Month: August 2011

Dino-Mite!!

You know you’ve just had a killer birthday party when you’re too tired to do anything but lay on the couch and eat cake.  It’s just too much trouble to clean up the tissue paper and deflated balloons, so you leave the mess for tomorrow and hope your toddler/cat doesn’t swallow anything they shouldn’t.  You order in because all meal-planning has gone out the window and dishes and the laundry start piling up – but all you can do is crawl into bed for a 3 hour nap.  The dinosaur party for Charlie’s 4th was a huge success.  We rented a gargantuan bounce house/water slide and I have to recommend it to everyone – a crowd pleaser in this triple digit weather and worth every penny!!  Here’s Charlie trying it out before her friends arrived: charliedinoparty 020 charliedinoparty 021 I found these inflatable dinos at Oriental Trading Company and they were a hit as well!  Good thing we don’t have any furniture in the front part of our house because it’s looking a bit like the “Dinosaurs Alive!” exhibit at the Ft. Worth Zoo.  Vann and I actually woke up to a T-Rex standing in our bedroom doorway. charliedinoparty 027 Pink and green were the colors of choice – and you just can’t have a party without balloons, now can you?? charliedinoparty 035 Mimi drew hot pink dino tracks leading up to our front door… charliedinoparty 043 And a special friend was there to welcome the party guests… charliedinoparty 045 And outsourcing the cake turned out to be THE best decision EVAH.  Chocolate with raspberry filling??  Yes, please.  Goodbye, Weight Watchers points…for the year!!!! charliedinoparty 064 The kids came in from outside to sing “Happy Birthday” and eat the spectacular cake… charliedinoparty 068 charliedinoparty 075 charliedinoparty 077 …and then went back out for some more waterslide action.  More of those pics to come courtesy of Poppy (I stayed inside where it was COOL!!)… And last but not least… cookiefavor …some pink dino cookies to take home as a parting gift… And we have a happy little girl who turns 4 on Thursday.  She thinks her birthday started last week and will last every day until her next birthday.  Hmm…turns out the apple doesn’t fall tooooo far from the tree…

A Sauna of My Very Own.

When I was pregnant with Charlie we were living in our 2 bedroom apartment in Chicago. No central air.  3 window units. Vann would come home from work to find me in front of the dining room window unit with my shirt up over my belly.  With my hands braced against the glass, I would stand there, all.day.long, letting that coooool air penetrate every last cell of my being.  OMG was it hot up in there! Ah, those memories linger… Especially because last night our downstairs unit went kaput.  Oh, yeah. It was a lovely temp outside – 106, I think? Here’s what our thermostat reads today: photo 84 degrees.  Inside my house.  And could get worse before the day is up. And, as a bonus, my bathroom is like a sauna!  So there’s no need to spend money on expensive spa treatments – I’ll just sit on the edge of my tub for 20 minutes. 

Staycation.

Whew, it’s been a little heavy around here, no??  Well, in an effort to lighten things up a bit, I thought I would tell you all a little anecdote about my dear Charlie.  Awhile ago Mimi offered to keep C for the week prior to her birthday party – which actually works out perfectly because Divine Consign is the same weekend and I still have yet to tag all my items and bag them up for drop-off next Friday.  I made the executive decision to spare myself a lot of stress and have her cake made instead of giving my baking skills another go.  Good call.  So earlier today we were in her bedroom because I told her I needed to pack her bag and she promptly stomped past me and drug it out herself.  She then filled it with all of her “friends” and practically sat on it to get it zipped.  Sound familiar?  I’ve had to do that a time or two. When I told her I needed her bag for her actual clothes she stomped past me and drug out the two items she told me she was going to wear next week: her Emler Swim School t-shirt and a pair of too-small shorts.  Then she told me that Vann and I aren’t allowed to sleep at Mimi’s – we are to drop her off and come back home, making sure we take Baby Ella with us. Which then made me think that Vann was probably going to be thrilled to get an entire night’s sleep without a toddler showing up at his bedside at 2 am demanding to go potty.  Toddler Staycation @ Mimi’s house = Happy and Rested Daddy.  Hmm.  This could work in my favor.  Especially because I really want these: 119107419_ODDOzxew_c Do you think he’ll be THAT well-rested???

You Are Loved.

