Say It Ain't So...

Last week I did some serious "Summer Cleaning". (I think I procrastinated and Spring Cleaning became Summer Cleaning!). At then end of the week, I had two large white garbage bags full of stuff for the thrift store, two large white garbage bags full of trash, and one large white garbage bag full of my dry cleaning. I knew when I put my dry cleaning in the white garbage bag that it was NOT a good idea.

And I was right.

It was NOT a good idea.

I accidentally "donated" my dry cleaning to the thrift store.

Yep.

And the clothes have yet to be recovered.

Not good!

(Somebody's thanking God today for some really great clothes they found at the thrift store!)

Confession...

My least favorite part of a kid's birthday party is serving the cake and ice cream. Too much pressure. Too many specific requests for the cake. "I want the eye." "I want the tail." "I want the piece with the purple candle." "His piece is bigger than mine." The ice cream is even worse. Scooping ice cream for 20 kids just doesn't work well. By the time you're done with the last child, the party should have been over "an hour ago." And if you decide to use the individual pre-packaged cups of ice cream, then you usually didn't buy enough of the right flavor. You feel safe buying 12 vanilla, 12 chocolate, and 12 rainbow sherbert cups. But then that 13th kid wants chocolate. Yikes! Then the plastic spoons break as the kids try to dig into the rock-hard ice cream. Just forget it, already!

So...in an effort to make cake and ice cream time a little easier, I made an executive decision that I would not serve ice cream at KitKat's party. It was, after all, a cookout, and there was going to be plenty of food.

However, about 2 hours before the party started, M decided that he wanted to make a peach cobbler for dessert for the adults. I said, "Good idea," as I took 8 cups of frozen peaches out of the freezer.

After we sang "Happy Birthday" to KitKat and served the kids their cake and/or cupcakes, M brought out the cobbler with a gallon of vanilla ice cream. I had a vision of 22 kids crowding around me asking for ice cream. So I hid the carton behind a dolphin decoration. But I wasn't smooth enough or fast enough. Within seconds, my 7 year old neighbor politely asked, "Miss Tiffany, can I please have some ice cream?"

I replied, "No, sweetie, the ice cream is just for mommies and daddies."

I said that.

To my 7 year old neighbor.

At my 6 year old's birthday party.

"No, sweetie, the ice cream is just for Mommies and Daddies."

(What's wrong with me??)

"P" is for Party!

The birthday par-tay was successful! KitKat wanted a "Dolphin Party", but she didn't want to have the party at the pool. So we rented an inflatable waterslide and cooked out with family and friends. It was perfect! In fact, during the party, KitKat exclaimed, "This is my bestest birthday ever!"

Take a look:


I had a hard time getting a close-up pic of the cupcakes, but the sprinkles are dolphins. I found them on Etsy, along with the "wavy" cupcake liners. Check out her store - she has every shape and color sprinkle imaginable (and super cheap, too!)

LOVED this waterslide. Perfect for big and little kids! (But I did have to take 800mg of Motrin and use a heating pad before I went to bed last night!):

AAA and her friends:

Kit Kat, Sunshine, and their good friend at the "girly" table (look at Sunshine's outfit - during the middle of the party, she decided she wanted to play dress-up!):

Baby W:

Papa and the birthday girl:

Mommy and the birthday girl:

Waiting patiently for Mommy to light the candles:

"Happy Birthday to YOU, Happy Birthday to you...."

I love this pic! Look at T in the background. Too cute!

Yay!! (I would love to know her wish!)

Happy Girl!
Yummy!

Cute Carrie and Baby W:

Cupcake tower:

Silly goose:

Birthday Girl's Mommy with Birthday Girl's Mimi and Papa:

(hey - I also found that dolphin applique on Etsy. You can choose your pattern and fabric and she'll ship it to you ASAP - total cost - $4.50! You just iron it on your shirt, bag, or whatever. Check her out - CUTE stuff for kids!)

What is it about a kid's birthday party that will wear you out?!? I'm spending today recovering from yesterday.

Happy Sunday!

She's just sayin'...

Today is Kit Kat's birthday party so I've been "prepping" her on how to say "Thank You" for her gifts even if she doesn't like it or already has one. Which totally reminded me of something that happened last year that I have to share with you.

My sweet, precious, adorable, darling neighbor came to Kit Kat's party empty-handed. Kit Kat asked, "Where's my present?" My sweet neighbor replied, in the kindest voice ever, "For your birthday, I made a donation in YOUR name to Storybook Farms. They'll use your money to buy food for the horsies. " Kit Kat looked her in the eye and replied, just as sweetly, "Or you could just buy me a Polly Pocket." My neighbor continued, "When you buy food for the horsies, the kids with disabilities can ride the horsies." Kit Kat continued, "Or...you could buy me a Littlest Pet Shop."

She's just sayin'...

Who Knew?!

Did you know that there's a "Sips N Strokes in Auburn?!

Did you know that the more you sip, the better you paint (I was going to type "stroke" here, but I couldn't do it with a straight face - just didn't sound right!).

Or maybe...the more you sip, the better you think it looks. It seems like there's a country song like that. Something about the the better-looking the girl becomes with each beer the guy drank (?).

Anyway..take a look at what we did. Good times!

(To Mimi and my sisters: I'm counting on you to tell me the truth - is it ugly and should I take it down??)

Happy Reading!

Ya'll, I'm reading the most charming book I've read in a long while. I'm only three-fourths of the way through the book, but I had to go ahead and recommend it to you - I just couldn't wait.

