Celebrating 7 Years as a Mommy

My oldest son is turning 7 on Friday!
To say his birth was life-changing would be a vast understatement. I was 36 years old had been living on my own for more than ten years and in a committed, but not domestic relationship with his father (we each had our own home about 30 min apart).
Prior to the birth, I had the optomistic expectation that I'd have this baby and life would pretty much continue as normal; and that I'd deliver natrually, nurse my baby and have the time and energy during my brief (6-8 week) maternity leave to plan a "mid-summer's eve" wedding.
Well, I had a cesarean section and my breastmilk never came in. I spent several weeks/months trying to breast & bottle feed - which took most of my time and energy and never really worked anyway.
There were many times in the first two months that I looked at this little crying or cooing bundle in my arms and wondered how I'd ever survive to his adulthood.
Blessedly, he did start sleeping from about 11pm-5am at about 2 months. I took the night feeding and his daddy took the daybreak feeding and we both got enough sleep so that we had the energy in July to start to plan for a September 6 wedding. And that little angel who we shared our love and committment with on that September day, loved us so much, that he started sleeping from 7pm to 5am shortly after.
By December we figured we had the parent thing down pat and were ready to think about having another....but that's another story.

This boy has had a history of wanting very active and involved birthdays (he and his mommy that is). Two Blue's Clues parties at 3 and 4, a CARS party at 5, an INCREDIBLE Super-hero party at 6, and this year...we're doing WALL-E....or rather "RRRON-E". It is a rather elaborate party as described below:

“RRRon-E’s Eco-Adventure” at (Our Local) Park will feature the following:

Letterboxing:
An outdoor adventure pastime started in England.
See www.letterboxing.org or www.atlasquest.org for more info.

We will have 3 letterboxes hidden at the park – the “box” will be old wipes containers re-purposed for containing a hidden stamp kit (Stamp, stamp pad, pen and logbook).

Each child will receive an “adventure kit” which will include their own personal initial stamp carved from a wine cork…Decoder ring from milk & oj carton tabs and a couple other things…. The kit will be contained in cleaned out, cut down milk cartons covered with old road maps with a strap threaded through so it can be carried over their shoulders…
Following the party, we will be hiding the party letterboxes in other local parks; if you are interested in continuing the adventure look for them at the above websites in May/June timeframe or email and I’ll provide a clue-sheet.

Wall-E style relay races:
*A race with a plant in a shoe
*Trash/treasure hunt
(The kids will be given child-sized gardening gloves that they can take home with them)
And More

Hot-Dogs and cupcakes will be served on recyclable or re-usable plates and don’t require utensils
Chip bags & drink pouches will be recycled through terracycle.net
All will be bulk-purchased to reduce packaging waste…

Old cereal/cracker boxes will be turned inside-out, decorated and used for goodie bags.

RRR = Reduce/Recycle/Reuse
RRRon-E’s adventure will be doing that in the following ways:
Reduce waste:
Buying party food in bulk reduces the amount of trash created
Not purchasing single-use goodie bags
Not using disposable plates & utensils; using a multi-use table coverings instead of single use party table coverings

Recycle:
Chip bags and drink pouches will be recycled through terracycle a New Jersey business I support through brigade collections. For more information see www.TerraCycle.net.

The goodie boxes are recyclable cardboard/paper. Please place them in your household recycling when your child is done with them.

Re-Use:
Wipe-containers will be reused as our letterboxes
Plates
Milk-cartons; pull tabs, corks, old roadmaps and cereal/cracker boxes

Both the Adventure kits and the cereal/cracker box goodie bags were ideas inspired by Maya*Made.

I'll try to post some photos of both the party and the craft projects.

Happy Birthday Ronnie! I hope your birthday party is as fun and exciting to live through as it has been to plan for.

Post Script...
Over the last few silent months I had planned many a post that obviously became less important than the day-to-day workings of our lives as a family.
I hope to fill in the blanks over the next few months, but I make no promises.
I have been a hap-hazzard blogger at best, and when life is as full as it is at the moment I can't commit to a daily or even weekly edition.
I HOPE to continue to write so that I have a record of my thoughts and life's goings on...
Blessed Be

Happy Birthday to EVAN! My little guy is 3!

Months ago, when asked what kind of birthday party he wanted this year, Evan responded DORA! DIEGO!

So, Mommy of course, complied...heck, we've been thru 2 Blue's Clues parties how hard could it be???

HMMM...

So, last Friday I took the day off to get ready for the teaming hoards of young people who would invade on Saturday and wrote the great DORA adventure!

Party highlights:
It was a BEAUTIFUL fall day and the kids played outside a LOT! YAY!

We did go inside to do the big craft event - T-shirt decorating...

Toward the end of the decorating "Swiper the Fox" showed up and stole Backpack, but left "The Map" behind.
Map told us that our BIRTHDAY ADVENTURE would be to go Thru the Bounce House, Rescu Backpack in the Garden, and come To the Canopy to find Evan's Birthday Treasure!

Unfortunately, during the adventure some of the girl party guests had some meltdowns due to fear of Swiper....(Played by Auntie D).

We went back inside when Pizza arrived and had Pizza and Cupcakes...
Then back outside to play...

All-in-All while I wouldn't call it a TOTAL success it was a pretty good day - especially for the BIRTHDAY BOY!

BLUE'S CLUES 2 - Birthday Partying with Blue

Well, the 4th birthday was a BIG success!

