E's 9th Birthday...with the big bouncy house

E's birthday party was a week late this year. We had to have it on a weekend since so many of his friends go to school now. It was nice too, because we were able to invite our families. My mother came down and spent a couple of days, and my dad canceled plans to be here.

The boys were disappointed that Uncle M couldn't make it, because two of his three kids was sick. E was really bummed that none of my siblings made it either, but was glad to at least have two of his cousins to play with; B's brother E's family, which was awesome. (Click on photos to enlarge them.) It was great to see E up and about. He really is a very different person now, after the stroke, but he is still E in there, and he can walk, and talk, if you are patient enough to allow him to get out what he wants to say.

Here he is in the middle surrounded by his family and my dad, who was so glad to have the opportunity to visit with him. E was a musician and he and my dad share that, E having actually bought a really old, but well functioning, amplifier from him many years ago.


I can't believe I spent the money on it, but we got a bouncy house this year. The boys chipped in and gave me $30 so we could get the really big one with the slide.

I let E invite everyone he wanted to, figuring if I spent all that money we may as well at least get good use out of it. We invited 47 people, but we ended up with 32, I think.

B made it through the day pretty well considering he had had chemo that weekend. He managed to jump around in the house since he was the only grown-up in the family who was around to and could. He's such a great dad.

I think I did a great job coordinating this whole thing. Family was invited from 11:00 till 3:00, and I served them lunch at noon. At 1:00 all the kids around the neighborhood (all under age 7) arrived. They had 30 minutes to bounce without getting hurt, until the big kids arrived at 1:30. At 3:00 all the family and neighborhood little kids left, and the big kids then had an hour to bounce around wildly, since they had been invited to stay till 4.

We had cupcakes which had had the wrappers taken off before being frosted, and were able to have "cake" in hand with no plates, utensils, or mess. I've found that kids tend to eat the whole cupcake and not just lick off the frosting when there is no paper to contend with. Easy.

The kids also had a blast hunting around for their candy "treasure" bags that had been hidden around the backyard. I was so pleased that when we couldn't find one, all the kids readily agreed to share one piece of candy with the girl who couldn't find hers (showed up in the gas grill the next day).

It was tough when everyone was gone. R headed out with one of our guests for a sleepover, and it was just E and B and I. I bounced around in the house a bit, and we all had a good laugh when I lost my balance and almost fell.

We had a quiet evening together, and E had lots of fun bouncing in the morning before the guy came to take the house away.

It really was an awesome day. And it was certainly the easiest kids party I ever hosted. But honestly, I can't see how people spend this kind of money on kids' parties year after year. Crazy.

Good Stuff

Life is moving along...

April ended with zoo class at the Beardsley Zoo. The younger class did an obstacle course to help learn about habitats, and it looked so much fun to the older kids that a few of them hung around after class to give it a try. They had a great time.

May started with friends being kind enough to help out with a few things. B is prohibited from lifting things over 5 pounds so we needed some help getting the summer clothes down from the loft in the garage and putting the air conditioner in the kitchen window. We had the added bonus of a knitting lesson for B and guidance on how to build the tree fort which I am likely going to end up doing myself. Somehow it feels like pizza wasn't enough of a thank you, but being humble and asking for/accepting help when I need it are some of the lessons I am learning from B's illness. I was extremely glad to have this family visit; they are such great people, I wish our lives ran a little more parallel. I always thoroughly enjoy the times I/we do get though.

On B's last weekend home recovering from surgery before returning to work, we headed to Brooksvale Park to check out some tadpoles. It was really drizzly out but turned out to be a very enjoyable afternoon. Our friend's Dad is the Park Ranger there and it was fun running into them on our walk around the pond. The boys had great fun catching dozens of tadpoles and catching up with their friend, who now goes to school.

The boys have been having oodles of fun with our new webcam. They can talk to Aunt D, and actually see her, (for free!) through Skype now. They talk several times a week and play Webkinz with her while speaking to her. Also, R is having fun being her poker buddy on Facebook.

As the weather is getting nicer the boys are spending more time outside. They and their friends build a ramp/slide into the sand pit which they had filled with water. Basically it was a giant mud puddle that they glided into. They had so an excellent time.

