kirstencan

Something I learned today:

Having the ringtone "Get me away from here, I'm dying" (Belle & Sebastian) while in the Emergency Room is ironic/borderline inappropriate.

AND.... I have freakin' pneumonia.

(if ever there was a time I felt like using the real f word, it is now.  but I won't)

ARGH.

Even after the doctor's diagnosis I was still trying to get to the show tonight until Aaron nixed it for me:

You are about as sick as you can be without being in the hospital. and

If you have to take inhaler(s) to a concert, you probably shouldn't go. and

If I had pneumonia, you would tell me not to go to a show that night, right?

Boo.  But he's right, I know.

So I'll be pathetically listening to some of the Mates of State show tonight over the phone via my sister.

Pathetic.

What a crappy week it's been.

Luckily my girl tried So hard to cheer me up:

Next time they come I'll save my allowance and buy tickets for just the two of us. and

When I get home from dance I'll give you a hand massage. and (best)

I don't care if you're sick, you need a hug.

Cute girl.  She loves that band, too.

I'm also pathetically still wearing my M of S shirt I made.

Boo!

Viruses a la Carte and Lists

Two kiddos got a 12 hour stomach bug and are good to go.

One kiddo has a decent cough.

Aaron is starting to cough.

Me - teensy stomach bug (all done), yucky cough, chills/sweats since Friday.

Ugh.  Apparently I ordered the deluxe version.

So sick of being sick.

I was just saying yesterday to Aaron that I'm sick of this, but it wasn't a 'kick my butt' kind of sick.

And then it got worse.

And there's a chance I won't make the Mates of State concert tonight, and I am crying about that.

I've been trying to quarantine myself, hanging around in my room (read:laying on my bed in every different direction, blankets on and off repeatedly depending on chills/sweating under the ceiling fan and watching too much TV on the computer).  If only it were fall and there were new episodes on!

And since I'm bored, please enjoy a list of what I've been watching:

On hulu.com:

Rhoda (worst opening title ever - and the show is not as good as Mary)

Journeyman

Glee (one episode and I'm embarassed to admit that - I don't like that show anymore at all.)

The Simpsons

Wipeout

21 Jump Street (I'd never seen it before)

and re-watched:

Parks and Recreation

30 Rock

Castle

Oh, and most of season 2 of Gilmore Girls (Aaron calls it my 'comfort show' because I always watch it when I'm sick), Ocean's 11 and Ocean's 12.

I was wishing I had some good books to read, but nothing I have sounded good, so I listened to about 13 chapters of One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson.
I kinda hate audiobooks (esp. guy readers doing falsetto girls' voices)but I like this author and Aaron already had it.  The story is really good.

Today:

Nap?

Coke?

Gilmore girls.

Figure out how to use a neti pot (ew!).

Not clean my house some more.

Pretend I'm better to trick myself.  Nah, I don't have energy for that, darn it.

Mates of State?

Please?

I even made a lame bleach-pen DIY MofS shirt for tonight.

 

(okay, how pathetic do I sound?  Sorry!  I hate whiners, so I'll stop now and be better soon, I promise!)

Good News :: Bad News

Good News:  My kids are all at ages where they can make it to the toilet or vomit into a bucket.  You don't realize how awesome that is until you're a parent.

Bad News:  Two of my kids have had to use buckets in the past week.

Good News:  The girl got this little stomach bug the day after her dance recital, not the day of.

Bad News:  The monkey got it this evening when we were about to head out to see Toy Story 3.

Good News:  The theater refunded our money (surprise!) so we'll wait and see it all together when everyone's healthy.

Bad News: We also can't head out of town this weekend to see family.

Good News:  I had a Spongebob DVD stashed away for aforementioned trip, so the kids were at least distracted this evening.

Bad news:  Tomorrow I have to tell them that Grandma and Aunt Kellie aren't coming for their usual Wednesday visit.

Good news: Monkey won't have to get his 5yo shots at his scheduled well child checkup tomorrow morning - since he probably won't go, as he's not well.

Bad news:  I had FINALLY SCHEDULED HIS WELL CHILD VISIT!

GRR!!!

It's My Turn

Busy.

Summer busy, good busy, but busy.

I keep saying 'Next week will calm down.'

Not yet.

But maybe next week?

We're trying to find our summer routines, not quite there, but it's summer, so it's okay.

Last night after I got home from the girl's dress rehearsal (dance recital tonight - woo!), I found this note:

It's my

turn

to play

dad's PSP

Written by Monkey (5).

Anyway, this makes me SO happy.  I love the invented spelling!  I don't remember the girl doing this (pretty sure she was born knowing how to spell), and Thomas doesn't do this yet - but how great is this note??!
Love it.

