o/ Happy Birthday, Dear Emma \o

As of 1:50 pm, Emma is officially 9!

We had a wonderful day of orange rolls, lunch out, pedicures, a Rachel Ray steak dinner and Cold Stone cupcakes!

Emma has been wanting to "experience" a pedicure for the longest time, so I suggested we do it today. She was overjoyed! All the polish colors to choose from... the big, comfy chairs... the cute little flowers they painted on her toes...

Oh, life is good!

Before the pedicures, we had lunch at Olive Garden -- Emma's choice. Unfortunately, it was not the best experience. We were there almost an hour before our order was even taken. Scott's blood sugar level plummeted and although he was staying calm, I could see it wasn't going to last. Then Emma started to lose it.

I hunted down the manager and so apologetic was he, that he comped our entire meal and gave us a $50 gift card. You better believe we ordered extra dessert, even in addition to the birthday cake they presented Em with. It all worked out... It's all good...

Come on along and enjoy the birthday photos.

For the Love of Pink!

If you know me even a little, you know that I adore the color pink.

And you know that I'm slightly obsessed with Scrabble.

So what was I to do when, at Toys R Us, I saw...


Pink Scrabble??!!

There was no choice but to buy it. Honestly, had it been full price, I wouldn't have done it; but it was 50% off! And, as my wonderful friend Melanie, always says, "It just fell in the cart!"

(And another perk? I was in Portland at the time, so there was no sales tax! Whoohoo!)

If this photo doesn't say "birthday party success"...

... I don't know what would!

After last minute, Plan B planning, Emma's birthday party was fan-tas-tic!

The girls painted small wooden boxes and add some pre-painted wooden decorations. They chatted away as they painted, talking about school and teachers and pepperoni (Helen's crazy obsession) and cheese (Emma's continuing obsession).

As the boxes dried, the girls played hide-and-seek and a board game, then it was CAKE time!

Oh, duh! I should have thought to take a picture of the cake! We used a bundt pan in a castle shape and it came out perfectly. At least until I was lifting the pan off the cake and dropped it on the cake. I caught it before too much damage was done, but a couple turrets broke. Emma didn't care, thank goodness.

By the way, Emma made the cake and the frosting all by herself! I did nothing but oven-duty. She is such a great cook!

We all know what comes after cake. PRESENTS!! Oh joy!! I don't think a girl could have been more excited about her gifts. Check out these pix!

Helen gave Emma the *much* coveted Silver Soft Kitty Webkinz!



Kailee gave her a Barbie toy and two fairy books!


Brittney gave her a Planet Earth panda bear.

And get this...
Ashlyn gave her a block a Tillamook Cheddar! Ahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! Just look at her laughing! She turned as pink as her sweet little Smurfette shirt!

Here's the two of them together...


All the last minute stress was totally worth it. And, hey, now that the kids are older, the party was no big deal.

What exactly was I worried about again?

Thwarted yet again...

I apparently floated right past the "easy" line when the Big Guy Upstairs was handing out adjectives for life.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is Emma's birthday party. We called four friends last week and invited them to go glow golfing, then come back to our house for cake.

Easy. Inexpensive. Simple. Very little prep work.

And not to be.

I had to go to the mall today and while I was there, I walked over to the Glow Golf place to find out long it would take to play a couple rounds of hitting a very small glowing ball into barely lit holes.

Guess what?

Glow Golf is No. Longer. There.

Gone. Finito. Extinct.

I just stared at the empty storefront, causing a traffic jam of last minute school clothes shoppers.

What to do now... There is no Plan B!

Home I came to research options. What do to, where to go, how to create a fun birthday party in 18 hours. (Keep in my, Delicious Readers, that the whole point is to *not* have this at our house!)

Thank goodness for the internet and a very intelligent 11 year old daughter.

After brainstorming and researching for two stressful hours, we had three viable options:

1. Michael's had party openings available. Average cost: $12 per child, plus $50 for instructor and use of party room.
2. Young Art (a local art class place) could squeeze us in as a group of drop-ins. Cost: $28 per child.
3. Swimming at community center. $3.75 per child (but way more stressful than either of the other options.)

Emma, during all this, was at a friend's house. So by the time I got her back, we needed her to make a decision asap.

She nixed swimming immediately. She loved the Young Art idea, but was intrigued by Michael's because we had to go there to decide if, and what, she'd want to do there.

As she and Hayley perused the aisles and contemplated all the grand possibilities, the manager gave me the policy rundown. As an after thought, he threw in the little detail about the $50 fee. Ok, for what it was adding up to be, the girls could do a fantastic session at Young Art.

Long story short, we finally decided to buy little wooden boxes for the girls paint/decorate. And we'll just do it here at home. *sigh*

I guess I have to straighten the house. I guess I have to prepare. I guess I'll have to clean up the paint disaster.

It's so not as easy as it should have been.

Clunk.

That was my forehead hitting the table.

I'm Free! I'm Free! I'm Free! I'm Free!

Just loaded Emma onto the school bus and I'm free!!!!!

We survived the summer months in tact (miraculously!) and though they were a little reticent, the girls were ready to enter the routine of the school year.

Hayley is an experienced middle-schooler now, starting her second year.


Emma starts this year in the fourth grade. She's my social girl, so she's really more interested in friends than in schoolwork. She likes learning, of course, and is a great student, but she gets bored with it so easily.
After Scott and I waved Emma down the street, I danced myself into the house singing "I'm Free!"

I'm going to spend the next six hours of peace and quiet working, cleaning, hopefully playing FB Scrabble with my mom and making our traditional first day of school chocolate chip cookies.

Everyone take a cookie and lift up your big glass of milk! Here's to the first day of school, to moms who somehow made it through the summer and to the teachers that are blessed with the desire to teach!