Birthday party marathon

Today we had invitations to THREE birthday parties!! Three parties of people we love dearly, people whose children we lovely dearly, parties we didn’t want to miss. But how do you attend parties at 10:30 am downtown, 2:30pm on the southside and 4:30pm on the far northside? You don’t. You just do as much as you can until the wee-one tuckers out.

We started our day at the Children’s Museum, celebrating my college roommate’s twins 2nd birthday**. Seven kids, 6 adults caravaning around a crowded museum. Overwhelming, but fun. M’s favorite part, every visit, is the sand table in the Playscape area. Guess what we’re getting when the snow finally stops??

She lasted longer there than I imagined, and we then hit the road to head south for Z’s birthday. Z is Monkey’s 1/2 bio brother, and he turned 5 this week. J’s not been feeling well, so rather than do a huge party, she just had a few people over to her place for cake. We last saw J and Z in January for a belated Christmas visit, and we saw Monkey’s bio grams last spring. Again, much like last year’s party, it really was all about Z (which is the point) and we were like any other guests. Monkey was tired, and not all that sociable, but she did just fine.

I had no grand hopes of actually making it to our last party of the day anywhere near on time–but it was a hope that maybe we’d make it for a short bit after a nap of some sort. Monkey fell asleep in the car on the way home, and transferred easily–three hours later she’s still sound asleep, as is Daddy. I took a short nap and then called with our regrets–a birthday trifecta was not in the cards today. But hey, we got chocolate cake at party 1 and yellow cake at party 2…..so it was a pretty successful day after all!

**to be honest, we started our day at Walgreen’s, picking up pictures to distribute and buying wrapping paper for the gifts I would then wrap on my lap in the car…..**

Is the advertising working?

Every day, on the radio, I hear commercials advertising those kitchen stores–you know, the ones where you go and prepare meals and then take them home and freeze them. (My Girlfriend’s Kitchen, Super Suppers, etc)

Because you’re too busy to actually make dinner every night of the week.

Because you have no time to menu plan.

Because you’re too busy or too tired to grocery shop.

Maybe it’s repetitive advertising.

Maybe it’s my 75th attempt to do more than open cans or boil water with a 20 month old under foot.

Maybe it’s because by the time I sit down with the sales flyer the grocery sales are over for the week.

But I’m looking online and seriously considering booking a session. Partailly because I’m tired of eating pasta. Partially because doing the pots and pans is one of my least favorite jobs. Partially because I really do love to cook. And, partially, because the commericals make it sound so damn easy.

Has anyone tried this yet??

It really does rock

I got a great phone call yesterday….from a very good friend in California who’s experiencing her first Spring Break on the teacher side of things. We have kids the same age (I think M is like 11 days older)–and it was nap time for both. I know, how does one 20 month old nap in EDT at the same time one 20 month old naps in PDT, I don’t really know. But it happened. So I was watching Oprah and eating chocolate, she was sitting on the patio drinking a martini (she has always been more hip than I) and she called and said, “I’m LOVING this spring break thing. It is SO much better than Christmas break.”

And we proceeded to take the next hour to explore the merits of such statements, amongst other things. Like a) both of our 20 month olds shit on the floor within 12 hours of each other yesterday and b) holy crap bachelorette parties and destination parties are expensive, and obviously if the bride had kids she wouldn’t be planning such lavish events, and c) string cheese, applesauce and goldfish.

Things I will do today:

I will eventually get presentable enough to leave the house, run errands with SuperStreak (who may or may not be clothed) and get some “Easter” shopping done.

I will pack for the impending Easter weekend, including clothes for all seasons, since it’s supposed to be 35 degrees Friday in Chicago, but 50 on Easter.

I will attempt to finish assorted household tasks, since we’re leaving town tomorrow.

Things I will not today

I will not read anymore negative adoption blogs. I unexpectedly stumbled onto one this morning, and it turned my stomach and sort of pissed me off. I’m not going to go into it now, but sometime in the future, I will write about my thoughts on “all that”.

I will not eat any more chocolate that’s in my house for SuperStreak’s crazy summer camp fundraiser. Yes, she’s 20 months old, but apparently Rainmbow’s “bringing camp to her” this summer (i.e.Special Programming we must pay for).

I will not spend more than two hours working on “school stuff” today, because, after all, it’s spring break, by golly.