A Dino-Mite Birthday: June 2011

When Kiddo told me that the desire of his little heart was to have a birthday party (with a cake and guests and games and favors) for his 5th birthday, my heart was filled with fear and trepidation. I think I've thrown a total of two parties, if you can even call them that, in my whole life and I knew absolutely nothing about parties for little boys. If you've never seen the 1937 movie "Stella Dallas" starring Barbara Stanwyck, you should just so you can fully appreciate what I mean when I say I never throw parties because I am TERRIFIED of having a "Stella Dallas" party. When I was about 14, I watched that movie and it played right into my insecurities. To make a long story short, Stella goes to great effort to have a fabulous Sweet Sixteen party for her beloved daughter, who is over-the-moon excited. Only guess what? NOBODY SHOWS UP. How awful is that? And it's exactly what I thought of immediately.

However, Kiddo is blessed with really sweet Church friends, a kind Gobby & Grandpa Bob, and darling, delightful cousins & aunties. So it all turned out well. The children were sufficiently impressed with my homemade games and decorations, and Kiddo seemed to enjoy himself immensely. BUT, get this: he says next time, he's planning his OWN party. To that I say, if it's not expensive or unreasonable, GO FOR IT. I'd be happy to not stay up all night every year to prepare for a party. Well, if I didn't procrastinate, I guess I wouldn't have to, anyway. :-p

But without further ado, here are the pictures! Enjoy.


The invitations I made-- that would also be the ONE part I didn't approach with dread.


The goody bags that I decorated for the party favors, which were of course, all dinosaur themed.

The Dino Dig Cake-- which would also be the part I agonized over most (other than the no guests scenario). I got this idea from the Family Fun magazine website. They suggest using Chocolate grahams, but Kiddo wanted regular graham crackers, which was fine with me. Their way provides more contrast, but ours was tastier. ;)

The party guests-- at least most of them. For some reason, the adults didn't all jump up to get in the photo. Hmm....??? If you look closely, you will actually find Kiddo in there too. Somehow we didn't get a shot where you could see his face. :( One thing I learned from this is that we really needed someone there JUST taking pictures for us so we parents can actually have good photos AND still participate in the running of the party. Oh well.

At first, everyone just wanted to play with Kiddo's toys, and I wondered if we'd even need to play the games I planned.

However, after playing a bit, we started the games. This was sort of like a cake walk. I played the Laurie Berkner song, "We are the Dinosaurs," and when I stopped the music, I would call out a number. The kidlet on that dino track would get a Dinosaur Silly Band. I totally stole this idea from a party put on by a local library.


Pin the tail on the Dinosaur. I got the dinosaur at the Dollar Tree, and made the tails myself in multiple colors of card stock.


The big kids figured out that I had taped the dinosaur on to posterboard, so if they felt around, they could basically figure out where to stick the tail. But the joke was on the kids, because I actually didn't have a prize for the winner. HA! I am SOOOOOOOO mean. Actually, I just didn't want any broken-hearted toddlers when big kids win all the games.

CUTE party guests. We hid Easter Eggs with tiny dinos inside them, and the kids had to find theirs. To make it slightly more difficult, I mismatched the tops and bottoms of the eggs, and so each child had to find his or her *own* unique egg. They had cards showing what their eggs looked like, so they would know what to look for.

It should be noted that a few months ago, this little darling also gave Little Friend his first kiss from a non-related girl. It's okay because I ♥ her. ;)

It rained all through the party, so it was a good thing that the only game I had planned for outside could be played on the porch. We had two buckets of sand with small dinosaur toys in them. Each child got to dig out two dinosaurs.


Opening presents. Did you notice Kiddo's outfit? YES, he definitely dressed himself. I told him he looked like a Christmas present, and he thought that was just great! :) Gotta love him.

Mommy obviously thought the Dinosaur book and lego set were very cool.

Kiddo decided he should serenade his guests, so he sang "Ye Elders of Israel" for them. Only our Kiddo... ;

Finally, the CAKE! It was chocolate, with chocolate frosting, covered with crumbled graham crackers. The dino bones were made with sugar cookie dough. YUM!

Ready to blow out the candles. I think that cute smirk says it all. Happy 5th Birthday, dear Kiddo! I sure do love you.

