Another Birthday: The Saga Continues

We had Evan's birthday party at our house on Sunday- the day after Dawson's party.

I don't highly recommend having 2 parties back to back like that. Unless you are being paid.

Evan won't be getting parties at Brunswick Zone until he's 8. Unless he does a fund raiser. So he was stuck at home without even as much as a theme for his party. Until I was struck with a moment of genius 2 hours before the party was to commence. We bought him a Lightning McQueen car to ride around in our cul-de-sac so that became his theme. See:

And I didn't even have to pay for any of the theme related items because they came straight from Dawson's toybox. You might recognize the balloons.

Even though I had to use the confetti cake mix to make Evan's cupcakes I didn't let it get me down. I made half of them with raspberry filling and I made homemade butter cream icing to top them off. We shoved the icing in a plastic baggie and Jason frosted them and then I had him put sprinkles on because I'm talented like that. I should probably own my own bakery or something. Emphasis on the or something.

Aunt Nessa and Uncle Steve brought over more balloons and isn't this picture cute, with Mia and her arm around Evan?!

 When it was time for us to sing Happy Birthday and have Evan blow out his candles he started on the blowing a bit too early...

 If you look closely, you can see the smoke.

 So I asked Jason to light the candles again and quickly shove the cupcake in front of Evan again. He has to have a proper birthday.

 I was fearful he was only going to eat the sprinkles on top of the cupcake.

 So I shoved a whole cupcake in my mouth at once to set a good example of how to eat it.

 Then it was time to open presents. We put this one in front of him and smiled and gently tapped it with his finger. What the heck kind of kid does that? So I ripped a corner for him and he was fine.

 This is the Lightning McQueen car I was referring to. We charged it the night before so that he could ride it when he got it. Thankfully we got this picture of him showing he was happy with it when he first got it, because when he rides it outside, it's very serious business.

 I'm also thankful he was feeling better in time for his party because a 2 year old should be able to enjoy a cupcake without a space mask on.

Happy 2 Years Mr. Evan. We ♥ You

A Birthday Saga

Parents are spending hundreds of dollars on birthday parties for their children.

I would rather use that money to get my hair done.

There is a place near us called Brunswick Zone which has bowling, lazer tag and an arcade. It costs $179 dollars to have a birthday party there for up to 10 people. I don't even know 10 people. Dawson does, but unless he's having a fund raiser to have a birthday party at Brunswick Zone, hey. That's a great idea! We should have had Dawson have a fund raiser to have his birthday party at Brunswick Zone! I'll jot that down for next year.

Dawson has had several buddies who have had their birthday parties at Brunswick Zone. Last year, one of his buddies had his party there AND his parents bought him a Kindle Fire for his present! I told Dawson to keep that friend so that he could get a Kindle Fire for his present when it rolled around but that never happened. The cheapwads.

Yes. Dawson got to have his birthday party on Saturday at Brunswick Zone.

We had a coupon!

He got to have 2 hours of bowling, shoe rental and a pitcher of pop for up to 6 people 

for $39.99!

We are parent's of the year decade.

Dawson needs to work on his form. Or maybe learn how to hold a bowling ball

  He had 3 buddies from school who said they could come to his party, but one didn't make it because his mom got the times mixed up. This meant I got to have 3 cups of pop instead of 2.

I wish they would make a bowling ball that is lighter than 7 pounds. How can I possibly ever hope to get a strike unless they make a 3 pound ball? Evan was a natural.

Look at the spin on his ball!

I believe Evan knocked down one ball, after a half hour of waiting for the ball to near the pins.

I find everything about wearing used bowling shoes to be deeply disturbing. 

At the one hour mark, we took a break for cake and drinks.

 Dawson has a winning personality, doesn't he?

 I made the birthday cake and Jason decorated it.

Happy Birthday Dawoon! 

 I purchased a vanilla confetti cake mix for Dawson. But he informed the night before his party that he didn't want a confetti cake he wanted a chocolate cake. This mean that I had to use the confetti cake to make Evan's cupcakes for his party. Oh the drama!

Do you see these balloons? Let me tell you about these balloons. 

