happier birthday, emma

emma’s birthday party was “the ultimate birthday sleepover”- according to one of the attendees.  i’d have to agree.  it was pretty awesome and genius, if i do say so myself. 

the plan:  a birthday sleepover over that emma was limited to inviting 5 girls to (one of them missed out at the last minute due to a fever).

the surprise (to all the girls, including emma):  the sleepover would be held at The Marriott Hotel, located at an outdoor shopping mall within a mile of our homes.

the geniusness:  practically no planning, for sure no cleaning, and easy-peasy for me. 

bonus:  it’s 80 degrees outside.  perfect day for swimming, perfect night to be away from a non-air-conditioned home.

my good friend, Mandy (a mother to 3 boys), was as excited as the girls to be there.  she was a great help, and i’m glad she was willing and able to be a part of it all.  mandy and i were roomies and the girls were in their own room, adjoined to ours.

itinerary (or rather, how it all went down since we didn’t really have any plans):

5 pm:  girls arrive.  i secretly load up their sleepover stuff into our car while they’re gabbing.  then i announce we ‘re going to get pizza and tell everyone to get in the car.

5:30:  with pizza in hand, we head over to mandy’s to “jump on the trampoline” while i pick something up from mandy.  again, we load up luggage secretly and mandy then joins us in the car. 

6 p.m.:  we tell the girls we’re headed to the mall, but pull into the Marriott instead of parking in the general parking.  the girls are figuring it all out by now and are giggling and talking about how cool this is. 

6:15:  into our room (already checked in earlier in the day and taken ray swimming while kids were in school).  emma opens all her presents at her request, and the girls change into swimsuits to head to the pool and eat our pizza.

  
8:00:  the girls are ready for cake.  back to the room- where they unanimously decide to wear their pajamas to the restaurant for cake.  [emma gives the girls a little lesson on modesty and what is appropriate attire to wear out in public- even if they are wearing pajamas]

8:15: we walk the 1/2 block to Claim Jumper to have the Motherlode chocolate cake.  None of the girls are convinced they’ll be happy with sharing only ONE piece of cake.  they are wrong.  holland dramatically leads us all in song to serenade the blushing birthday girl.  i look like Bono in my ever-practical/never-thought-i’d-own-a-pair transitions lenses.

    

9:30:  back at the room, the girls are ready for popcorn, licorice [ray’s birthday gift to emma], and a movie:  Anne of Green Gables.

9:30 – 10:  troubleshooting of the DVD player, complete with Marriott’s technician.

10-ish- finally have movie, aspect ratio, and sound working all at the same time.  mandy and i retreat to our own room to “scrapbook”- or watch Jay Leno’s final Tonight Show, as it turned out for me

10 – 1 am:  lots of giggling, tumbling, eating, begging to go outside in the hotel and play games on the elevator.  “we promise we’ll be quiet and we won’t disturb anyone”.  denied.

10:45:  i do not make the phone call to the front desk to complain about the smoking ladies’ loud raucous- which i’m completely and blissfully unaware of.  i swear.  

12:40:  emma is the first to fall asleep

 

1-ish:  i am the next to crash.

after that:  mandy makes sure the doors are latched, the blinds are drawn, the thermostat is turned back down, the movie is over and the girls are all asleep before she actually goes to bed- after 2?

8 a.m.:  the girls are all awake, giggling over apples to apples.  [reminders to be quiet, some people are still sleeping]

8:40:  the saltine routine begins for me

9:00:  the begging to go to breakfast begins.

9:15:  we actually go down to breakfast, looking as lovely as ever.  there is lots of sausage and meat at breakfast.  i realize i haven’t eaten breakfast outside of my bed in over a month.  it’s hard to eat while everyone else is eating and talking about what they’re eating.  and what the heck did mandy just put on her eggs?  thank you for trading places with her, holland.  i grusl through my breakfast and survive {that’s for you, amanda}.

10-ish:  back to the pool.

