Crazy Girls

Yesterday I was cleaning the bathroom while the littlest girls were gated into the family room playing with BabyGirl's ball drop toy. After a few minutes the music stopped and I hear Peanut crying a soft but distressed cry and saying something I can't quite make out.

As I exit the bathroom and round the corner I can hear she is saying "I am not a couch! I am NOT a couch!"

When I have them in view I can see that Peanut is lying on her belly on the floor and that BabyGirl is sitting on her head.

Indeed, BabyGirl, your sister is not a couch.

Then today, Curly wanted to call a neighbor girl to see if she could play. I said that was fine so she went to get the phone. When I found her she was sitting next to the phone with a relieved expression on her face and a blank piece of printer paper in her hand.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I wasn't sure if I remembered her number right, so I had this piece of paper ready in case I dialed the wrong number. Then I could just crinkle it up and say 'I think we're losing connection' so the other person wouldn't know I dialed the wrong number! But it's okay, because I called the right house."

My girls are crazy.

Happy Birthday StinkyMan

Dear StinkyMan,

Today you are five. Truth be told, Mommy is struggling with that a little bit. Tonight I told you stories about when you were a baby. You thought they were so funny. I remember them like they happened yesterday.

Where did my baby boy go? Where is my baby who chewed his books instead of reading them? Where is the baby who was afraid to step on grass? Now I have a boy who loves to run in it. Where is that baby who said "Dadu!" when he saw his Daddy? Now I have such a little man who says "Daddy, do you want to play Wii with me?"

StinkyMan, you are my most loving child. Your heart is as big as your smile. You love your family wholly and without reservation. You give the best spontaneous hugs. Your giggle makes me giggle and your belly laugh gets me laughing just as hard.

You are so smart. You can already read, blazing through Curly's list of 1st grade words to know and surprising me constantly with what you already know. You ask good questions and retain the answers, thinking about them from all angles, then packing the information away in the corner of your brain for when you might need it later. I can almost always see your little wheels turning in your head.

I'm so, so proud of you , my one and only boy. You are funny, smart, kind, gentle, loving, funny, sweet and determined.

You are my favorite little boy in the world.

Happy 5th Birthday, StinkyMan.

Mommy loves you.

Mario Party

All StinkyMan wanted for his 5th birthday was a Super Mario party.

The downfall to this particular theme is that you can't buy the stuff in the stores, it's only online. And it's EXPENSIVE! And I'm, well, thrifty. I did try to convince him to change his mind, but he was determined that Super Mario was the theme.

So the first order of business was the invitations. I got the idea from here. The lady made it seem easy peasy. I guess in theory it was, but holy cow was it time consuming. After spending close to 3 hours making the invitations (I didn't have some of the Cricut options she had) this is how they turned out:

Then I ordered a Mario Bingo game from this seller on Ebay. It's awesome and cost effective and a great way to pass some party time.

No way was I going to pay through the nose for Mario plates and cups and such, so we went with red and blue, like Mario's clothes. I made this centerpiece for decoration:

I just cut down a gold gift bag, printed pictures off the internet, cut them out, stuck them on straws and then stuck the straws in flower foam and covered it all with gold gift wrap shreds. Thank you Dollar Tree, because that cost me a whole $3. Cute, right?

Next up were favors. I wanted to do small yellow takeout boxes filled with chocolate gold coins (like in the game.) Who knew that chocolate coins were so crazy expensive? Well not me, because I was SHOCKED. And then Michael's had every other color of takeout boxes EXCEPT yellow. On to plan B, which was much cheaper and just as well received by the guests:

Sugar cookies are always a nice option. One 59 cent cookie cutter and some black icing and yellow sprinkles and we were all set. I didn't wrap them fancily, I ran out of time. I don't think the kids cared that they were just in a plain old Ziploc baggie.

We really were going to need more than just Bingo to entertain the kiddos, so we decided to make hats like Mario.

Mario:


Our version:


StinkyMan didn't want his initial...he felt like his age was a better option. Makes sense, since that was what we were all celebrating after all. Foam hats were from Michael's for $1 each, but of course I had a coupon. The circles were cut from self adhesive foam and the letters were cut from construction paper using the Cricut. Each child got a circle and their initial and a turn with the glue stick. All told just under $20.

