We invited five girls and three are coming, plus Colin’s sister Kim.  Maggie’s counting her among her invitees (unlike the moms of the other girls), and I’m not sure how Kim’s going to react to Maggie’s plans to have her sit at the table with them.  Hopefully she’ll love it!  All the girls have been invited to wear their “princess dresses,” whatever that means to them, and Maggie doesn’t yet know that Kim will be coming as Snow White!  It’ll be interesting to see whether Kim comes “in character” (she used to be various princesses on Disney cruise lines so she really knows how it’s done) and whether Maggie will be excited to see Snow White or disturbed if Kim insists that her name is Snow White.  Four is such an unpredictable age….sometimes.

We’re serving “Pink Pink Lemonade,” as Maggie calls it.  I bought a can of pink lemonade concentrate and another of raspberry lemonade concentrate and asked her which she wanted, and she said she wanted the pink one.  Later I explained that raspberry lemonade is pink, too.  Then she got all excited and said we could mix them and then we’d have “pink pink lemonade!”  We’ll have peanut butter and jam sandwiches, cut into heart shapes, and cucumber sandwiches, cut into triangles.  And I made chocolate covered strawberries this afternoon, so I think they’ll like that (moms too!).  And we have a honeydew melon and grapes in the fridge, so if there’s time I may make melon balls and skewer them and the grapes with toothpicks for fun.

Yesterday I baked the cake, which I have yet to decorate.  My mom made me doll cakes when I was growing up and I adored them!  She gave me her cake pan this summer when we were visiting and now Maggie wants one.  I’m excited and nervous–I’m not half the cake decorator my mother is, and that’s not false modesty.  But I would love to make Maggie feel as good as I did when I got those beautiful cakes and it’ll be a fun challenge.  I want it to look something like this one from my fourth birthday, only in pink.

The one thing Maggie asked for specifically is a pinata.  I know, it doesn’t seem very princess-y to hit a candy-filled container with a bat while blindfolded, but Degen had one and Dora the Explorer had one, and she wants one.  And guess where I found a PRINCESS PINATA… At the dollar store!   How could I say no when I could give her her dream for $1?  So, we’re going to play musical statues and hit the pinata as activities (Maggie wanted to do “pin the tiara on the princess” earlier, but I’m hoping she’s forgotten about that).

I’ve got pink and white streamers for decorating the deck in the morning and I talked to the florist at the grocery store this morning and she said that they arrive at 6am, so we might do some helium balloons with those streamers if I’m feeling particularly relaxed.  If not, no one will know they were a possibility.

The favors will be the candy and toys (dollar store necklaces, ring pops, fun size twix and reeses, and some dollar store princess watches) from the pinata, plus a couple of princess-y accessories set next to their places at the table.  We’ve got dollar store tiaras (4/$1) and plastic jewel earrings (also 4 pairs/$1) and scepter wands (8/$1).  And I’ve still got to have Maggie decorate those white paper bags for the girls to take their things home in.  I hope I don’t forget!

I still haven’t talked to Maggie about what she’s going to wear for her princess outfit, though I’m counting on her going for her fairy princess costume from last Halloween or for a church dress.  And Degen protests that he’s definitely NOT a prince, though he does want to participate in the birthday festivities…so we’ll see how that goes.  I think Heidi will happily put on a pretty dress.  Oooohh…maybe I should do light pink icing on that cake since we’re having princesses in fancy dresses over.  I wonder if that’s why Mom chose yellow for my cake–I’ll bet it washes out easier.

I also need to make a Happy Birthday banner for the kitchen for Saturday (a Bushman tradition, those banners), plus maybe a sign for the front door for Friday.   And I suppose this evening I could cut some flowers in the garden for the tables. And I should set out chairs for the adults on the deck as well as the kids.  And I should have Colin help Maggie pick out a playlist on his iPod of music for the musical statues game.  Oh!  And I just read this idea to pre-scoop ice cream into paper cupcake liners that I may do.  I hate scooping ice cream under pressure.