11:30:  mandy and i decide to go get our own kids and have them come up to swim.  3 of the 4 girls are allowed to stay past the 12 o’clock party ending time.  i drive one sad girl home, pick up 5 more super excited kids (my 4 plus a neighbor) and head back to the hotel. 

12 – 5:  swim, get all our stuff out of the rooms, shower, swim again, eat mcdonald’s, shoot rubber froggies, sit in lounge chair {me}, eat, laugh, smile, listen to “this is the best party ever”, send girls out to go shopping with elli, swim, shower again, pack up and leave to take elli to another birthday party at the roller skating rink.

6:  crash.

do you see why i’ve avoided making this post?

i think i made it up to my second child though- so it was worth it. 

welcome to the double digits, sweet emma.  i love you.

i was wrong

i thought i’d be posting in detail about the weekend’s events, but i’m too tired to accomplish that.  maybe tomorrow?

instead, i’ll add to my smoking ladies story from yesterday.  because it gets better.

again, we found ourselves at the pool this morning.  again, we found ourselves with only one other guest:  a smoker of course.  but what was hilarious about this incident was that within seconds of noticing the cigarette smoke and before we could even think of what to do this time, 2 of the ladies from yesterday’s story happened out onto the pool deck. 

and do you know what they did?  they walked right over to the guilty smoker and explained to him the rules:  no smoking.  after all, someone had snitched on them yesterday and they didn’t want the same thing to happen to him.  he put his cigarette out!  how awesome is that turn of events?

also, these 2 ladies spent most of the afternoon at the pool with us today.  of the 5 or 6 that were in their group yesterday, these were the 2 that were not smokers; just heavy sloshers.  but they were super nice. 

they played with our kids in the water while mandy and i lazily sat by the pool and watched.  they let our kids borrow their pool toys (who brings pools toys to a ladies’ weekend?).  they even showed our kids how to shoot rubber froggies like slingshots.  because it’s really funny and it’s something they continually order from oriental trading company by the dozens and bring them with them wherever they go to shoot at people from balconies and other random areas just for fun. 

did i mention these ladies are in their fifties?

here are the 2 super nice ones teaching ray the ever important skill of slinging rubber frogs at people:

    

as we talked to them, it was revealed that someone had called security on them again last night about 10:45 p.m. to report loud, obnoxious behavior coming from their room.  and these ladies were just appalled that someone  would be so concerned about what others were doing at such a reasonable hour of the evening.  i mean [and this is a quote] “it’s not like it was 3 o’clock in the morning or something.  it was only 10:45 so it’s not like people were trying to sleep.” 

i tried to explain that, actually, some people DO go to sleep before 10:45.  it’s not that unreasonable.  their way of solving the problem:  they stopped their loud giggling fits and turned the t.v. up really loud instead just to make the annoying complainer mad.  because it was probably that same nosy lady that had complained about them smoking yesterday….

and i’ll leave out the part when one of the actual guilty smokers from yesterday came out onto the pool deck, looked around, faced a brick wall, and then quickly lit up a cigarette.  she took one drag and snuffed it out.  just like nothing happened.  so sneaky.

and, lest you think we were simply at marriott’s pool just to annoy these ladies, i’ll hopefully feel like blogging about the real reason tomorrow.  hopefully.

security guy [doesn’t] got my back

this is where i am right now:

[more on that tomorrow]

i’ll start right in with my story:

i’m at the swimming pool, hanging out with a great friend (sitting right next to me) and 5 ten-year-old girls- all in the pool.  it’s a fairly small area.  there is only one other party at the pool: about 6 older ladies who are all drinking heavily and sharing a large bag of cheetohs.  all of a sudden, i smell cigarette smoke. 

at first i think i’m imagining it with my new pregnant sense of smell, but then i see it:  the pack of cigarettes underneath one of the classy ladies’ chairs.  seriously?  i don’t know if there’s anything i hate more than cigarette smoke- in a place that shouldn’t have cigarette smoke.  like a playground or a family setting or just smokers who are being totally selfish and could care less about all the people around them that they are affecting with their habit.  

anyway, i’m not sure how to handle it.  do i ask her to please not smoke, the smell is going to make me vomit or do i call the front desk and ask them what their policy is?

i decided to be a chicken and chose the latter option.  even as mandy (who is sitting right next to me) is having a conversation with one of the ladies, i discreetly call the front desk from my cell phone and explain the problem.

the lady at the front desk told me there was no smoking allowed in the pool area and she said she’d send somebody right up to take care of it.   whew, i was off the hook

or so i thought.

a few minutes later, a “hot” (as the classy ladies called him after he left) suit-clad security guy comes out into the pool area from inside the hotel.  the ladies immediately start to hide their beer bottles as they realize he is heading their direction.

