All the Sun For You

A mom, two boys, a husband, and a whole lot of adventure!

Category Archives: FUN!


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It’s Friday, Friday, Gotta Get Down on Friday!

Yes, those are some Justin Bieber lyrics, but hear them in your head being sung by the cast of Glee and now you’re in my head  😉

I need this weekend, and I don’t really know why.  We’ve had a good week, one that has involved some tantrums but Matthew is teething at a record pace right now (he still only has 2 bottom teeth but 4 top front teeth and also a molar up there) and I understand that he’s just not feeling good.  We’ve done some super fun stuff like going to the park (two different parks, even!), swimming, playing with the neighbors, and going for countless wagon rides.

So why do I need a weekend so badly?  I don’t know – I just DO!  Maybe it’s the massage I have scheduled for tomorrow that I’m looking forward to?  Probably (I haven’t had one since the week before Matthew was born)!  Is it the birthday party for our friends’ 3-year old?  Highly unlikely.  😉  Is it my sister’s surprise visit that she scheduled just yesterday?  Yes and no.

Yes and no?  Yes – yes and no.  My sister and I are best friends, of epic proportions.  I can’t wait to see her, but I also know that we are going to stay up way too late talking, and when Sunday rolls around, I’m going to be exhausted.  You take the good with the bad, right?  We’ll have a great time, but man, we’ll be busy!  She’s bringing her three littles (4, almost 2, and 6 months) so this house is going to be rockin with craziness in just a few short hours.  Maybe that has me a little tentative  😉

Whatever it is, I need the weekend!  I am hoping for a nice long nap for all of us Sunday after my sister heads to my parents’ house.  Until then, we’ll live in mass chaos and enjoy as many minutes of it as possible.

What are you up to this weekend?

Happy Friday, everyone!


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Super Busy Wednesday

We had a busy day – it started at 8:00 AM with a baseline mammogram for me.  Matthew went to the neighbor’s and had a ton of fun with his two buddies, V & W.  He woke up just before needing to go down there and downed his morning milk in the bathroom while I got dressed.

We then road-tripped to Omaha, just Matthew and me, to see my parents and grandpa.  My parents’ birthdays are this week – one yesterday and one tomorrow, so we headed back to take them to lunch.  We had a terrific lunch and Matthew shocked everyone at the restaurant with how much he can eat (it is a great thing, you guys, but man – he eats a lot and it’s hard to keep food in front of him.  I hardly had a moment to eat myself, and it was one of my favorite restaurants in Omaha!).  We saw a mama dear and her two babies in my parents’ yard and they were quite tame, and came right up to the deck for Matthew to visit with them.  It was actually quite unreal.  I left the camera in my pocket because I didn’t want to spoil the moment.  Matthew loved them – just loved them and talked very quietly to them.  So sweet!

Matthew slept for an hour on the way down, and over an hour on the way back.  This worked out quite well!  I listened to Glee  😉

Then we came home and had a veggie/fruit dinner that didn’t go so well.  Matthew tossed his entire plate of carrots on the floor in a fit of rage.  I could care less if he eats the carrots or not (he ate a ton of veggies at lunch), but I wish he wouldn’t throw his plate.  I know it’s because he doesn’t have his words yet, so I was firm with the “no no!” and then took him out of his chair and let him play.  I was not rewarding his fit with “dessert.”  I then loaded him up again 15 minutes later and he enjoyed is dessert of nectarines (as did I!).

Then, Matthew figured out how to climb the ledge by our fireplace.  I turned around and he was standing on it, proud as could be.  HA!  He understands, “sit down,” now so he got down on his bottom and then panicked because he couldn’t figure out how to get off the ledge.  His toes were just an inch or so above the carpet but I think he thought he was up way higher and didn’t want to take the leap of faith.  😉  I just let him figure it out and when he got down, he applauded himself (as did I) and now he applauds every time he gets down from there.  Good stuff!

   

And then we took some photos together because we have not done that in a really, really long time!

   

Matthew still smells like salmon from lunch.  Time for a bath!


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Our Road Trip in Photos

I took a major leap of faith and took Matthew on a big road trip – without B.  I sometimes wonder what I was thinking!  The trip was 6.5 hours each way (includes a 30-60 minute stop) and I wasn’t really sure what would happen on the road.  However, Matthew slept for most of the drives (both of them!) and only fussed for 20-30 minutes each time.  Unreal!

On the way there, we stopped at an awesome rest stop and I fed him his leftover salmon from the night before.  There was a cow pasture behind the rest stop, so we went to visit with the cows for a few minutes before getting back into the car.  We hit some rush hour traffic once in my sister’s suburb, but we just car-danced and sang our way to her house.

Once there, Matthew had the best time!  They have a dog which makes him the happiest boy alive!  Their dog is wonderful with kids and I didn’t even worry about how she would treat Matthew.  He pulled on her and climbed all over her, and she just licked him and loved him.

