Saturday, April 27, 2013

Overheard

{Interesting Comparison by Emily}
"Eewww.... I just put some water in this Princess cup and it tastes like mouse blood!"

{Unique Compliment by Emily}

"Wow Abby... you look flowerless!", meaning to say "fabulous"as she modeled her new Easter clothes.

{Financial Analyst Style Response by Daddy}

After having to say goodbye to our dog of 11 years, Noah began a conversation with me about his desire for a new pet.  The conversation took an unexpected turn when Vance overheard it and chimed in!

Noah:  Mom, could we at least get a small pet?  Like something that doesn't cost very much money.  Like a RAT!  Did you know that rats only cost between $8 and $12?

My response:  Lots of yucks and other commentary about how disgusting RATS are and about how we will NOT be getting a pet rat!

Vance's response:  "Son... this would be a great time to give you your first lesson in supply and demand economics...." followed by a discussion of WHY rats are such cheap pets in light of supply and demand :)  

{A Good Tattle-Tell}
Emily was relaying a conversation Noah had with our next door neighbor and she said... 
"Noah told Brennan that his mom is really good at taking care of kids."

{Emily's Disney Standard Pre-Ride Question}

"Will there be blood?  Or fire?"

{Molly's Disney Standard Post-Ride Response}

When asked whether or not she liked the ride, she responded...
"I go sleep." {which I later figured out meant that she closed her eyes!}

Monday, April 8, 2013

Shark Bait {Noah Turns 8}


I'm not really sure how this happened, but Noah turned 8 last month.  

EIGHT.  
8!  
eight.  

It doesn't seem possible.  

Given that he was turning a big number like 8, I assumed this might be the year that we dropped the birthday party"theme" and standard decorations.  

But at Noah's request, it wasn't :)

He warmed my heart in such a big way this year as we talked about his birthday.  He desired a small party and asked to have 3 friends spend the night (a first for him). He also wanted to play mini-golf and arcade games at our local All Star Sports place.  It was a reasonable request and I immediately told him that would be a great idea.

Just to be sure that I didn't let him down in any way, I asked him if he just wanted to play Wii and other games with his friends when they returned from the Sports place or if he was wanting me to plan activities for them.

He responded by saying they would just play Wii and Basketball.  And then came the part that warmed my mama heart.  The conversation went like this...

Noah:  But can you still decorate a table for me?  Like you did for Emily and Abby.
Me:  Of course!  What kind of decorations do you want?
Noah:  Sharks.  Because everyone that I'm inviting likes sharks so they will really like it.
Me:  Ok.  I'll see what I can come up with.
Noah:  And can we still have goody bags?
Me:  Sure!
Noah:  And do you think you could surprise me with the table?

Now I know party decorations are not the key to every mama's heart, but his simple and enthusiastic request for something that I have always done for him made me realize how much he notices and actually likes the special-ness of his past birthday celebrations.

And so I obviously obliged and decorated a shark-themed table for 4 cute little 8 year old boys!


It was fun for me to do something on a smaller scale and because there were only 4 kids, I was able to splurge a bit on the requested "goody bags" and place settings.



Balloons hanging from the ceiling were meant to be reminiscent of the ocean...


The centerpiece was a cupcake and cookie tower topped with a shark head!

The "shark bait" goody buckets were a lot of fun to put together!  I stuffed the bottom with spanish moss and filled the buckets with a shark tooth necklace (great deal from this Etsy seller), shark cookie, "Sharks of the World" coloring book, Shark water squirter, blue bubbles, gummy sharks, and a few other shark-y goodies.  The boys loved them!




The boys got a kick out of drinking "shark blood" from a sea bottle!


I think this face shows how much he liked his shark table!
And we all survived our first sleepover with 4 sugar filled, silly 8 year old boys!



Happy Birthday to my 8 year old 
shark loving boy!
{blue teeth courtesy of yummy cupcake}