Happy Labor day to me

Today at the party as my guests trickle in I was scramming around to get everything set up and ready. Shyla who is Teddy's mom approached me and handed me a gift first I thought it was for Pravan so I smiled and said " thank you " She then said happy labor day. I was all confused and I was thinking that it was not labor day for while. She then said said " this is for you , for being in labor with Pravan " I laughed and gave her a hug. Isn't that sweet. I have never heard of that but I felt so special. Thank you Shyla. You are so sweet and thoughtful.

Time to Party ! ! ! !

Sorry lately I have been writing essays. I have to sit down tonight and upload more pictures. No I will never slow down with how many pictures I snapped. That is my my passion. I have to look at them all and will share with you. Today I was up early and almost everything was in place. It is supposed be in the 100's today so last night I froze the water bottles. This should help keep the people cool. I loaded up the car, hubby and kids and we stopped and got some ice. I had several other moms bring some coolers as well. We then got pizza and headed to Lazy 5.

Normally you have to pay $50 to reserve a table and still pay $2 per person to enter. I took a gamble and did not reserve a table. I called a few days ahead to see if there were any reservations. There was only one and since there were two pavilions available I knew I would have the other. The trick was to get there early. I did but there was another gentleman that beat me to the shady table. I asked him if we could share the table and possibly leave the food in the shade. He smile and was sweet and said " all I need is this 2sq ft of shade and the rest is yours " I thanked him and learnt that he had two boys of his own and a friend as well which made three boys. I offered them some treats and asked them to join the party. As he sat there enjoying his 2 sq ft of shade he observed everything and we chatted periodically. Well it was not too long after the treasure hunt, he tapped me on the shoulder and this is what he said. " Easperee, I have got to tell you that you are an OVER ACHIEVING PARENT "You could almost see my head swell up bigger than a watermelon. That was the nicest compliment ever and from a stranger. I felt great and it was the highlight of my day. I was all smiles ear to ear and could not stop thinking about that. I gave him my blog address and he did leave a comment. See below.

My guests showed up and Pravan was excited. Priyasha was a clingy little daddy's girl. I was happy setting up for the party. I had all my clues ready to go and this is how it worked.

The kids had to find some fruit gushers at the water fountain. They looked like crystals and was perfect for this. As they picked their energy crystals they discovered clue 2. The looked so excited and listened attentively to me reading clue 2.

It was over 100 degrees so I purposely planned breaks so the kids would not get dehydrated. We headed back to base and the kids got their treatment. I made a snack out of goldfish. teddy grahams. m& m's and marshmallows. I served it in a small ice-cream cone and the kids devoured it. They could hardly wait to hear clue 3.

I found these cool cubes at the part store. They changed shapes and formed pictures of transformers. It was perfect for this clue and I found a sandy patch outside the gate which was supposed to be the desert. I kids raced to find their cubes and clue 4. We headed back to base inside the park.

I served the kids jello which looked like energy crystals and I served that in a foil lined cupcake liner. It was perfect. The kids were not shy and asked the gatekeeper for the next clue.

The gatekeeper was the lady at the window that let you into the park. She was a great sport and read the clue to the kids. They quickly figured out it was in my car and they raced to the parking lot. I was nervous about them going onto the road. I ran as fast as I could and along the way I kicked off my sandals to run faster. I felt like a little kid and it was so much fun. The kids discovered the all spark cube and inside there was their loot bags. I covered up a square box with foil and it was the all spark cube.

We headed back to have cake and open presents. The sparkler candles I had for his party melted as it registered 107 degrees. Even the left over jello turned into liquid. I had never seen that happen before. It was incredible. Well luckily for Pravan we have a candle he has to blow out every year until he is twenty one. He had the biggest candle any kid ever had. We then opened up presents and Pravan got some awesome stuff. He got several gift cards to the toy store as well and now he may have enough money to get his leapster dig j . It is a hand held game toy that is educational. We said goodbye to all our guests and cleaned up before heading home.

Well I was exhausted but the day was far from being over. Pravan had to go to another party and go to the pool at 3:30pm and then have pizza and a sleep over. Well we wanted him to rest so he headed over to Thomas's house for pizza around 6pm. Pravan did not want to stay for the sleep over so we picked him up around 9:15 pm. I also watched Keara from 6pm - 9pm. It was a long long day. When everybody was asleep I got my much deserved peace and quiet. When my head hit the pillow at 12:30 am I was asleep right away. Yes I am still a night owl no matter how tired I am. Well next year things may not be so hectic with a party. We plan on taking Pravan on a trip or doing something else he wants to do.

Take care and thanks for reading this incredibly long post.

Errands and last minute details

Hubby took the day off today. Work and life has been exhausting. It was great as he watched the kids and I got the morning off. I did errands so it was not a real break. I needed a few more favor items for the party and needed to pick up food for the party. I stopped at Costco and picked up everything I needed. Todd took the afternoon off and he spent about three hours at the pool while I planned out the scavenger hunt for the big day tomorrow. Since I was at Costco I picked up the kids favorite for dinner , Salmon. When Todd got back from relaxing he grilled some Salmon. I steamed some fresh green beans and paired that with nut pilaf rice. MMMHH! delicious and healthy.

After dinner I slipped away and picked up the cake. It was huge and could not fit in the refrigerator and luckily I had them use frosting that did not have to stay in the refrigerator. I set it on the dining room table and it was fine. I spent the night cutting up vegetables for my Greek salad and then making an all spark cube.I also finished the loot bags and the clues. It was almost 11pm before I got into bed. I planned on getting up by 7am just so that I was not stressed. Well tomorrow morning will be a crazy day. I am ready !

