{"id":1518,"date":"2017-08-09T08:21:55","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T12:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/?p=1518"},"modified":"2017-08-09T08:25:08","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T12:25:08","slug":"twinkle-twinkle-little-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/?p=1518","title":{"rendered":"twinkle twinkle little star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around 7:00 pm on August 4, 2017, I realized that the following day I would no longer have a 1-year old baby in my house. \u00a0I would bathe and put to bed a 1-year old on Friday night and greet a 2-year old in the morning. \u00a0I tried to dismiss my sentimental thoughts, but I couldn’t help but linger a little longer with Miriam on Friday evening, the eve of her 2nd birthday. \u00a0My wishy-washy sentiment was briefly erased by her screams to “get out” of her crib. \u00a0Still, later that night when the house was still and quite, I once again thought of how much she has grown and that time doesn’t wait for anyone. \u00a0In fact, there are elements of Sarah and Miriam’s babyhoods that I barely remember. \u00a0I am constantly getting details of their lives mixed up. \u00a0When asked what Miriam would like for her birthday, I told a friend about some of her recent favorite movies\/shows and later realized that I listed Sarah’s current favorites! \u00a0It’s really embarrassing to admit that, but I don’t think the handful of people reading this blog entry will judge me too harshly. \u00a0(which reminds me that it has been ages since I have written a “Sarah-centric” blog. \u00a0I am going to do that soon. \u00a0Well, that’s the plan).<\/span><\/p>\n

The two year-old birthday parties for my kids have had progressively less planning, organization, and execution. \u00a0When Rachel turned two, the theme of the birthday party was “music”. \u00a0I had the teacher from her Musikgarten class lead the two year olds in song and play. \u00a0It was great. \u00a0Sarah’s second birthday party theme was “princesses”. \u00a0Sarah was (and still is) really into Disney princesses and that seemed easy enough. \u00a0Rachel dressed up as Cinderella and blew bubbles for the little princesses, and I honestly don’t remember if we did anything else, aside from eat cake. \u00a0I did go to the trouble to make a homemade-fondant tiered princess cake, which dazzled the moms. \u00a0As of 3 days out from Miriam’s party, I didn’t have a theme. \u00a0Oh dear, how was it possible to NOT have a theme for a birthday party with organized games. \u00a0I had actually thought of games to play and spent the entire weekend prior to the party (seriously – I am sure that I had a mini-heat stroke trying to make our yard presentable and safe to move around in) getting the yard ready for 2-year old fun. \u00a0 I bought games that I hoped could be moved in doors if it rained, which of course it did. \u00a0Hahaha – funny how mother nature laughs at stuff like out door birthday party plans.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the midst of party preparations, I only had one truly stressful event – cake preparation. \u00a0I always put off cake preparation until the night before, because the task of putting together party decorations and cleaning the house is so daunting that I de-prioritize cooking. \u00a0That’s always<\/strong> a bad idea. \u00a0For starters, I typically have to modify my plans at the last minute. \u00a0For this party, I had planned to make a cake in the shape of the number 2, but I realized that a mess-up would require baking another cake. \u00a0Although I had bought an extra box of cake mix, I certainly didn’t feel like baking an additional cake. \u00a0This modification meant that I might need more fondant to cover the slightly larger rectangle shaped cake. \u00a0No biggie, the solution to increased cake size is to increase my batch of fondant. I made a second batch but realized it’s really hard to match cake\/fondant icing coloring if you don’t mix the batches together. \u00a0Somehow, I realized my error straightaway and worked out that glitch by kneading the marshmallow\/powdered sugar confection. \u00a0Crises averted. \u00a0The next morning, the day of the party, I removed the lovely fondant from the refrigerator (I followed the internet instructions to the letter) and was horrified when I couldn’t get the right consistency of the fondant. \u00a0After a brief silent scream, I gathered myself, figured out the issue and in one go, placed the fondant icing on the cake. \u00a0While I was in the midst of almost having a panic attack, Sarah kept asking “Mom can I help? When can I help? You told me I could help”. \u00a0After finishing off the major details of the cake, I gave her scrap fondant which she rolled into little balls that made up the trim. \u00a0We used the remainder of the fondant to decorate our cookies. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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cake – the trim was made by Sarah Amelia<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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somebody wants a cookie<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Another unexpected sibling issue was a little bit of middle-kid jealousy. \u00a0 I had managed to keep Sarah busy during the preparations, and she was very helpful. \u00a0 She tried her best to jazz up “her and Miriam’s” party. \u00a0At every turn, she asked when her and Miriam could blow out “their” cake. \u00a0She even opened several of Miriam’s presents. \u00a0I decided that Sarah was old enough to understand that each kid has her special day, and this time it was Miriam’s turn. \u00a0Bless her heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Despite my not great planning, I think that the kids had fun during the party, and it was nice catching up with and making new friends. \u00a0The games were not as terrific as I had hoped for, but they were ok. \u00a0There were two games: \u00a0a game where the little kids scooped up as many balls as possible, and the other was the parachute game where the kids shake a parachute. \u00a0Miriam didn’t like the parachute game. \u00a0She cried, and I laughed at the irony of it all. \u00a0Her hair stood up from the static generated by the parachute.<\/span><\/p>\n

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if you look closely, you will see little blond hair sticking up.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

At the last minute, Rachel decided to pull out her magician kit. \u00a0The 2-year olds weren’t as impressed as Sarah and Miriam with Rachel’s magic show. \u00a0 Her tricks were neat, but her delivery and performance weren’t exciting enough to captivate the babies attention. \u00a0I was surprised that in the midst of her tween-ness, she wanted to participate.<\/span><\/p>\n

A few years ago, a young mother asked me how to meet other new moms, and my advice was “if you get a birthday party invitation, you should rsvp and go.” \u00a0Over the years, I have enjoyed talking with and spending time with my daughter’s friends and their parents. \u00a0Getting to see my kids play with their friends helps me to gain a little more insight into a world that doesn’t always involve me and Bryan.<\/span><\/p>\n

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birthday girl – prior to be terrified by the parachute game.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

After cake and ice-cream, we wrapped up the party with a pi\u00f1ata, which had to be done indoors. \u00a0It was way too soggy for the kids to do anything in our backyard. \u00a0Bryan took the girls to the pool, so I could straighten up the house. \u00a0I was a little terrified at the thought of him keeping up with the three girls at the pool, but it’s hard to turn down the over for uninterrupted peace and quite while mopping floors<\/span>.<\/p>\n

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cake time<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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some party decorations made by Rachel<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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We rounded out the weekend with an Astros game, which was a lot of fun. \u00a0We hadn’t been to a game since Sarah Amelia was a baby, but we decided to be brave and give it a go. \u00a0Miriam actually did fine staying in her confined area for most of the game. \u00a0She was really tired, because \u00a0she completely missed her afternoon nap. \u00a0We almost left at the top of the 8th, because the kids were getting antsy, and the Astros were loosing. \u00a0We decided to stick it out, and got to see an amazing win by the Astros! \u00a0It was a nice way to end Miriam’s birthday weekend!<\/span><\/p>\n

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something has their attention!<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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group picture<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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tired!<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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We won!<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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Around 7:00 pm on August 4, 2017, I realized that the following day I would no longer have a 1-year old baby in my house. \u00a0I would bathe and put to bed a 1-year old on Friday night and greet a 2-year old in the morning. \u00a0I tried to dismiss my sentimental thoughts, but I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1518"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1565,"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions\/1565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myhusbandandkids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}