All In A Mom’s Day

Doesn’t it always seem like when it rains, it pours? So far this month we have been to two birthday parties and a baby shower. We’ve got 4 more parties coming up (that I know about) and then in April all of our family birthdays start. It’s not everyone but it seems like most of our family birthdays are concentrated within the same few months. Don’t get me wrong, I love birthday parties. The kids get so excited and they are so much fun to plan and I love picking out gifts – it just seems like they happen all at once. So far my daughter has been to a Bratz party and a Polly Pocket party. Coming up we have a Cinderella party, a Tinkerbell party and a luau.

The twin’s party theme is still in the works. I’m thinking about Dora’s Adventure to Radiator Springs to meet Lightning McQueen or maybe something to do with racing. I’m still thinking that I’m going to do the Mexican Fiesta. I wanted to do a frozen margarita machine and then I was thinking of getting a second machine to do virgin strawberry daiquiris for the kids. The first place (and the only place I knew of in town) seemed kind of pricey and when I e-mailed for an actual price quote no one responded. Then I happened to mention it to a friend and she gave me the name of someone else who does the same thing and when I contacted them they were a lot cheaper. This just shows that it pays to ask around. I’ll definitely be looking in the stores to see if there’s anything on clearance after the Daytona 500 and after Cinco de Mayo. It really does pay to plan early so that you can shop around and buy things at the best price. I was able to get some Cars stuff for the goody bags at the dollar store. I was also able to get some other goody bag items on clearance at Walmart. I’m sure if I was shopping for that right before the party I wouldn’t be able to find it or I would have to pay full price. Now I just have to hope that my kids don’t change their minds about the theme they want!!

Time for bed. Tomorrow is the start of another busy week . . . school, work, doctor’s appointments, playdates, birthday parties, cleaning, laundry, errands and the list goes on . . . Have a good week!

I love planning birthday parties. My 6 year old loves it too. We choose a theme and then work on it for months coming up with ideas and buying things for the party. She is a very good decision maker. She makes a decision and then sticks with it. I’m learning that life isn’t always that perfect. My 2 year old daughter loves Dora. She wants Dora everything – the other day she told me when she grows up she wants a Dora bra – I wonder what she will say when I bring them up on our first bra shopping trip!! Anyway, planning parties for twins is a little bit trickier when you’re doing a theme. My 2 year old son likes Diego. I thought it was perfect – we would have a Dora and Diego fiesta. Then my son started changing his mind and saying he wanted all these other character – all of which he likes. I figured since he wasn’t really set on one thing and he likes all of the characters about the same we would stick with Dora and Diego. Maybe not! Now all of a sudden he keeps saying he wants a Lightning McQueen party. Unlike before, now it is consistently Lightning McQueen. I figured that’s okay, I can work with this. Instead of a Fiesta we will have Dora’s Adventure to Radiator Springs. I like to go all out for their parties because it’s fun and I like to spread the cost out so I buy things as I see them. That may not work out in this case. Today my 2 year old daughter was in my closet and saw a Cinderella game that we’re giving as a gift to one of her friends. I told her that Mary is having a Cinderella party. That was a mistake – then she told me, I want a Cinderella party. I said, “What about Dora, don’t you want Dora?” No, she tells me, I want Cinderella. I already bought the Dora piñata and when I told her that she easily switched back to Dora but I can tell this just isn’t going to be as easy as it is with their older sister.

Do you like planning birthday parties? Do you have any great ideas? So far the party themes we have had are: Teddy Bear, Sesame Street, Blue’s Clues, Care Bears, My Little Pony, Mermaidia, Winnie the Pooh and The Wiggles. I had a lot of fun planning each one. A great place to get ideas for your birthday parties is http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/. I’m thinking about devoting a part of my web site to party ideas too. Let me know what you think or if you have any ideas you would like to contribute.

Have a great day!

