the balloon fairy strikes again

it was noon by the time the bean finally got home after her friend's birthday sleepover.  i'm not gonna lie, it was really weird not to have her wake up in her own room on her actual birthday.  and we'd discussed it earlier that week when she realized that she wasn't going to see the handiwork of the "birthday balloon fairy" this time around.

"mom, can we still have the balloon fairy come this year even though i won't be there?  pleeeeeeaaaaasssseeeee?"

i mean, who could resist that?  certainly not me.

being the procrastinator that i am, i hadn't wrapped a single one of the gifts we'd bought for her.  i'd started gathering things to give her and tucked them away in our room, and so that morning i pulled it all out and started wrapping them all using the rainbows and unicorns paper i'd bought at target along with the few party decorations we'd used at the go-karting place.  and you know what's kinda awesome about having the party the day before her birthday + waiting till the last minute to wrap presents?  you get to reuse the gift bags...and even some of the tissue.  heh.

she was a little bummed to leave her friends after they'd spent the morning swimming and hanging out in the jacuzzi, but she was excited to see what was in store for her back at home.  she walked in the door, squealed when she saw the pile of presents on the table, and headed right for her room.

after changing into some dry clothes, she emerged from her room ready to get started on the business of opening presents.  i gave her the birthday medal we'd gotten the day before:

and then she tore into the first little package.

as she went through all of the gifts, she had quite the adoring audience.

there was even a bit of cheering happening behind the scenes.

the rainbow poop emoji reverse sequined t-shirt was a big hit.

so was the giant bag containing a couple of new huggable friends that she'd been coveting for weeks.

there was pusheen the cat EVERYTHING.

strangely enough, the item at the top of her birthday wish list this year was a zen garden.  she was pretty excited when she opened it, and promptly handed it to her sister to get it set up.

the piece de resistance was a stack of ten birthday cards from her beloved grandparents, each containing a handwritten sentiment and some cold, hard cash.  the last one was a fun pull-out card that featured the birthday song...sung by cats.  hilarious.

this year's haul (not including gifts from her friends at the party):

after that, it was time to head out and have some birthday lunch at the neighborhood olive garden.  she's obsessed with eating here for some reason, while the rest of us groaned inwardly and went with the flow.  for some reason the joint is always crazy packed, and we were quoted an hour-long wait when we got there.  oy vey.  although the complimentary glass of wine we were served once we were seated helped a little.

we followed that up with a pitcher of their green apple sangria, which smelled and tasted like a jolly rancher.

we were joined by one of her BFFs, and they were super excited to hang out again.

she also made sure to sit next to the old lady's special friend, who she adores.

birthday sweets:

as soon as we got home, we got started on a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies to take to cheer practice.  the first sunday practice of the year happened to fall on her birthday, and she was excited to bring some treats to share with her teammates.  she did pretty much everything from measuring to mixing to scooping, and all i did was put the sheets into the oven and take them back out again.

we rounded out the day with dinner at the local teppan grill restaurant.  she couldn't decide between sushi and steak for her birthday dinner, and i suggested it thinking that she could get both in the same place.  she was a pretty happy camper at the idea.

we all giggled at the chef's cart for the table next to us:

ever had a coconut martini?  i hadn't either, until just then.  i gotta say, it was pretty darn tasty.

there was the usual show - volcano + "fireworks," the "egg roll," and of course the beating heart of fried rice:

which then turned into a cross between mickey mouse and deadmau.

mmmmm, meat.

and of course, what's a birthday dinner without a silly hat?

birthday dessert was tempura-fried green tea ice cream and a green tea ice cream macaron sandwich.

one last group pic:

and then we went home, tucked her into bed and that was that.  birthday princess 2017 is officially over, for all of us.  whew!

racing right into double digits

the bean's birthday party was a smashing success.  of course, it went by in a gigantic blur, but isn't that always the case when you're hosting a shindig?  it's okay though - since we haven't done a house party in forever and have been sticking to the venues where they take care of practically everything, there wasn't much prep for us to do.

she and the hub had gone on a daddy date months ago to an indoor go-karting race track, and she had so much fun that she decided on the spot that that was where she wanted to celebrate her 10th.  this made planning her party super easy for me, although my concern was that the venue was a little outside of our local area and i hoped that people would be willing to drive out.

she planned every aspect of the party herself, down to the food (hawaiian bbq) and favors.  she'd originally thought about doing cookies or brownies because she really isn't that big on cake (i know), but then her sister talked her into doing an ice cream cake from baskin robbins.  since ice cream is her kryptonite, it was settled pretty quickly.  i'd planned on making t-shirts for everyone again like we'd done last year, but after badgering guests for sizes with only a few responses i gave up.  and so the bean decided to swoop in and make the executive decision to create a goody bag full of all her favorite things:  pocky, marshmallow wands, squishies, sticky hands, pokemon cards, homemade slime.

that morning, she asked me to do her hair after she got out of the shower.  we'd just flat ironed it for picture day earlier in the week, and she wanted to replicate the look for her party.  i busted out all the tools and got to work.

the hub left to pick up the food, the old lady was tasked with picking up the cake on her way from work, the ILs were taking their own car, and so that left me and the birthday girl to drive out to ontario for the party.  and once we got there, we were off and running to get the few decorations put up in the party room, set up the chafing dishes, all that fun stuff.

as you can see, i'm far from the partyzilla i used to be in years past.  i'd gone to target to pick up some non-character themed decorations and party supplies and called it a day.  gone are the days when i'd craft for weeks ahead of time and make sure everything was pinterest-perfect.  and let me tell you, letting go of those tendencies is quite freeing.  and cheaper.  heh.