But what I am most proud of is the cake. I was nervous, but it came out well. Husband helped me tremendously by taking on the task of sculpting fondant mushrooms, while I handled the more simplistic shapes and the actual cake baking and general decorating.

And it tasted pretty good too, if I do say so myself!

All in all it was a lot of work, but it was well appreciated by StinkyMan who was very excited about his party. He had a great time and I think the guests did too....we had more than 20 kids here! It was crazy, it was loud and the preparations were time consuming, but in the end my StinkyMan was thrilled and that makes it all worthwhile.

The kids...

...didn't miss me.

I don't think that is totally true for all of them, but I guarantee you that StinkyMan and BabyGirl didn't. She had no reaction at all upon my return and StinkyMan never once wanted to talk to me on the phone. It is true that Husband is the more fun parent and that Grammy pitched in big time with special trips to Taco Bell and Frozen Yogurt and the park and her house, but I thought they would miss me a little bit. They didn't.

Curly missed me, but not as much as I thought. I came back late Monday night and they were all asleep. I woke her up, as promised, to say hello, and she just said "OK, bye-bye" and rolled over and went back to sleep. She was pleased to see me in the morning, but that's about as exciting as it got.

Peanut, upon discovering I was home, gave me a big long hug and said "You're home!" Then, for about the next hour or so she would walk up randomly and say "You're not with your friends anymore. You're here now. Eeeeeeeeeeee!" And hug my leg. Now that's more like it.

The house was not only still standing, it looked great. Husband had done and put away a lot of laundry, washed some windows and the TV, cleaned the kitchen and fixed dinner all but one night. I believe he also did all 3 girls hair everyday. Most days, I can't even get to some of the stuff he got done. I knew he was capable, but still I am very impressed.

It doesn't bother me that they didn't miss me or that Husband is a better task master than I am. It just makes me feel good to know that I can go have a few days for myself and that all of them, Husband included, will rise to the occasion, and not only manage, but thrive.

And it makes me ask all over again, what would we do without my mom, the kids' beloved Grammy? Thanks Mom!

With such fantastic results, I'm already planning my next getaway. Any suggestions?

I'm baaaaack!

I have returned from my girls' retreat. It was AWESOME! We had such a good time. We chatted and giggled, chatted and laughed, chatted and cried from laughing so hard. We did a little shopping, some gals got tattoos and there were a few piercings! I let the girls choose the color and dye my hair. That was about as wild as I got. I'm an old soul that way. We also had reflexology, a lesson in making fondant for cake decorating and we played games...Taboo is funnier when some of the participants have been drinking! There were eleven of us total and I think everyone had a wonderful weekend.

A common thread amongst us is bargain hunting. I announced my Deal of the Day to the girls that made Gap T-shirts, camis and tanks $5.50 and that I had the discount that would make them $3.85 a piece. Then one of the other girls said "Well, I have a Banana Republic Card, which would make for free shipping." One by one we took our turn at the screen, adding to the Gap order. By the time we were finished we had ordered $240 worth of Gap T-shirts! I expect 37 T-shirts to arrive at my door any day now, and I will send them on to their proper owners.

It was so nice to get away. I had such a great time and can't wait until next year to do it again. It's so nice to have such a fun group of friends. We are all so different but so much alike: all mommies, all bargain shoppers, all in need of a getaway.

Tomorrow I will tell you about my homecoming and how the family did without me and how they were upon my return. I'm sure there is a giggle or 2 in there for you.

I'm leaving....

...on a jet plane.

OK, I don't know about the jet part, but I am leaving for a few days for a loooong weekend with my friends. I have never left my kids and Husband this long...heck other than to have babies or an overnight here and there I've never really left my kids at all.

So this is new for me and I'm very excited. Mostly we'll just be gabbing and hanging out, maybe some crafting and game playing. I can't wait.

I'm going to try to sign in and do the Deal of the Day each day, but I can't promise. There are about 100 of you who check in regularly, so don't give up on me. I'll be back, refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to blog next week!

Volume control

So I'm singing a nice little duet of the Itsy Bitsy Spider with Peanut, when she stops singing and looks at me funny.

"What?" I asked.

"I need you to turn that down, Mommy."

"I'm just singing."

"You're too loud."

"But isn't my singing pretty?"

"No. It's loud. Turn it down"

Nothing like being put into place by a 3 year old.