Someone asked me today what we have been up to lately and I honestly couldn’t answer them — “Same ‘ol, same ‘ol” didn’t really say much, but unfortunately it was true. Nothing too exciting.
Well, maybe a few exciting things…
Right after my last post Mike’s Nana passed away (okay, not particularly ‘exciting’, but it kept us busy). We will all miss her very much…
It must suck to be the last of three kids.
I say this because everyone kept asking Sophie and I what our plans were for her birthday the following weekend. PLANS? Uh…. didn’t really have any, “You better figure out what your going to do, you don’t have a lot of time to plan.”, was the usual response. Even Mike started worry about her party (or lack of). A far cry from 5 years ago…
Sophie’s dress I bought at a children’s boutique for about $100.00, then dropped $30.00 for the hat. Kathleen flew in two days before the party so we could make the food and cake.
We stuffed olives with herbed goat cheese, we made recipes from the French restaurant I used to work at — we were food snobs. Nothing from a can! Everything must be made by hand, from scratch! We even made her cake TWICE! The first time was just to make sure the real thing was perfect. The champagne punch had ice rings decorated with edible flowers…
W A Y OVER THE TOP — I know. Then I went to a ‘normal’ birthday party at a gymnastics place that weekend and had Kettle Korn for the first time.
I asked someone “What is this? It’s delicious, what is it called?” — “Kettle Korn? How do you make it?”
The parent stared at me and said “You don’t make it, you buy it. It comes in a bag.” really? I guess you could call that my epiphany moment, buying something already made never crossed my mind. My, how things have changed. Now all I need to arm myself with is a can opener, stuff already sliced and diced, …and bring on the rug rats!
Okay, I’m exaggerating, but let’s just say that Sophie’s six-year-old party wasn’t full of pomp and circumstance like her previous birthday’s. It took me awhile but I finally learned when you have a child’s birthday party, it’s best to keep all of the guests outdoors. We played kickball, soccer, freeze tag — all the ‘normal’ stuff you do at a six-year-old’s party. 