I don't know why it was all crinkled up.

Maybe it wasn't so well received?

The Awesome 80's Bash

I feel the need to mention that this 80's party was not about any kind of pop star, High School Musical, Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, or any other 'tween' interests.  Nothing like that.  At.  All.

Thank goodness.

Seriously, my girl loves 80's music.  Started years ago with Material Girl and We've Got the Beat and was solidified with Cyndi Lauper and the Bangles (I believe I've mentioned Manic Monday here before!).  Really?  A lot of good, fun girl bands happened in the 80's, so I think it's way fun, too.  And for the record, she also totally digs the Cure, the Ramones, and the Clash... I could go on.  So, boy bands, too.

Anyway!  This party has kept me busy for a while!  Besides the invitations, I made record bowls: 

New, matchy bunting tied with scraps:

And embellished with wallet-sized photos and stars.

Ribbon barrettes for favors:

You remember these barrettes, right?  I totally wore them when I was little.  I was originally going to make cassette tape sugar cookies for favors and had emailed Ann for advice several times (thanks, Ann!), but when Lori pointed out these, I had to go with the barrettes.

Also, I thought it might be faster/easier.  That's debatable. I wish I would have had time to do both.

 

I packaged them on little cards in cellophane bags, tied with scraps, too.

They were surprisingly hard to make.  Luckily I had my mom and sister to help out (and my mom to actually figure them out and start all of them for us).  I believe my sister's exact words were 'Are you sure this is easier than sugar cookies?  I kinda hate you right now.'

That's just cuz we made 24 of them.

I also whipped up a 'Women of 80's Pop/Rock' mobile.  Because the Supermonkey mobile was so fun to make.

This one is not quite as cool...

In the above shot you can see Joan Jett, Madonna, and Tiffany.  Not pictured are the Bangles, Blondie, and Pat Benetar.  All faves of the girl.

 
I put together some giant posters.  I used this site to turn some images into awesomely huge ones that I could print/trim/tape together to make giant posters. 

One for the dining area:

 

And one over the couch.  Good ol' Cyndi.

Right before the party started I got a little nervous.  Everything was ready.

The treats were on the table, pink lemonade made, posters hung, etc.  But what if this didn't work?  What if no one wanted to sing?

What if they thought the silly inflatable guitars (also Target) were too silly to play with?

I shouldn't have worried.  It rocked. They sang (and sang).  They played with the guitars and danced and fist-pumped. The adults laughed and laughed.

When the girls arrived they got to pick out some accessories - the ones I stumbled upon at the Target Dollar Spot last summer - because that's when the ideas for this party started flowing (I know - nerd!).  The day after we decided on the theme, I found fingerless gloves, buttons, and clearance jelly bracelets there.  It was meant to be.

They had to earn their buttons, though - by singing!

They got to have purple streaks put in their hair (wash out, of course), the crimper was plugged in and ready to use, and we added tulle bows and scrunchies around a few side-ponytails.

 

The girls looked awesome.  We had textbook 80's bangs, Morrissey and Tiffany concert tshirts, big hoop earrings, wig + aviator glasses, the works.  LOTS of jean jackets were hanging up and most opted for the skirt/legging combo.  I would've, too.

We used the Singstar (80's version) game for our karaoke.  My parents have several Singstar games and we love playing them when everyone gets together.  The advantages to Singstar over traditional karaoke are that they show the real music videos behind the words (ha!  HILARIOUS!), which is entertaining, but also a little more interesting for everyone to watch.  And since everyone faces the TV, instead of staring at the singers, it's good for shy singers.  Not that we had any of those.  And then everyone just gets up and sings all together, which was awesome.  Singstar also has party mode settings - like 'pass the mic', which we did a few rounds of.

The girls signed up for turns - it filled up fast!  By the end, though, everyone just sang all together - adorable and oh, so loud.

We got the girls away from the mics long enough to take some shots in our playroom photo-op setup (Thanks, Whitney for bringing the frame!!!).  They hammed it up quite nicely.  We'll be printing some of those for thank you cards.

After presents and 'cake' (the girl requested a pile of donuts), the girls sang and sang some more.  Until their parents dragged them away.  Or I kicked them out.

It was awesome.

My husband asked, "Who had more fun, you or the girls?"

The girls.  Which is how it should be.

But it was a close call.

p.s. Monkey cut some of the balloons off today.  They'll come down one of these days, right?

80's party :: Invites

So here's what we did for invites for the girl's 80's party (tomorrow!!!).  I wanted it to look like a flier.

Click below to see it in flickr - around the outside there are ideas of how to dress up (side ponytails, jean jackets, layered socks, etc).

