How did we do it and Why did we do it?

Our Batman party may seem like it was a little over the top to most people but Rachael and I have a way of feeding off each other when it comes to planning just about anything.  Most of the time we have way more ideas than time, talent, or money, but for some reason this year, things just worked out.  After her amazing Mario party,  I was completely inspired and thanks to Jason and his artistic abilities, Kim and Katie and their awesome painting skills, and Rachael's last minute save on Saturday, we managed to pull off just about everything!

The most important part of the whole experience was how much fun it was to put together.  It was fun to have Jason call me from work with all of his ideas, and then to call Rachael and have her help me figure out how to actually do it.  I really couldn't have, and wouldn't have, done it had I not had a husband who could whip up a cape pattern out of newspaper or draw 4 foot villains on cardboard.  It was awesome.

We used black plastic table rolls to make the city outline on the walls in the back and cardboard in the front (thank you kimmie).  The windows were squares of yellow duct tape.  The bat symbol above the city was made out of poster board and the villains were all drawn by Jason (with a little help from kimmie) and I hand painted most of them.

Jason drew all the patterns/stencils/templates and I got to work cutting everything out.  We made the capes and the belts out of felt and added Dollar Store camera cases as the pouches on the utility belts.
He even drew the tinniest bat symbol for the flashlights, which we cut out of contact paper.

 We held the party at the Mid-Columbia Library on Union.  They have a room you can reserve for free.  I love it.  It's a little hard to decorate but we threw up some posterboard bat symbols and word-art just for fun.  We also put the bat symbols in the middle of the tables with small balloon bouquets on top of them, I didn't get any good pictures though.

There was a small glitch in the cake making process and we had to improvise at the last minute.  Rachael called me at 1 a.m. the night before the party to tell me that the cake simply didn't bake in one corner of the pan.  After a brief moment of freaking out, we decided to buy a white Costco cake and call it good.  Late Saturday morning, I find out Costco doesn't sell plain white cakes.  However, they had ONE undecorated cake left and by some small miracle, they decided to sell it to me. 

We used craft foam for the bat symbol and threw on some lemon heads to tie the look together.  Not too bad for extremely last minute.

We wrapped water bottles with yellow wrapping paper and black contact paper bats ( I am officially in love with black contact paper, I use it for everything, even chalkboards). 

I found all the activity ideas on-line, however Jason came up with almost all the same ideas on his own.  It was great having his creativity and my creativity overlap on this project.  It's been one of the few times that that has actually happened!  We really wouldn't have done half of this stuff had we not been working together.  And a huge thanks again to Kim, Katie (and Megan), and Rachael for all their help.

The villains ended up being my favorite so I can't resist showing a few of them off one more time...

Batman Birthday, Volume 1, Issue 5

Equipped with their utility belts, the Batkids were ready to take on the rest of the villians.

 
Their first assignment was to stomp the villains balloons.  The black and yellow balloons were empty and the rest all had candy inside. They used the pouches on their belts to collect the candy.

After all the balloons were popped, it was time to get the villains in Gotham City.  Armed with cans of silly spray, the kids attacked.

After defeating all the villains, the Batkids were rewarded with their own flashlights.  To finish the party off, we celebrated with some birthday cake and presents. 

Holy Cow, Batman, these birthday posts are finally over (almost).

B.B.B. Volume 1, Issue 4

Each kid was given a picture of a villain to hunt for.  The utility belts were wrapped in cellophane bags with a picture of a villain and a clue attached and hidden around the park.  The belts were scattered pretty far but that didn't slow them down at all.

 Once all of the belts were found, and put on, we gathered them up and instructed them on their next assignment...

This picture of Tyson and Sophie is my favorite picture out the 300ish that were taken...  They were pretty serious about taking on the next challenge...

Now that they were better equipped, they were ready to fight the villains...

...to be continued...

Batman B.B. Volume 1, Issue 3

Once the infamous dad arrived, the Batkids were given their first assignment.  There were two real, live villains at the party and they had to figure out who they were and tie them up.  I had originally planned on having some sort of costume pieces for the villains to wear but being short on time, I gave them two black question marks to place somewhere on their clothes.

After realizing that tying up a bad guy with only toilet paper was hard, and not very effective, they were ready to receive their utility belts.  Unfortunately, the Riddler had gotten to them first and sent us on a hunt to find the belts...

