Headed Towards Epic Failure

Tyler's birthday is next week, which also happens to be Spring Break at his school. Now that can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. On one hand, he gets the day off from school, but on the other hand, it's a vacation week which isn't the best for birthday parties.

Last year I awarded myself 'worst mother of the year' for not throwing him a party. I mean I never even considered the thought. We'd always had quiet family celebrations in the past and I just assumed that's what we'd do again. It wasn't until he received his first birthday party invitation just days before his own birthday that I realized that we could have had a party and invited his friends from school.

This year we promised to do things differently. We were definitely going to throw a party. At first we were debating between having it at home or having it at a venue like the Kid's Castle or the Family Fun Center. Since Tyler wanted a Lego themed party, we decided to do it at home, because that just seemed to make the most sense.

So with the party just days away, here's a look at what's been going on behind the scenes.

I made and sent out the invitations last week.

We stocked up on party supplies. It's impossible to find Lego themed supplies, so we just went with basic primary colored plates, napkins, streamers, etc. Notice that jar of Legos in the mix? That's supposed to be for a guessing game, where the kids try to guess how many Legos are in the jar and the one who guesses closest to the actual number gets to take home a prize.

We made banners.

For a party game, Rick made this 'pin the helmet on the racecar driver'. The idea is to blindfold the kids and see who can correctly place the helmet on the racecar driver. I guess that was kind of self explanatory.

We also had plans for Make-and-Take racecars. We wanted to have each child build the car of their choosing (from a selection of store bought kits) and then take turns racing them down a plywood track. Then at the end of the party, the cars would be theirs to take home.

I had big plans for the cake.

I also made Lego goodie bags.

This is what's supposed to be inside. Silly Putty, a sticky hand, a small 34 piece building kit, a minifigure, some candy blocks, and a set of crayons.

Now here comes the bad news. We are less than two days away from the scheduled party and no one has RSVP'd yet. NO ONE. Tyler invited 5 friends and so far we've gotten zero responses. Um, nightmare alert! What if nobody comes? I don't know what's worse, not throwing a party at all, or having one that turns out to be a huge failure.

Half-Way Point

Woot! I'm finally 20 weeks along, which means I'm halfway though this pregnancy. It's all downhill from here. Well maybe not....that implies that things will get easier from here on out and that surely isn't the case. At least as far as time goes, I'm on the downward slope.

So here's my 5 month belly. I don't know if it's the angle I'm standing or what, but my stomach doesn't look as big in the picture as it feels to me. I'm still squeaking by in my regular jeans and yoga pants, but that's about to end real soon. The same goes for my tops. They're running out of room just as quickly. I haven't stepped on the scale in a few days because I'm kind of nervous about seeing the numbers go up, but the last I checked I had gained around 9-10lbs.

Currently my waist measures about 36 inches at the widest part, but I'll tell you a secret.....I'm keeping my pants up with a little magic and the help of a rubber band. Anything to keep from wearing maternity pants. Ugh!

On Thursday I go in for another ultrasound to determine the gender of the baby, but let's just be honest....it's a boy. With Rick's genetic make-up and a look at his family tree, it seems the probability of having a girl is beyond minuscule.

The Main Event

Sure, yesterday was St. Patrick's day. We ate corned beef, wore green, and had a festive dessert, but for Tyler the day was all about something else. It was Thursday and that meant one thing. His favorite show Wipeout was on. But what made last nights episode super special (for him at least) was that is was the all-new Spring Wipeout with a brand new obstacle course. You heard me.... all new.

I wasn't sure he'd be able to hold himself together all the way until 8:00 at night, but he did and when the show finally started.....well, just look at that smile that spread across his face.

Yep, the show was so highly anticipated that he actually had to set up some ground rules for me earlier in the day. He said that I had to be done with all my noisy chores before the show started. For example, I couldn't be in the kitchen washing dishes or making something in the blender or food processor, or even vacuum because then he wouldn't be able to hear the show.

And I guess it isn't nearly as funny without the sound effects of these poor people being thrown off this obstacle and that.

Oh, but that was so yesterday. Now his mind is off and wondering what the Summer Wipeout course is going to look like. He's already working on a diagram.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today we went green from start to finish.

For breakfast I made green eggs and a green banana smoothie for Tyler.  I wasn't so festive in that department, instead having bulgur porridge with almond milk.

Then we dressed in green to make sure nobody would pinch us.

While Tyler was off at school, I was busy baking. He insisted on having green cupcakes for dessert, so I went with the same cupcake recipe I tried last month, but added a dab of green food coloring paste to the batter. Don't look too closely or you'll notice how I had to cut around the tops just to get them out of the pan.

Of course it wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day without my favorite Irish Soda Bread Muffins.