Page Three

Daddy-O took these adorable pictures of Kiddo after Church a few weeks ago, and I got such a kick out of them that I was inspired to attempt another scrapbook page. With SO many photos on one page, I had to use 12x12 paper, and felt I should keep it really simple. All I used for embellishments were some Hobby Lobby Cardstock, Paper Studio star brads, CTMH acrylic stamps and ink pads. The only problem is that I don't have any 12x12 page protectors yet... someday... This page may be too simple, but oh well. The real point is the photos, right?

The journaling reads: "Lately you've been telling me that you are not cute or handsome, but I have to disagree. Whether you're being silly or serious, you are one handsome boy!"

And it is so true. Kiddo came in the room when all I had done was the title and wanted to know what I was doing. He read "So Handsome" and smiled. So I asked him, "Who is 'so handsome?'"

"Daddy!" he answered.

"Yes," I replied. "He's handsome, too!"

Kiddo frowned and insisted, "I am NOT handsome!"

How would he describe himself? "Magnificent." So, it's definitely not a matter of low self-esteem! :)

Another fun way to waste time...

Have you done a "wordle" of/for your blog? Here is mine, in almost my exact favorite colors:
title="Wordle: August"> src="http://wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/144701/August"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

Or, if that doesn't display (it doesn't seem to on our browser), you can copy and paste this to view it:

http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/144701/August

To make your own, just go to http://wordle.net

It's pretty easy to do, and you can customize your colors, font and such. The one tricky thing about it for me is that it seems like the only way you can save it is if you save it to their public gallery. Therefore, you wouldn't want to use specific personal info. If you figure out something different, let me know.

If we ever get some new toner for our printer, I would like to make one for Kiddo that's frame-able, either using his dozens of nicknames, or the words that describe him, or his favorite things. Cheap wall art= a good thing?

SCANNER FUN!

1982: My fifth birthday, with Mom, Grandma Kinney, Heather, and my Daddy

You may have noticed that I somewhat frequently bemoan my lack of a scanner. No, that situation hasn't changed, but I finally had a V-8 moment and realized that, thanks to my cousin Steve, my Mom does have a scanner and that-- hold on to your seats, folks-- I could use it when I'm visiting her (Well, if the toddler is sleeping or being entertained by his Gobby). So since we went to visit her the last two weekends, I have been able to scan a few things, although each time I think about it, the stack gets higher and higher and higher....

Being the weirdo that I am, a lot of what I've scanned so far are:

• goofy pictures that just amuse me for one reason or another.
• cards I've been holding on to (from card exchanges, CTMH parties and such) because they were too cute to mail. Now I will hopefully get back to sending cards. In a somewhat related note, I have added a few posts to my Card Blog this month, if you're interested.
  
• I'm also going through and adding photos to posts in which I previously whined about not having the right photo available.

So don't be surprised if you see some "interesting" photos popping up in the next several weeks. However, I was good and haven't scanned any wild and crazy photos of my husband, who would be mortified to see himself looking less than dignified on the internet. Well, not yet anyway....

1983: Me on my Sixth Birthday. Am I a child of the '80s or what?!?!

I had to laugh...

So, our local newspaper's website has a photo gallery for kids to post their Prom pictures and I was curious, so I checked them out. When I saw this one, I couldn't believe it! These kids are gorgeous, but I just thought it was too funny that he's wearing a purple suit. By the way, I'm really not trying to be mean with the hats, hair and glasses-- I'm protecting their identities, like on TV.

Those of you who received our online gallery from my husband's Citizenship ceremony last summer might recall another handsome young man in a purple suit, and what my sweet husband said about it!

Another one of my "bright ideas"

So I started another blog a few weeks ago. Why? I have no idea. I haven't posted much yet, because I'm not sure if anyone would be interested seeing as how I only have about 4 regular readers of this blog. But hey, you never know, right? I guess I've been goofily photographing many of the cards I've made, although I rarely duplicate any of them in full because I tend to find things wrong with them. Big surprise, eh?

But if you enjoy any aspect of cardmaking, you might check it out at: http://some-almost-groovy-cards.blogspot.com and let me know what you think. Oh, and as my Aunt Joyce would say, be nice.

(The other way to access this new blog is to just click on my Profile and you will see it listed there as Card Show.)

Oh, the drama!!!

