Recap: Sally's Birthday Weekend

OK, so here's the recap since Saturday.

Sunday (the day after Sally's birthday) was actually a much better day for our little Princess.

She awoke feeling MUCH better than the day before, and she was raring to go. I offered to make pancakes for her birthday, but she politely declined with "No thanks, Mom, I'm not really hungry yet."

Okey-dokey then.

When she DID get hungry, we all had some delicious king cake for breakfast -- Ton-Ton and Aunt Kelly (well, mostly Ton-Ton since Aunt Kelly is 9 months pregnant!) made Sally 2 king cakes from scratch and they were yum-yum!

We checked in with Nana and Susu (who were also feeling MUCH better, thank you very much!)

Around 10AM we headed out the door and over to Nana and Susu's hotel (since Susu is allergic to cats, we figured we'd save her the stuffy nose) where Sally opened her birthday presents from Mommy, Daddy, Nana & Poppy, & Susu and we ate more king cake together. We played for a bit, then daddy took Sally home to take a nap before the big paw-tay at Chuck E Cheese's

Mommy went shopping with Nana and Susu until it was time to get ready for the party.

There was a made dash to get both girls ready and assemble all party stuff (Nana and Susu graciously agreed to go pick up the Ratatouille birthday cake) and before we knew it, it was nearly 3PM and we were at Chuck E Cheese ready for party time.

The party itself was a bit hectic (turns out it was a good thing we didn't have the party on Saturday -- I think it would have been mayhem!) There were 6 other parties the same day as Sally's, but none at the same exact time, which was definitely a blessing.

Everyone who RSVP'd actually showed up (hooray! Not something you would see in New Orleans, I think) and Sally got lots of cool gifts.

Most of her friends were in attendance: Robin (& Wren), Anthony (& family), Emily (& her sisters), Seth, Aiden, (& Nolan), Makena, Dayne, Gavin, Hailey (& Betsy) and lots of adults too.

Everyone had a great time -- the kids all got loads of tokens, 100 tickets to cash in for prizes, plus soda, pizza, cake, treat bags packed with goodies, a Chuck E show and more. Sally also got a birthday crown, cotton candy, and a souvenir cup. Andy bought beer and pizza for the adults, which was definitely a treat.

The party lasted 2 hours, but I don't think anyone left quite that soon. When we left after about 3 hours, there were still a few kids from the party, using the last of their tokens.

It was exhausting, but also lots of fun, too. Sally had a great time.

I think the funniest part for me was when Sally insisted that I buy her a popsicle. I started to protest, but then I realized it was 3:30 in the afternoon, and she hadn't had anything to eat since about 11AM that morning, so I let Nana buy her one of those big red, white and blue bomb pops.

Before we bought her the popsicle, I told her she would have to sit at the table to eat it. She eagerly agreed...

And sure enough, Sally sat there all alone at her party table, licking her popsicle and completely oblivious to any of the noise and chaos going on all around her. It was as though she had fogotten she was the star of the party (no small feat for our superstar Sally). I remember laughing and thinking "I could have saved quite a bit of money by just taking her to Chuck E Cheese and buying her a $1 popsicle!" But the look on her face was just priceless.

And it didn't last long...after just a few minutes, Anthony came over to sit by Sally and share her popsicle, and the kids started to drift over which was good timing because pizza was about to come on out.

Andy shot some video and Susu and I took still photos, and we'll get those posted pretty soon.

After the party, we went back to Nana and Susu's hotel room and opened Sally's presents from her friends. And can you believe Sydney stayed awake ALLLLLLL DAY? She didn't take a single nap! Remarkable.

Sally played for a bit and then we all went home. Got everyone in bed and I made the cupcakes for Sally's snack day at school the next day.

Whew! I don't know about anyone else, but I for one fell fast asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow!

On MONDAY, Nana and Susu visited Sally's Montessori school and got the nickel tour. Then we went shopping with Sydney and Andy picked up Sally from school. Later we all met up for lunch at the Rockyard and then daddy took the girls home and I went shopping with Nana and Susu. Oh yeah, we tore that outlet mall UP!

