Do's and Don'ts of Party Planning

1. DO send your invitations out TWO weeks in advance.

2. DON'T send too many out. Four kids are enough.

3. DO have everyone RSVP before that week is through so you need to know if you should send invitations out to anyone else.

4. DON'T allow siblings to attend. (This is especially important in LDS circles since one family of siblings can exceed your target guest quota.) In fact, I would even suggest not inviting the siblings of the birthday kid too . . . rarely does a seven year old want to make Mickey Mouse crafts, nor does the normal two year old girl want to play with light sabres. (I did say normal, sometimes there are exceptions.)

5. DO NOT invite all the parents. That's way too many mouths to feed. If you need help, bring one or two friends to come . . . without all their extra kids, of course!

6. DON'T clean your house too well before the party. It only needs to be clean enough for the first guest to think it's clean. By the time the rest of the guests get there, the chaos that is occurring hides any grime that might be lurking under your tables. And certainly at the end of the party you will find your house utterly trashed.

7. DO have organized games and crafts going on. This helps keep kids in the area where you want them to be, and is intended to prevent them from entering areas in the rest of your house and trashing them, or throwing toys from the top landing to the foyer below.

8. DO have help to keep the kids coralled into said crafting areas. Consider hiring a bouncer. Not only could he help with coralling, but when your guests refuse to leave at the end of the party, he can help get them out for you. ;)

9. DO hire a cleaning lady (or some really helpful in-laws at the very least) afterwards to clean up. You have done WAY too much work.

10. DO enjoy listening to your child gush about how wonderful her birthday party was; and how her favourite part was the play-doh station and the balloons.

Hot-diggity-dog!

There's a birthday party coming up!



Stay tuned . . .

Wreaths

As I was staying up way to late one night working on pictures . . . I came across this while taking a break surfing WS's newest additions.

find it here

Isn't it pretty? Not $90 pretty, but pretty enough to make me get out and try my hand at making two. (The joys of double door entrances!)

6 Months

Liv has been busy!

She became bilingual this month. A few weeks before turning six months, she started cooing a "eyeeee-ya." Naturally, it sounded just like "Hi" to us and as we saw her saying it to more and more people over the following weeks, we realized she really was saying, "Hi" to everyone . . . especially to get people's attention.

I felt bad for her though because to most people it just sounded like blabbering and even though they thought her "talking" was cute, they didn't realize that they were supposed to say "Hi" back.

I guess that is why a few more weeks later Liv tried out a different language. After seeing Guillermo greet everyone with a tongue hanging out, she began doing it too. To mom, to dad, siblings, strangers, especially Guillermo.

A bilingual 6 month old. :)

Her favourite things to do (besides go out in public and be ooohed and ahhhed at by strangers and friends) are pulling on Guillermo's fur, sitting in her rocking chair, eating at the table with the big people, and playing with her toys.

Liv is full of life and has the sweetest disposition . . . except at 1 am, 3 am, 4 am, and when she is REALLY hungry or tired. Her giggles are precious, her smiles contagious, and her rolls adorable. Everyone loves the Gerber/Michelin baby we carry around with us.

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Hearts were a-bursting, faces were glowing,

And smiles went on mile after mile.

Kids were chit-chatting, parents were laughing,

And some might have been cartwheeling too . . .

Ahh, school is back in session.

I wish I could say I was sad. But I wasn't.

I woke up early, got dressed in cute clothes (the entire neighbourhood would be there), and made a big pancake breakfast, and an awesome lunch. All with a gigantic smile on my face.

I spent the rest of the day doing some light cleaning and going downtown with Brad and the girls for a much needed hair cut and a lovely lunch at a swanky cafe.

Not that this is going to be a habit, the whole hair thing and shopping thing. But it was a great celebration day!

As an aside, when I was paying for my hair cut, the lady at the counter asked if I had a student card on me for a discount.

Hmmm. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? If it's because I look young, I'll take it; if it's because I was dressed too young, maybe not. (And, at a high end down town hair salon where everyone is in top designer wear or power suits, maybe my denim cut-offs and ruffled "banana republic designer" t-shirt didn't cut it.)

At any rate, it was a wonderful celebration of this time of year.

Merry Back To School, Everyone!

Return of the Knife Man

I had noticed that a knife was missing from my block a few days ago. I figured Brad must have used it and it was in the dishwasher. That was the extent of my thought process.

Until today. As I was gathering some underwear from Jackson's drawer, I found a paring knife sitting there.

What do I have to do to keep him away from knives? Lock them away? (It's not as though I have them within reach . . . they are on the counter and in the cutlery drawer, but the big ones on the counter are far enough back that only climbing kids could reach them.) What is he thinking of doing with them anyway? (He said, with a smile and his shirt in his mouth, he had it ready to make food.)

I think I may need a Martian-to-English dictionary. Or maybe just school needs to start. NOW.

Fickle

"Avery, I asked you to take a nap. Please go to your room and sleep."



"Mom, I'm not Avery. I'm Optimus. Optimus doesn't take naps."



"Well, that's too bad. Only Avery's who take naps will get to go on vacation, swim in a pool, and look for Strawberry Shortcake movies."



"Hey, Mom! I'm not Optimus anymore! I'm Avery!"



If only the sleeping during the nap part went as easily.