Lost emails

Dear Friends & Family, yesterday and this morning, I may have lost some e-mails due to a problem with our domain....all is fixed now, but I have a feeling that some e-mails may have been lost. Just wanted you to know in case you tried to contact me....

Alvin!!!!!!!! (Alan's first trip to the movie theatre!)

Alan and I had our first outing to the movie theatre today to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks." I prepared him by saying that we would be going to see a big screen TV. He thought I was saying "scream" and would follow suit.

Of course we were the first ones on line....I was so excited!






The night before we watched the trailors of the movie so he had an idea of what we were going to see. There was some discussion that maybe we shouldn't take him to a PG movie, but the child has already seen Shrek and thinks he's an ogre, so how bad could a movie be about chipmunks? I finally decided to go when Eileen said she was bringing Sophia. We met them there, and of course I brought my camera!





Alan made it through the whole movie. He made himself comfortable and wanted me to take off his shoes. He had the popcorn on his lap throughout most of the movie. (I think his favorite part of the experience).



All in all, a very memorable day (a very cheap date...tickets only $4.00 tickets!!!)

Testing 1-2-3 (Vrooom!)

Alan is standing next to two of his FAVORITE things in this world. A microphone and a vaccum. Plus, he is wearing his new favorite vacuum shirt, designed by our friend Melanie...(who he adores).... How good can it get?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today we celebrated Valentine's Day by decorating cookies. To make things easier, we used the leftover "dirtcake" from the birthday party which resembles chocolate frosting as well as red and green Christmas sprinkles.

"Linda"

On the most gloomiest day of the year, "Linda" finally bloomed!! She is an Amaryllis. Emma brought her to live with us, and she has been sitting on our windowsill since Christmas, and now is almost as tall as Alan!





Alan wants Linda to sing, (we used to have a singing Linda) but I told him that she's a quiet plant. Instead, he decided to give her a hug.

Party Pictures

Thank you Beth, Eileen and Phil for the great photographs of the party! It was a memorable evening! (The following posting has my personal comments about the evening.) Love you all!

DECORATIONS







CHILDREN EVERYWHERE!!!





CRAFTS





THE PLAYHOUSE







CAKE






DANCING
Just as the first guest arrives, the dancing starts.


AND THERE WAS SINGING





...AND TUNING AND MORE TUNING

...AND THE WINNER OF THE SHREK PINATA GOES TO PATTERSON!!!



WINDOW PAINTING BY MIA



DAWN AND JULIE ("make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold")



BETH AND DAWN



BEN-BEN AND JULES



BABY OLIVIA AND MELANIE


STELLA



RICK AND THE MAGIC BALL


CHIT-CHATTING

RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT ALAN'S PARTY

Below are my random thoughts about Alan’s 3rd birthday party. I had such a great time!!! I have very few photos because I was running around and kept misplacing my camera, so please e-mail me if you have any. I will be posting some from Emma and Roger’s camera as soon as I get my hands of them….Also, Roger took video which is forthcoming, so check back in a few days for more…..

THE COLOR GREEN
I went overboard with the balloons – I purchased a bag of 144 green balloons to coincide with the Shrek theme. I think we have about 102 left over. Anyone up for a Saint Pats party next month? (About a hundred feet of green streamers, plates and cups left over too!)

CAKE
Bootie and Pop-Pop took home some cake today, and then after having a slice myself, I wrapped up the rest and put it in the freezer. I don’t know why I just didn’t cut bigger pieces for everybody….I thought Price Chopper did a good job. Alan is enjoying the Shrek castle. It is the cleanest castle around – its handy to have about 54 vacuum cleaners cut up from the Sunday paper.

SLIME
Well, I’m not sure how the slime/dirt/worm cake went over with the general attendees, but Emma told me that Alan loved it, especially the worms. While most of the boys shrugged their noses at the cake, kudos goes out to Mia, an eight year old girl, who was brave enough to let me plop some next to her cake. By the way, towards the end of the night, when the slime cake started to get really mushy, I dipped a few (many) potato chips into the gooey mix, and boy was that a dirty delight!!! Did anyone notice that I served it using a garden shovel?

GAMES
Winner of the scavenger hunt was Patterson!!! No, I wasn’t on Wonderama. That was Steven, but he wasn’t at the party (oops). Other factoids: Eileen (Emma) met Albert Einstein, Jules and Rick (Ricky and Ben-Ben’s parents) are musicians from NYC, Vin is an elected official and his wife Patterson (Eleanor’s Mom) is an environmental archeologist, Suzie has the most tattoos for a woman and Chris has the most tattoos for a male, Pop-Pop used to be deputy Mayor of a NJ township, etc…if you are dying to know the other answers, sent me an e-mail. And, Melanie was flattered that she was mentioned as one of the youngest at the party (I think they meant her daughter Olivia).

PUPPET SHOW
Well, though I had a puppet show planned in my head for weeks, it really didn’t come together until the last minute, thanks to Emma. I started with a script, and she perfected it. It was my first official “gig” with my guitar (which was out of tune), but all in all I think it went well. I recall making the announcement about the puppet show, and started watching people march upstairs to the office where it was set up, and I became worried that we wouldn’t be able to squeeze everyone in. Next year we’ll be more rehearsed!

