Outsmarted?

It's Sunday morning and I hear my beautiful boy stirring in his room, stretching before tackling the day, full speed ahead. I lay in bed, peck my husband's cheek with a whisper of a kiss, and scurry out of our bedroom, closing the door silently behind me. I crawl into my stretching son's bed for some cuddles, preparing him softly for the declaration I am about to proclaim.

"You know," I say as I sheepishly scurry around the issue, "Your van Gogh art project is due on Monday. You've had all weekend to work on it and today is Sunday, so, guess what? I know you've got your grand plans for the day marinating in your mind but the moment your little feet hit the ground from off this bed, you will, without argument, finish your van Gogh. Got it?" After attempts to use the Sabbath as an excuse from work, my son nods in defeat or so I think and I leave to go downstairs to see what the fridge has in store for our Sunday breakfast.

The kitchen is already beaming with brightness. I open the fridge and spot corn mush (seriously, don't knock it 'til you try it - YUM!). OK, at least I have a plan so when Super Hubby emerges from his slumber I can get down to feeding my clan. In the meantime, I plop down at the kitchen table, examining my son's latest creation, LEGO Heroica. He's taken 2 of the Heroica sets and combined them to make 1 game out of them all. We haven't played, yet, but the game becomes my ally in the end.

I hear thump, thump, thump coming down the stairs at a slow and steady pace. Too lazy-morning-Sunday to get up from my chair and feed my curiosity (plus, I know what happened to the cat), I let the answers unfold naturally. Thump, thump.

Here comes my son, my love, using pillows like ice skates to get around. I'd like to point out that these pillow cases are vintage 1970's Star Wars, priceless, from Super Hubby's childhood, and nearly threadless after this stunt! "You said my feet had to touch the ground before I had to finish my art project and this does not count. My feet have not touched the ground since I went to bed last night," my son spews out like a Sunday gospel sermon. I just stared at him, thankful Super Hubby was sleeping proof there is a God and not witnessing his vintage 1970's Star Wars pillow cases withering away with each push and glide.

OK, the kid had me. He really had me. Then, I pulled out the oldest trick in the book, one that can only be used by an adult because it requires calmness, patience, and bit of the old "redirection" action. If you have kids, then I know you've used this tactic. Your three-year old takes a dive off the monkey bars, howling at the top of their developing lungs, and you "redirect" their attention to the passing ice cream truck or the pretty fluffy clouds and all of a sudden, the tears dry up and you're shelling out $3 for a sno-cone from a long-haired hippie driving around in a freezer on wheels. Well, if "redirection" works on younger kids, could it still apply to older kids? Worth a shot because I was not going to be outsmarted by this smarty pants at least he's an offspring so I'm proud.

I found calmness, I put on patience, and I invited my all-too-proud-of-himself son to have a seat at the table with me and offered to play his new LEGO Heroica game with him. With each roll of the dice I calmly sat, enjoying the game, relaxed like a cheetah ready to pounce, playing my piece to the best of my ability. Then, the door of opportunity fell wide open; a LEGO piece fell to the floor thank you gravity, clink, clink, clink. My son, engrossed in the game, without realizing, got up from the table, placing those precious feet directly onto the floor, to pick up the dropped LEGO piece this comes from extensive training, friends. That was it, GAME OVER...the outsmarted outsmarts - woo-hoo! I agreed to finish the LEGO game, but it was van Gogh and oil pastels for the next 10 minutes. Yeah, you read that right. All that drama and it only took a total of 10 minutes to finish the art project. Well, it made for good blog fodder so I can't complain.


Note: To avoid the silent treatment from my son after this post, I would like to point out that I am rather proud of his resourcefulness and ingenuity. It'll take him places one day.


Final note: The van Gogh art project really turned out to be spectacular!

Gratitude Journal Monday

Why am I who I am? Why am I where I am? Why am I not a starving Ethiopian mother praying to keep the hunger pains away from her children another night? Is it luck of the draw, is it something we should not question, is it destiny? Why are we us and not somebody else? Maybe it’s because whom we are and where we are is perfectly fitted to what we should be doing? We have been placed exactly where we need to be for a specific purpose. I’m thankful I’m here and not there; I’m not where there is disease that sits at every doorstep, where death in the village is as common as catching a breath. No, I am here, where I have a loving family, food in embarrassing volumes, and a home large enough to pack consumer junk bursting out at the beams. Perspective has to change and I have to start to comply. No, I’m not running off to Africa to try to end world hunger, because my purpose is here, whatever it is, my purpose is in my own backyard. You have been placed exactly where you need to be to fulfill your purpose. Let’s not waste the opportunity.

