Birds of a feather

When my son requested a Spiderman themed birthday party, I had to order stuff from the States in order to make that happen.

When he wanted Ben 10 as the theme, shipping prices had sky rocketed, and no one in the country had any Ben 10 supplies. Of course, the patchwork Ben 10 party I created from scratch was quite a hit with the kids!

Now, of course, every store around that carries party supplies is over run with Spiderman and Ben 10. So great that they got on the ball after I needed that stuff!

So this year, when he requested Rio as his theme, well, I died a little inside.

If you haven't seen the movie, it's really cute! I loved it. Possibly more than he did, but not by much. When I took him to the theatre to see the movie, he sat through the end credits stating that he was going to stay there and watch it again! It was only the fact that we went to the last show of the day that finally convinced him to leave.

And of course, McDonald's had all the happy meal toys at the ready before the movie was even released.

So why? Why why why WHY are there no party supplies?

I checked local shops. No. (I didn't actually expect them to due to my previous experiences.)

I checked online. No.

I checked online in the States! No.

I've now set my Mom to work to see if she can find anything, but the majority of the party will be patchwork.

I'm not really complaining too bitterly, though. I kind of enjoy finding the creative solutions to life's little conundrums. And I'm not trying to make this party the talk of the year. I don't think this is going to gain my son any friends he doesn't already have (most of whom are girls with huge crushes on him! Ugh.), or influence people in lofty positions on the playground. Simple=good. Stress free=FUN!

And this year, the party is NOT at the house! BOOYA! Little to no clean up. Why didn't I think of this before?

Oh right. It's expensive to rent places. Nothing to stop us just showing up for a bar-b-que, though. And who doesn't bring tropical decorations to a mid-winter bar-b-que?

Yeah, tropical decorations are actually pretty easy to find. I stumbled across plates, napkins, cups, and ceiling danglies all with a tropical theme this morning. Half my work is done already!

As for the invitation, take a look:

Google picture from the movie + Microsoft Publisher = FABULOUS!

The back of the invitation has all the details about the when, where, what the party is.

Next step: set up a playlist on my ipod with music from artists such as Carlos Santana, and probably download the Rio Soundtrack and include it on the playlist as well.

Then, plan out goodie bags.

After that, plan a cake.

And finally, enjoy the party! 

Giving wings

When our children are born they are completely dependent on us for everything. And let's face it, that gets old really fast. We suddenly realize that there are 2 things that are deeply required, had been previously taken for granted, and which are now denied to us: sleep and bathing. But this denial eventually fades and we find balance returning once more as the child grows and becomes more independent with each passing day.

That's about when we realize how easy we had it when they were dependent on us for everything.

However, there's a brief time when they are still extremely dependent on us, but are able to take care of the little incidentals on their own and that's a really cool time. Unfortunately, it doesn't last long and they soon want to do the fun stuff on their own, too.

Sometimes it's really hard to let that stuff go.


My son had a school project to make a robot out of recycled materials. And this is what he came up with.

Now, I did help with planning and finding materials and supervised the hot glue gun, but he really took the lead on this one.

And it was really difficult.

I found it quite hard to sit back and let him make mistakes and have the joy of creating on his own. I'm a bit ashamed to say that if I could do it again, I would change it a lot and let him have more control. But, I suppose that's part of what parenting is about. It's a learning experience for both of us.

And since I know he'd be upset if I didn't share his favorite part: the jet pack on the back. It was the one requirement he had for the robot throughout the entire process. In fact, it was the first piece he found for it!




Happy Crafting!