I am sitting here drinking a glass of wine (or two, maybe, who’s counting?) and thinking.  Thinking about how weary I am, how sad I feel, how much I want to shed these feelings of doubt and begin again tomorrow.  Because, you see, I was exceptionally hard on myself today.  The “Chicago Winter” of Texas is here to stay, it seems.  And believe me, it’s JUST as bad as negative temps.  TRUST me.  What little I have left my house this week (thanks to a lovely summer cold) has been spent racing the girls to and from the post office/grocery store/what.have.you without melting.  It’s too hot to swim, too crowded at the mall (cause EVERYONE is thinking what I’m thinking) and just too MUCH.  You do know that it’s been in the triple digits for like 40 days or something, right?  Isn’t that just CRAZY? So what happens when you’re stuck inside with your two small children who can’t seem to stop torturing each other? Two words: Cabin.  Fever. When Elmo is the only thing that keeps the peace you know you have a problem. Ultimately, I took them to the gym, handed them off to childcare, and pounded the treadmill with all the stress and anxiety I was holding onto.  And in my mind, I was thinking I am worthy. I am valued. I am a good mother. I am a cherished friend. I do have talent. I am loved. When someone is whispering lies to you all day – lies that make you believe that you are none of the above – well, it’s very easy for you (for me) to forget these things.  When I raise my voice too many times and scold my children more than usual. When I pass by the mirror and am worried about the next 5 pounds when I should be celebrating the 5 I’ve lost. When I overthink and ruminate and drive myself crazy. When I worry and fret that I might never get THERE – that place of self-acceptance and confidence. When I second guess and don’t offer myself the same kindness I hope I give to others. And so, I am happy to put this day to bed.  Happy to give my sin up to the one who will ultimately meet me where I’m at and say “…Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” – Hebrews 13:5. I am here. You are loved.

The Art of Cakemaking.

So for years my dear friend Megan has made her daughter’s birthday cakes from scratch.  They are always darling and you know she spent hours painstakingly and lovingly baking and decorating them. It’s no secret to anyone that knows me that I am.not.a.baker.nor.a.cook.  However, sometimes I do sell myself short.  I thought, “why not?” and decided that I, too, was going to make a cake.  For Charlie’s 4th birthday.  So I googled dino cakes and came up with a really cute template from Betty Crocker’s website, gathered all my materials, and set aside an afternoon to tackle this culinary masterpiece.  The most important lesson I learned was in the art of crumbs.  Apparently one should freeze or refridgerate a cake before frosting it?  Otherwise, this is what happens: 283869_10150283318212722_611007721_7514231_6566118_n Hmph.  Blasted crumbs! This was proving to be a little more difficult than I had anticipated.  Not to be deterred, however, I sought the advice of some well-versed baking friends via Facebook and popped this bad boy in the fridge in the hopes I could resume icing it in an hour or so. Let me just show you what the cake was supposed to look like: d5583bc0-3e01-4f08-a75d-f8c868809aec …aaaanddd what it ended up looking like: 184160_10150283483372722_611007721_7516005_8142489_n Ah yes, you are all very sweet, but let’s just say that my career as a cake-maker might have just ended before it began.  And to make matters worse, a piece of this cake is about a million Weight Watchers points.  So I can’t even ENJOY the fruits of my labor!! I’m on a cake-making strike!!

Someone Save Me.

Well, we are in it…the Texas equivalent to the Chicago winter…oppressive and never-ending.  Y’all, it is so hot.  I mean, fry an egg on the sidewalk kinda hot.  I took the girls to the custard shop yesterday just for a break in the madness at home and you should have seen Baby Ella’s face.  She was beet red and sweating like a house on fire.  Woo, and WAS.SHE.CRANKY.  She’s definitely my daughter: needs her sleep and hates being hot.  And I mean HATES.  So I know I’ve said this before, but I’m terrified of the pool this year because Charlie really can’t swim yet and Ella is all over the place – and really, what’s fun about trying to keep the both of them from drowning??  I know I chose to move back here, and I have no regrets, but I’m starting to figure out that I am really a colder weather gal.  I would much rather have a cabin in Colorado and wake up to the fresh mountain air than a house on the beach in Malibu.  Honestly.  I love being cozy.  I love wearing a chunky sweater that’s just long enough it covers my hands.  I love a hot cup of coffee and a briskness in the air.  I will say that aside from these few months in the summer, the weather has been lovely here.  I was able to walk with the double BOB from October to May.  There were those few weeks in the winter that the roads were icy and scary and the schools closed, but most of the year, you can throw a blanket over your kids and head out the door.  Anyway, the girls had camp last week and I was very spoiled.  It was the perfect balance of productivity and unadulterated me time.  Ah, I cashed in my Mother’s Day massage and took myself to the movies.  It’s a glamorous life, isn’t it?  Don’t envy me too much – this week I’m back in the throes of pre-terrible two’s tantrums and 30 questions a minute courtesy of you know who and you know who.  So today I am in my jammies still (yes, it’s 2 pm) and I’m very busy scouring eBay and procrastinating going to the gym.  I figure these are the lazy days of summer, yes?  Emphasis on the LAZY.  I just keep telling myself the fires of Hades will break soon and one day I will again join the land of the living.  Until then, I will dream of Fall and ignore my children, as usual.