breathing a sigh of relief

We survived crazy party filled weekend #1...whew!

News item #1 - Seth and I are officially calling-less as of today. As I have mentioned, for almost a year and a half now we have been in charge of the activities committee in our ward and have headed up planning all of the parties. Well, about a month ago, our church restructured how activities are to be handled and dissolved the activities committee. We were asked to proceed as planned for the Christmas breakfast, but today we were officially released (and not given a new assignment). We have enjoyed this calling so much (well, I have probably enjoyed it more than Seth) and are sad to be through, but I have to say I am breathing a huge sigh of relief to have no church responsibilities right now. It has been a very long time since we have been without a calling and we certainly have enough to keep us busy in our home life that it has come at a very good time. I am a tiny bit hopeful that the "looming" move will prevent them from giving us a new calling...

we can hope anyway. :)

Completely off the topic of my post, but very much on my mind, today one of the sweet older ladies in our ward told me that she is just so sad that we will be moving and there is a house on her street that is just lovely and for sale and a great price...it was endearing that people don't want us to go and we do love our ward very very much, but I can say with certainty that we will most definitely be moving out of our current ward with this move! I read a post on my dear friend's blog today about her adjustment to a big move and change in her life and her sweet words made so much sense to me. I already toss and turn about where we will go and what our new ward will be like and who our neighbors will be and whether they will be ok with my child sneaking through their doggy door and waking them up in the morning (seriously...not sure we can possibly find better neighbors than the ones we have here). I worry about whether we can find another ward as loving and warm and "non-clicky" as this one and I stress about the schools we will send our kids to and the friends they will grow up with. And though I have already mentally moved out of my little house here with it's creaky stairs and tiny bathroom, I feel nervous to leave it behind because despite its flaws, it has been a home of sweet memories, new beginnings, successes and heartaches. It is the home to which we have brought 3 sweet babies home from the hospital and the ward that has brought us meals and oohhed and aahhed over our precious little ones. It is the home where we have potty trained 2 kids and 2 dogs, where we have baked cookies and sung songs, where we have celebrated birthdays and babies and weddings and frindship. It is the neighborhood where we have taken family walks, where I have learned so much about being a mommy from the wonderful examples that have surrounded me, where we have made some of the dearest friends I think we will ever find. And it is hard to imagine that a different life could be so wonderful as the one we know here, but I know that we will be led where we need to be. A place where we can have a life that is wonderful in a totally different way (and hopefully with a bigger bathroom, a fireplace and a banister)!

Whew...sorry for the tangent...back to my post!

News item #2 - The kindergarten party was a smashing success! The kids really had a great time and everything was lovely! You already know the details, so here are some pics....

These didn't turn out quite how I had planned...I had planned to just have straight sticks and a north pole sign taped to the stick, but we couldn't find the right candy canes and we ran out of time, so these just had to work!)

playing conductor says...

the snowball fight was the ultimate hit! The kids had a BLAST!

party plans

I am in the midst of some serious party planning with 2 big parties this Friday and Saturday that I am in charge of and another one tomorrow that I am helping with. I, being the naive overambitious mother of my first Kindergartener, signed up to be the head room mom for Morgan's class. While most people seem to think that was a crazy thing to do, I (not-so) secretly LOVE it. I LOVE planning parties. Seriously...LOVE. If we had a bigger house and any free time, I would throw a lot more parties (feel free to hold me to that when we move...oh wait, free time was also a requirement)!

I found this crazy awesome idea online for a Polar Express party...and then the wheels started turning and about a half an hour later I had concocted a very cool party for Morgan's cute little class. I have been mentioning the planning process on facebook and had several requests for me to share the plans, so, I don't have the pictures yet and I can't tell you whether anything worked or didn't because the party hasn't happened, but I am sharing the plan in case it is helpful to anyone else out there who isn't as thrilled that they signed up to be the head room mom. ;)

Invitation:
- I sent home tickets with all the kids early this week. POLAR EXPRESS ADMIT ONE. They outlined the date and theme of the party and instructed the kids to wear their jammies to school that day and to bring their ticket so they could board the train.

Set Up:
- We are setting the room up with all of the rectangle tables in a line like train cars. The chairs will all be facing forward

Party Schedule:
- Read The Polar Express book
- Play conductor says (a version of simon says)
- Make magic Reindeer food (add oatmeal, red and green sugar and birdseed to little baggies and add a tag...the kids will take these home to throw out on their lawns on Christmas Eve)
- Load Santa's Sleigh a.k.a. Musical Presents (their class has a Christmas Wishlist of supplies they need, so parents are bringing these individually wrapped. We will pass the presents around while the music plays and when the music stops whoever doesn't have a present gets to pick a present from the someone in the circle to load in Santa's sleigh -they are also out- it will continue until the last present is loaded and then the winner gets to take Santa's sleigh and deliver the gifts to the teacher's desk...basically like musical chairs)
- Sock Snowball fight (you fold/roll individual socks into a ball and the kids stand on either side of the room and have a snowball fight with the socks...yes we will tell them to throw nicely)
- TREATS (hot chocolate bar with all the fixins - peppermint sticks, marshmallows, whipped cream, sprinkles, chocolate shavings, andes mint crumbles, etc - north pole cupcakes - vanilla cupcakes with white frosting and clear sugar sprinkles and a mini candy cane poking out the top like the north pole - donuts and chocolate chip cookies)

And that's it. Hopefully we will fit it all into our 1 hour time allotment. :) Anyway, I will post pics after the party!

"This is my best birthday ever"

said Chloe this afternoon at her birthday party!

And, ya know, when you only have 3 to compare, it is pretty easy to make a statement like that!
Three is the golden age at our house...the first year you get a "friend" party
and we like to make it a big one!

It was a fancy tea party birthday...

we made jeweled and sparkly placemats

ate lunch of tuna and cucumber mini sandwiches, jelly rolls, little cheese cubes, strawberries and bananas...with fancy toothpicks of course! And lemonade "tea" to drink.

(which we really called lemonade so we didn't cause any worry

for little people whose families don't drink tea)

A LOT of tea was spilled on the floor (mostly by the birthday girl herself)

and "I need more tea/lemonade/another spot of tea" was heard
pretty much constantly throughout the meal.

Then it was on to cake...but petit fours are better than cake because

they are mini and cute and "tea party" sized. Love!

Did I mention they were yummy? Mmmm! Thank you bakerella!

the kids just loved the mini umbrella toothpicks too.

And then there was dancing, and Morgan dressing up in a princess dress

(which was very amusing for the girls) and opening presents,

which is a very hands on activity at a 3 year old birthday party!

Everyone "helps" open the present they brought and then they all want to play with them! Fun!

(yes, friends, that is Morgan in the green dress!)
Chloe loved her new pettiskirt that she got to wear with her birthday shirt too
(I miraculously finished it yesterday afternoon...cutting it a little close)!

Finally they each got to pick out a ring pop, candy bracelet and real bracelet and then
it was time to play until the moms came to get them.

It was a blast and her comment made it worth it...
sticky floor and all!
That said, I need a very long nap!