226. I am thankful I’m exactly where I need to be in this season of life.

227. I am beyond grateful for a husband that loves me despite every mood change in a day.

228. I am so thankful for God's gift to us, wrapped up in one beautiful, loving, kind son.

229. I am grateful for the beautiful surroundings in which I lay my head each night.

230. I am humbled by the bounty of harvest that nourishes our bodies and minds at every meal.

If you'd like to know more about my Gratitude Journal beginnings, click here.

Have a wonderful week!

Goodbye Week. Hello Weekend. Lessons Learned: Take 47.

Goodbye neglected laundry, piled knee-high, all finally folded and put-away; don't ask me about the ironing.
Goodbye constant clean-up of the best party we ever pulled off.
Goodbye multiple snooze alarm hits as recovery is still going on.
Goodbye delicious homemade meal; with all the party prep, we haven't seen you in awhile.
Goodbye school field day, not making a great showing, but admiring my son's quote: "Whether I came in last or first, who cares because I had so much fun!"

I'll spare you the finish line photo.

Hello dusting off the winter cobwebs from the gardening tools and getting dirty.
Hello pulling weeds from the beds that I swear are results of germination not yet classified in the botanical world.
Hello temperatures in the 80's and longing for those dog-days of summer.
Hello reading the tower of books I've collected from the library and finishing up at least one of them.
Hello 15-year wedding anniversary and celebrating in a quiet way.

Source

This week's lesson learned is 15 years in the making. Super Hubby and I have enjoyed wedded bliss (and challenge, at times) for 15 years today and we've known each other for 21 years. I've known this man for over half my life! We've grown our perspectives over the years, we've changed our initiatives, and we've fumbled our way into making a life together. TOGETHER. Some times were great, other times were hard, but in between both ends of the emotional spectrum, times were never bad because we had each other. How lucky are we? We went through it together and together we will go through some more times where tears will flow over sadness and joy, confusion and clarity, frustration and cooperation. 15 years ago today, the priest that married us shared a message and today I share it with you. "In marriage, from now on, your happiness will be doubled and your sorrows will be halved." Thank you, Super Hubby, for being the man with whom I want to share it all.

You Gotta Check Out: Common Sense Media

Avengers Set

The Avengers movie is a sizzler and having all those super heroes in one movie is just too good to be true if you're a Marvel fan. But, The Avengers, in spite of the hype and peer pressure to see it, may be out of our league. My 10-year old son has been begging to see it and uses supporting data like, "My friends have all seen it" to argue his case.

I'll admit, The Avengers movie does hold a special place in our hearts. While filming the movie in our own city-made-to-look-like New York, we went to the movie set (my son has wanted to be a film director since the age of 3). The movie crew was so nice to him, they even gave him a piece of rubble as a souvenir (looks like any old rock, really). So, it would be cool to see all those scenes we saw filmed on the big screen (although the trailer itself does a great job).

Crew installing safety glass to protect real glass during explosion scenes.

So, when I'm up against this kind of cultural pressure, I like to make my points with fact, not just "mommy-opinion" and I use Common Sense Media for that exact purpose. Simply type in "The Avengers" in the search box, and the site rewards you with a plethora of information regarding language, sexual content, violence levels, etc. Here's the link. This site rates movies, games, videos, TV shows, websites, apps, books, and music. We use this site as a gauge for many of our movie-making decisions - he's only 10 and we'd rather not rush things along, thank you.

Note: I was not compensated in any way by Common Sense Media. It's a great, informative site and I wanted to share it with you to put into your parenting arsenal.


So will your child be seeing The Avengers? How old?

What I Made Wednesday {A Harry Potter Birthday Party: The Invitations}

Turning a decade-old, we wanted our son's birthday party to be the best we've ever planned. Since our son turned 1, Super Hubby and I have always had the birthday parties at our home, all themed-out and over-the-top. It was almost considered a badge of honor to have not succumbed to the easier route of Chuck E. Cheese, bowling, or American Bouncers. After all, considering the time and effort we've put into these parties over the past decade, I don't poo-poo the off site concept I'm not judging, people, but going the route we've gone over the years, we're either crazy-nuts, have too much time on our hands, or both. I will say, the party planning is a collaborative effort and really brings the three of us close together. (Please note: I do not recommend family party-planning for the novice; can be extremely stressful.)

We've built a castle with working drawbridge for our son's Knight Party. We've had Darth Vader emerge from the opening garage, white fog smoke and all, ready to battle each Jedi at our Star Wars party. We take this party thing very seriously and Harry Potter was the theme our son chose to celebrate a decade. Oh, the possibilities made me tingle!!!!!

This party took several months to plan and the amount of pictures we have of the whole process and party are overwhelming. Therefore, I'll be breaking down the W.I.M. Wednesday posts over the next several weeks to make it more manageable and to help keep me sane. I know what you're thinking. After a party like this you're questioning my sanity, regardless, I know.

Week 1: The Invitations

Week 2: Setting the Scene

Week 3: The Props

Week 4: The Food

Week 5: The Class Schedule

Week 6: A Wrap-Up

All in the details: green ink is key!

