Katherine's Birthday - Part 1

Katherine, my little angel, turned 5 years old last Saturday. We had an amazing day. It started out kinda slow. We stayed up past midnight to make cupcakes and Katherine was so excited. Heck, I was excited. It was her birthday!!!

For the record, I stayed up until 3 am making Raspberry Jell-o cupcakes, but I forgot to take a picture. So, here is a picture of the ones I made for her class the day before.

And yes, they were as yummy as you can imagine. They were delicioso!

So anyway, back to Katherine's birthday. This year Katherine's birthday is very confusing. There was the "party" at the school, where I sent treat bags with invitations to her home party, some candy, sunglasses, treasures, a notebook and crayons, along with her cupcakes. Everything seems to be a hit.

Then there was her actual birthday, where we had a visit from Gigi bearing a funny card. Then we were going to go out for pizza, games and bowling at The Gate. Oh, before hand, Daddy took Katherine to the store and let her pick out 2 toys, one of which Gigi had purchased, which is cool. (We paid $17.99 at Meijer on Saturday - Gigi paid $7.29 at Wal-mart the day before. Not cool Meijer, not cool.)

Well, we got through the Gigi visit and Katherine was only a little disappointed that she wasn't going to Gigi's house, but only because I was always convincing her that we were going to the games. So we get to the Gate (3 pm in the afternoon on a Saturday) and it's dark, cigarette smoky and crowded with adults. So we're can't bowl. We run through the alley part to the kids section (why is that at the back and not the front?) and almost all of the games were broken. Talk about crap. Plus, Katherine plowed through 5 bucks in 5 minutes. Not right!

So Jonathan had a brilliant idea - let's go to Chuck E. Cheese's! So we did - we went down to Alpine Ave. We got in there and had to wait in line a bit, but it was so worth it. We ate pizza and took turns running around with Katherine. She loved the crane game, but I didn't get a picture of her on it. But I did get pictures of her on pretty much everything else. =) And guess what? It took her 3 hours to plow through 5 bucks of tokens. That's awesome!

Afterwards, we went to the theatre next door and saw Madagascar 2, which was so funny. The theatre was virtually empty (there were 11 people in the whole place) and so Katherine walked up and down the rows picking out her new seat, all the while through the movie. She was quiet, though, and really enjoyed the movie.

After a long day, we headed back to Big Rapids, but stopped in Cedar Springs for a movie and something to eat. It was a long long day, but the best time. Katherine was so excited to go home, when we pulled into the exit, she screamed "HOME!". It was very cute.

Well, this weekend is the Family and Friends party, and then Katherine's birthday will officially be over. We've only gotten an RSVP from one of Katherine's school friends, so I don't know how fun that hour will be, but once her friends go home we will have family over for games and food. I'm scatter brained as to what I have to do yet, but I'll get there.

It's Fall? Says who?

Ah, says Election Day.

President Obama!!! Katherine calls him Bo-mama, which is hilarious. I'm so so so happy. I felt a thrill through my soul when I found out he won. It's like hearing a close friend won the lottery. You are so happy for everyone involved, including yourself, because you know you will benefit too!.

Well, the kids and I enjoyed this week's weather. It's been gorgeous! During the days, it's been getting up into the 70s. Too bad it's been getting dark so early or else we would be able to enjoy more than early afternoon.

It's been a weird week - I don't know why. I just haven't been feeling myself. I feel awkward and slow and uncoordinated in almost any aspect of my life right now. My weight is becoming a big thing in my mind and heart right now, so I'm trying to figure out what I should be doing.

Katherine's birthday party is two weeks and a day away and I can't for the life of me get back on party planning. I haven't even sent invitations to her class yet! This weekend, I promise that I will be making them up and sending them to her classmates on Monday. Katherine just can't wait to have Aimee Jo come to her house and her party. She can't stop talking about it!

Thanksgiving is the week after her birthday party and I'm semi-excited for that as well. I keep hoping that I will be able to have dinner for our family. I like preparing big dinners like that. Hate the dishes, love the work.

Well, off to collect fundraiser items, see if my car is needing a new radiator and pick up my girl from school.

Big Rapids Fall Fest, Planning Katherine's party and other news

Well, the Big Rapids Fall Festival was this weekend. In my opinion, it was crap. Now, I know that I had no hand in planning the event or donating any of my time, money or energy in the event, but I know for a fact that this could have been A: better planned and B: funner for the kids. I know what the 9&10 news story says. I just don't agree.

There were exactly 11 games at the festival (if we insist upon calling it that). Most of them were a spin on the Bucket Bonanza game made famous by Bozo the Clown (who, in all of his awkwardness, would have made the festival a hit instead of a miss). Then there were 3 different games of Pick a duck, all of the ducks bobbing upside down to show which ones were the winners and which were the losers. Then there were 2 fishing games, in which you throw a line over the sheet and snag a prize. Honestly, I could have spent a dollar at the dollar store and come home with better prizes and more candy.

I will be nice. Most of the groups were student groups donating their time and money to get some penny candies and some little prizes for the kids. The activities were supposed to start at noon, but by the time we got there at 12:15, they were out of prizes and giving out candy that had been dropped on the ground. If you think I'm generalizing, I'm not. I seriously saw a woman drop candy on the ground, pick it up and give it to a child. Yuck.

So, all in all, it wasn't the best time. Katherine really enjoyed seeing all the kids dressed up in their costumes and is really looking forward to trick-or-treating this Friday. She's also looking forward to something else...

HER BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!

She's been using her pretend phone to call me all weekend and invite me to her birthday party, which is perpetually tomorrow. She is so excited, and wants me to have rainbows on everything.

Since it is a rainbow party, I'm still trying to come up with more things that will be Rainbow-y and cheap, the magical combo. So this week I will be hitting up my favorite - Dollar Tree - to get her Halloween party stuff and check out what I can get creative with for cheap.

I have the perfect idea for her birthday cake - a rainbow layered jello cake. I've been searching around online and haven't been able to find exactly what I want to do, but I took an nudge from an episode of Ace of Cakes and an idea from online and I'm going to combine them into a Rainbow shaped jello cake. We'll see!

And for reference, I am looking for ideas for games and activities for the children at Katherine's birthday party, preferably color themed. If you guys have some, let me know!

PS No drinking games. ;)