Ellie's "Fishy Party"

Ellie picked the theme of her first-ever birthday party back in January.  She had just gotten her eye patch and I tried to get her excited about it by telling her that she looked just like a pirate and suggesting that we have a pirate party for her third birthday (I had previously been thinking of a puppy dog party since she likes them so much).  She immediately said, "No, I want a fishy party" and has stuck to it ever since.  Even when we'd reference her "third birthday party" or just say "birthday party" she'd get upset and say, "No!  Fishy party!"

The party itself went well.  Fabulous weather.  Great turnout (we invited 15 and 8 came which was plenty).  

THE DECOR:

Liz helped Drew and I blow up the balloons.  She also melted crayon shavings between two pieces of wax paper to make the orange fish.  Ellie painted the jelly fish tops.

THE ACTIVITIES:

We started the kids off in a borrowed bounce house.  We did the same thing for Lainey's third birthday, only this time we wised up and had a blow up air mattress at the bottom so the kids wouldn't roll out onto bare pavement at the bottom of the slide.  

The kids also played hide and seek, thanks to Lizzie for leading them (below Ellie is taking her turn counting), and drew with sidewalk chalk.

 Inside, the kids went fishing in hula hoops with magnetic fishing poles (also initially led by Liz).  Each fish had an activity written on it for the kids to do (a last minute suggestion from Nana) such as clap hands, wiggle hips, and jump. 

 While the kids waited for their lunch they put scales on the fish.

After eating we let the kids return to our outside activities or play in the basement with balloons and toys.

THE FOOD:
We gave the kids PB 'n J's, blue jello filled with swedish fish, goldfish, and apple slices, but the kids pretty much just ate the goldfish.

 

 We served mini cupcakes instead of full-sized ones because at this age the kids usually just eat the frosted tops.  Of course we felt that with a mini cupcake there wasn't really room for three candles.  Elle didn't seem to mind.  She was mostly excited about having everyone sing to her.

PARTY FAVOR:

Ellie picked a random stretchy ball, creature thing as her party favor because she was convienced that it was a fish.

THE GIFTS:

We didn't have Elle open her gifts until after the other kids left because we figured it would be boring for them (plus we weren't sure she'd actually open the gifts since she refused to at Christmas).  Well, she opened them, but it took awhile because she had to stop to examine and play with every gift.

Beauty & the Beast musical

A couple weekends ago Lizzie was in her elementary school's annual musical.  It was a lot of work, very exciting, and also a bit exhausting for the whole family.  (Most of the following pictures are from a fellow play parent, Marco V.)

Prepping backstage:

The beloved Director:

 Amazing Face Paint:

During dress rehearsals the makeup people practiced on adult chaperons.  So funny.  Something else that was a kind of funny was how terrified Ellie was of the cast once they were in makeup, especially  the head wolf (as seen on both the adult and boy below). 

Later Lizzie's face was also bejeweled.

Cool Costumes & Sets:

Pillow, paintbrushes, paint palette, and candlabra:

Clock, books, chair, pillow, Belle:

Beast (I painted the stars on the background windows, my only contribution while on the set committee, Drew did more):

Lizzie as Rose Legend (the person who tempts Belle's mom into taking the Beast's rose) and her little roses:

Dress Rehearsal:

Actual Performance:

Curtain Call:

I forgot to get Lizzie flowers on the opening night because I was so busy working at concessions and dealing with Lainey and Ellie, so on the closing night we tried to make up for it with multiple bouquets.  

Liz did three shows and Lainey watched (and loved) each one.  Ellie only made it through one show (just barely too).

Liz was grateful to have friends (and even her piano teacher) come support her in the show.

The Great Outdoors

I tried to take advantage of the nice weather while we had it (seriously, we didn't even turn on our AC once in April!).  We picnicked, played in friend's backyards, at local parks, and on our street with the neighbors.  Unfortunately we've pulled three ticks of Ellie in the past month.  Three!  Andrew, Lizzie, and Alaina have never had one.  I had my one and only tick at the age of 31.  And before she hits three, Ellie get three?!  Now that the weather is becoming crummy and I'm becoming a little tick-phobic we'll be spending more time indoors (or in pools).  

