Buckets of Rain

All I wanted today was to go to yoga class. That's all. To have from 9 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. just for me, my body, and my mental health.

That didn't happen because I woke up at 5 a.m. with a head cold and found Scott awake. He had to wake up at 3 a.m. and handle some work problem and then couldn't get back to sleep. So, we talked until about 6:30 or 7 a.m. and then both tried to go back to sleep. Both boys came in our room fighting around 8 or so, but I couldn't roust myself. When I finally got up at 8:30 a.m., I came downstairs to find my living room covered in Rice-fuckin'-Krispies where Beckett brought the box in the living room and dumped them out. Then, Brendan, from the moment I woke up was pestering me to help him find one of his Ben 10 characters, charge his DS, correct his brother for whatever it is he's doing wrong, use my computer, get him a snack (while I'm making his breakfast). And all the while, he's pestering me, his little brother is in the background, jabbering. Constantly. Not a moment of fucking silence.

I love my family.

But right now....all I want is to go to yoga class.

Pretty Fly for a Jedi

You just can't get rid of me, can you?

I haven't had a chance to write in weeks. Travel. School. Birthday parties. Various and sundry activities. My own bad mood. It has all conspired to keep me away. But I'm back. And I thought I'd ease back into ye olde blogging routine by sharing some photos and the details of Brendan's 7th Birthday Jedi Bash. It was, in my opinion, the best birthday party I've ever thrown.

Of course, before I write this, I have to confess that I fear I've turned into one of those over-indulgent moms who go too far with the birthday party. At least I didn't rent a train, or ponies, or rent out a theatre and play the movie Cars as one family I know talked about doing (they didn't, but I never would have even thought of it). So, while I may have lost my mind, I do realize it and I do know that there are limits. I'm not trying to outdo anyone. I just want my kid to have fun and remember that when he was a child he was loved and had parents who encouraged him to have fun and celebrated his uniqueness.

Now that I've thoroughly scared you, the details really aren't that bad.

We just had a Star Wars party and it was a blast.

I made the cake at Brendan's request. And I can't tell you how it warms my heart for the kid who tells me everything I make is yucky to tell me that my cakes are better than the bakery's. Per our young padawan's request, I attempted to recreate Yoda's home planet of Dagobah on the cake. Complete with Yoda, Luke Skywalker, and R2D2 figures (he had these already. I just cleaned them thoroughly and put them on the cake.) The brown lumpy thing is Yoda's house.

So, in addition to the cake, I planned some games including Save Naboo, which consisted of placing a giant red ball (my exercise ball) in the center of the room. Kids were divided into two teams – Droids and Jedi – and then the Droids attempted to capture Naboo (the ball) before getting tagged by a Jedi. Points were awarded accordingly. I also set up a Jedi Training Obstacle Course that consisted of having the kids weave through cones as fast as they could, crawl through a tunnel (from IKEA), and then climb over a sofa. Once they completed the obstacle course, they were rewarded with a Jedi robe and lightsaber. Those were their party favors as I am OVER goody bags and all the pointless little pieces of crap that go in them. I ordered the lightsabers but made the robes just by taking brown fabric, folding it into rectangles and cutting a hole out for their heads. I bought some thin rope to use as belts.

We also had a Darth Vader piñata which we let the kids attack with their lightsabers. That was great except for the part where Scott was holding the thing and got whacked by a horde of six and seven-year olds brandishing their lightsabers.

All in all, though, I think everyone had fun. Brendan still claims that last year's Star Wars party which consisted of nothing more than the kids running around and playing, eating pizza and cake, and going home was more fun, but I think the fact that no one cried at this party is a testament to its success.