Serving Fruit Kabobs is NOT Genius...

Super sweet four-year-old on his birthday

Dewey has never had a birthday party. So I figured... "It's time!" (It's time to just suck it up and endure the nightmare of a 4-year-old birthday party to show my son he is important.) "I can do this".... I think to myself. "How hard can it be?"

So, in order to make things easier on myself, I decided that a bouncy house would be the best way to keep the Darling Children entertained! Every kid loves a bouncy house... right? So I hit the Internet hard in search of bouncy rentals. What I found out was unbelievable! It costs roughly $250.00 to rent a bouncer for 4 hours!!! Say Whaaaaa?!?!?! So then I hit the Internet harder in search of a more reasonable solution. Because... lets face it... there was GOING TO BE a bouncy house at Dewey's party. I was not about to let 13 small children into my home with nothing to do! I'm not THAT crazy! So after days and days of investigating, I found some great bouncers for SALE on eBay! Whoa.... you mean I can spend twice as much to OWN ONE FOREVER? That's waaaayyy better than renting one for 4 hours! SCORE! (Additional bonus: This will provide me some SANITY during the loonnngggg summer break! Woo Hoo!!!!)

So we settled on this adorable Lion Bouncer.


I say "we" settled on this one but in reality the ducklings wanted a train one. But that one was too small and I very convincingly argued that it would be shipped from Washington State and would not make it in time for the party. So we "unanimously" chose the lion. It's about 16'x15' and has a SLIDE... so, of course, The Ducklings love it!

Dewey's birthday party was a huge success. The kids had a great time and I even survived to tell the tale.

Wait.. wasn't this supposed to be about Kabobs? Oh yeah... so here's a handy little tip regarding my genius idea to serve fruit kabobs to 4-year-olds.... DON'T DO IT!!! LOL! Actually, the kabobs were wildly popular among the kids. They all ate their fruit... so that was good. But the secondary reason for the kabob's popularity involved the repeated use of the phrase "You'll put your eye out with that thing!!!" Seems 4-year-olds really like to sword fight with kabob sticks! WHO KNEW?

Here's a few more photos of the birthday boy! Oh and.... I have a bouncy house available for rent.... Cheap! LOL

Dewey modeling the baseball jersey, glove and ball he
received from Grandma!

A big boy with a BIG BOY bike!!!

Mario and Alvin... two of Dewey's favorite things!
Thank you Auntie Kelli (with the black hair)

How do you do a "Mario Cake" when bakeries
don't offer one? Simple... you order a cloud and star
cake, and then add some sprinkles and Mario
Figurines you bought on eBay! (I love eBay!)

The birthday boy at his party!

Let's Talk About Chuckie.... Shall We?

"Public service announcement to all parents of small children.... birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese's are NOT fun! Please... for the love of Pete... just say 'NO' to Chuckie! Thank you! :o)"

That was my status update on Facebook this morning. So far the comments to that post are 100% in agreement! So here's a good question... If all parents HATE taking their kids to Chuck E. Cheese's, why on earth do they continue to punish fellow parents by hosting their precious child's birthday party there? It's twisted and just plain wrong!

If there are any parents out there who have yet to experience this cruel form of torture... otherwise known as "Chuck E. Hell"... let me set the scene for you.

Chuck E. Cheese's is the most obnoxious place ever created. I am at a loss to come up with anything even slightly as annoying. First of all, the pizza is NASTY. Most kids don't even like it. But the dumb games are even worse than the food. It's like one loud, blinking, kid-sized casino for pre-school children. It's the Vegas strip for school-aged kids, where lots of blinking lights beckon them to tempt their luck at some stupid game or another. If they are lucky they win... *gasp* TICKETS!!!! The more tickets the better. Even if you are a big huge loser, you get one or two tickets. Awesome, right? Every child is a winner. What could be wrong with that? Well.. for starters, tokens are not cheap. They are pretty much equivalent to .25 cents. (give or take a few pennies).

So what does a quarter buy? Well... it depends on which stupid game you select. It was our experience that roughly 8 of Huey's 20 tokens were WASTED on games that did not work, but did not have an "out of order" sign. Poor guy has become really good a dealing with disappointment. So, for the sake of a good life-lesson, I can let that go. Among the WORKING games are stupid things like games that give you ONE TRY to stop a blinking light on a certain spot. All for a quarter. Of course, it's next to impossible ... but your child will get one ticket for trying... so that's good! After 1 hour of roaming from stupid game to stupid game, Huey earned a total of 27 tickets! WooHoo... 27 tickets! What did that buy him? A Tootsie Roll and a lollipop! I'm NOT making this up. Twenty tokens (or roughly $5.00) bought him 3 cents worth of candy. (oh yeah... and access 28 zillion germs. BONUS!)

Of course, Huey had the VERY BEST TIME OF HIS LIFE! (nice) and now wants to have his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. So I will spend the next 8 months hearing "I WANT MY BIRTHDAY PARTY AT CHUCK E. CHEESES!". It's a good thing those stupid non-working games of Chuckie's taught Huey how to deal with life's disappointments, because I vow this day to NEVER host a birthday party there. How ironic is that? Chuckie has taught my son how to deal with the disappointment of never being allowed to go there again! hahahaha! Genius!

Happy Birthday Baby!

On July 2 Louie turned two. How can it be that this sweet, sweet, precious baby is now a big kid?

