It’s A Jungle In Here

Last weekend, I hired the Lizard Wizard to come to the little dude's 5th birthday party.

I have to admit, or maybe brag, it was awesome! The kids and adults loved the show. Pythons big (55 lbs) and small (6wks old),

turtles vs tortoises,

big iguana,

frogs jumping everywhere!!

So, this morning LD wakes me up complaining about the frog in his room. I tell him that is great he has such a wonderful imagination. He scowls at me. Then he gets his brother out of his warm comfy bed to see the frog in the living room but when they get there, no frog in sight. Then he screams "look mommy!! on the door behind you!!!" And wouldn't you know, there IS a frog on the door behind me!

I call the Lizard Wizard and her assistant guesses that the Wiz is not driving all the way from the next county over for a frog. Happy Birthday Little Dude!!

So right away we dash out to the pet store (and by “dash” I actually mean slog through the rain and heavy traffic) and buy a small amphibian container plus some moss, water dechlorinator, and a sack of LIVE CRICKETS.

As soon as I moved Kermit into his new and improved home he ate a whole bunch of crickets and curled up under the moss. I’m starting to get attached to the little amphibian.

Sadly, the Lizard Wizard just called and wants her frog back. We can keep him until she is in the neighborhood again. Maybe Santa will bring us a turtle…

Alter Egos Abound

This year the kids told me they wanted to be ghosts for Halloween, again. “No way!” said I. I need more to work with than a plain white sheet. So we went online and dug around a little and came up with a few other options.

Can you guess what this is going to be?

How ‘bout now?

Born from ancient Celtic traditions, Halloween is a time to ward off evil spirits, mark the end of summer, tell fortunes, and acknowledge the dead. Through time and immigration, it has become the grand community activity that we love today. Nothing brings out community spirit more than the trust of neighbors opening their doors to any old punk willing to yell "trick or treat!" And lets not even talk about the trust parents must adopt in order to let our kids eat candy from stranger. Candy from strangers, people! Isn't that one of the top ten dangers??

Of course, kids and adults alike obviously love the opportunity to just let out their inner-selves, be something wild, live dangerously, even if for just one night. Which leads me to my little adventure dude. The one with the serious alter-ego. The one that can be a snuggle-bunny one minute and a bravehearted battlemaster the next. I guess that comes from being the last child and second son. So when he said “pirate!!” I was totally on board. We already have most of the extras, he just needed pants and boots.

Pants.
And boots.
Done!

Did you guess that the big dude chose race car driver? Because that’s what he is all about. Speed, man. Speed. It makes him zippy on the soccer field but a bit manic in the classroom. Oh well, we all have alter-egos to deal with and most of us are still able to function out in the big bad world. Thank goodness for Halloween when we can express ourselves a little bit. What inner-personality did you let out this year?

Oh, Baby!

Raise your hands: who loves baby showers? I do! I do! I'm a nut when it comes to them. I love the stupid games, and the cute pink/blue/yellow decorations, and all the beautifully wrapped super-soft onesies. But I also love celebrating that new life (or two or three) that is about to join the party and isn't that a great reason to eat finger sandwiches and sip punch? I think so too.




Plus I'm not going to be the one waking up 5 times a night with the little dude, schlepping him around, teaching him to use his words, etc. Another reason for me to love celebrating other people's babies.

So when my childhood friend turned up pregnant recently, I jumped to it. I love throwing a great party - hopefully this one fell into that category!


I would love to say I made the cake but the credit actually goes to the ladies at Cake. Yes, it tasted as good as it looked.

Thank you to everyone who attended and made it a special day for the new mom-to-be!