it took a little while for all the kids to gather together, and they had a great time posing for pictures on the podium near the entrance while they waited to get started.

and then our race coordinator took them all to the junior karting track to give them some instructions, put helmets on and get started.

lots of rules, as you'd expect.

and then they got seated in their cars and took off for their 12-lap "qualifying" race.

it was really funny to watch them as they got themselves comfortable in the karts, and a few of them took off like a bat outta hell right from the start.  we were standing near a particularly hairy-looking curve that also just so happened to have the leader board posted above it, and they'd constantly slow down to check out their standing as they drove past.  this led to a couple of pretty gnarly crashes, but luckily no one got hurt and they continued the race.

when it was over they took those helmets off and headed into the party room to get some drinks and some grub.

meanwhile, it was time for some of the grown-ups to have a little fun.

we had my cousin and his wife, me and the hub, the old lady and her special friend and one of my mom friends out on the track for our own 12-lap race.  it was so much fun to pretend we were race car drivers and just go balls out on the track, with the guys taking the lead right off the bat and pretty much lapping the rest of us for the majority of the race.  at one point the guy held up the blue "passing" flag as i drove by, but i wasn't really paying attention.  and then when i passed him again he was holding up a sign that said "LET THEM PASS" and i was super annoyed.  like, no dude, this is a race, leave me alone!  but i scooted over to one side and two of the guys whizzed past me like i was stopped.  whatever.  ha!

after the kids were done with their second race, it was time for cake.

while the slices were being passed out, i put the bean to work handing out the goody bags.

i spy a photobomber hamming it up a little in this one.

i'm grateful to the other parents for having the presence of mind to take pictures of the kids for me.

 and on our way out i managed to corral my family for a quick group photo.

one last selfie before getting in the car:

back at home, molly supervised while the bean opened her presents.

a couple of months ago as we were driving home from school, the bean said that instead of presents for herself she wanted people to donate to a local animal shelter.  i thought this was a pretty sweet idea, and i told her that i was proud of her for thinking of it.  and then the hurricanes hit, with the news full of pictures and video of people suffering the aftermath of the flooding and everything, and she decided that it was more important to ask for donations that would go towards the hurricane victims.  and so whenever anyone asked what she wanted for her birthday, that's what i told them.  she still received a handful of really nice gifts from her friends along with a number of cards that told her that donations were made, so it all worked out.

later that evening, i dropped her off at a sleepover for a friend's birthday.  yeah, it was quite the action-packed weekend for her, and she was super stoked to continue the partying.  and with her taken care of, the hub and i headed out and had a nice date night, just the two of us.

see?  everybody wins!

the world has gone mad

there truly are no words for the terrorist attack in vegas this weekend.  this person, for no apparent reason, decided to get himself a room high above a concert where thousands of people were out enjoying a show on a sunday evening and rain down hundreds of bullets on them?  and then took the coward's way out and killed himself before he could be caught and have to pay for his actions?

"thoughts and prayers" and "hugs" and "love" ain't cutting it anymore.  policy changes need to be made, and they need to be made now.  yeah yeah, crazy people are crazy.  yeah yeah, people will get their hands on guns and shit if they really want them.  black market, yes, i know.  how will we control all of the illegal weapons?  you can't control everything.

JESUS CHRIST PEOPLE.  DO WE NOT OWE IT TO THE VICTIMS, THEIR FAMILIES AND LOVED ONES TO AT LEAST TRY??

we live in a world now where you can't go to a concert, a nightclub, work, school! and feel safe.  how is that okay?  if you're still against the notion of making changes to current gun control laws, could you look a victim or family member of sandy hook, orlando, vegas, et al in the eye and explain that to them?  could you??

the only bright spot in all of this is watching people come together to help when it's needed.  yesterday there were reports of 5+ hour long lines to donate blood, police officers throwing their bodies on top of others to act as human shields, people driving to the strip to load their cars and trucks with injured concertgoers to take them to hospitals.

there is more good than bad.

gearing up for birthday princess weekend 2017, 2.0

the bean kicked off her birthday princess weekend with an audition for her school's annual talent show.  this year, instead of keeping it to the elementary grades they opened up tryouts to the whole school.  that meant that she was going up against kids from transitional kindergarten age all the way through to the 8th graders, and that meant that there were quite a few acts going in to audition.  she was going to face some pretty stiff competition and i wondered if this might be the year she'd get cut.

she'd been practicing her ukulele in the car, between cheer practices, after school, pretty much any time she could squeeze it in.

she had a bunch of friends who were also vying for a coveted spot in the show, and they hung out happily as they waited to be called in.

when they went in, she came over to me and confessed "mom, i'm really nervous.  what if i don't make it?"  and i told her not to stress about it, to relax a little and try to have fun with it.  i mean, what's the worst thing that can happen?  and i got her to take a selfie with me seconds before she was called in.

back at home, i had her try on the new shirt i'd ordered for her to wear to girl scout meetings.  with the pressure of the audition over and done with, she hammed it up a little for me.

i put her and the old lady to work assembling the goody bags for her birthday party the next day, which is always a fun task.

and then later that evening, after the girls had done the work at their meeting, they gathered together and sang her the birthday song before she passed out some brownies.

the list of acts for the talent show was emailed out that night as well.  and it looks like i'll be on the hunt for a good elvis costume for her to wear, because she made it.  she's plucking out "love me tender" on the ukulele, and i'd instructed her to lean forward into the microphone when she was done and utter an elvis-style "thank you...thank you very much."  she said the judges laughed when she said it, and i'm willing to bet that just might have helped give her a little nudge into the "yes" pile.

this is gonna be fun.  although with the show not for a couple of weeks yet, i'm never gonna get "love me tender" out of my head.  argh.