“is there a problem?  are we not allowed to have glass bottles or alcohol out here” (um, no)

“Actually, i’m coming to inform you that there’s no smoking allowed out here.”

“oh. we’re sorry.  we didn’t know.  there aren’t any signs or anything.”

“that’s OK, ma’am.  I just need you to put your cigarette out.”

“How did you know we were smoking?”

“SOMEBODY CALLED AND COMPLAINED.” 

yeah, thanks for that.

but the classy, really smart ladies didn’t even figure it out and went on and on about how other people couldn’t keep out of others’ business.  and what would possess someone to just complain when it wasn’t even bothering them.  i mean i can understand if they were out here at the pool and didn’t want us to smoke [can you really?], but why would someone who saw us smoking out of their hotel room window feel the need to call and report it? 

and mandy and i are looking around at all the windows trying to find that selfish person who would report such a stupid crime as simply smoking a pack of cigarettes in a a no-smoking environment.  i mean, really, mind your own business, people. 

sheesh.  we never could find out who that complainer was.  hopefully she found something better to do with her time than watch out of her hotel room watching for rule-breakers. 

some people. 

“it’s just not exactly as i expected”

me either. 

today is emma’s 10th birthday.  she got ripped off.

today has been a feeling-yuckier-than-normal sort of day for me. 

i tried to buy her a few presents to make her feel special.

i tried to make her feel special by twisting her wet hair up in little buns all over her head last night so it would be twisty/kinky/curly this morning- just as she requested

i tried to make her a special breakfast of puff oven pancakes this morning

i tried to make her feel special by writing special birthday messages to her on her windows with special window crayons (or actually by asking nolan to quietly do it while she was still sleeping this morning)

which she loved and appreciated all of.   but “it’s just not exactly as she expected” because i wasn’t feeling well enough to be a part of anything.  i had retreated back to my bathroom before breakfast even started- where i have stayed put the entire day. 

all i can hope for is that damon is making up for my lack thereof as he is out treating her to dinner right now. 

and also that i feel better tomorrow.  so that i can make it up to her.  nothing can replace having your mom be present for your special day, but i’ll sure try again tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: loser mom moments,emma

a little busy…

while at the doctor for my own fetal child today, my great and wonderful friend birthed her own just across the way.  the excitement and awesomeness of it all has left me without much energy left for my post today. 

all is well with both mother[s] and baby[ies].

ethan, son of aimee s.

8 lbs 3 ozs., 19 inches long, born at 5:08 p.m.  and he’s a screamer, but oh so cute.

makes me wish it was december already.

oh- and yesterday’s invention of ray’s?

a pair of “family binoculars,” complete with 14 rolled-up pieces of paper (that was increased to 18 by the time i took the picture later in the day).  isn’t that genius?

really important stuff

first of all, any guesses as to what this invention is?  ray made it for “family home evening” last night.  the kids swear he did it all by himself, but i’m not so sure.  what i am sure of is that he used an entire roll of Scotch tape. 

and believe me, it’ll totally make sense when you find out what he was making.