Ellie and Lainey put on a show at the Lee Rec ampitheater.  Ellie was some sort of monsters that chased Lainey around (not far off from our everyday lives, really).

We survived Lizzie track and field day (the only 80+ day sandwiched between weeks in the 60s and 70s).  I kept the little girls busy with snow cones and a bottle of nail polish.

Ellie and I spent the nice-weather day (nice weather according to me, some complained of the cold) at Huntley Meadows.  It was nice to do something just the two of us and I was surprised how much she held my hand (usually she runs ahead of/away from me).

Jamestown Field Trip

Last Wednesday Lizzie and her 4th grade class went on a field trip to Jamestown.  It was the culmination of a lot of work on the part of a parental fundraising committee.  We raised thousands of dollars which meant none of the children had to pay a penny and we could provide matching shirts for all of them (which were rarely visible since it was a cold, drizzly day and the kids all wore jackets).  I helped fundraise (my main contributions were working an election day bake sale and spending four hours ironing decals onto t-shirts) so I got first dibs on a chaperone spot which of course I snatched up.  Then, a week before the big event I worried that as a preggo I would be too hot and tired to keep up the kiddos so I asked Drew to go in my place.  He wasn't excited about the neon green shirt that he had to wear.  Also, he assumed he and Lizzie could drive themselves down instead of riding in a noisey bus with all the students and faculty, but he soldiered on.  Andrew reported that the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves, that they were attentive to the tour guides, and asked lots of good questions.  So, it was definitely worth all the effort and sacrifices (and the committee is already thinking ahead to next year's field trip).

 

28 weeks (and a few days)

I've been very lucky with the weather this spring.  It has been so pleasant and temperate, even cool.  Perfect for a prego.  I know I'll have some hot, miserable days/weeks/months between now and July, but in the meantime it's been fabulous.  

Not so fabulous is the difficultly sleeping due to my belly and my mounting anxiety.  Also not cool are the inconsiderate people who feel that pregnancy automatically negates normal social conventions.  If it's not okay for you to touch my stomach or comment on my weight before I'm pregnant, it's not okay now.

Prego Updates

I hit 28 weeks yesterday.  So far, so good.  I'm already high risk thanks to my "advanced maternal age" and history of premature delivery and stillbirth, but this pregnancy has it's own issues.  Doc report: "Placenta maintains an abnormal echotexture, with multiple lakes and areas suspicious for intrachorionic bleeds . . . The uteroplacental blood flow is abnormal."  Awesome.  So far it hasn't been a problem since at my last sonogram the baby measured at 60%, but the docs are going to keep their eye on me and possibly induce early.

As far as baby prep goes I think the main thing we need to do it pick a name, or at least narrow the list.  I gave away my baby name books years ago, so this time around I just combined all our old lists so we'd have a starting point.  When I look at some of the names and think, how did this end up on our list?  But, I left them on just in case Andrew had originally liked them.  We started with 87 names.

Initial cut: Adeline, Alessandra, Amara, Anastasia, Annalise, Antoinette, Anya, Camille (Camilla, Kamilah), Cassandra, Charlotte, Eleanor, Ellen, Fiona, Isaura, Jadyn, Jasmine, Jocelyn, Jolie, Josephine, Laura, Leisel, Madeline, Malita, Margaret (Maggie), Mariska, Marissa, Maya, Mary, Mia, Nadia, Naomi, Odessa, Odette, Oksana, Olena, Olivia, Paloma, Phaedra, Rabiah, Roxanne, Sabine/a, Sadie, Sadira, Scarlett, Selma, Shoshanna, Sidney, Simone, Sophia, Svetlana, Tamish, Tamsin, Tatiana, Tatum, Teresa, Tierney, Tierra, Titania, Tobi/Tobianne, Valentina, Valeska, Valette, Victoria/Tori, Viveca, Yvette, Zahara.  

I was sad to see Camille/a and Josephine go, but Drew made it clear that he would endlessly veto them.

Next cut: Ada/Adah, Annika, Ava/Eva, Genevieve, Gwyneth, Gwendolyn, Katya, Larissa, Lauren, Laila, Lydia, Malina, Melissa, Mila, Natalie/Natalia.

I was sad to see Lydia and Laila cut (two of my absolute favorites), but Drew was adamant.