...to be continued...

Batman Birthday Bash, Volume 1, Issue 2

The celebration got started late due to the honorary Caped Crusader and his family running behind. The day had started out a lot earlier than planned. Batman had woken up at 5 a.m. with ear pain. At 7 a.m. there was a trip to the E.R. and the rest of the morning was spent trying to make him comfortable while waiting for the antibiotics to kick in.  The day didn't go exactly as planned!

While we waited for the Caped Crusader's dad to arrive, we made black paper airplanes and flew them into the Batcave.   Thank you Kent for filling in. 

Batman Birthday Bash, Volume 1, Issue 1

On April 6th, Batgirl turned 3.

On April 11th, Batman turned 6.

 On April 10th we celebrated in Gotham City. Unfortunately, plenty of villians had found out about the celebration and invited themselves.

Armed with our capes, utility belts, and flashlights, we tied-up, hunted, stomped and vaporized as many of the villians as we could...

...to be continued...

2010 Tri-City Blogger Meet-Up

Susan's in town so it's time for me to be social again.  Come join us!

Tri-City Blogger Meet-up
Country Mercantile  

This Friday, April 23rd 6:00 p.m.

 
The Mercantile closes at 7:00, but we will be staying after hours to party.  If you want to eat there, please come before 7:00 so you can buy all your goodies before they close up shop.


Come for giveaways, fun + friends
Please RSVP to  suezpetersen at gmail dot com

pic

70 Degrees

You would have thought it was summer....

Spencer Bear, what will you wear?

Spencer's class sent home a book today that they worked on as a class.

Out of 28 kids, 25 of them said they would wear a shirt or dress in a variety of colors.  Like this...

Or this...

Out of the other three kids, one said they would wear green shoes, one said a black vest, and last but not least, there's my kid...

"Spencer Bear, what will you wear?  What will you wear to school?  I'll wear my gray spysuit to school."

Random Things I want to Remember about Spencer

=I love that he tries to 'wrestle around' with Sophie and Carson in an attempt to entertain them, but he's usually the first one to get hurt.  Today, after he knocked over Carson, I asked him who's body was the biggest, he said his.  I asked him who's body was the strongest, he said Sophie's. 

=His reading skills are fantastic.  I always worried that it would be frustrating to help him learn to read, but he's doing a great job.  He loves reading "Go, Dog. Go" all by himself.

=What I'm not loving?  His spy obsession.  I didn't mind it until he handed me his Christmas list a few weeks ago and on it was his request for a REAL spy kit and a REAL spy suit.  Apparently, the spy kit Santa brought him was not authentic enough.  He won't be happy until he gets the REAL stuff. 

=He's a great helper at home.  He unloads the dishwasher, helps sort and put away laundry, and clears the table after dinner.  He's extra motivated when he knows he can earn computer/x-box time.


=For some reason, he still struggles trying to figure out what shoe goes on which foot.

=He loves to play.  Whether it's with legos, or his Batman guys, or hiding in his secret hide-out, he's always playing.

=What else am I not loving?  He has a mild obsession with scissors right now.  At home, all my scissors keep disappearing because he's taken them out to his 'secret hide-out' where him and Tyonna play.  They hide out in a bush that has a huge rock inside it and steal my scissors to cut away all the branches that poke them.  At school, he's cutting his clothes.  He came home twice this week with holes in his clothing.  I'm not looking forward to my first parent initiated parent/teacher/student conference this afternoon. 

=He is still full of questions which I consider to be both a blessing and a curse.  Sometimes, I love when he starts asking questions because it's amazing what he thinks about.  Sometimes, it's the most frustrating thing ever.  Ninety-percent of the time, I have no idea how to answer him because I either don't know, or don't understand exactly what he's asking.

=His goals for this summer are to build an underground fort, and to convince, and then build a zipline with his dad.

In the Raw

I have a serious love/hate relationship with cookie dough, or brownie batter, or even uncooked muffin mix.

The problem is that I eat so much of it as I'm baking the goods, that by the time I finish baking, I'm so sick to my stomach that I can't enjoy anything I just baked!  It's not usually until the next morning, for breakfast of course, that I'm able to really enjoy what I made.  By then, there's usually only crumbs left.  So, I spend the rest of the day thinking about how good the cookies/brownies would have tasted so I make another batch, just to repeat the terrible process. 