Then we went back to our respective homes/hotel and took naps...Sally actually went to bed around 5PM and slept through until morning. Syd took a short nap and then enjoyed a Mexican feast from Tres Margaritas, delivered by Nana and Susu.

It was a fun-filled (long) weekend and Nana and Susu flew back to New Orleans this morning.

Today was kinda crazy -- school, gymnastics (twice today -- Syd's class + free play time), swim lessons, and Sally played her new Caribou game. Whew! I am ready to chill out with Daddy with a movie, and then hit the hay!

Happy 4th Birthday Sally !

Today Miss Sally turned 4.

Overall, it was kind of a hectic day -- we had a birthday party to attend (her friend Tyrsa from school) out in Centennial from 12:40-3PM so we made Sally take a nap in the AM to prepare for it.

We also kind of dragged her out at 3PM, even though the party was scheduled to go on for another hour (3 1/2 hours for a 5-year old's b-day party! That's a little extreme, dontcha think?) We left before the ice skating began -- partly because Sally had only skated once before, and partly because we didn't want her to be completely exhausted for her own party tomorrow.

Also, Nana and Susu flew into town for her birthday, and we met up with them around 2PM.

We had planned to spend the afternoon and evening with them, but unfortunately, they got food poisoning, so they were out for the night :-(

So we let Sally nap, and when she woke up, we took her to Toys R Us so sissy could pick out a CD player as her present to Sally, so Sally can have music in her room. After that, we went to have sushi, and Sally practically fell asleep, she was sooooo tired (she is getting over the croup)

Hopefully everyone will be feeling better tomorrow!

A Break from Swim Lessons

Yes, I do kind of hate to take a break from swim lessons just when Sally is actually learning to swim, but she is getting far too rambunctious during these classes.

I think it's a combination of things...kind of like the Perfect Storm.

For starters, the only time she goes in a swimming pool is when she's at class. So there's no time to horse around and play in the water, which I would imagine makes it hard to listen up and pay attention during class.

Secondly, the time of day is not optimal. The best time for swim classes would be right after school (in my opinion) but they only offer mornings (while she's at Montessori school) or late afternoons. Which brings me to the next point...

Naps. 4:30pm definitely interferes with Sally's nap schedule, and neither Sally (or me) are quite ready for her to give up her nap yet. So I either have to wake her up or forgo the nap...neither of which is a very desirable option.

So despite the fact that she loves to swim and I love to take her to swim class, we're going to take a break for about a month and see how it goes. In fact, we skipped today because Sally has had croup and needs to get well!

Andy and I are also considering purchasing a membership to the Rec Center, which would allow us all to go swimming much more often (among other fun things).

But right now, I'm happy to have the upcoming break in teh schedule. Especially since the girls both started gymnastics classes this week at MyGym.

Life with the Girls - Bingo!

It's a laugh a minute around these here parts.

We were playing bingo with Sally the other night, and Sydney really surprised us.

To keep Sally engaged in the game (after all, she knows it's math, which is not nearly as exciting to her as say, craft time), I asked her, "Sally, what do we say again, when we cover all the spots on our card?"

Right on cue, Sally shrieked, "BINGO!"

and sissy followed suit with an equally enthusiastic "BINGO!"

and we were all so startled that we laughed out loud...which startled little Syd for a moment, and then she laughed right along with us.

Yep...we're getting to that point...you just never know what could come out of that child's mouth

Let's hope it's all sweetness and pie for awhile longer...

The Grants Go Ice Skating...

Well, we braved the ice...and what a pitiful sight we must have been!

Mommy and Daddy hadn't been ice skating since oh, some time around 1995 (Houston Galleria ice rink) and Sally hadn't been skating EVER so it was quite humorous.

Andy felt he wasn't getting enough support with the hockey skates they gave him (apparently this rink doesn't stock figure skates up to size 13...go figure) so he had to bail out with Syd pretty soon. He did make it around the rink once with Sydney in the baby bjorn carrier.

Sally was very excited to go ice skating, but once she got halfway around the rink, she was ready to take a rest.

So daddy sat with the kids and mommy took a few laps, after which the soles of my feet were burning.

Sally took another lap and then was pretty much ready for bed!