Hopefully I’ll remember everything.  I’m planning on taking a photo of all the girls together in their princess finery and then printing the photo out and having Maggie help me write thank you notes on the back.  But if I’m going to do that, I have to remember to TAKE the photo!

Here’s my party schedule:

Kids arrive, play musical statues

Sit down at tables: tiaras, earrings,

Snow White arrives: lemonade & sandwiches

Pinata

Cake and ice cream

Open presents

Hopefully that will take up our hour and a half and the girls will go home happy and content.

For those of you researching for princess party ideas online like I was, here are some other good and inexpensive ideas I came across, but that I’m not going to do…

Favors: glitter, feather boas, lip balm, light colored nail polish, princess stickers

Activities: Make crowns, decorate cupcakes, play princess dress-up with goodwill prom dresses and mom’s accessories (or make it a relay!), string candy necklaces, practice walking with books on your head like a princess, build cookie castles (like gingerbread houses)

Food: cheese cubes on toothpicks, cream cheese and jam sandwiches, tuna sandwiches, anything cut into a heart or crown shape with cookie cutters, frosted sugar cookies with sugar glitter, olives (4 year old princesses look lovely with hands bedecked in olives), cupcakes, castle cake

Decorations: red carpet (made of tulle or felt or tissue paper or plastic tablecloth), “welcome to the castle” or “Last Name Kingdom” sign at entrance, tulle canopy

Two trips to AT&T Park in a week!  That is seriously unusual for us.  But the week after our free giants game was free opera day at the ballpark. This is one of the amazing perks of living here–free world class arts events.   And we got to see Verdi’s Aida.

We almost took the kids, but I think it’s good that we waited till they’re a little older.  Not because of the content of the show, which was fine, but because of the lateness of the hour.  We didn’t get home until after midnight and they simply wouldn’t have been able to stay awake and be happy that late.  Aunt Kim volunteered, unasked, to babysit at her apartment that evening and made it memorable for them with macaroni and cheese, strawberries, chocolate, and a golden sunset viewed from the roof of her building.  Then they all sacked out on her floor until we came to pick them up.  Aren’t we lucky?

Speaking of lucky, isn’t it amazing that I got to marry a man who likes opera?  Colin loves just about all styles of music, but I’ve been particularly impressed at how much he appreciates opera.  Even more than I, most of the time.  As we sat in the stadium, Colin wearing his new Giants t-shirt from the week before, the man in front of us laughingly commented that I must have tricked him into coming by making him think he was going to a baseball game.  It took me a minute to figure out what he was talking about, the concepts of tricking him and him not liking opera were so foreign to me.   When I finally caught on, his benign comment made me love Colin even better.

We attended with Colin’s parents and a friend from church, which made it all the more fun.  Sonja brought Subway sandwiches and cookies and we brought water and cookies, so there were plenty of cookies for everyone!  The official attendance headcount was over 32,000 people in the park and it was really neat to look around at everyone in their casual clothes eating baseball food watching a transcendent opera.

I’d never seen Aida–never even heard the story till I read the synopsis online a few days before.  The story is fine, the music was great, but the visual parts of it were my favorite.  The costumes and sets and lighting were really, really cool.  Bright, intense blues and golds and elaborate, memorable wigs were the order of the day.  The sets featured an ever-growing Egyptian hieroglyph that looked like an eye.  All on a humongous screen with a background of the bay and a gorgeous full moon.

Opening Song: Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam (Heidi can enthusiastically say “BEAM!” now, so we sing it a lot–”We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet” would be equally appropriate)

Opening Prayer

Lesson:

I had one of the kids hold up a picture of the First Presidency (Pres. Monson, Pres. Eyring, and Pres. Uchtdorf) and asked them to identify the Prophet and President of the Church.  They pointed him out and I asked one of them to tell us his name (“President Monson!”). One of the other kids was wiggling, so I gave her an old Conference issue of  the Ensign to hold and show everyone–President Monson was on the cover, smiling, and we talked about how he loves children and wants us to be happy.