We joined our playgroup for a field trip to a crypt underneath the Center Church on the New Haven Green. We were told the wrong time and got there first, but that worked out fine since the organist was practicing and allowed us to watch a bit. She also spoke to us about the organ. Very cool stuff.

Then we headed up into the church, where our tour guide spoke about the church and how it came to be on top of a graveyard. He was very informative and did a great job keeping the kids engaged. But the really cool part was when we got to go down under the church and see the actual crypt. Very, very cool.

I was glad to find that both boys were interested enough to actually pay attention rather than socializing with their friends as they used to do on field trips. Perhaps they are getting settled enough to participate in more of these things. On the other hand the trip was a reminder of how I hate being on field trips with other families. People just don't keep their kids quiet, and not only does it disturb everyone's enjoyment of what's going on, but it also makes me feel that homeschoolers get a bad name that way, and I hate to be associated with them.

We finally celebrated R's birthday (only three months late) at Laser Planet. We were putting it off till after Disney, then ended up having to put it off till after surgery. That R is such a good kid. Really. He was so patient.

He had a blast playing laser tag with all his friends. Each of the kids also got tokens and played some arcade games. R played played a game where you drop a token in the machine and it drops a ball. The ball lands on a number and that's how many tickets you get. He got 75! Then he added that to the bunch he got last time he was there, and got himself some sweet prizes.

I think all his friends had as much fun as he did. It was weird for me though because this was the first party I didn't have to do anything for. He even wanted cupcakes, so there was no need for me to cut and serve a cake. B and I just sat there for two hours while the kid who works there pretty much organized the whole thing and kept it flowing.

I still get to be photographer though :-)

The end of May

I've been thinking a bit about what to do about his blog, about whether I should continue with it or not. I've been printing out old postings to put in a binder, more like a journal. I thought perhaps rather than writing here every evening, I'd print something out from a text editor and add a few photos into a quickie scrapbook type-thing. But as more time passes as I think about it, the more I start feeling that I'm not recording things I don't want to forget. Even if it's just for me, I want it written out. So here I am. Perhaps I will continue to print it out every evening and shove it in a binder. And perhaps I'll even add real photos instead of the small ones that get printed out with the blog. But for now, I guess I'll blog.

I was going to start with June but holy cow it's been a while since I've done this and I have photos "res'd down" from back in May too. So I'll start there.

The end of May we went to the zoo with some friends. They were going to see a show in the Bronx and invited us along. We skipped the performance but met up with them at the zoo before and after it, and really enjoyed ourselves. It was nice that B had a chance to join us; he doesn't really get the opportunity to utilize our Bronx Zoo membership much.

Speaking of zoos our Beardsley Zoo class ended. Both boys had a wonderful time and definitely want to do it again next year. The woman who organized it with the staff may be sending her kids to school next year, so I stepped up to do it. I don't want to see this class not happen; it's too good to lose. I put a note on my calendar for the beginning of August.

One day when some friends were over all the kids had fun playing with E's Eyeclops Bionic Eye, which is a magnifier that hooks up to the TV. They check out hair, skin, salt, and fibers in the rug. They all had a really fun time. Luckily it eventually stopped raining and we were able to go the new playground as planned.

The kids had so much fun that they talked the rest of our playgroup into going there the next week for our weekly park date. The park really is phenomenal; it took them two years to raise the money to build it. It's what they call a "boundless playground", which means it's built to be accessible for disabled kids. One problem though: they have all these horizontal bars where horizontal bars do not typically go and they are not even painted a different color to announce their presence. So two kids in our group (including R) got bonked pretty hard when they didn't see them and ran into them. All those bars all over the place just blend into each other when they are all painted the same. Nevertheless, the park is still quite fabulous. They even have a whole website for it. Click on the photo to see it larger; it's very cool.

With all this wacky weather we've been having, we've been enjoying some spectacular rainbows. Here's a photo of two that E took in the parking lot of the soccer field.




Lots more every day fun happening too. E washed my car but never did get paid because he didn't finish the inside. He loved climbing up on top of it to do the top though.