 

Second piece of critical information:

is anyone as devastated as i am about the whole jon and kate mess?  if there’s any show that i watch, it’s that one.  and i nearly cried through the entire season opener last night.  the whole situation is so sad to me.  i hope they are able to make it through this together. 

that’s it. 

grandma and grandpa’s house

my kids love it there.  it’s only about an hour’s drive away (olympia), but our busy schedules rarely allow us visits there.  we got to go hang out and invade their quiet home this weekend (yay for us!).

some of our favorite things include:

• simply sleeping over at grandma and grandpa’s- what a treat!
• seeing their cousins and other relatives
• playing with dad’s old Legos and other ancient toys
• eating chips and ice cream and popsicles- which grandma always seems to have
• the novelty of having access to ice and water with the simple push of a button on grandma’s fridge
• taking naps on grandma’s couch while all the kids are being entertained by their new environment
• lots of books
• getting to play the wii- 4 player edition!
• playing in the backyard on the swingset
• re-distributing grandma’s river rocks
• getting permission to play grandpa’s assortment of instruments:  banjo, guitar, piano
• not having cell-phone service (how did that make this list?  poor elli)
• grandpa’s la-z-boy recliners
• grandma’s swivel barstools
• getting to pass Wild Waves on our way there and back
• singing with grandpa as he plays the piano, banjo, or guitar
• passing the tacoma dome, where nolan inevitably says, “dad- remember when pepper got us tickets to the monster truck rally and we got to go there to see it?  that was awesome.  i wish we could go again.”
• just being at grandma and grandpa’s.  

       

[note ray on the far right of the video, spinning around and around in grandpa’s computer chair.  also- nolan wanted to make special mention of his breathing technique while he was singing:  “did you see how my shoulders kept going up really high?  that’s because i was breathing in really deep so i could sing good.”]

life doesn’t get much better than at grandma and grandpa’s house.

unless you’re grandma and grandpa- then life gets much better after your invaders finally go home. 

Technorati Tags: grandparents

raising monkeys

 

somewhere along the way, ray has taught himself to shimmy this support post in our living room.  it’s 12-feet high. 

he has also taught himself to scale the door-frames in our house to reach things he shouldn’t be reaching. 

and the other day, i noticed him on top of the basketball standard at the elementary school.  no joke. 

he’s already taught savannah how to do it.

my friend’s 3-year-old son gets to spend the day with us on tuesday.  i’m sure she can’t wait to see what ray teaches him.  are you ready, erin?

Technorati Tags: ray

how do girls fall in love with you?

nolan:  mom, how do you make girls fall in love with you?
{pause}
I think annika a. is in love with me.  actually, i know she’s in love with me.

me:   there are lots of reasons girls love boys.  why do you think she’s in love with you?

nolan:  she thinks i’m funny.  is that a reason why a girl would fall in love with me?

me:  absolutely. 

nolan:  and i think she thinks i’m handsome sometimes- especially when i wear my shirt with the big blue stripes.  cuz that shirt makes me look really handsome.

me:  girls definitely love handsome. 

nolan:  but i don’t think i should wear my red sweatshirt anymore because it makes me look too cool.  and i don’t think girls like it when you’re trying to look cool.

me:  um, OK.  why else do you think girls fall in love with you?

nolan:  well, alicia loves me, too.  i know she’s in love with me because she tried to kiss me at annika a.’s birthday party, but zacharia saved me [big smile].  also, she’s always looking at me at school, but then she pretends that she’s not whenever i look at her.  but i know she is.

me:  why do you think alicia loves you?

nolan:  because i’m really nice?

me:  that could be another reason why a girl would love a boy, too.  nice is good.  what else do you think is a reason someone would fall in love with you?

nolan:  i’m a good student.  even though i flipped my card 3 times this year.  but i’m still smart. 

me:  i love smart, too.  that’s one of the things i love about dad.

nolan:  dad’s smart?

and i think i know why he looks especially handsome in this shirt:  it’s the shirt i picked out for him to wear on picture day in 2007.  i told him he looked really handsome in it.  and that also explains why he has recently resurrected this shirt from his shelf. 

what a crack-up, that kid.  but he is definitely funny, handsome, nice, cool, and a good student.  what girl wouldn’t fall in love with that?