Everything was ready when birthday guests started arriving...The boys had taken naps!!!!And everyone arrived "on time"- around 4pm.
So party games were able to start together...
Blues Clues "Notebooks" were passed around and Blue explained that we were trying to find clues to figure out what the BIG PARTY SURPRISE would be.
We all made Blue's Banana Pops for a nice snack to keep us happy while we did other things.The 1st CLUE was discovered as clean-up from the pops was under way - and everyone drew a WALL in their handy dandy notebook.
We quickly morphed into CRAFT activities of bug building and t-shirt painting.Blue's 2nd clue was discovered out the window, as that activity became less interesting and everyone drew a SLIDE in their notebook.
As the party was making it's way to the play room the 3rd clue "bounced" in to the room and everyone continued on to the "Thinking Chair"
My niece Rebekah was the first to figure out what the BIG SURPRISE was and then there was a mad rush to the door!
The kids had a BLAST on the Bounce House! Played on it and the other outside structures for quite some time....got them back inside with calls of presents and pizza....and then it was all over.
I'd call it a BIG SUCCESS! The kids were always focused on an activity - there was no fighting, no crying - just FUN!!!!
YAY!

Birthday Party Eve

Well - Tomorrow is the big day.
As hard as it is to believe, Ronnie turned 4 on Monday, but tomorrow is his PARTY! He requested another Blue's Clues Party several months ago...and everyone is set for a fun-filled afternoon.
Last year I was SO prepared for the Blue's Clues party - this year I've got A LOT more to do in the next 24 hours and I'm a little worried.

I have to go shopping today for a bunch of stuff...and put together goodie bags...and straighten the house...and figure out how to keep 7 sets of fingers from banging on the Piano tomorrow. (YES we have a piano now- will blog more later.)
The clues this year will be leading to the bounce house pictured above. I had started thinking about getting one of these SEVERAL weeks ago and hesitated to spend the money. SO, I got to the Tuesday before the party, yes 4-10 and still had no idea what we were going to do. On Wednesday I started calling everywhere I could think to call to see if anyone had any in stock to pickup - NO LUCK. So I went on ebay to try to find a local place - NO LUCK. So I called one of the ebay stores and asked how much it would cost for 2 day shipping....the lady said it would double the price. BUT she also said that normal ground delivery from her (Illinois) to New Jersey should only take 2 days. So, I ordered it and started praying!
Thankfully someone was listening - it is right now sitting on the UPS delivery truck ready to be dropped off at my house.

Unfortunately my prayers did not include weather wishes...and it is kinda iffy for tomorrow.
I do have a bunch of activities lined up so that if the bounce doesn't work for this party - at least we'll still have fun stuff to do.
T-shirt decorating....with special fabric markers and beads...

Banana Pop Creations - bananas with PB or Yogurt dipped in crunchy toppings YUM

Egg Carton Bugs...

Pin the pawprint on Blue

And of course playing BLUES CLUES!!!
More to come....

The view from 40

Ok...I'll admit it. I've been having a mid-life crisis - for about a month.

I never thought my age would bother me. I have given out big fanfares for more people than I can count because "age is a badge of honor" "we have made it to this place in our lives".

I believed it then; I believe it now.

BUT all of the sudden - it was NOVEMBER 2006.

It snuck up on me like a laughing pixie. I noticed every grey hair (which I had thusfar refused to cover with"permanent" dye); felt every ache; felt tired when my little ones wanted to play....and felt AGED.
The weekend before my birthday was probably the height of the crisis....during the kids' nap time, instead of doing all of the things I regularly do, I sneeked up the back stairs to the master bath and pulled out the box of "emergency" hair dye" - the permanent kind.

I took a deep breath cut off the seals and colored my hair...no one even noticed. Not at home, not at work.
Then came the day....my husband had the kids sing me happy birthday...gave me a gift...had my parents watch the kids while we went to New Hope and Lambertville for the day....when we got home we had ice-cream cake with my parents and the kids. It was a very nice day, but TOTALLY ANTI-CLIMATIC.

In the week that followed I got over the crisis...realized that I didn't really feel any older than I had 20 years ago and I went back to living my normal hectic life; trying to comfort a sick husband... trying to work-from home with a sick child... making plans for the coming winter holidays... making plans to get together with friends...
But if still felt as though another shoe was about to drop --
On Thursday night my "big" present came - hubby had gotten me a new dell laptop with wifi and the upgraded battery pack...this baby can go anywhere - no wires - YAY!! Seems he thought my current home computer was a bit out-dated (I bought it in 1997).
So it was over, right?
Well, Saturday, as I was walking into a Chili contest Clark had entered - SURPRISE! Family and friends old and new had gathered.

Dad and"uncle" Jerry were playing music, many had brought food and drink, and Donna had made THE MOST INCREDIBLE/ BEAUTIFUL/ MAGICAL CAKE! It was wonderful!!!
BUT, With the way the past few years have had me flitting in and out of people's lives, I felt unworthy of all of the love, affection, and attention. And especially unworthy of the hugs the little folk - some who barely knew me - dispensed freely. But the other shoe had indeed dropped.

On Sunday evening - after an afternoon of "Simply Cook It - the home version" with a couple of friends - I was finally back to where I started, but my friend Terry expressed it so much better in an email on Monday, so I'll share her words:
As far as I'm concerned, we've worked hard to get where we are. We've more than put in the time and the effort. We've earned every year and we should all be proud.

Ok - where's the remover? I want my greys back!

Evan is "2"!!!!!!

Well - Evan is now 2!
It is hard to believe he hasn't always been a part of our lives. Unfortunately he got an extra present in the form of an ear infection...Hopefully we won't start the trend of back-to-back infections again!!!
We had a fairly low-key celebration on Saturday with family and a day-care friend...