As I’ve already posted, Matthew didn’t feel much like going to bed alone the first night, but he did the second night and slept until 7:10 this morning.  That was nice!

We stayed very busy and I’m so glad I took this road trip with him because now I know he can handle it.  And I know that I can handle it.  It was truly easy!

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Birthday Photos Are Here!

My friend, Denise, is awesome!  She’s my close friend who does all of Matthew’s photos (and you know I love photos) and she is VERY good to us!  I can’t say enough nice things about her and her girls who have become the most special of special friends to us.  Matthew and I went out for dinner with her and the girls last night and we all just had a ball.  The girls love Matthew, and he loves them like he loves no other kids in the world!   He knows that C and R are special  🙂

Denise photographed Matthew’s party for us – and she is a perfectionist who would not let me see the photos until they were done.  I get that.  I do  😉  But I have been dying with anticipation and the wait was worth it!  Denise went above and beyond and put Matthew’s birthday party photos into a slide show so that everyone could see them… and it’s precious!  She always picks the BEST music to go with the mood of the event!

Birthday Party!

To my surprise, she also made a slide show of Matthew’s first birthday photos.  YAY!

The Big 1!

So there you have it – birthday #1 is officially in the books as we now count down the months to birthday #2.  I already have the theme picked out  😉


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Matthew’s First Birthday Planning Guide

(This was a page on my blog so that I could keep updating it as I worked through it, but now that Matthew’s birthday is over, I am making it a post.)

Matthew’s First Birthday Task and To-Do List:

1. Cupcake toppers – buy on Etsy? – Found tulle pom poms and will order – DONE

2. Design and make mobile/chandelier – DONE (will be put above cake on table)

3. Party Hats – Buy and then add animals? – NOT DOING

4. Design cake – DONE

5. Make cake topper – #1 and a big dear and a bird on the 1 – DONE

6. Order cake bunting and border poms from Etsy – DONE (got it done in the colors we’re using – not red, white and blue!!)

7. Design and create weights to hold down balloons – DONE

8. Order birthday shirt from Etsy – DONE

9. Order birthday hat from Etsy – DONE (did different color scheme)

10. Design and create Birthday Banner – DONE

  

11. Order cupcakes and cakes – DONE (I ordered 60 cupcakes for the kids, a two-tier adults-only cake (one tier orange mimosa and the other strawberry daiquiri), and a mini cake all for Matthew!)

12. Get invitations photographed and designed by White Linen Photography – DONE
  

13. Send invitations – DONE

14. Buy plates, utensils, table cloths, etc. – DONE (teal plates, green forks, brown napkins, orange cups)

15. Order balloons – DONE (ordered them today at party store – they will fill them up and I will pick them up 2 hours before party.  Easy Peasy!  Three bouquets of 3 balloons, 2 bouquets of 7 baloons)

16. Order Matthew’s presents! – DONE (we are not going crazy because he’ll get so many toys as gifts at the party.  He’s getting two “big” things from us.  Well… and I may did order one of these – checking on delivery times.  I’ve wanted one of these for his room since before he was born!)

17. Rent inflatable bounce house if it’s not too late – DONE

18. Check out paper lanterns for deck – NOT DOING

19. Make decorative pom poms – DONE (I have done them for the entry, but may do more for the mantle)

   

20. Make centerpiece sticks – DONE

Inspiration:

Finished products:

 

 

21. Favors – DONE – Sparklers for big kids, bubbles for little kids?  Talked to B.  We will have sparklers, glow sticks, and bubbles.  Each will be wrapped in a different tissue paper color and we will have a sign next to them explaining what each color of wrapping means, so parents can pick the appropriate favor.  They will all be in a basket at the door.

22. Glue letters and animals on banner – DONE

23. Buy groceries (beverages, ice cream, other food?) – DONE  We will have pulled pork sandwiches, artichoke dip, grilled chicken fingers for kids, nuts, white wine, bubbly, fruit infused iced water, beer, soda, juice boxes)

24. Clean house and get everything in place! – DONE

25. Make Forest Friend Garland for somewhere – NOT DOING


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Party!

Before I get started, it is important that I tell you that I did not take a single picture at the party.  Not ONE.  My good friend, Denise, was there and she took photos of the whole thing and I don’t have those yet.  She is an awesome photographer (she does all of Matthew’s photos) so I’m excited to see the photos!  With that said – what you see below are photos I took either just before or just afterwards – but nothing during.  I don’t even have a  photo of my cake table!!!  I will post a slide show once I have the “real” photos  😉

The party went really well – I am pleased!  I was disappointed that we weren’t better drink and food hosts – we left it as a, “serve yourself, feel free to get into our fridge,” kind of party (which isn’t like us), so that was frustrating, but that’s OK.  I prefer to serve people drinks just because – hey – I invited you to a party and I want you to relax and have fun and let me do the work!  BUT – there was too much to handle to be able to do that.  B noted that for the next party, he wants to hire a bartender and I agree!