More restaurant playing going on. Here we have pigs in a blanket, chocolate covered ants, spaghetti and meatballs, and pumpkin cookies with ice-cream.
That husband of mine is one creative guy.

For the boys, our town's Memorial Day parade is all about the guys in the little cars, and the candy people throw off the floats. And we are talking serious amounts of candy. Another highlight is having Nagy Papa meet us there to watch with us. He lives so close he can actually walk there. It's been really fun having him join us the last couple of years.

My personal favorite thing is living in a town where such a thing occurs. I love being able to wave to people I know in my hometown parade. I love living in a small town.

Our wedding anniversary was the day of the parade. B and I have been married for 17 years, and have been together for 24 years. Yikes! Our anniversary is the 25th and we didn't make a big deal of it this year. I took the night off from cooking and we went to Young Young's Chinese Buffet.

E's 8th birthday was on the 26th. He is just thrilled to be 8 now. Seriously. We had a small celebration with Nagy Papa and a teeny store bought cake since we had breakfast at Hometown Buffet with lots of junk food for brunch. He asked for, and received, lasagna for dinner.

It feels good to remember. Thank goodness I keep an accurate date book :-)

R's 11th Birthday party for friends

Friday was the day we had R's birthday party for his friends. We spent the entire day cleaning and decorating the house, making the cake, copying a compilation CD he had put together to send each one of his guests home with, and generally getting ready for the excitement.

He chose a Spongebob pinata and a theme was born. I copied the design onto the cake, and we got streamers and loot bags all honoring the yellow sponge.

As the parents dropped their children off, some of them were surprised that I planned to supervise 12 kids alone for 3 1/2 hours. But I love this stuff. We had one guest who was 1/2 hour early, but that kept the boys busy while I finished up last minute whatever, and realized we were on our last roll of toilet paper. We had plenty of tissues though, and the kids thought it very funny when I announced this.

We played a couple of games to get to know eachother's names; the kids seemed to really enjoy them, and I was glad to be able to identify myself by my first name instead of my last, since we had school kids here who are used to Mrs.... for all female adults.

B called at the very last minute to say he would be about 30 minutes late picking up the pizza I had ordered that afternoon, so I called my dad and asked him to come and keep the kids busy while I ran to the bank, got money, and picked up the pizza. All went well, (a huge thank you to you, Nagy papa!) but that did put us a little behind schedule. We quickly ate our pizza and played another game which involved gum balls, and the winner went home with a jar of them.

Presents came next. R was thrilled to get several new Webkinz. He also got some Bionicles, some craft stuff, a cool bottle rocket that shoots with vinegar and baking soda, and I don't remember what else.

Then came the pinata. This year we did a pull-the-string one. When R picked out the Spongebob pinata we agreed that he could use a bat on it instead of using the strings which were attached, but later agreed that using the strings was a good idea. The kids are getting bigger now, and stronger, and one wrong swing could seriously damage something in our small house. The kids didn't seem to care though, they were just into fighting eachother for all the candy. E, who had been allowed to stay at the party despite protests from R, was disappointed that he only got a few pieces. The kids were all great about sharing with those who didn't get much though.

We sang Happy Birthday and the kids settled down to watch The Princess Bride while eating it. We had tried really hard to choose a movie which hopefully not a lot of people had seen, but to no avail. We had a few who hadn't, but not many. The kids seemed to enjoy it, but some got bored; it was long. R had been to a party where the guests all watched a movie, and that's why we did it, but I prefer to play games. We'll see how it works out next year.

During the movie the kids ate lots of cake and ice-cream, lots of candy from the pinata, Smarties, which I had bought for a game and didn't want left here after the kids all went home, and pretzels; same deal. When the movie ended the kids had about five minutes to bounce off the walls and burn off some of all the party food they had just eaten, so when the parents started showing up they all assumed that the whole evening had gone that way. Actually, it had been a very mellow and enjoyable evening.

Two boys stayed behind to sleep over. They had two hours to play before I had them turn off the lights at 11 pm. They kept themselves busy when they woke up at 6:30 till I did at 8. (I was happy to wake up and find one of the boys playing YuGiOh with E, who often worries that the bigger kids will leave him out.) They all enjoyed some of B's pancakes and played some more until they got picked up at 11 am. R had a wonderful birthday.

