Finally! The Birthday Pics!

I know you thought I forgot about the birthday pics. There really are way too many of them. It was hard to choose!

Celebrating 6

Gee. I just realized that it's been a while since I posted! Bad me! Anyway, life is crazy as always. I've been reading everyone's blogs but haven't wanted to post without pictures. I decided to post minus the pics. They'll be coming. Soon.

This past Sunday was Erin's 6th birthday party. We held it at American Twisters & including Erin there were 32 children in attendance. Not too bad, right? Ha! Then you have all the parents that attend. That means a total of almost 80 people.

Erin had a total blast! We couldn't have wished her to have a better time. She picked out the theme Tinkerbell & the cake - Tinkerbell white cake with custard filling. She wore her Tinkerbell t-shirt & hat. Are we sensing a common theme here? The funny thing is that she wasn't into Tinkerbell until the end of the school year.

Now I happen to love organizing parties. I'm pretty good at it, & can usually get it all finished 2 weeks before the actual party. This time I wasn't totally finished till the day before. Then there were the RSVPs. Those who said "yes" but couldn't make it at the last minute. And, of course, those who showed up without ever calling to say anything. This year I had personalized keepsake boxes so I really stressed out when a mother showed up with her twins but never called me. And let's not forget the family who told someone else that they'd see her at Erin's party but, again, didn't call me. I can't really fault them. They've only been in the US for 3 years, & aren't comfortable with English. They really are a lovely family. ARGH!!!

Either way, it was a totally great day for Erin. She came home to open her presents & had just as much fun with that part of the day. She even helped clean up!

The night before the party, Erin had an online birthday party with her friend Kerri. Kerri & her family live in Canda so we knew she wouldn't be there. Her parents & I wanted the girls to have fun & celebrate. We all went & got cupcakes so they could have cake together & Erin could open her presents from Canada. Such fun!

Yesterday was the big day! Erin turned 6. She woke up in a great mood & couldn't get into our bed fast enough for morning snuggles. During camp they went to a place called Jumpers & had black & white cookies as a special treat. For dinner Erin decided that she wanted her sushi so we ordered in & got her a shrimp tempura roll. Then she passed out & fell asleep. Yay for us!

And so my girl is now 6. I can't believe how blessed we've been. Thank you G-d above for this miracle child!

I Hate Preparing for Birthday Parties

Have you heard the news? I absolutely hate preparing for birthday parties. Period.

Why you ask? Well, let's see:

• A July party should NEVER be outside - especially when you live in S FL. Just ask Erin & of course anyone who came to her party last year. David went home & brought all of our fans from home to try & cool us down. It didn't work so we all "glistened" throughout the day. I didn't want a park party, but Erin had her heart set on a bounce party, & my friend Lisa wanted Erin to have her party with her favorite bounce. Besides, how do you say "no" to your only child will turn 5 only once in her lifetime. (I said "no" this year.)
• Erin & I are traveling to Texas for her Travel Group reunion & then on to California for a visit with Bubbie & Zaydie. Don't you think a 2 week vacation is enough of a birthday present? I do. Apparently David disagrees since he asked her what kind of party she wanted. ARGH!!
• All the neat places to hold parties are NOT in the county we live in. I can't justify having her party in Miami because, while I love him, my brother & his family would be the only guests who live there so everyone else would be totally inconvenienced. (I have some dear friends who don't cross county lines.)
• My good friend Michelle told me last week "Oh! I booked Lauren's party for the weekend of the girls' birthdays. It's at YCA." Great. Now I'm stuck because this is a really cool place, but you can't have 2 parties in the place for the same weekend with the same guests. Another ARGH!!!
• Erin loves to run & jump & bounce. We went to a great place for a party last weekend. She wouldn't jump into the foam pit because the poor girl didn't believe there was no water under the foam pieces. (It ripped my heart to see her standing by the foam pit looking as if she wanted to jump in. She literally couldn't the fear is still so strong.)

And now I don't have a clue about what to do! She would like a bowling party but I'll tell you right now, the children just run around & don't bowl. She would like a ceramics party, but how do you keep 30 kids aged 1-11 sitting & painting for 1 1/2 hours?

UGH!! I hate party planning.

Birthday Scrap With The Gals

The Poke Cake

Lisa checking out which pics to scrap

Mich & Jamey hard at work on their scrapping

Friday night my friends Lisa, Mich & Jamey all came out & celebrated my birthday with me. What did we do? Well, we are the ScrapSistas (formerly known as the ScrapSkanks mind you)!

We went to this marvelous little boutiquey place called Paper Niche. Friday nights they offer an evening with dinner & scrapping till midnight. Of course, they hope that you'll spend money on the supplies they have there. And goodness knows that this place has great items. In fact, while I was chatting with the owner & some employees, I even mentioned how pleased I was that they sell items I've been seeing in my scrapbooking magazines. I think that's pretty awesome. In fact, some of the stuff I purchased was found in those same magazines. Yay me!

Jamey made an awesomely yummy cake for my birthday! I'd only heard of a poke cake before, but now I can see why people make them. Super moist & definitely hit that sweet spot! Mich gave me a great 12 x 12 ladybug scrapbook. I've been wanting to do a scrapbook about Erin's hobbies, & now I have the perfect book to use! Lisa did all the driving & gave me the evening out. I love my Sistas!

The only bad thing about it was that Viv couldn't be with us to celebrate. Sheez! This whole living in Canada is putting the kibosh on our parties. Of course, I know that her spirit was with us partying the evening away.

Thanks my friends!

*******UPDATE******************

For those of you who wanted to know what a Poke Cake is:

You bake the cake, & as it's cooling, you poke holes in it with a toothpick. Then you pour either jello or pudding over the top so it seeps into the cake itself. After that, you can either frost the cake or not.

Flowers Flowers & More Flowers

From Viv, Corey & Kerri

From Daddy & Nancy

2nd Bouquet from Daddy & Nancy

(On behalf of the florist)

Let it never be said that I can ever have enough flowers! Last week my office was overflowing with birthday flowers. In fact, most of the flowers are still blooming beautifully in my office.

Okay, So We Didn't Quite Make It. Oops!

Presents have an interesting problem in our house. They can never seem to wait to be opened till the right time. Oops! This has been a problem for them since David & I got married. The presents just can't hold out. They want us to ooh & aah over them. They want to be used/read/viewed immediately if not sooner.

My birthday is this coming week, & David has been carefully planning on what to get me. Nope. No diamonds, jewelry, purses or such for me. I just really am not too interested in all that - unless we're talking about Coach or Dooney & Burke. My wants are really quite simple. This year David told me that I wasn't getting any scrapbooking supplies since in his not so humble opinion they're only consumables. (Has he noticed that his models are "consumables" also? Nope.) So I had to remind him of that lovely invention called a wish list. Duh!

I really got some great stuff (to me) this year! I absolutely love Val Kilmer & have been dying to get a copy of his movie Real Genius. He is so young in it & it really showcases his ability to do comedy. Then there's Tombstone with Kurt Russell & Val Kilmer along with a host of other actors I enjoy. Of course, David couldn't totally stay away from scrapbooking as a whole & got me 2 books that I've been wanting. Now all I have to do is actually find time to read them & put into practice what I get out of them. I also got a number of other books. This is going to be so cool!

Thanks David! I love that you so totally get me!