As with all parties, the mood, the ambiance, the excitement and anticipation begins with the invitation. This is the catalyst to sparking a great party. The tone is set by your guest request so make it a good one.
As you are aware, there are 4 houses at Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Therefore, the number of guests you invite have to be a multiple of 4 or the houses won't be even in number. This, of course, posed a problem for us as the number of people we wanted to invite didn't follow the multiple of 4 rule, and we are limited in space. If we invited 10 (the rule has always been my son can invite as many people as he is old), it would have pushed the limits of our space, but it could be done. However, if we invited 12, a multiple of 4, there was no way it was going to happen without the constant violation of personal space. So, with bitten-lip, we went with 8 total guests (7 invites).

Eight attendees each received a personalized acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The letter was printed in green ink on parchment paper and had the Hogwarts school seal on the very top of the letter. We made sure everything was to the "letter" following the book and, especially the movie. The envelope containing the acceptance letter also included several attachments to which the students recognized as extremely important additional information.

The letter included a "First Years' List of Requirements", several of which were included in the letter. The only thing the young wizard need really provide is a broom.

Hagrid the giant sent coins to buy supplies when they arrive at the party. I made the envelope for the coins out of vellum and closed it using a mini paper fastener.

Super Hubby designed this train ticket and I mounted it to shiny gold scrapbook paper.

Of course, each envelope was sealed with melted red crayon wax. I had a rubber-stamp alphabet set and used the "H" to press into the wax when it was slightly cooled.

In this world of Harry Potter, mail is delivered via Owl Post and our invitations were no exception. I had white balloons filled with helium and tied each to an invitation. I used a Sharpie Paint Pen to draw an owl on the balloon. Be sure you DO NOT overfill the balloon with helium or you'll pop the balloon when you go to draw on it. I first tried a Sharpie black marker, but it wasn't as effective as the Sharpie Paint Pen. I did, however, use a yellow Sharpie marker to fill in the owl's eyes. Now, they were ready for delivery. We visited each guest, Harry Potter music blaring from the car, and my son, wand at the ready, approaching each guest by congratulating them on their acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I wish I could have taken video!

Total Deliveries: 7 in one night!

This is just the beginning! See you next week!

No Post For You

Too tired to type.
Too tired to think.
Too tired to insert a photo or link.

Please forgive me.
Do not dread.
Tomorrow will be fabulous
If I can get out of bed.

Off to hit the snooze one more time...zzzzzzzzz.
 

Gratitude Journal Monday

Peanuts at Five Guys Burgers and Fries

When you thank and appreciate and welcome gratitude to dwell in your heart as a permanent resident, the results and events in your life simply leave you awestruck. But, it's a hard nut to crack if you were like me years ago. Before, when things didn't go my way, I'd sulk and complain about those let-downs. But, when I changed my mind's focus away from the disappointment and turned it, instead, to the events, people, and situations that were positive and truly offered a grateful heart towards it, the Universe rewarded me with something so much better than I ever could have imagined! It's a mind-set change and it's a hard one to practice if you, like I used to be, easily saw what was wrong and not what was gloriously right. I encourage you to try it and see if gratitude begins to make a change in your own life. I'm positive it will.

221. I'm grateful to the parents who allowed us to steal-away my son's best friend and take them out for a fun birthday dinner and ice cream celebration on a school night.
222. I'm grateful my son's Harry Potter birthday party is over and turned out to be a blast - as much fun as it was to plan, we've lived in that world for over 2-months and I'm ready to move on and live in the muggle world permanently now.
223. I'm grateful for all the invented tools that helped us pull-off this great, seemingly impossible party: tools like X-acto knives, duct tape, sponges, foam core, color printers, glue sticks, hot glue guns, pink foam insulation, and much, much more.
224. Huge thanks goes to my parents for their wonderful sewing job of Super Hubby's Dumbledore costume: the workmanship was superb and their willingness to do the impossible for me never goes unnoticed and unrecognized - love you always!

That's me as Professor McGonagall

225. Most gracious appreciation to all our friends that helped us pull-off this party. To my longest friend for all the chemistry supplies that made the potions and spells class real, the witch's hat, and dry-ice cauldron. To my newest friend who's caring heart helped us set the mood just right with all her Harry Potter memorabilia. To all our neighbors that saved their glass jars and left them at our doorstep week after week to be used in the Honeydukes candy shop. And the biggest surprise of the party; my husband's bestest friend showing up to the party dressed like Hagrid, complete with 6-inch platform shoes, padded stomach, and long haired wig and beard. This was a last-minute request and he surpassed our expectations beautifully. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Enjoy the journey and feel free to share your experiences here. If you're not quite sure where to begin, here's where I got started, click here.

Look for Harry Potter Party details on this week's What I Made Wednesday!