So it was a short-lived outing, to say the least! But it was fun and the rink wasn't crowded so we got to take it slow and make a couple of laps.

Overall, it was a fun outing...I see us going again sometime soon!

Hot Tamale Molly

Of course, I'm speaking of the hot and spicy candy called Hot Tamales (not the Manuel's version we know and love from Metry)

Daddy got back into town Sunday night and was pretty good about putting away all of his travel stuff, except for one backpack that was sitting at the foot of the stairs.

Sydney got into it this morning and ate a Hot Tamale. I thought surely she would spit it out -- those things are very strongly cinnamon flavored, and they seem waaaaaaay too spicey for a one-year-old. But she didn't spit it out, she LOVED it.

I figured it was a lone hot tamale, so I didn't think much of it, except to marvel at my baby's sense of taste!

But then about 5 minutes later I go check on her and see that she has dug out the entire bag of hot tamales and is all up in them -- her face and hands are stained red (hence the expression, "caught red-handed") and there is a big red blotch in my shag carpet (or "frizzay" as my designer calls it).

So we got everything cleaned up (except her face -- it's still red. Stupid FD&C red #5 !) and put the Tamales in a safe place.

And daddy was properly thrashed.

But now we've taken to calling her our little "Hot Tamale Molly"

Hmmmm, what wonders await us next ?

Girls' Weekend

Andy left for Miami today -- he has a 1-day event in Miami for his home-based business and it's just me and the girls this weekend.

YEsterday I got my hair done and I got highlights (woo-hoo!) they are sort of an auburn shade of brown, updated my cut while I'm letting some length grow out and I wasn't sure about it yesterday but after washing out the salon crap and using my own product and style, I absolutely love it.

Today Sally went to school and Sydney and I finished the invitations for Sally's b-day party (upcoming at Chuck E Cheese -- woo-hoo!) and then we picked her up and all went to see the new Veggie Tales movie, "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything."

Sally loved it of course, she is funny, she looks practically like a statue sitting in her seat when she's at the movies -- gets so into it. Sydney was fine as long as I kept the popcorn coming, and whenever they sang a song, she would sway like Stevie Wonder and clap her hands.

Then we headed back home to deliver the neighborhood kids' invitations and put the girls down for naps.

Sally has learned how to get in and out of her big girl bed (the loft) all by herself, which is nice because she gets up in the morning and just starts playing until we get up (whew!) Andy was concerned that she would come wake us up too early, but that hasn't been teh case at all.

I hired a sitter for a little bit tonight so I can go out to dinner wtih Meg (Will is at the same event as Andy this weekend. No doubt they're walking on air already from the amazing energy in that group of dynamic folks!) and Meg and I will get some business stuff done while having a nice break from the kids. Then tomorrow is Sally-Sydney-Amy fest 2008!

Yay! School is Back!

Sally went back to school today -- she did attend 2 days of winter camp last Thursday and Friday,and had a blast, but I am ready to get back into our routine so I can get some sanity!!

We had a good weekend -- our friends Shooter and Eddie drove down from Denver to have dinner at our house and we did a make-your-own calzone meal. Fun! They brought delicious appetizers from Maggiano's Italian restaurant and told us about their trip to Cabo. They both love kids and Sally and Sydney just adore them both, so we chatted the night away and had a great time.

Sunday was "burning bowl" at our Unity church -- I love this annual ritual. We each get a piece of flash paper (magician's paper that goes up in a flash of flame when touched to a lit candle)...you get to write on the paper what you want to release and then let it burn in the bowl. Very powerful exercise!

Another tradition at this church is to write a letter to yourself setting an intention for 2008, but you write it as though it's already happened (a la Law of Attraction -- see the movie The Secret) and put it in a sealed, self-addressed envelope and if you want, give it to Marcy at our church and she'll mail it to you 1 year from now. Another very cool exercise!!

We are creating this year to be our most powerful and successful year yet, and based on the December we just closed out the year with, I would definitely say we are on our way!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

We are chillin' today with Will and Meg -- another food fest with wine and games. We'll play Cashflow I suspect -- the Robert Kiyosaki game (the guy who wrote Rich Dad, Poor Dad).

Fun times!! Have a good one!