My friend, Chelsea, found these awesome jelly stickers for me - so that was a nice touch!  And we included mix cd's with the invites.

I was going to make cd's for favors, but decided the girls might be more comfortable with karaoke if they knew some of the songs first. We put 10 songs we'll be singing onto a cd and gave them out with the invites.  Really simple covers - photos from the photo shoot, sewn cardstock sleeves.  They say: "Oh!  Also:  You might want to listen to these songs before the party!"

Here's the playlist:

 

I love how these turned out and have totally enjoyed hearing the cd's playing from her friends' windows (with or without hairbrush microphones), and hearing about how moms are stealing their daughter's cd's.  The daughters are not understanding how their moms know all the songs...

Actually, the moms are super excited to dress up their girls, I keep having moms pull me aside and tell me how excited THEY are for the party!  Hee!  And I think it might be one of the benefits of cool invites, but everyone can come!  So we'll have 11 girls rocking out here tomorrow.  I tend to go for smallish parties, so that feels like a lot!

I'd better get off the computer and finish clearing a path through the laundry room...

More party projects posted soon!

Happy Birthday to my Daughter

You turn ten today!

Wow.

I can't believe it.

And yet, are you really only turning ten?  Not eleven? Twelve?

I love that you still love dolls, fairies, make-believe and dressing up and haven't fallen for all the 'tween' marketing (oh, I hate that 'tween' word).

I love that you are a total bookworm and devour books.  Nearly literally - you have to have a book with you when you are eating, which is what I did growing up, too.

I love that you still use big words that surprise us, sometimes.  We shouldn't laugh, because you use them properly, but wow.

I love that you are still so inquisitive and love to learn.

I love what a big help you are with your little brothers.  My life would be SO much more difficult without you!  I am glad you are such a responsible girl.

I love that you are kind and friendly to everybody.  I've noticed that several times over the past month and it makes me happy.  Keep that.

I love that you are so dramatic about having a birthday 'Today is my last day at church being nine.  *SIGH*' and 'Can you believe you've been a mom for a whole DECADE?!'

I love that (in keeping with the above) you wanted to go on a 'mommy-daughter walk on the night before my birthday just like last year'.

And you held my hand.

And we talked a lot.  A little about bras - heaven help me.

I love that you have the best music taste of any kid I know.  We've exposed you to a lot of stuff and you've picked favorites and I must say I approve.  I love taking your MP3 player in the car with us.  Awesome.

I love watching you dance and I love that you are passionate about it.  But you know this.  You are so fun to watch, because you ARE having fun.  You've worked so hard at it and are lovely and poised.

I love when you keep me company.  You've been my standard wedding date for years (so we don't have to take the boys... and so that Dad doesn't have to go) and you are fun company.  Even going to the store or driving in the car is fun.

I love watching you play things I played as a kid - like spy.

I love that you have your own taste in books - not like me - and video games - like me.

I love how you try to talk us into frequent 'movie nights' with you.  And you end up talking through them - sometimes we have to shush you, sorry!  Your favorites have been the 80's movies that I loved as a kid.

I can't believe it's been ten years since this:

Oh, my sweet girl.

Sometimes I miss my fat baby - but I am so very proud of the amazing person you've become!

I hope you have a wonderful day - starting with your requested 'yummy blueberry muffins with crumb topping - and am glad we'll get to celebrate your big day all over again on Friday.  You deserve it, babe!

Happy Birthday, my girl!  You are truly an extraordinary child and I love you!

(And look behind the dining room curtains for your first present!)

Rockin' photo shoot

Guess what, folks!  The girl's birthday is on Monday.  She'll hit double digits and we are so excited!  And since it's a party year (every other year, remember?) we've been in party-planning mode for... ever.

Step 1: Photo shoot.  I had some ideas for using some photos for the invites + decorations.  So she got all dolled up and we headed to the elementary school.

Can you guess the party theme now?

 

It's an Awesome 80's karaoke night party!  She is SO into 80's music, so this party kinda fell into place easily. I think it's gonna be a ton of fun for the girls.

I bought her a pettiskirt (from here - and wow, what service!), called it a Cyndi Lauper skirt (and an early birthday present), accessorized like crazy, and we were good to go.

Also, isn't this painted map on the playground cool?

I would of course love to show you all the shots with her face - which are of course the best ones, but sorry!  She rocked it, though - I gave her hardly any direction and we had a ton of fun!

These little girls at the playground were watching her and just wondering who she was - it was funny.

A guitar earring was lost in the process - one of her faves, but I'm sure we'll find a new pair sometime.  For now we got giant hoop earrings to replace them for her party.

Step 1 - done!  After everyone has received their invites I'll show you how they turned out!