And the roasted corned beef and potatoes. I didn't bother with the cabbage this year, since nobody really eats it. We had peas instead, but I kind of wish I'd gone with asparagus or something a little more substantial.

An Exercise in Patience

Yesterday was Mardi Gras which means only one thing in our house. We get to eat King Cake for dessert.

Last year was my first ever attempt at making one, and since it's essentially nothing more than a giant cinnamon roll shaped into a ring, I thought it would be no big deal. And while it did end up tasting good, it wasn't without its problems. My main fault was in using instant yeast instead of regular and letting the dough rise for too long. Then when I put it in the oven it developed this huge pocket of air in between the top two layers. It had a giant gaping tunnel in the middle of the cake. I mean, a hamster could have crawled up inside the space and had a great time. It was miserable.

This year however, was going to be different. I was going to make the perfect King Cake.

But first, time for our annual photo op. I was trying to be cute and festive with my purple maternity shirt, but I think it made me look pudgier than necessary. Tyler looks handsome as usual....minus the collar of his shirt. Why does he insist on chewing them? Why?

Okay, back to the King Cake.

Things were going perfectly. It was like a dream. I had made the best yeast dough ever....by hand. As in without a bread maker. I shaped the dough and it rose just like it was supposed to. Then I crossed my fingers and put it in the oven to bake.

And when it came out......

Looks good doesn't it? From this angle anyway.

But wait until you see the other side.

Excuse me for a moment while I turn into a pirate. Arrrrrgh! The seam opened while it was baking, allowing the inner layers to spread out and deform all over the place. Breathe. I know I pinched those seams shut! Next year I'll use glue or staples. I'm not kidding.

Thank goodness for the concealing nature of icing and sprinkles.

As for the inside? Not so bad. Certainly no gaping holes like last year. The coil would have been much tighter and rounder if the seam hadn't ripped open, but hey, there's always next year, right?

The Everyday Stuff

It hasn't always been the easiest, but after 30 weeks, I'm stilling going strong with my Project Life. For the time being, I've completely abandoned regular scrapbooking. I just don't have the time or the will to keep up with the process. I have, on the other hand, somehow managed to keep up with Project Life. Maybe because it was a gift and I want to make sure I see it through to the end.

I'm slowly but surely filling up the pages of the album and at the end of the year, I know I'll be so happy that I stuck with it.

I know my blog posts have been few and far between for the last few months, but I just wanted to share some of the pictures that you've been missing. They're the everyday sort of thing, which I probably wouldn't have blogged about anyway, but that did make it into the album. So here goes....

This is what I see practically every time I get in the car, but this particular photo was taken one day when I was picking Tyler up from school.

This is an example of the sort of work Tyler brings home from school. Labeling the anatomies of different animals is something he does to satisfy the Science portion of his weekly contract.

I hate to admit it, but the boys (well mostly Rick at Tyler's coaxing) have been playing an obscene amount of Mario on the Wii. This screen shot is of world 2, but Rick has long since beat the game and is now racking up some serious hours on Mario Kart.

I know what you're thinking, but please don't call the nutritional police. I'm pregnant and I'm allowed to have stuff like this secretly when nobody is looking.

With temperatures in the mid 40's, you'd think we'd be running down the streets in our bathing suits, but hey, at least we're getting back outside.

News Flash: Tyler loves Mousetrap......maybe even more than Monopoly, if that's possible.

I made some S'mores Brownies last month and they were pretty good. I failed slightly on the crust part, but that was due to a butter shortage. Or at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Last month when Subway was having that promotion on $5 footlongs, Tyler and I went and got the flatbread bacon and egg sandwich. You know what....it tastes better than the egg mcmuffin at McDonald's.

Carmelita knows this isn't allowed (you know sitting on kitchen counters), but she couldn't help herself with all those wild birds outside at the feeders.

Tyler has been really into melty beads lately and I've been in charge of ironing all of his creations.

The new bank near our house finally opened. How glad are we that we don't have to drive all the way across town just to make a simple deposit?

I've still been working out 5 days a week. The pace and intensity is not quite what it was before, but I'm doing the best I can.

Red Velvet Cheesecake cups. Good, but not as much cheesecake flavor as I was hoping for.

Bored yet? Okay I'll give it a rest.

Pancake Day

As with previous years, we decided to take advantage of IHOP's National Pancake Day and go in for our free short stack of pancakes. Last year we ended up having the pancakes for dinner since Tyler was in school during the day and this year we did the same thing.

We got to the restaurant right around 6:00 and it was perfect because there was almost no wait. They seated us quickly and the food was served pretty fast as well.

Yum! I could eat pancakes every day. The only thing that could make me happier is a little bit of coconut syrup.....maybe I should have smuggled some in from home.