And it was fun for me too. And I'm glad that I'm managing to keep my social butterfly surrounded with kids his age...his circle keeps growing!

R's 11th Birthday

We arrived home from Florida on Wednesday evening and B took off from work on Thursday to celebrate R's birthday. The two of them went to get bagels and while at the grocery store picked up the cake R wanted to have for that evening. When they got home, he asked if he could make it himself, because he "likes to make things". He made completely alone!

B made us all eggs and bacon and bagels for breakfast. For lunch we had a very nice time at Olive Garden. We had cake and ice-cream late afternoon, so by the time dinner came around nobody was hungry.

I was glad B took off from work, because after spending the entire day with the family R was okay with me going to my womyn's circle for 7 pm.

E's Birthday

E went to a birthday party a couple of weeks ago where rather than having a pinata, they had goodie bags filled with candy hidden around the yard. Each child had a bag with his name on it which he had to hunt for. Well E loved this idea so much that we had to do it too. It seemed that E's guests loved this idea too. They spent about 45 minutes trading candy afterwards. The moms were surprised at how into the trading they all got.

The kids had a great time playing tag, too. E didn't bother with the couple of games he had said he wanted to play (freeze dance, etc.) but we did do "hot potato". Then as each child got the ball, rather than being out, that child got to give E his present to open. We've done it this way for a few years now. It's a civil way to decide whose present will be opened next, and has the added benefit of the kids having to sit in a circle, so everyone ends up being able to see and doesn't squish in tight.

It was a brutally hot day, and a few of the preschoolers ended up dancing through our neighbor's sprinklers. We went through a lot of water and juice.

Having cupcakes and ice-cream cups worked out as well as I had hoped. I didn't need to spend time cutting up a cake, and dishing out ice-cream. And happily, other than a very few candy wrappers, the kids were really good about using the trash can.

We were a little disappointed that two of our newer friends were not able to make it. Nevertheless, it was a terrific day; E really enjoyed himself.

R's 10th Birthday Party with his friends

At 3:10 I stood alone in my house with ten 9- and 10-year-olds. We played a couple of party games before R opened his presents, then enjoyed the cake before playing even more party games. I always loved playing party games when I was a kid. I hope that my son and his friends do too. These days everyone seems to rent a bouncy house and send the kids off, but my hope is that R's parties will not blur into memory with all the others. Some of the kids had even remembered a couple of the games since they played them at R's last drop-off party two years ago. (Last year he saved his party for six months after his actual birthday so he could have an outdoor water party.) There certainly is a lot more laughter at R's parties than I've seen at some others. But on the other hand, at other parties the kids are off, so maybe they are doing just as much laughing, without my getting to enjoy it.

Okay there you have it. I throw R game parties so I can be in the middle of them having fun too. They bring me back to my own happy childhood parties as well.

It's interesting to see how the kids are all growing up. The girls are getting more lady-like and immediately jumped to help when I asked the crowd at-large to help with the wrapping paper. And some of the boys are getting quite aggressive, and free with the put-downs. At least no one was too mature or refined or cool to really work at smashing that pinata!

R is very pleased with the gifts he received. "I guess my friends really know me."

I feel blessed that R can have a party with nine other children his age. He is such a social person and I've worked hard to find him a large and diverse group of children for him to choose friends from. He'd be popular if he were in school; he makes friends so easily, so nine children his age who are all homeschoolers is a pat on the back for me :-) I only wish our house were bigger so we could have included all the siblings, who are actually all also his friends, and a few friends who we were not able to invite because of the space limitation!

E and B went out for pizza during the party, but returned home 30 minutes before it ended for the pinata. Now that we are doing the livingroom over, that useless hook in our ceiling is gone, so we needed to hold it up while the kids took swings. That thing was so jammed packed that it was like a rock; no give at all. All the kids had a second chance at three swings, and a few had three tries. It was nice that it ended up being E who finally smashed it open.

I'll post photos in the sidebar tomorrow. For now I'm off to watch Heroes.