I cannot even comprehend how fast time is flying. Other moms often tell me to just enjoy them now because they will be grown up very soon. And it's so true! That is part of the reason I just follow them with a camera and try to capture the humor in the more aggravating things they do. :o) One day, when I have a perfectly clean house, it will also be very quiet and lonely. So in that perspective... I guess an entire tube of blue toddler toothpaste on the carpet (today's artistic offering from Louie) isn't really so bad.

The following photo was taken at Louie's first party, which was the day before Daddy returned to Iraq from mid-tour leave.

It was also the day that Louie got a buzz cut for the summer. Louie puts up a huge fight in the barber's chair... so mommy had to wait for reinforcements to arrive. It took Daddy and I both to hold him down for the hair cut. Louie was not happy at all... but he seems to be pleased with the result. The good news is, he won't need another haircut for at least 8 months. Yay!

Louie's birthday cake was perfect. At his first party, we all got a cupcake and then we saved the larger cake for the celebration on his actual birthday. Yay Wal-Mart! Genius design!

Louie enjoyed cupcakes again on July 3rd when we celebrated his birthday with friends at the fireworks show. I think he is somewhat confused at all the cupcakes with candles. But hey... what 2-year-old will EVER refuse dessert? He just smiles and goes with it! Ha ha

Louie is a joy... and a complete booger! He provides laughter and frustration; he is curious and inquisitive. Louie needs to understand the world around him and to do this he must touch, taste, climb, draw, create, break, spill and experiment! Those of you who have followed my blog for awhile, know that Louie excels at all of these things. In a nutshell, he is VERY, VERY good at being TWO! And I love him to death.... messes and all!

Happy Birthday my baby boy! Its is a pleasure to be your mommy and I can't wait to see what genius things you do in the future because of your curiosity at an early age! I love you "Biggie".

Happy Birthday Dewey

On May 19th, Dewey turned three years old. It's amazing to me how fast three years just flew by. He was just this little bundle with chubby cheeks...

... and now look at him.... a big kid who just cracks me up. He works so hard to keep up with big brother, Huey, and does not want to be grouped with Louie and referred to as "the babies"... he hates it when I say that. He gives me fits with the potty training... but then makes me laugh when he says "I so anry... I not wuv you amore". He's very cuddly, and sweet, sweet, sweet! He's also a major booger! I like to call him "Dewey Jekyll and Dewey Hyde". It fits! But I guess that's just how life is when you're three.

Dewey loves "frawbry milk" (or pink milk), "squirt cheese" on crackers (or.. the squirt cheese he licks from the crackers) and "MaDono's humgers". Tonight, while enjoying an Oreo cookie (or.. the frosting from an Oreo cookie) he asked for "more frosting please" and then was stunned that I could not just deliver more frosting. Ah, the mind of a three-year old. Some other things Dewey enjoys are Mickey Mouse, Thomas the Tank Engine and Blues Clues. Most of all, Dewey likes to spend his days playing trains and must have his Thomas train in his bed before he will even consider sleeping.

To celebrate his birthday, we had a quiet little birthday party complete with the "bouncy house" that grandma sent for Christmas. The boys love it when I pull that out! Dewey enjoyed opening gifts from Mom and Dad, Huey, Auntie Kelli (with the black hair) and grandma. He loves his Mickey Mouse t-shirt and movie and is really looking forward to shopping for a special something with the gift card grandma sent.

Such a big boy... it is a joy to be his mama! And I love watching him grow... though part of me really wants him to stay little a long time! Happy Birthday my sweet Dewey! Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

Happy Birthday Huey!

Huey's 4th birthday was yesterday. He is such a big boy now. I can't believe how fast these four years went. Seems like yesterday he was this tiny little bundle of love! Where did this big kid come from?

We celebrated by taking him to San Jose for chips and cheese dip. I did order real food, but for the boys it's all about the cheese dip. (Hey... It just occurred to me that the cheese dip at San Jose is WHITE... GASP! How could this be? My children devoured non-orange cheese???)

Anyway - we went to dinner... just the boys and I, and they were really, really good! So good that I am at a loss for material. But one funny thing did happen. While at the restaurant, Huey was trying to tell me about his finger that somehow got cut, or smashed, or bit... i don't know.. something. Anyway he waves his middle finger high in the air and yells... "THIS FINGER RIGHT HERE"! I spewed Coke all over the table! For once the mess I had to clean up was made by ME!

After dinner we came home and had a tiny little birthday cake and opened a gift from "Auntie Kelli with the Black Hair". A Thomas train of some sort. Huey LOVES IT... of course! And Dewey tries to steal it. You'd think that 3 million trains in this house would be enough... but no... Dewey must have the newest addition! Nothing else will do! Only the newest and the best... wait... kinda sounds like his mom. Oops!

Anyway - Huey had a wonderful birthday. He is such a delightful boy and I am truly blessed to be his mama!

And now the big news... Friday night after Huey's birthday party with his friends, we had a discussion about Christmas. He wanted to know all about baby Jesus and what it all meant. So I explained it as simply as I could and then he decided to ask Jesus into his heart. He prayed after me and he made it official. Huey explains it this way, "Jesus in my heart"! There are no words better than those! I realize he's too young to truly understand what this means. But it's a really good start!
Happy Birthday, Huey!
Mommy loves you so much!