Not even Jason's threats stop me from eating too much dough.  He swears that he will not take care of me when I end up deathly ill from e. coli or samonella or whatever other dangers lurk in the delicious, soft mound of dough. 

But, on a happier note, I may be pulling out of my slump.  I managed to take the kids to the grocery store, made a big lunch for Jason and the kids, baked cookies, and enjoyed my day.  It's also T-minus 60 minutes until Carson's bedtime.  Bless his heart.  I love the kid but he wears me out.  I love 7 p.m.

P.S. Doesn't my 1970's woodgrain countertop just scream double-wide trailer?  Seriously.

Waiting...

Back when I was single, and social, I use to have 'hat days'. When I wasn't too crabby or cranky to stay home, but not chipper enough to be friendly, I would wear a baseball hat, and most of my friends knew to just give me some space. I've always been a little high-maintenance in the social department.

My mom and Rachael, not so much. Those two are friendly and chatty no matter what their real mood. I wish I was like them, and I know they wish I was like them. I've sometimes created uncomfortable situations due to crankiness. Sorry to anyone who's been there.

My point? I'm waiting for my 'hat days' to pass. I'm not cranky or crabby enough to crawl into a hole, but I'm not feeling chipper enough to post anything, or making comments to anyone, or to answer emails. Anyone else ever feel that way?

I'm hoping it will pass soon, my productivity levels have dipped right along with my tanking social life, as well as my levels of tolerance, patience, and my desire to change out of my pajamas.

I'm kinda feeling a little like this...

                                                 Sophie dressed as Eeyore, Mobius Kids Museum, Spokane

Digital Scrapping

Thought I would pass this along for anyone who does digital scrapbooking! This is my favorite site!




(Shayla, when you read this, you'll obviously notice the image is still getting cut off. I was using the old editor, and tried all three sizing options, none of them changed it. Any tricks?)

If wishes were fishes...

My wish list is always a long one, and usually ever changing. It ranges from completely impractical, never changing things, like having a soda fountain machine, to things that I long for, like Jason being home more. Three day weekends every weekend will never be taken off my list, nor will having a bank account that replenishes itself daily with a minimum balance of $1,000.

There are practical, probable things on my wish list. Things that are attainable, doable. So why are they on my WISH list instead of my DO list?

I'm a procrastinator, and I never finish anything. Is that redundant? Do I never finish anything because I procrastinate or are they two separate conditions?

Just for fun, I decided to put together a visual wish list for the "I wish to make..." section of my list. This is only a fraction of the things I've ran across lately that I would love to make...

I wish I had containers of moss tucked everywhere right now. I love the colors and think it's one of those things that makes you want to touch it every time you walk by.



Wouldn't they be fantastic in pots like these?



I've been wanting a fun, unique way to hang scarfs and purses in my room. I kinda love this idea.



I've been completely smitten with garlands lately.

Garland #1



Garland #2



Garland Idea #3



New pillows for my couch are on my list and since I can't seem to find any that I would love to buy, my list of pillows I wish to make is getting longer and longer. I also wish that my sewing machine was at my house, not Rachael's, and that I actually felt like using it.

I love the idea of a pillow with fabric yo-yo's.



And I've been wishing for a pillow like this for a while.



To go along with this portion of my list is the wish that I had immediate access to a never ending craft supply, that I had some place besides my kitchen table to craft on, that I had children that would self-entertain every time I felt like being creative, and that I had a never ending supply of energy, time, and talent.

1:15 PM

I spent most of my day anticipating what I would find myself doing at 1:15. I even set the kitchen timer so I wouldn't watch the clock. Never did I anticipate the fact that at 12:50 Lisa would call, I would sit down in the chair for the 2.5 minute phone call, and I would still be sitting there when the timer went off.

So, at 1:15 PM today, I was doing NOTHING. I sure wasn't taking care of this...

or this...

or this....

Instead, I was being a human jungle-gym for Carson and playing paparazzi for Sophie.

If anyone is intersted

Today I had the computer randomly pick a time for us to post about. So, whatever you're doing at 1:15 PM (for some reason that doesn't seem like a very random time to me), post about it. Take a picture of it, whatever. And for the people who don't check their blogs every 10 minutes day like I do, just do it on another day. 

Remember, no staging!

