House of Estrogen

A Girly-Girl 8th Birthday Party

In my recent blog post about Addie's birthday party, I listed my four rules for a successful birthday party. Let's see how I did with Nina's party.

1. Not in my house - check. We had it at a nail salon and restaurant
2. Small - check. Four girls plus Elise and Nina - the perfect size. We were limited by the six kid sized chairs in the salon, so there was no wiggle room on the guest list.
3. Not making the cake - check. I bought the same delish cupcakes that I bought for Addie's party.
4. No bags o' crap party favors. Hmmm... I may have gone off course a little on this one, but they weren't bad - just a lip gloss, a hair feather, nail polish, and a lollipop.

I loved seeing all their faces.

They were anxiously excited,

happy,

and perfectly relaxed.

They got manicures,

and pedicures

while watching videos in the massage chairs.

J.C. felt a little out of place, but he waited patiently

until we were all done.

After nails, it was time for lunch and cupcakes.

Check it out... the nail polish cupcake toppers doubled as part of the party favors!

Yum!

All said, it was a fun morning for these eight-going-on-sixteen year olds. Happy Birthday, Nina!

Move Over Bakerella, You've Got Competition!

Or, uh, maybe not. Nina received a cake pop maker yesterday for her birthday. We all had fun making and eating them, but somehow I don't think we'll be giving Bakerella a run for her money any time soon.

Bakerella:

House of Estrogen:

Nina came downstairs this morning and proclaimed, "Bakerella, we are not!"

Amen, sister.

Build-a-Bear Birthday Bash

Sometimes when I start to write a birthday party post, I get that nagging feeling that I'm somehow failing as a mommy blogger. I've never done a Royal Ball, an Alice in Wonderland Party, a Barnyard Party, or a Fairy Ballerina Party. There seems to be an unwritten rule in the mommy blogging world that birthday parties are required to be over-the-top at-home celebrations complete with a decadent dessert table, elaborate theming and personalized water bottles or lemonade in mason jars. (Click on those party links to see what I'm talking about.) I'm not sure how this trend started, but clearly there is a need to one-up everyone else in the blogging world when it comes to birthday parties. While I admire the creativity and effort put into these parties, I can't help but think, "You have GOT to be kidding me!!! Who has time for that? Do you have a life? What is the world coming to?" Seriously, when you are spending as much on a 2 year old's birthday party that most people spend on a wedding, there is something very, very wrong.

Or maybe I'm just jealous.

Anyway, when planning a party, I am the anti-mommy-blogger. I'm pretty sure I'm doing it all wrong, but it works for me. These are my rules for a successful non-blog-worthy party.

1. The party must not be in my house. I don't want kids in the house. I don't want parents in the house. I don't want to clean up the house in anticipation of the party. I don't want to clean up the house after the party. That is too much work. The party must be somewhere away from my house where someone else is in charge of decorating, entertainment, and clean up. Mommy bloggers everywhere are cringing as they read this. This goes against every fiber of their soul.
2. The party must be small. I don't need my kids getting birthday presents from 25 kids. We have too much crap in the house as it is.
3. I do not make the cake. I know how to decorate cakes. I used to be good at decorating cakes, but who has time for that?  Cakes will be store bought.
4. I do not give out "bags o' crap" party favors. I know other people suffer from the "too much crap in the house" syndrome as well, and they don't need junky dollar store goodies cluttering up their house any more than I do.

So, in keeping with my party rules, Addison had a Build-a-Bear party for her 4th birthday.

Invitations were sent via Evite. I give it a thumbs up for free, easy, and more likely to get an RSVP. A real mommy blogger would rather give up her dSLR than send an evite, but that's how I roll.

You know what though, Addie had a ball, and her friends did too. That's the goal right? Kids having fun? Or perhaps I missed an email about the goal.

They picked out bears,

and outfits,

and stuffed and groomed them.

J.C. got his baby fix by holding this little guy.

Of course, no House of Estrogen event is complete without an injury. Nina jumped up and bumped her head on a shelf. Poor kid.

It is pretty much impossible to get a picture of a bunch of 3-4 year olds without a lot of forced grins. Lovely.

After Build-a-Bear, we headed over to the food court for pizza and cupcakes. I'm pretty sure "food court at a birthday party" is mommy blogger code for "over my dead body". They are four though. What do they care if they have a juice box or mason jar?

My two nods to mommy blogging cuteness were the cupcakes and Addie's shirt. Of course, I can't take credit for either. Cupcake toppers were from Etsy seller Paper Owl Party Design.

Addie's shirt was by Etsy seller Criss Cross Creations. Nice scraped nose and goose-egg on her forehead, eh?

I think the party was a success. It was outside the house. There were only 5 guests. I didn't make the cake, and the party favors were the bears. Check, check, check, and check! Addie had a blast and had no idea that she should have been expecting personalized water bottles and color coordinated m&m's and lollipops. Score!