It’s certainly not my reality but it’s definitely fun to watch. I have to say that I’ve never been a big reality TV watcher. I have seen episodes of Wife Swap and Survivor. I’ve seen parts of the Amazing Race shows and last year I did watch America’s Got Talent but that’s about it. I was very excited when I saw the previews for Grease You’re The One That I Want. I’m a big fan of Grease. I loved the movie, I’ve seen the show in the theater a few times, I went to the movie theater to see Grease when it was re-released and I’ve seen Olivia Newton John in concert. I’m not a fanatic but I couldn’t wait to watch the new show. On the first night after the show was over I kept the TV on and wound up watching The Apprentice. Needless to say, I’m hooked on both shows now. Not only that but I was looking for something to watch one night (when I was too tired to get up off the couch to go to bed) and I found myself watching American Idol auditions from past seasons. Then I decided to record the new season of American Idol. Are you keeping count? Now I’m up to three reality shows. Another day I was going through the guide and saw a show on the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader auditions. My daughter just finished a season of cheering and so that looked interesting so I recorded that and watched it. After I watched it I was wishing I had recorded the rest of the shows to see which girls made it through. Then I found myself on CMT looking to see if they were going to re-air the shows (they are). Lastly, I was looking through the guide again and saw a show about Coyote Ugly (another movie which I really liked). I never realized it was a real bar and this show was about auditioning to work in their Austin bar. I feel like I’ve suddenly become a reality TV show junkie. Seriously, I do have other things to do but I guess we all need a little down time, right?! Now that I think about it I have seen parts of Dancing with the Stars and I realized I also watched some episodes of that ice-skating show (I can’t remember the name of it). I guess I was bound to get hooked at some point. I wonder if it’s because those shows are so far removed from my life as a mom. I wonder if I would be the winner of a reality TV show about my own life – who can get up in the morning get one child off to school and a husband off to work, take care of two year old twins all day keeping them occupied and out of trouble, make all the meals, keep the house clean, do the laundry, drive the carpool, walk the dog, pay the bills, deal with the insurance company, run the errands. I think some days I would win and other days I wouldn’t make it through the first round!! I hope you have a “real” day!!

A new year brings with it the hope of new beginnings. It is a time to be able to change things that weren’t great during the last year. I don’t necessarily sit down and write out a list of resolutions but I do have in mind what I want to work on for the new year. This year the list is long so I’m trying to concentrate on one thing at a time. The first thing I need to do is getting organized. I feel like all of the other “resolutions” will be easier to work on if I’m more organized.

We moved into our home almost 2 years ago and we’re still not organized. A lot of things have happened in those 2 years (but that’s something for another post) so I feel like I have a good excuse for not getting things the way I want but now is the time to get it done. Everything else in our lives seems to have settled down and now I’m ready to get things organized.

The problem is with 2 children who are home during the day it’s difficult to get too involved in a project because someone always seems to need something. Either that, or it’s too quiet and I have to go find out what they are doing for themselves so that they don’t need something from me. One day I found them helping themselves to water from the freezer door. Apparently they weren’t thirsty though. They were filling their cups and then throwing the water on the floor. I guess they were swimming in the water too because my son was wet from head to toe. Oh well. At least it was just water and I was able to soak it up with a towel. That part I am thankful for.

I’ve been trying to work on a lot of organizing while my husband is home to help with the kids. So far I have started organizing in my daughter’s bedrooms and our office. I know they say it’s better to start in one place and finish before moving on but it’s not possible to organize in their rooms while they are sleeping. My goal for tomorrow is finishing in the office and cleaning off the kitchen counters (a never ending task). A friend of mine recently moved to town and when I went to see her new house I commented on how nice and big her kitchen is. She said she was bummed about that because it just gave them more counter space to put stuff on – I guess our household isn’t the only one where empty counters are a magnet for anything you don’t feel like putting away or don’t know where it goes, something you just took away from the kids that needs to be put where they can’t reach it, last week’s school papers, mail, etc. So, along with the office and the kitchen – I’ll be taking care of the kids, walking the dog, picking my daughter up from school, doing laundry and the list goes on. I’ll let you know how I do. Hope you have a productive day!