Because I had heard that the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society ,was wonderful, I warned my family when I started the book that they might have to do without food and clean clothes for a few days. However, as wonderful as the book is, I've been really disciplined about reading only after the kids are in bed. (Notice I didn't say "after I have tucked them in" - M has been the "tucker" this week so I've been getting an early start on the reading).

Anyway, this is a darling book set in the WWII era. It's actually post WWII, but the book is actually a series of letters and most of the letters are about memories during WWII. Novels, biographies, memoirs, and histories of this time have always somehow appealed to me, ever since I read Anne Frank in seventh grade.

This charming book taught me a little about history, literature, and human nature. The characters - even the unlovable ones - will find a way in to your heart. I was so impressed by their courage to hope, to love, and to hope to love. I am reading this book at a perfect time for me. Go get your copy! You'll love it!

Happy Reading!

Signs of Summer:

Jars of lightning bugs (27 bugs, bug who's counting?!):

Watermelon toes: Corn on the cob:

Gathering form the garden:

Watermelon:

Ice cream!:

Blue tongues!:

Sunglasses:

Goggles:

Happy 6th Birthday, Kit Kat!

Dear Kit Kat,

Today is your 6th birthday! How time flies!

You are an angel, a Mama's girl, a mighty Prayer Warrior, a nature lover, a high-spirited, complex, interesting, dramatic little girly-girl. You love to dress up, play Barbies, play house (you're the mom and Sunshine is the dad), and play baby dolls. Yet you love to catch moths, butterflies, bullfrogs, turtles, and worms. You adore babies and puppies and kittens. You're affectionate and tender-hearted. Yet you can look me in the eye and a lie can just roll off of your tongue. When I question you, your face turns bright red and you continue to look me in the eye. But I know by the color of your face that you did, in fact, eat the Nutty Buddy bar that I wold you not to eat. You like to be good but, in your own words, "I like being good but it's too hard."

Some would say you are the pickiest of eaters. Here's a comprehensive list of what you like to eat: Apple Jacks, cinnamon rolls, the marshmallows from Lucky Charms, scrambled eggs, Trix yogurt (but only Wildberry blue), hot dogs (but only Oscar Meyer, microwaved - not grilled - and NOT bun length), bananas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches , pickles (you LOVE pickles and could eat them all day long. I seriously worry about the acid from the pickles eating the enamel off your teeth), mandarin oranges (canned, not fresh), grapes (green), chocolate ice cream, "clean" chicken (don't ask), macaroni and cheese (Kraft singles, please), Little Debbies, "Mexican cheese toast (i.e. quesadillas) from Laredo's, a 4 pc nugget Happy Meal from McDonalds (with 4 packets of ketchup), Cheez-its, and Ritz crackers. Like I said, some would argue that you are a picky eater, but I prefer to look at it this way, "Just hand the girl a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and life is good." (Just make sure it's Jif's peanut butter and Welch's grape jelly on white bread with no "dirty" edges!)

You can be out-going and talkative, but at times you are shy and timid. You wear your emotions on your sleeve and I never have to wonder what's on your mind. Although I do have to wonder about what other people think when you say what's on your mind. Like the time you told my friend he had yellow teeth and weird hair. Or the time you told the overweight guy behind snack counter at Target that he looked like a snowman. Or the time you told Dr. Stewart his face was weird.

You speak your mind and I envy you for it. I prayed for a strong-spirited child, and the Lord delivered in a mighty big way. I'm going to need His help to mold this spirit in the right direction, because that's my prayer, to mold your spirit without breaking your spirit (or mine...that would be good).

You are beautiful and emotional and you have brought me closer to my Heavenly Father than I would have ever been. He gave me you. You gave me Him. It is my prayer that I will guide you back to Him.

You are a delight, full of wit and affection. You beg me to cuddle with you at night. And when you have had enough, you speak directly, "Can you please go now?"

You are passionate and dramatic. When you cry, you cry hard. When you laugh, you laugh hard. When you love, you love hard. And when you pray, you pray hard. And when you stomp your foot, you stomp it hard.

You know EXACTLY what you like ("Could I please have apple juice, all the way to the tippy top in a sippy cup please?" age 3. You said it every morning right when you woke up, as fast as you could. Daddy couldn't understand you and thought you spoke Chinese). (Or..."Could I please have a hot dog, cut up, with ketchup and a pickle and a fork?" Age 4 (everyday at noon). You take your time with your arts and crafts. You have an eye for beauty and symmetry and you love to draw and decorate (yes, decorate).

You are trusting and faithful, wide-eyed and curious. Your love of nature and creatures, fish, turtles, frogs, lightening bugs, roly-pols, earthworms, inchworm,s and butterflies. You have caught 3 - THREE - butterflies by cautiously, carefully, and patiently sneaking up on them (for the record, I have NEVER been able to catch a butterfly).

When you are sick and running a fever, there couldn't be a sweet er child. When you are sick and running a fever, you say things like, "Yes ma'am" and No ma'am" and "please" and "thank you." When you are sick and running a fever, I miss my highly spirited, strong -willed child.

You are my angel and I love seeing the world through your precious blue eyes. Life with you is a beautiful adventure and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I've the highest of highs and lowest of lows with you, little one. You are high-maintenance to the enth degree. Yet you love mightily and whole-heartedly, and you live for my love. You are the classic middle child, and have been since the day you were born. But how did you know that you were the middle child even before Sunshine was born?!

As hard as you make it, you love your life. You filled my heart with joy and my eyes with tears when you announced to me the other day, completely out of the blue with a smile on your face from ear to ear, while wearing your favorite new outfit, "I'm happy I'm alive!"

You are your own girl and I thank God for you, precious angel.