gone all day, Mom. Daddy goes to school and comes home when it is dark! That is too long for me to go to school." I suppose his only knowledge of school is through his dad and he is gone all the time! Don't worry, I explained to him that his school was only a few hours long.

Daniel loves me openly and I know I will miss this someday. We were out running errands the other day and I told him "I bet Dad is asleep on the couch when we get home." We'd left Coral at home with him and he was already dozing. Daniel replied, "Ooh, if he is, I'll have to steal lots of kisses from you while he's not watching!" My little sweetheart.

"In Hard Times" Link

Some thoughts. Click here.

Upside Down Shoes and Flying Wet Hats

In a previous post, I wrote about Daniel's continuous nightmares. Well, thanks to a friend and her comment on my post, he has pretty much been nightmare free! Thanks Kelly!

Her comment? Well, put some shoes upside down under the bed. Daniel loved this solution and immediately claimed it would make his bed magical. He did have some nightmares a few nights ago and I found out the next day that the shoes kept tipping to their sides, so his bed was no longer protected in his mind. Well, we solved that problem the next night by using flip flops. What a great way to chase away nightmares!

We went to the water park today and had an interesting experience. Can you tell me WHY parents don't watch their children???!!!! Daniel was trying to run through the water spraying from some spiral circles and I watched this kid chase him screaming, "You can't come in here!" He did this quite a few times and almost brought Daniel to tears as he came over to me and said the kid was going to hit him with his hat (which was soaked with water. ouch.)

Now, I do know some kids have disabilities, but I watched him the whole time I was there and he seemed to be fine. He just liked to bully Daniel. No one else. Well, after Daniel had told me the kids threat, a few short minutes later, the kid did exactly that- he chased him out of the water, shoved him and swung his soaking wet hat as hard as he could across Daniel's chest.

Yes, I can be an overprotective mom. But aren't we all in some ways.

No one does that to my kid. I went up there and scolded that kid and told him we'd be speaking with his mom and dad if I saw him hit my son again. He just replied, "My mom's not here." Then he ran off to the play ground and never came back to the water area while we were there.

I have three thoughts on this:

1. Watch your kids. I'd be livid if Daniel had hit another kid like that and I witnessed it.

2. I wonder if I scared him off. Good. He deserved it.

3. Hmm . . . Dad was watching him. . . hmm.

Great Deal

I'm not sure why I am posting this- maybe I am thinking of Mom's and planning for Christmas and Birthdays.


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New Addition to The Cullen Family

Could this be Bella as a Vampire!?

Comments

How come no one leaves comments anymore? My friends and I were just discussing this the other day. People stop by, but don't say hi. Hmm . . . which one are you- a blog stalker or a blog guest?

The Change

I went to the library this morning. I have to admit, it has been awhile. I've had enough new, old and borrowed reads to keep me busy. Things have changed. Our world is changing in many ways. And I'm worried I won't be able to keep up so I can keep my kids informed. Change scares me. It always has.

First of all, I was surprised by a few of the titles of the children's book:

My Mommy's Tattoo
My Parents are Divorced and Now I have Two Mommies.

Yes, the world truly is changing when we begin reading our children these books so they can understand the world around them.

Then I went to check out. No, I didn't check out any of the above books. I don't have any tattoos (sigh of relief from my mom- j/k) and I'm not divorced or in a relationship with another woman (unless you count my adorable Coral). So, those books don't really apply to my children. But I did have trouble checking out.

Why, you might wonder? Well, they recently did some construction and changed the self check-out. Now, all that needs to be done is to set two to three books on the counter and the scanner underneath registers which books they are and checks them out to you. Voila! Done. It's that simple.

Do you remember the days when you had to wait in line and hand all of your book to a library worker and they checked them out for you? Those days are gone. We are entering a new age of fast and convenient. I don't mind, but I think I might not be able to keep up or get used to it!

For example, I went country dancing with a few friends last night. I rode with Tami, one of my best friends from high school, and she asked me to hold on to what I thought was her keyless entry that attaches to her keys. It is actually called a key fob, which I found out later.

After we were done showing everyone how country line dancing is suppose to be done (Not really. For me anyway. I just looked like I had no idea what I was doing; and that's the truth. I didn't!), she remembered I had her key fob and told me to simply touch the door handle. I did and the car unlocked! What?! The handle somehow sensed the key fob was on my person. Then we climbed inside the car and she pushed a button to start it? Where have I been? Oh, my car is over five years old. That is where I have been.

Oh, so many changes. Yes, I am getting older.