I hate to admit, Round Two

I should have put on my list that I hate to admit how many times I let Spencer stay home from school, for no real good reason.

And by 'real' I mean by any good reason by everyone else's standards.

I can justify a stay home day by the smallest of things. Like last week, when I went to Spokane and was gone for barely more than 24 hours, I let him stay home on Wednesday. Or when we've all been out/up past bedtime, I let him stay home the next day. Or when he barely has a cough, yep, he stays home.

I tell myself it's okay because he's only 5. He's in all day kinder. He's in no way behind academically. What will I tell myself next year, and the year after that?

I can get over worrying what other people are thinking (I'm such a liar, I just avoid people all day so I don't have to tell anyone that I let him stay home). I can get over thinking about what he may or may not have missed out on during his day. But, I'm struggling with getting over the example that I'm setting for him. Especially since he's now starting to pull the 'I don't feel good' card. Which is funny, because the only time that's been the reason for keeping him home, he really was sick, or ended up sick.

This morning was horrible.

He started the morning off wrong by walking into my room and announcing that he didn't feel good enough to go to school. All my compassion for him was immediately gone. I told him "Sorry, you're going." For some reason, as soon as he starts making the excuses, I don't want to hear it. I won't even think twice about having his little hiney hauled off to school.

{This recently backfired when I sent him after he told me he didn't feel good. He came home and proudly announced that he had to go to see the nurse and that he was running a fever. I didn't 100% believe him until I took his temp, yup, it was 101. I think he may have gloated.}

His next reply, "Can I play the computer?" Not wanting to hear the whining and crying when I tell him no, I told him to ask Jason (who was out on the couch laying with Carson). Apparently Jason wasn't thinking clearly in his near comatose state and said "Yes."

Ahh, the set-up for the second melt-down of the morning. He did not handle walking away from the computer very well when I told him it was time to get in the shower. The yelling and screaming and begging to stay home started. Knowing it was all about the computer, no sympathy was felt.

After he got out of the shower, it started again. By now, he's running late because of the fits he's throwing, and he starts to panic about being late, not getting to eat breakfast, not getting to order lunch at school, and not getting to be picked for person of the day. The icy resolve to send him starts to melt. Because he's not usually like this, I immediately start telling myself something isn't right and that maybe all he needs is a good day spent at home. Laying around on the couch, watching PBS, and staying in our jammies all day. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?

I couldn't stand looking at his red, puffy eyes and his super pouty face. I convinced him to eat a banana and granola bar in the car and then I got in the shower and left the last of the unresolved issues for Jason to deal with. If I would have stuck around any longer, I would have heard myself say, "Do you just want to stay home today?"

And by 11:30 am I would have hated myself, just like almost every other morning I've given in and let him stay home. But I'm still secretly hoping that I get a phone call saying Spencer needs to come home.

I hate to admit....(Revised)

1) That my first car in high-school looked almost exactly like this.




The only difference? It was more the color of butterscotch pudding. About the color of CB8434 below.





Just a little interesting fact about Pinto's, for those of you who may not be old enough to remember them- they made it on Time's 50 Worst Cars of All Time, along with being rated in the Top 7 for the Most Dangerous Cars.

The only thing that made it better, was that LaToya use to drive it to the Sear's building, during the Pasco High's remodeling phase. She may, or may not, have been driving it without her license.

2) I love convenience store hot dogs. I.love.them.

3) I was mistaken for a boy three times between 8th-9th grade.

4) One of the first checks I ever bounced was at Burger King. Remember the 2 burgers, 2 fries, 2 bucks? Yea, mine was more like 2 burgers, 2 fries, 22 bucks.

5) I worked at the Disney Store when it first opened at the mall. A long, long time ago. We had to wear khaki shorts, with nylons, white socks, white shoes, white button-up collared shirt, and a fantastic turquoise Mr. Roger's style cardigan. It was.....hhmmm....I just can't find the right words....

6) As a kid, I could not play any outside game in the dark (hide-n-seek, TP'ing, etc.) without wetting my pants. I haven't tried playing any outside games in the dark as an adult, but I'm pretty sure I would still have the same problem.

7) That I fell down the stairs getting off the bus at graduation.

8) I rarely finish anything and I'm rarely on time.

9) That I had nothing to do with my absolutely adorable blog makeover. All the credit goes to my super cool and talented friend, Shayla!