I explained that the Prophet is the one who Jesus Christ has called to lead the Church, and that when he wants the whole Church to know or do something, he tells the prophet.  I asked Colin if he knew any scriptures about prophets, and he opened to Amos 3:7 and helped one of the kids read “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”  Colin explained the verse to everyone.

Then we read a scripture about prophets from  D&C 21:5 that says “For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith.”  Colin and I chatted a bit with each other about what “patience” means in that verse and the kids got bored.

I planned to have our family look at a talk from President Monson from the most recent General Conference and decide together what we could work on this month to do better at following the prophet, but the attention span had been exhausted and it was time to move on.  Maybe we’ll do that part this week instead.

Activity: Follow the leader around the house

Closing Song: Follow the Prophet (Children’s Songbook)

Closing Prayer

Treat: Oatmeal cookies Grandma baked earlier in the day

I’ll try to come back later and add links and pictures, but the Church web page is apparently having technical difficulties at the moment.  I can’t get to anything but the scriptures right now!  I guess if you can only get one thing, the scriptures are the thing to get.

I just heard Colin upstairs announcing to the kids “Glue is not food!” Degen did use a glue stick for his homework yesterday–one of the girls is probably tasting it. Good thing it’s non-toxic!

Maggie is very independent, and lately has been challenging my requests with “I don’t want to.” Today during family scripture study she said she didn’t want to read when it was her turn. After some negotiation, she settled triumphantly for reading two verses instead of her previously assigned one.

Why did the chicken cross the banana?
Because he wanted a somethin’, somethin’, somethin’ machine so that he could make everyone say “somethin’” so he could say “nothin’!” Just “brawk brawk brawk” and then he would now say “brawk brawk brawk.”

I love 5-year-old jokes.

Hmph…Thus, as soon as we can manage it, it’ll be time to go for a bigger car. A SEVEN seater (since six seaters are always just a lame third seat in the front, right?). I really like our current car’s good gas mileage and doable insurance rate. I just want something safe and affordable to buy and drive. Colin’s thinking a Dodge Magnum. Anyone have an opinion?

Today we went to Goodwill, where I almost bought a third copy of 7 Habits (the other two are in storage) and a flat iron for about $13, inclusive. But I was in the jeans section after discovering in the car that mine are fast becoming threadbare when my boy informed me that he needed to go to the bathroom. No bathroom in Goodwill, the fast food restaurant in the same parking lot was presumably closed at 9am, and with no other bathroom friendly places in sight I dropped my planned purchases for good or ill, piled the crew into the car, and drove to the nearest bathroom (yay Star Restaurant!).

Bathroom duties accomplished, we headed to playgroup at a friend’s house. I didn’t mention that it’s raining–that’s why playgroup wasn’t at a park today. This friend has a humongous tub of trains and tracks, the kind every kid dreams of. Actually, she seems to have every kind of worthwhile toy. Lots of cars, Mr & Mrs Potato Heads, blocks, an indoor playground, one of those awesome sensory tubs, and on and on. All the kids were in pretty much in heaven. And there were lots of kids today, and lots of moms, so we all got our social cabin fever treated this morning. It was really fun to visit and watch the kids interact, despite a near choking incident and another one-year-old girl pulling Heidi’s hair (hard) in innocent fascination.