The morning of Dawson's party we remembered that we wanted to get helium balloons. Bonus, we were having Evan's birthday party the next day on Sunday so we could reuse said balloons. We purchased the 3 balloons and got to Brunswick. Where it was windy.

Dawson opened his door without thinking and the balloons flew away. Dawson cried. And this was mere minutes before his party was to commence. So Jason called his parents who said they would pick up balloons on their way to the party. And the balloons they purchased were 3 dollars cheaper. It's a government conspiracy.

Just as the boys were finishing their cake and pop, the staff turned off the main lights, turned on the disco lights, and the boys got their second wind with cosmic bowling.

 Soon it was time for presents.

 Dawson's a huge fan of the diary of a wimpy kid series. That series encourages my belief that I could write books.

After the party we took Dawson out for lunch and then to go see "The Lego Movie" where we met up with his buddy that didn't make it to the party. This meant I had to share my movie theater candy but I was okay with that because it meant Jason had to share his hot tamales with me. 

Valentime's Day

Dawson gets excited about holidays. Well any holiday that includes presents or candy. In this case, Valentine's Day is a heart themed Halloween.

He calls it Valentime's Day. It bothers me. I correct him continuously when he says it because I know of adults who pronounce it the same way. Or say "libary" for library or "secetary" for secretary. It's a tragedy really. My worst offense in this area was thinking "wind chill factor" was actually called "windshield" factor. I could totally be a meteorologist and get by with that term.

When Dawson woke up on V-day, he ran down the stairs and asked me if I was ready to get his Valentime's gift because he "might" have made something for me and daddy.

♥CRAP!♥ 

We didn't have anything for Dawson. Not even a card. I didn't think a little song and dance routine was going to settle the matter so I asked Dawson if he could wait for a bit and then we'd exchange. 

I was fully expecting him to rely solely on the gratification of his school Valentine's Day. We had to go buy him cards to pass out and his teacher sent out an email to us parents that treats were welcome as well. I mean, check out the bag they made in class and it was filled to the brim with candy and cards, pencils. Speaking of this bag. Jason and I were reminiscing about the fact that back in our day, we decorated shoe boxes. A clear indicator that we had higher aspirations of the love our class had for us.

 

Jason and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day. We don't get each other gifts or cards or anything. But If we can find a babysitter, we'll go out. So not only was I not prepared to have anything Dawson, I was fully prepared to not receive anything myself. Which led me to a brilliant idea.

I made my own bag.

As you can see, it's nicely decorated and it has my name on it. 

I took it to the road at the end of our driveway and sat it on the corner. Surely, there are people in this world that know how love works ( If you need a reminder of how love works, click here.) and they'd drop a card and a treat or two in the bag for me. 

After 4 hours I went to check on the love progress. I got nothing. 

So I walked my bag to the highway near our house. There's more traffic coming and going to Walmart on that road so I thought this would be more successful. I was especially hoping someone would snag a cup of popcorn chicken from the deli and drop it in my bag. When I went to check on the bag 2 hours later my bag was gone. I figure another girl named Joy needed more love than me so I didn't let it get to me.

I totally made up that story so that I could have filler before telling you how I remedied the Dawson problem I was having. 

After I told Dawson to wait just a bit, I had him go watch cartoons and I ran upstairs to Jason in a panic telling him we needed to act fast because Dawson was asking if he could give us our Valentime's Day card he "might" have made for us and we had nothing! 

So Jason went into stealth mode and left. About 20 minutes later he returned with a Matchbox car and box of chocolates for Dawson who hadn't even realized Jason had left. (Some of you parents might notice that cartoons can have that effect on your children). Jason gave Dawson his V-day love and we all hugged and Dawson ran and got us the card he made us.

If you'll click to enlarge the picture on the right, which is the inside of the card, you'll see the evidence that Dawson really doesn't mispronounce this holiday.

The bonus or me was that Jason spotted a butt load of guys picking through the wilted flowers at the store doing some last minute shopping for their loved one's and he picked me up a package of Reese's hearts.

Sorry about that little fiasco that you won't learn about until you start to read this blog Dawson. But we really do love you.

 Of course I won't leave out a picture of my other 2 valentines!