CRAFTS
Weeks before the party, I had delegated the craft-making to Suzanne (Aunt Suzie). Thanks Suzanne for creating the Shrek masks for the kids, for your drawings, and for incorporating so many teacher-like activities throughout the evening. I especially appreciated your assistance after the puppet show when the children played their own scavenger hunt looking for the animals (thanks Bootie for remembering to hide them). At first, when giving instructions, I thought I heard Emma say that they were scattered throughout the house, I gasped, envisioning children hunting for animal figurines under my bed (AH!) or other crazy places. But I was assured that she clarified that the hunt was just in the playroom (relief!)

PRESENTS
Thanks so much for all of the great gifts!!! So many people to thank! A word needs to go out to Melanie, Ivan and Nick who gave Alan a T-shirt with a vacuum cleaner iron-on. It got ROARS of laughter! I have lots of new afternoon activities, books and games to play with Alan and his friends. Thanks again!

SINGING
Even though my guitar was out of tune, (though Scott made it sound better), Dawn and I did a few rounds. She has a great voice. Next time I will learn more John Denver so that Scott can sing along.

AND THE CHILDREN
And this was about the children, right? They were very adorable, cute and marvelously behaved – they ranged from 3 weeks to 8 years old and all seemed to have lots of fun. The cardboard playhouse is still in good shape (even though at times it seemed to be used like a washer on a spin cycle)…there were no tears, no fighting…..lots of sharing….and basically they all had the run of the house. Thanks to Mia for decorating my windows!

FOOD
I received a lot of warnings prior to the party that Mexican might not be the best selection for a children’s party. I couldn’t help myself. I needed to make a big pot of chili. The tamale pie and taco salad was dedicated to the 3 vegetarians (question on scavenger hunt), and I thought the tacquitos would be great for the kids. That’s finger food, right? Two hours before the party, these warnings were echoing in my head, so when I went to pick up the cake, I ended up buying two bags of chicken nuggets (good and reliable).

PINATA
Bye-Bye Pinata – you will be missed! You’ve been such a presence in my home the past week….You’re off to live with Vin and Patterson (this was the prize for the scavenger hunt which I didn’t announce beforehand for fear that no one would participate). At least I filled you with candy before you left. I just couldn’t bear to have the children bang you with a broom stick!

FIRST TO COME/LAST TO LEAVE
We love you Louis!!!!!! Portia, we missed you! Hope you feel better!!!

LOST AND FOUND
Found a black diaper bag on the bench. Found a pair of size 7.5 white nikes. Lost a camouflage children's hat.

FAMILY
Thanks to Pop-Pop for being the concierge and streamer-hanger
Thanks to Emma for being the puppet master and overall helper.
Thanks to Aunt Suzie for being the craft maker and overseer of all under 10.
Thanks to Roger for documenting it all with photos and video
Thanks to Grandma Bootie for all the set-up and clean-up (blowing up balloons, making punch, etc)
Thanks to all of the above who all took turns watching Alan, and for amusing me by having a “team-meeting” the night before to review the run-down, and to get assigned your duties (hee hee)

LAST WORDS
So having been sick for 6 weeks and missing Christmas (yes, I know people are getting tired of me saying that!), I think that this party did the job with replacing all of the celebration I missed over the holidays. Thanks for making it memorable!

Alan turns 3!!!

Today is Alan's birthday!!! We started the day with a trip to Pine Street for a wellness appointment. Then I dropped him off with Pop Pop and Emma so that Bootie and I could get more shopping done for tomorrow's Shrek party. Shrek is big in this house as demonstrated by the pinata mounted in the living room. It will be given as a prize for tomorrows scavenger hunt. Also scheduled is a puppet show....We have lots of green balloons and green streamers to hang up in the morning....I still have to mix up the swamp pudding (of my own creation) I decided to go with a mexican theme for food. I made a big pot of chili, vegetarian tamale pie and tomorrow I will put together a huge taco salad. For the kids, I'll bake store-bought chicken and cheese taquitos.
Tonight we had a small family party and Alan enjoyed hearing us sing happy birthday...and the MUCH anticipated birthday cake! Then, I asked my family to meet me in the living room for a "team meeting" to review what needs to happen to make tomorrow a sucess. You know, I missed Christmas from being so sick, and I really am looking forward to having this be a grand celebration! No doubt photos will be posted!!! Now, time for rest! Tomorrow will be a busy day!

Pinata Making

What to do on a rainy cold day when your son has the sniffles? Emerce your hands in glue!!!!! Alan and I are in the process of making a Shrek pinata for his birthday party. We have completed round one, and both just had a wardrobe change (glue everywhere)...now we wait for the creature to dry, and then more glue probably this afternoon





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Sumner's party (vacuum and all!)

Happy Birthday Sumner - you turned two, and your parents tell me that you love vacuum cleaners too. I could tell. Thank you soooo much for having a vacuum (and a fan) at the party. Alan really enjoyed himself. Also, thank you Dawn for making a playdough vacuum for Alan. Beth - tell your sister that I LOVED THE PEANUTE BUTTER PIE - please send recipe. (and sorry that some ended up on your foot Dawn). It was nice to reconnect with the New Paltz crowd. I miss you "profusely" (hee hee Erica!) Also met some new really cool people....Here are the photos!!!



DAWN MAKING A VACUUM FOR ALAN WITH PLAYDOUGH





ALAN DISCOVERS VACUUM CLEANER AND FAN AT PARTY

(and yes that is Alan hugging the fan...it's been a while since ours has been out...)







PARTNERS IN "GRIME"

As you can see from the next photo, Alan is discovering that he isn't the only one who thinks vacuums are cool. After a little negotiating, there was plenty of sharing...good thing that dust is plentiful in this world....