Technorati Tags: nolan

pregnantarian

that’s what i am right now. 

it means that i eat meat sometimes- only when i feel like it and only until it suddenly grosses me out and i’m done.  and NEVER meat that cooks in my own house.  i cannot eat meat that i have been smelling as it cooks. 

it also means that i eat what i want when i want it.  i may love something one moment and be disgusted by it the next.  totally within the pregnantarian limits.

i definitely don’t eat stuff that’s really sweet- or even a little sweet, for that matter; that is just nauseating even thinking about it.  unless of course, it sounds OK at some random moment in time.

pregnantarian rules are meant to be broken. 

people who are married to pregnantarians must be very patient and not take anything personally.  just because you asked for a specific food does not mean you were actually going to eat it!  and just because it was your absolute favorite thing to eat last pregnancy or last night does not mean it’s a good idea to assume she will still prefer it right now. 

pregnantarians also only eat foods that are very predictable.  if i have to think about any food for more than 5 seconds, it’s not edible anymore.  it needs to be something i’ve had before, and i know exactly what to expect from it (even though it’s disappointing every time). 

it’s very expensive to be a pregnantarian because it means you waste a lot of money on food that sounded good to you 2 minutes ago, but horrifies you as soon as it’s in your presence. 

it also means you justify eating out 2-3 times a day due to your NEED for instant gratification:  a MUST for pregnantarians.  if it sounds good in the moment, think of it no longer, and purchase it.  do not ponder it or it will make you nauseous [wait until after you’ve purchased it to allow yourself to regret your choice].

safe choices for this pregnantarian {me} at this point in time are:  Subway Sandwich’s Spicy Italian sub, NOT MELTED and DRY; teriyaki chicken and rice, frozen yogurt, saltines, McDonald’s bacon, egg, and cheese McGriddle sandwich (a shocker to me, too), ice, pancakes, peanut butter on wheat bread, and that’s about it. 

a pregnantarian diet may or may not be healthy.  it doesn’t matter.  what does matter is that it sounds appealing enough to eat, healthy or unhealthy, weird or normal.  it’s all about YOU.  or me, actually. 

Technorati Tags: pregnancy

a beautiful day

i got to spend the afternoon lunching with my ever-patient husband at his place of work today.  it’s a tradition we hoped to start weeks ago- lunching every thursday while i am free and childless for 2 1/2 hours.  but, alas, that pregnancy bug has thrown a wrench in my life again, and damon hasn’t dared mention food to me until he braved the question today.

and i was doing ok so i agreed to a date with him, reserving the right to cancel at any moment (nothing new about that).

microsoft has recently finished building a new COMMONS area for its employees to take advantage of during work hours.  Damon has been raving about it since they first opened their doors (last month?), but i’d never been and was having a hard time imagining how wonderful it must be.  how great could a food court/mall-ish space really be?

pretty awesome, i found out.

i tried to capture the immensity and awesomeness with my camera, but it just doesn’t compare so you’ll just have to trust me.

      

one of the things i love about microsoft  is the laid-back environment they create for their employees.  They have a ton of buildings in Redmond (definitely over 100, I think?).  and there are also lots of places to relax throughout:  X-Box areas, lounge areas, enormous soccer fields, basketball courts, cafeterias, etc.  this new place was different because it has outside (not microsoft cafeteria) vendors like acupulco fresh, typhoon, noodle bowl, spitfire grill, a bank, a salon, a gift shop, the Microsoft Company Store, and other convenience type shops- all for Microsoft employees.  it’s pretty impressive.  and damon told me the parking structure (housed underneath the soccer fields and shopping areas) was the largest one on this side of the mississippi (it was ginormous, like one you’d find at a theme-park).  if you’re a microsoft wife, make your husband take you there. 

something i learned:  some/lots of employees actually wear those microsoft-branded clothing items we are gifted several times a year at ship parties; who knew those were actually supposed to be worn- and not just put in a closet in a special “microsoft non-wearable clothing pile.”