We had some food, but we didn’t go overboard because the party was at 2:00 and we figured people would have eaten beforehand.  We got our pulled pork started too late and I was of the mind that if it was ready in time, then great – but if it wasn’t, then we’d have it for dinner with my sisters (did I tell you that my sisters came from out-of-town?  SO NICE!  And when I say out-of-town, I mean out of STATE!).  Well, it wasn’t ready and that did not stress me out one bit.  We had homemade artichoke dip and guacamole (B makes the best guacamole), a fruit bowl (strawberries and pineapple because I hate melon), and cake.  Oh, we had TONS of cake!

The only cupcakes left after the party (besides a whole box in the fridge). I cannot tell you how much I loved those pom poms!!!

We had 67 RSVP’s and 60 people came.  Only two families didn’t come who said they would – and a couple of families left a child or spouse at home that we were expecting.  I’m totally shocked by the turn-out.  We’ve hosted tons of parties and usually have about a 75% turn-out rate from those that RSVP as ‘yes’ (and if you’re wondering – yes, I have analyzed this data over the years as it helps me plan food and beverages for subsequent parties!).  The turn-out was huge and our house was not huge enough  😉

There was a glitch that worked out in our favor.  The bounce house guy never showed up.  This actually pleased me because it was 90 degrees outside and there was no way that thing was going to get used in this heat!  So I didn’t even call to ask where they were because I was supposed to pay them by cash or check, so I wasn’t out any money.  YAY!  And then?  Our neighbors were here for the party and when I told them about the bounce house situation, they brought theirs over from their house and set it up in our basement.  They have an in-home daycare (we tried to get Matthew in with them but they were full – and then I quit work anyway) and have the bounce house in a room in their daycare.  They had it in our house and setup within 5 minutes.  We owe them a major thank you!  The bounce house was a HIT!

Neighbors J and D save the day by bringing their awesomely HUGE bounce house to our basement for the kids!

We had a ton of balloons and that made me very happy!  I have no idea why I became so obsessed with having lots of balloons, but I did and they sure did make the house look festive!

Two of the 5 balloon bouquets – with balloon weights that no one noticed. HA!

The house was sweltering hot by the time everyone was here, and I kept telling people to go to the basement because it was much cooler down there, but only the kids and a few adults went down so the upstairs was packed!  We made the mistake of forgetting to put Matthew’s big toys away (jumper that we don’t even use, hit two activity tables, and his ride-on truck) so the kids that were upstairs were huddled together taking turns with the toys.  It was actually quite cute!

Matthew LOVED having so many friends over.  He was in heaven – absolute heaven.  He didn’t get fussy even once (at least that I noticed) and he mingled with everyone throughout the whole party.  Here I worried that we (I) were doing this all for ourselves but it really was one of his favorite days.  He had his fun cousins here, his best friends, and countless adults to blow kisses at.  I just can’t believe what a great sport he was through the whole party and then afterwards with our late guests (my sisters and nieces and nephew stayed with us – 6 overnight guests to play with!).  He had no afternoon nap, so he slept very soundly!

Matthew did not like the cake.  He made a pretty good mess of himself with the frosting, but he spit the cake out faster than I’ve ever seen him spit anything out before.  GOOD BOY!  I am anxious to see the cake photos because he was super cute with it!  His favorite part of the entire party (and this brings tears to my eyes) was when the entire house sang “happy birthday” to him.  He applauded as we all sang and continued applauding until we were done singing.  It was precious (and so memorable!)!

We have way too many toys in this house now, thanks to our wonderful friends!  Matthew was not into opening his presents but we had plenty of kids on hand to help out.  B’s coworker’s son, who is 9 and crazy about Matthew (which is so fun to see from a 9 year-old boy), distributed his gifts to him, one at a time.  Two of his most un-secret admirers opened his gifts for him and ooh-ed and aah-ed at his presents, trying to elicit excitement out of him.  HA!  They gave him kisses in-between gifts.  🙂  One of Matthew’s favorite girls recorded his gifts for me and I so appreciated that!  I seriously loved every minute of it!  I loved watching all of the kids rally around him to help him open gifts and celebrate!  It was so special!

I’m not sure that there is anything else to record – or at least until I get the photos which will surely jog my memory.  I’ll end this post with what were the most memorable moments to me.

  • Matthew’s terrific mood throughout the day
  • Our very generous neighbors who saved the day!
  • The entire house of 60 people singing “happy birthday” to my son!
  • The endless sea of children who helped Matthew celebrate in each of their own little ways
  • And my most favorite memory is of Matthew reaching up for me after he’d tried his cake, and him smearing frosting on my face and in my hair.  I proudly wore that frosting for quite a while  😉