Happy Birthday Addison! May all your wishes come true.

 

 

 

Four... With Attitude

Letter to Addison, 4 years

Dear Addison,

This weekend you turned four. One might expect me to feel sad or nostalgic that my baby is growing up. I do feel that in some ways. For the most part though, we are absolutely thrilled that you are four because it means the end of three and a half. I could use those euphemisms that parenting books use to describe you like "spirited" or "strong willed", but your dad I have more often used words like "demon child", "the one with the horns growing out of her head", "YOUR child", and "the evil one". You have seriously given us a run for our money. We thought we had learned a few things about stubborn preschoolers through Nina. Apparently she was just the intro class. Now you have come along to really show us who is boss.

Your modus operandi seems to be "I am three. Hear me roar", and do we ever. The yelling, the tantrums, the obstinance, the defiance... you win the prize for all of it. We've resorted to the most off-the-wall discipline techniques like squirting you with a water bottle in the car when you won't stay buckled. I don't think we'll win any parenting awards for that one, but for right now, it is the only thing that works.

Perhaps we were too cocky and thought we had figured out this whole parenting gig after two kids. Clearly, we haven't. You have proven that.

So, now that you are four, can you give us a break from the 3.5 year old attitude? We're begging you!

Under all the spunk and defiance, you are a sweet, loving, wonderful daughter. You definitely keep us on our toes, but we love you the world over. You love to snuggle up to us to read bedtime stories. You give running hugs and forehead kisses.

Last week, you declared that I was the "best mommy in the jungle!"  (Yes, I know we don't live in a jungle, but I'll take the compliment anyway). Although you remind me daily that you aren't a baby any more, you will still cuddle up in my lap when you are tired.

Despite spending many hours being dragged between ice skating (Nina) and jump rope (Elise), you are starting to form your own interests too. You love to go hiking and biking. You make frequent requests for family bike rides.

You have enjoyed playing soccer, but we're going to take a little break from that. You try desperately to jump rope but don't quite have the hand/foot coordination thing figured out yet. You love playing with dolls, pestering Nina, stealing Elise's things, working puzzles, and running around the house like we've injected you with caffeine. You are a lover of all things Yo Gabba Gabba.

You have certainly made your place in this family. Although you push boundaries and test us to the extremes, we can't imagine life without you. You are our sweet baby girl, and I can't wait to see what changes age four will bring.

I love you! Happy fourth birthday!

Love,

Mama

A Tenth Birthday Blow-out

Somehow this week, I've ended up in three different conversations about Elise's hotel birthday party. Considering it happened over a month ago, I figured it was high time I blogged about it.

Apparently to some, "hotel party" conjures up images of hoards of rambunctious kids running wild and unsupervised through the hotel, a keg, a trashed hotel room, and a pedophile lurking in every corner just waiting to snatch a birthday party attendee.

I think those people went to too many wild high school and college hotel parties. A 10 year old's hotel birthday party could be nothing further from that. It is fun, innocent, well-supervised, and no more expensive than your typical Build-a-Bear, bounce house, or ice skating party. Turning ten seems like a big deal, so I thought a hotel party would be a fun way to celebrate.

For kicks, I thought I would give a comparison of a hotel slumber party to an a typical at-home slumber party.

Days leading up to the party

hotel:

Make cupcakes, gather up party supplies, and throw everything in the car.

 home: Make cupcakes, gather up supplies, and spend hours cleaning, mopping, vacuuming, dusting, decluttering, and getting your house ready for company.

4:00 p.m.

hotel: Children arrive, put on swimsuits, and have a blast in the hotel pool while waiting for the pizza to arrive.

home: Children arrive and run around your house like complete maniacs while waiting for the pizza to arrive. (Don't believe me? Check out the video here from Elise's birthday party two years ago.)

5:30 p.m.

hotel: serve pizza in the lobby where the manager's reception is going on. The girls can help themselves to delicious warm baked chips and dip, lemonade, Sprite, or Shirley Temples from the reception.

home: serve pizza along with a bag of chips and juice boxes.

6:30 p.m.

hotel: After pizza, cupcakes, and opening presents, the girls hang out in the lobby looking at the fish swimming in the pond while the manager kindly offers to help you clean up the mess.

home: After pizza, cupcakes, and opening presents, the girls once again are running wild around the house while you are stuck cleaning up all the mess.

7:00 p.m.

hotel: It is back to the pool for another quick swim to tire out the girls, so they won't be up all night.

home: You have to plan, purchase supplies for, and lead the girls in a craft project to occupy time.

8:00 p.m.

hotel: The girls play musical pedicures and you apply glitter tattoos. Every time you apply one, you smile at the fact that the glitter is landing on a hotel towel, and you will not have to vacuum after you're done. (As a side note, the glitter tattoos were a HUGE hit. If you have a 7-13 year old girl on your Christmas list, I highly recommend them. Here's a link)

home: The girls play musical pedicures and you apply glitter tattoos. Every time you apply one, you groan at the thought of glitter being tracked all over the house.