Like my father before me, I am not very good at labeling the pictures that I take. One of the reasons, in recent years, has been that I haven't known what to use to label them. I used to just use ball-point pen, but then I learned that the ink used in those pens is really acidic, so I stopped doing that. Then I tried using my beloved ZIG Millennium pens, but they took way too long to dry on the slick surface. Finally, I found these Slick Writer pens that are perfect for writing on photographs-- they dry super-fast and are acid-free. I've already used one up writing on pictures I was sending away to family members. Then I bought a package of 3 and set a goal to label all 20+ years of photos I have taken. This doesn't even include all the family photos and slides [covering at least 25+ more years] that my Mom gave me to organize.

Is it just me, or does that sound like an overwhelming task? I kept putting it off when I think of how long it would take. Finally, this Sunday, I began the monumental task, starting with photos from 1986 (I was 9 then). So far I've gotten to December 1997, which sounds better than it is, considering I've taken probably twice as many photos in the subsequent 10+ years. Anyway, in order to figure out when certain photos were taken, I have pulled out my old diaries/journals and desk calendars to piece dates and events together. This has been both amusing and sorta depressing as I read what a boy-crazy, emotional, sad sack I was. On the one hand, it's really interesting to see what I thought was soooooo important then. On the other hand, I find huge gaps and wonder why I didn't write about better things, such as my baptism or more about my family. I also tended to write a lot when I was angry, which is embarrassing now. I pretty much quit journaling by 2001, so there's no record of my courtship and marriage, etc. which is pretty sad. Luckily, I did keep up the calendars, at least.

So I thought I'd share an excerpt from an entry in my first diary, dated January 12, 1990, to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. Try not to laugh too hard!

"...I didn't see Chad. But I have been thinking A LOT about him. I wish I weren't though, 'cuz if I end up liking him, it'll probably blow up in my face. How come none of the guys I end up liking NEVER like me? IT'S NOT FAIR!! None of the decent guys ever like me. It's always the dweebs, or midgets or fatsos, or dummies or .... just no one I ever like !! Just once I'd like to find a guy. I know I'm not even 13 yet, but who knows how long I'll live. I may never even reach 13 for all that matter!!
"Well, anyway, I'm tired of writing about this depressing crap and 'Just the 10 of Us' is on. Bye!! Rachael"

Don't you just love the drama and desperation of a 12-year-old girl? Boy howdy!!! Unfortunately, some of my entries from college are just as dramatic-- although, at least I became more accepting of other people and stopped giving them such cruel and harsh labels. And I still like to overuse those exclamation points!!!!!

Do you have any equally horrifying diary entries from your youth? It might make me feel better to hear about them!! :)

Why am I so crabby?

Hel-loooooo!

So I thought if I went a longer time between postings, I might create some anticipation for the next entry... Judging from the very small number of comments I get and my mostly empty inbox, I'm guessing that I haven't waited long enough. Or something. Actually, The Husband has been monopolizing the computer lately with his papers and projects and presentations, etc., etc., etc. so I don't get so much time to post.

So here I am... and boy, have I been in a bad mood a lot lately. I don't know for sure what it is. We are all healthy, with a roof over our heads. The kidlet is mostly delightful. I've gotten emails this week from friends Camille & Amy C, adorable photos of the Allen kids, and have been thoroughly entertained by posts on friends' (& cousin's) blogs. My dear friend, Melissa, has called a few times in the past week. I've gotten to talk to my Mom, one of my sisters, and two of my fantastic nieces. I'm almost caught up with the laundry. I got five cards made. So what is my problem?

Maybe it's that all those wonderful people live so far away. Maybe it's that the daylight hours are getting shorter. Maybe it's that I hate the way grad school eats up all of my husband's time and most of his energy. Maybe it's because there's always more dirty laundry, and I seem to no longer be capable of keeping a neat house. Maybe it's because I keep getting headaches and when I tell my husband about it, he helpfully suggests, "maybe you're pregnant," when, ahem, quite obviously I'm not. Maybe it's a profound case of ingratitude. Maybe it's that I miss being in Primary. Maybe it's even hormones. Probably it's a little bit of "all of the above."

And also...

I agreed to give a talk in Church this Sunday. Bro. Richards said my reference was the Spring 2007 conference talk by Joseph B. Wirthlin. Great. I love Elder Wirthlin. I love his talks. Then he tells me the topic is "diligent work." Now what in the heck do I know about that topic? Or, how am I supposed to become an expert on that by Sunday? I wish I could just say "no, on second thought, how about we wait for a different topic?"

Help!!!!