I don’t know what I was thinking, but after playgroup we went to the library, where I coincidentally ran into a new friend I’d met at playgroup. Fun! But both of us were a little harried by trying to keep up with our kids going in multiple directions and constantly threatening to destroy the children’s section of the library. For example, Heidi really wanted to push the power button on every library catalog computer. And Degen and Maggie almost started a contest at one point to see who could put the most books in their take-home pile. Thank goodness I caught that one before the shelves were totally emptied! Our library has pretty much no children’s books on goal setting or learning to do chores for preschoolers, though, which was my reason for the visit. I fortuitously got one that the librarian said was good on learning to tie your shoes of which all four copies were checked out. She put a hold on it for me and lo and behold, the book was returned by the woman walking into the building as I finished checking out. Neat!

Finally we’re home, all taking naps or having quiet time after a “lunch” of bananas, leftover biscuits, and bagels sent home from playgroup. I had Costco hummus and pita for breakfast…which reminds me, the container of hummus is still in my purse. And I need to get a new purse since one of my handles is broken.

I was typing away at a project on the computer after getting Maggie and Heidi down for naps. I’d been trying to think of ways to get Degen outside more often with little-or-no inconvenience to myself over the last few weeks. Then it hit me–outside, exercise! Degen is now old enough to outrun me any day (considering my out of shapeness). A year ago trying to exercise with any of my kids in tow meant dragging them along or getting jumped on in the middle of a yoga child’s pose. With the girls asleep and Grandpa home to supervise the napping, Degen and I could go outside and exercise. Two birds with one stone and all that jazz came to mind. It’s a big deal to be able to have Degen with me and get something physical done at the same time. A milestone, if you will.

We donned sneakers and walked outside. I’m blessed to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world and three houses down the street is a big ol’ wildlife preserve/open space thingy with relatively well-kept, empty, sunny walking trails. Degen and I hopped on to a trail and walked a bit till we hit a flat, straight section and I told him he could run.

Degen loves to run. He runs laps around our dining/kitchen/living room all the time. We don’t let him run as often as we think we should. So, I felt really good about letting him run as long and fast and far as he wanted. And I felt a little bad that he kept stopping and turning to ask if he’d gone too far (not complaining about his carefulness, just feel a little guilty for limiting him). But yesterday he got to run as much as he wanted, as far as he wanted, and as fast as he wanted. His joy was apparent as he paused to yell back to his slower mother about the bird he could see in a bush or the “river” (irrigation ditch) or cow or whatever. I was excited when he told me he didn’t want to go home because he wanted to “explore” some more. Exploring is something I understand and want to encourage.

He probably ran (and I walked) about two miles. If we do it more often maybe I’ll be able to keep up with him. I’d like to be able to run like him. And I like spending time outside with him. Thanks for the fun, Degen!

Ha! Maggie is singing Electric Light Orchestra’s “Oh Oh It’s Magic” while she cooks. I think that song is on one of the latest F00s (if you don’t know what our F00 CDs are, check Colin’s website on the topic here).  Maggie is a singer, no doubt about it.  She composes songs whenever and where ever she is, and about whatever she wants.  And she likes to ask us to sing along, and gets upset if we don’t sing the right lyrics (even when she’s making them up as we go along).  Oh, to be two and have everyone tolerate your whims!  Now Degen’s in on the singing action, debating with Maggie about whether “Row Row Row Your Boat” or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” is the song to sing at the moment, as they drop the red cord of my previous post down the back of the couch in true preschooler fishing style.

Degen decided yesterday that it would be fun to try to learn to tie knots in a short piece of thin, red cord he found on the floor. Great! Knots are something any four-year-old can work on independently, no effort from Mom, right? WRONG! Tying the knots is something he does himself, but what happens when his string is all knotted up? He asks mommy to untie all the knots (now!) so he can re-tie them.

Red cord, untangled

The thing is, I feel guilty about my impatience with this process, not only because I’ve encouraged him to try and practice, but because I remember doing the same thing to my own mother! I think it involved knots in what must have been much more irritating and challenging thin chain necklaces. And my sometimes unreliable memory tells me that my own mother patiently unraveled those chains multiple times. So now I spend my time straightening 14 inches of tangled red string again and again and again.

Thanks Mom.