9:00 p.m. 

hotel: The girls organize a dance contest and watch TV in the bedroom of the suite. They go to bed at a reasonable time after being worn out from the swimming. You get a good night's sleep in the living room of the suite.

home: The girls organize a dance contest and watch TV in whatever room in the house you have decided will hold six girls. They stay up ridiculously late giggling despite your many warnings to settle down and go to sleep. Even though you are in your own bed, you don't get much sleep with the girls keeping you up all night.

 

 9:00 a.m.

hotel: You and the girls pack up your belongings and head downstairs for a fabulous breakfast buffet - made-to-order omelets, bacon, sausage, biscuits, muffins, donuts, cereal, fruit, waffles, and any type of juice you could ever want. There is no complaining about the choices. Everyone fills up and thoroughly enjoys their breakfast. There is no clean-up because the hotel busses the tables.

home: You either get dressed quickly to run out to pick up donuts, or you dirty up a bunch of pots and pans making bacon and pancakes. Everyone gets fed, and then you get to wash dishes.

10:00 a.m.

hotel: Parents arrive in the lobby to pick up their kids. You load things in the car, check out, and you are completely done with project birthday party.

home: Parents arrive to pick up their kids. You spend the rest of the day washing dishes, cleaning up the clutter, vacuuming up glitter, and yelling at the birthday girl, "Get over here and help me clean up! It was YOUR friends who made this mess!"

All said and done, it was a fun, exciting, easy, reasonably priced way to celebrate ten years. I highly recommend it!

Cupcakes, Lessons Learned

1. Most bakers will not recreate a copyrighted design unless they have a license for it. If the birthday party theme is not Dora, Barbie, Star Wars, or Hello Kitty, forget finding a cake.
2. The same is true for Etsy cupcake topper makers. No license, no make.
3. Cupcake toppers can be made fairly easily with supplies from Michael's and stickers from Target.
4. When a frosting receipe calls for Crisco, don't substitute margarine. Trust me. Just don't do it.
5. One large tub of store-bought frosting to replace the failed homemade frosting is not enough for 24 cupcakes.
6. Store-bought frosting is too thin for proper cupcake piping.
7. I have completely lost my cake decorating mojo. Gone. I can still bake, but all decorating assignments will be contracted out from this birthday party on.

 
 

 

Tip for Bloggers

If you are going to blog about an upcoming "surprise dinner party for a friend's birthday", make sure that said friend DOES NOT READ YOUR BLOG.

Just sayin'.

You might ruin a surprise.  Not that I have any experience with that or anything... just trying to provide a helpful tip.

Centenarian

In April of 1911,

• Bread cost $0.05 per loaf. A gallon of milk cost $0.34.
• A car would set you back $500, and a house $2,600. The average income was $983 per year.
• Postage stamps were $0.02.
• The DOW average was 82.
• William Howard Taft was president with James S. Sherman as his vice president.
• Ragtime Violin by Irving Berlin was one of the top songs.
• Neon lighting, the knapsack parachute, and CRT television were invented.
• The Pulitzer prize was established.


AND... the girls' great-great Uncle Herman was born!  Happy 100^th Birthday Uncle Herman!

 
 

 

 

Priorities

J.C. bikes a lot... like, a whole lot. When people walk into our garage, they ask if he is running a bike shop on the side. No, no bike shop... just gotta have a bike for each use - a dirt jump bike, a kid-trailer-hauling bike, a downhill bike, a tandem bike, a cross-country bike, a road bike, and I'm sure I'm forgetting others. No, I'm not exaggerating. He's just a wee bit obsessive when it comes to bikes.

He goes downhill biking in Snowshoe, WV, several times per year with a  bunch of buddies. They haul all the bikes on a trailer. JC decided they needed a box fitted to the trailer to hold all their muddy, sweaty gear, so he built one.

 

Then he said, I think I'll let the girls paint it. They would have fun doing that.

And they did.

 

 

they planned,

 

made handprints,

 

blew paint dry,

 

painted with a steady hand,

 

and got a bit messy in the process.

 

When they were done, their masterpiece went to Snowshoe.

 

When I saw the finished result, I said, "Aren't the guys going to give you crap for hauling a trailer with a rainbow and flowers painted on the back?"  He said, "Oh yeah... I'll get endless grief over this. I'm a dad of three girls above everything else though."

 

And that, folks, is priorities in order... "I'm a dad of three girls above everything else."  The trips to Snowshoe may challenge my every ounce of patience and energy while single parenting, but I'll always know his heart is at home with us as the rainbow trailer is pulled along the winding roads of West Virginia.

Happy (belated) Birthday, J.C.  I love you.