Party pics

Pin the tail on the donkey

Decorating fun things

Cupcakes

Hanging out with friends

Wiped out

Walking in the rain with a new umbrella

Loving on Valentine 

The 3rd birthday party

Saturday was D's third birthday. We had a party at our house with about 20 people. Grandma and Grandpa came up for the weekend and we had a great time. Want to know what I did? Here's the lineup:

Rainy Day 3-year-old Birthday party:

Menu:
Minestrone Soup
Macaroni and Cheese
Fruit Salad
Chips and Onion Dip
Goldfish
Applesauce
Fruit Snacks
Soda
Water
Beer
Apples and clementines
Pink and yellow cupcakes with little toothpick "D" or "3" on them

Decorations:
crepe paper across the ceiling to make it look like a circus
balloons everywhere
a lion and an elephant painted by one of D's teachers
red and yellow tablecloth

Games:
Pin the tail on the donkey
Decorate your own party hat
make some bracelets with foam beads and pipe cleaners
"fishing" for toys in a huge styrofoam box filled with newspaper
when fishing breaks down, using toy saws to saw apart huge styrofoam box
when sawing gets boring, get in box
when rain finally lets up, wipe down baby slide and let kids play on that
when kids get really, really bored, walk them to the park

All in all, it was a good party. D took off with one of his friends down the driveway and gave another mom a heart attack but that seems to be the worst that happened. The kids seemed to have fun, and the adults seemed to have a good time too. The weather could have been better, and it would have been nice to get the kids outside more, but we all survived. Sunday was spent putting toys together and hanging out in PJs because it rained all day. Honestly, I feel pretty good today - rested and like I actually had a relaxing weekend. It's nice when you don't have to go anywhere.
Pics to follow!

Book Review: Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher

Naturally, I have a lot of things to catch up on. Forthwith, my review of this very gentle novel:

I reviewed another Rosamunde Pilcher book a few weeks ago. I'm still emotionally recovering from a lot of stuff that has happened this year, so I've been drawn to "gentle" novels. I really, really love Pilcher's books. This one was not a disappointment. The story begins with Elfrida Phipps, an older woman, single, and her dog. We follow her for a bit and get to know her quirky neighbors, her odd family, and have some lovely time with her. She's a beautiful and amazing character. Then the book begins to introduce us to some other characters. Oscar, the neighbor; Carrie, the niece; Lucy, the forgotten and neglected grand-niece, and Sam, the handsome stranger. Soon, Oscar is upset by tragedy, and Elfrida and Oscar set off to northern Scotland, where they settle into an old, rundown Victorian mansion to escape the holidays. All characters soon converge at the mansion, and have wonderful interactions, interesting conversations, revealing interactions with rich descriptions of the area. I loved this book so much. It's a book to cozy up by a fire, with a cup of tea and some cookies. It's a book to savor, take your time. The characters don't leave you, they enrich you. I am so glad I stole these books from my mom! You should read them too!

Wknd Pics

It's here!!!!

We made lab t shirts because we are awesome

Purty 

A beer and a toy

My 80s attire

Pretty view from my hotel

Monterey Bay

Building a tall tower

Shall we catch up?

• Seriously, you guys...it's down to bullet points this week. This is the best I can do
• I went to my departmental retreat last week, Wed-Fri. It was in Monterey, literally on the beach. It was so nice to look out at the ocean. We partied like rock stars, for some reason. Wed night was 80s night, so I dressed like a fool and danced till 2AM. Thursday, I played beach volleyball (what? you might say :), starred in an award-winning video, presented my poster and danced the night away. I got in at 1:30am. Then on Friday, I returned to the land of reality
• It's been real, real hot.
• I'm planning D's 3rd birthday party! Crazy! I got a party planner. I know, I know. I sound crazy. But you try to entertain 14 toddlers at once. It's actually one of D's teachers who is trying to start her own business. I think it will go brilliantly well. Fingers crossed. 
• I got a new planner. I am planning my life away. Setting goals. Reaching some of them. Striving to meet more goals, etc. We shall see how this goes. 
• My in-laws arrive tomorrow for a one week visit. D is so excited he literally jumped up and down this morning asking if they were coming today.
• On Thursday, we leave for Lousiville, KY for a wedding in Indiana. We are celebrating our 5 year anniversary, sans toddler. Should be a good time, reunion with grad school friends and a nice trip together to remember why we like each other
• I'll try to upload a pic or two.

Money Money Money Haiku Friday

I've been selling stuff

Mostly old toys, baby clothes

Stuff we have outgrown

***

I've made one hundred

forty eight dollars so far

Saving for party.

***

D turns three in Oct

A big birthday bash. Bounce house

and eleven kids

Movie Review: Spotlight

I'm a big fan of the library - in fact, they just moved it to an area right next to the farmer's market in Half Moon Bay, so it's easier to get to and visit. I could spend hours there, but usually I have an impatient toddler so I just run through and grab some books. We usually read a couple while we are there and then we are on our merry way. One awesome thing about this library is the DVD collection. While they are not the latest and greatest, they do have a fun collection and all the kids' DVDs are separated. We recently rented Spotlight, the story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the systematic cover up of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. This movie starred Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo as some of the team that uncovered this story. This movie was really well done, I thought. The movie is called Spotlight because that's the name of the in depth investigative report published in the Globe. The story begins with a new editor, (they make a note that he's Jewish) pushing for this story. The editor noticed these stories of sex abuse in the Church and that nothing ever came of them. So the team undertakes investigating all of these incidences and basically uncovers the cover-up in Boston that most likely goes all the way to the Vatican. The movie was very intellectually well done. It's upsetting, but it presents more of the investigation by the newspaper and very few of the people who were impacted (although it does portray a few). The movie has no satisfactory ending (obviously) but shows the value of independent investigations done by journalists. It's very deserving of the accolades it received when it came out and it's pretty fun to see familiar Boston in a movie.