The Party's Over...

The monster birthday bash is over and since then there has been a whole lot of this....


And then there were two days of this....

(can you tell how this ended?)


And a day of this...




(can you tell how this ended?)


And way too many days of this..


So yesterday I finally got around to taking down the party decorations and was about to put them in yet another tub in the garage when I realized, what are we going to do with these? The answer is uncover them in a couple years and toss them out. So thinking they'd be better off being passed to someone who can enjoy them now.
I have odd numbers of favors and decor left. Not enough for a party, but enough to have a few friends over for a festive playdate. Any takers???
I can cram the stuff in a flat rate Priority box and ship it off next week. Raise your hand (also known as leave a comment) and we'll send it out next week. And should there be a brawl over them (ha ha), we'll draw a name on Sunday night.

We had a Monster Bash

Yes, just three hours ago~lol.
But what a sweet bunch of kids and Jack is thoroughly entertained with his presents so thought I'd share his third birthday party while I have my feet up. (Not to mention I'm looking at a weekend consisting of a soccer class, 4 soccer games and a gymnastics meet an hour away, so if not now, when????)


Okay, aren't these adorable? My crafty and creative friend Carrie made the invitations for me. And the shirt? Found that on Etsy and it is really well made. Love it!

Here's a few before the party pictures I snapped. My Cricut got quite a workout making this banner. So happy I had it. The monsters were added with temporary tape so maybe I'll be able to recycle it for future parties?

And here's a few more crafty projects. Found the canvases at Big Lots for $3, bought one and painted with some acrylic paints from my stash. Turned out pretty cute so made 3 more. It was honestly a project I completed during one nap.

These banners were prompted by the fact that I didn't have much monster decor to choose from. I found an adorable monster print and cut them out and quickly sewed them to ribbon. They looked cute from afar, but definitely not my finest handiwork.

We did have other food, but I put it out a bit later. The little monsters are puppets I propped with water bottles.

Made the cupcakes, but bought the cake for the adults at Nothing Bundt Cake, because they have the yummiest cakes.

The whole monster theme started with these felt bags I found clearanced at Michaels this summer. Came across the monster counting books at the dollar spot at Target, added a monster lollipop, monster rubber duck, and some adorable homemade monster soaps made by Melsfunsuds on Etsy. And a big shout out to her, she rushed my order with time to spare.


Found these make a monster sticker faces at Michaels as well.

Exhausted the kids in the bounce house.

Hope you enjoyed your party Jack. I promise we'll do the cars or trains next year :-)

Gymnastics

Last week Morgan had her first gymnastics meet of the season. It was at a gym 1.5 hours away so we were gone from 1:30 till 10:00. And the three hours I wasn't driving, I was sitting on a metal bleacher in an area smaller and more uncomfortable than an airline seat, unable to use a bathroom, and attempting to take pictures with a camera that wouldn't cooperate. And thus begins to explain my love/hate relationship with gymnastics.

Morgan started gymnastics as a toddler doing mommy and me classes and has never not been in gymnastics. She's tried other sports/activites, but they never seemed like a fit for her personality. When she was five she was moved to the developmental team. She has progressed and was training this summer level 6, but is competing level 5. Typical of Morgan's personality, she quick to learn new skills, but slow to perfect them. She loves the challenge of something new, but hates the monotony of the little details. Also typical of Morgan, she doesn't take it too seriously. Getting first place is not important to her, chatting with other girls about tv shows and music is. I like seeing her successes, but I know Morgan is not motivated by a medal. This can be a bit frustrating for her coaches, but to me I realize the Olympics are not in our future, so it's not worth getting worked up over.

So here we are approaching a fork in the road. When she finishes this season, I think she's decided to quit. The next level would be seventeen hours a week. She did the training this summer and she was pretty miserable-felt like she missed out on having a fun summer. Unfortunately when you progress as a gymnast so must your commitment level. I have mixed feeling about it. On the one hand, yippee, 8 less trips in the car each week. And don't even get me started about the money. Morgan's had a few injuries, but they've been minor so I'm glad she's leaving the sport healthy.

But as much as I complain, I do love watching her compete. I see this little girl who shows not a trace of nerves salute before the judges and do amazing things with her body that most people cannot attempt. I see a little girl who doesn't care about the type of medal she receives get a big smile on her face after her events. I see a little girl who has a disastrous warm up, shake it off and nail a routine. I see confidence, hard work, and a bond with her teammates. I will miss it and I will be the gym mom until the last meet this season.

I'm not sure Morgan can just sit at home, so who knows what she will choose next. Acrobatic horseback riding has come up, but that's been shot down. Maybe some golf lessons so she can play with the boys or maybe some dance classes.

In the meantime, I'm capturing this poised and confident little girl and proud that she is my little gymnast. (By the way, she had a great meet, placing 9th overall out of 70+ gymnasts)'

Happy Birthday....

Jack!!
It's been kind of hard to deny that I have a little boy moving out of toddlerhood lately. He sits at the table with the family for meals, sleeps in a bed, has potty trained, and has a vocabulary that expresses exactly what he wants and reflects his personality.
Here's my little time capsule of the last year.

Pictures

My almost three year old was due for an annual portrait at the Picture People. This was kind of spur of the moment, my membership was expiring so no time for a haircut and didn't bring a change of clothes. He had no nap so I was just hoping that we could leave with one good picture.
We ended up with such a great photographer. Usually I'm jumping up and down like a clown, but this time I remembered I had my camera in my purse and pulled it out for this little video while the photographer did all the work.






I need to pull out Garrett and Morgan's three year old pictures. The preschool teachers are telling me that I brought the boy version of Morgan to school. We shall see.