damon was nervous about his responsibility to choose my food.  he should be because there’s slim to no chance that he’d get it right, even without my pregnancy craziness.  i didn’t enter the buildings because i didn’t want to assault my senses so i chose to sit outside in the beautiful sunshine and not think about anything food-related and pretend to be excited about whatever damon chose for me to eat.  [all the pictures were taken of the outside courtyard areas, there’s a lot more to it that i didn’t even see]

it was a beautiful day.  i have missed damon.  it seems  like i haven’t talked to him or really seen him in months (except to demand things from him and tell him to not talk to me right that moment and to remind him how yucky i feel).  so it was really refreshing to hang out with him and remember what it’s like to feel normal- even for only an hour or two (or however long it lasts).   i can’t wait to do it again.

i also took a picture of my blooming belly, but it looked more bloomed than i wanted it to so i’ll have to trick the angle on my camera to get it to look just the right cuteness that i was going for and not the “good grief:  i hope it doesn’t  really look that big in person” shot i ended up with.   it’s hard to get the right angle on your own belly.  i’m working on it, though.

but, just so you know, it was {and still is} a beautiful day.  i can feel the longs-to-be-shaved hair on my legs blowing in the gentle wind even as i type.

Technorati Tags: pregnancy,damon,gratitude

a beautiful day

i got to spend the afternoon lunching with my ever-patient husband at his place of work today.  it’s a tradition we hoped to start weeks ago- lunching every thursday while i am free and childless for 2 1/2 hours.  but, alas, that pregnancy bug has thrown a wrench in my life again, and damon hasn’t dared mention food to me until he braved the question today.

and i was doing ok so i agreed to a date with him, reserving the right to cancel at any moment (nothing new about that).

microsoft has recently finished building a new COMMONS area for its employees to take advantage of during work hours.  Damon has been raving about it since they first opened their doors (last month?), but i’d never been and was having a hard time imagining how wonderful it must be.  how great could a food court/mall-ish space really be?

pretty awesome, i found out.

i tried to capture the immensity and awesomeness with my camera, but it just doesn’t compare so you’ll just have to trust me.

   

one of the things i love about microsoft  is the laid-back environment they create for their employees.  They have a ton of buildings in Redmond (definitely over 100, I think?).  and there are also lots of places to relax throughout:  X-Box areas, lounge areas, enormous soccer fields, basketball courts, cafeterias, etc.  this new place was different because it has outside (not microsoft cafeteria) vendors like acupulco fresh, typhoon, noodle bowl, spitfire grill, a bank, a salon, a gift shop, the Microsoft Company Store, and other convenience type shops- all for Microsoft employees.  it’s pretty impressive.  and damon told me the parking structure (housed underneath the soccer fields and shopping areas) was the largest one on this side of the mississippi (it was ginormous, like one you’d find at a theme-park).  if you’re a microsoft wife, make your husband take you there. 

something i learned:  some/lots of employees actually wear those microsoft-branded clothing items we are gifted several times a year at ship parties; who knew those were actually supposed to be worn- and not just put in a closet in a special “microsoft non-wearable clothing pile.”

damon was nervous about his responsibility to choose my food.  he should be because there’s slim to no chance that he’d get it right, even without my pregnancy craziness.  i didn’t enter the buildings because i didn’t want to assault my senses so i chose to sit outside in the beautiful sunshine and not think about anything food-related and pretend to be excited about whatever damon chose for me to eat.  [all the pictures were taken of the outside courtyard areas, there’s a lot more to it that i didn’t even see]

it was a beautiful day.  i have missed damon.  it seems  like i haven’t talked to him or really seen him in months (except to demand things from him and tell him to not talk to me right that moment and to remind him how yucky i feel).  so it was really refreshing to hang out with him and remember what it’s like to feel normal- even for only an hour or two (or however long it lasts).   i can’t wait to do it again.

i also took a picture of my blooming belly, but it looked more bloomed than i wanted it to so i’ll have to trick the angle on my camera to get it to look just the right cuteness that i was going for and not the “good grief:  i hope it doesn’t  really look that big in person” shot i ended up with.   it’s hard to get the right angle on your own belly.  i’m working on it, though.

but, just so you know, it was {and still is} a beautiful day.  i can feel the longs-to-be-shaved hair on my legs blowing in the gentle wind even as i type.

Technorati Tags: pregnancy,damon,gratitude