Behind . . . .

Sorry life is crazy as you can tell. I have not had time to upload and play with pictures. I need to add pictures to several posts and I will soon. Just check back in the old posts to see pictures added later. It is a very involved process.I usually have to upload my pics to my pc. I then edit, crop and load into my kodak software, then I backup to my hard rive. I then add captions if I have time. The next step is to upload to flickr. I then have to make the slide show in another program and then add to my blog for you to enjoy. I enjoy this but it is time consuming and time is not on my side this week. Here is the silliest thing. I usually do my typing and thinking on teh desktop and then play with pictures on my laptop . So posting pictures is dependent on me being on the laptop. Right now I am on the desktop. Yeah! only I can be this crazy about preserving the moment. So keep checking in. Thanks for looking.

Happy Birthday Pravan

Today my little boy is six years old. He slept in and woke up to the smell of pancakes. His special breakfast order was pancakes with butter, syrup and M& M's. It is a treat once in a while. I sometimes make butterfly or mickey mouse pancakes. The kids enjoy this treat.

It was a busy morning. I had to pick up his friend Ashlynn and then we stopped at the bank for money. Seems like I always need more. We then headed to Chuckee Cheese. I planned a huge playgroup there to celebrate Pravan's birthday. He has wanted to go to Chuckee Cheese for a long time and this was the perfect day for him. He had so much fun there. It was great to see so many of his friends. Tara a good friend from Truckee also came with Stacy and there were so many kids.

I had another good friend Brandy who had four kids come and play with us. He had her mom watch the baby and brought the three tots along to have fun. When she entered the place there was no gate keeper. She waited for a while and then decided to walk in. Usually you get a stamp that matches the stamp on the kids hand. It can only be seen under a special light and the stamps have to match when you leave. Well when Brandy left they had no stamps. The guy checking them out was flustered and refused to let them out. I told him that those were her kids and she was okay. He takes his job seriously and he should. I was pleased to see that the system really works and the kids have protection from being kidnapped. That is a great thing. Well Brandy was not happy and I can understand why. She laughed at the guy and said " I already have enough of my own, I do not need anymore " As funny as it was , it was frustrating. Well he let her leave but he looked like he doubted his decision. I assure him that it was okay. So now you know Chuckee Cheese takes the stamp thing seriously.

As some of you know Pravan likes the girls. Well today he had three of his so called girlfriends there. Jaisyn, Ashlynn and Brooke .It was so adorable. I took some pictures of all three of them together. Several people that showed up today will not make the party so they gave Pravan his gifts today. He got two gift cards to toys' r us so we stopped there before coming home. The kid was excited and I did my best to keep him away from the transformers. He ended up picking a crystal growing kit from Liz. Thank you Liz and Jaisyn ( girl's name ) and family. He then got the globe of the earth from Brandy.Thanks to Brandy, Spencer and family. Ashylynn spent the rest of the afternoon with Pravan and they read books together. She wanted to cook in the play kitchen but he played transformers. So she cooked and he fixed his transformers. That was funny to watch.

While we were there he wanted the model of the human body. I could not get it for him as I already had it at home.I could not tell him that. I just steered him away. He was sad and he said " but that is educational. When I grow up I want to be a doctor that looks inside people's bodies . This will help me learn " That was so adorable. When daddy came home he brought an ice cream cake home for Pravan and we had burgers for dinner. That was what Pravan ordered. Daddy then gave him some transformers, and the human body. His eyes lit up and he played with his toys for a while. We let him stay up past 10pm. I finally tucked him into bed and this is what he said. " Mommy thank you for a fun birthday but how did daddy know that I wanted the human body ? " I smiled and said that we know what he likes and what makes him happy. I turned off the lights and a kissed him good night. A short while later his light was turned on and he was reading his transformer book. It was adorable and I let him do it. He was determined to stay up until midnight but he never made it past 11pm. It was a busy day and now we will get things ready for the party.

I will post pics another day. Thanks for reading my essay.

Last day of being five

Wow ! I certainly do not remember that. Today is the last day for Pravan to be five. Every year it is a tradition that I take the last picture of the child the night before their birthday. Every night like most parents I check in on the kids and make sure they are covered , warm and breathing. I adjust them if needed , plant a kiss on their forehead and whisper " I love you, sweet baby dreams into their ears and go to bed myself. Every year on the night before their birthday it is a very special time for time. I take their picture and reflect upon the year that just flew by and remember the good and the bad times. I then go to bed and decided that tomorrow is a new year, a new chapter and a new beginning. I plot out a strategy to deal with the bad habits, eliminate some of my techniques and plan on being a better mom. For me that is a struggle very day. Some days more than others. It is great that Pravan can talk and he can tell me what he wants me to change. I listen and implements some of his suggestions. I think it is important for kids to feel loved and respected. When I take his ideas his face glows and I can tell he is happy.

Tonight we will kiss the Feisty five's goodbye and in the morning we will welcome the spectacular six's.

Here is a list of how I see the ages.

Fabulous one's

Terrific Two's

Trying Three's

Fantastic Four's

Feisty Five's

Spectacular Six's

I am not sure what the seven's will be. I just make them up and truly believe it to be fitting to my kids. Maybe ....

Sweet Seven's

Nonsense Nine's

Testy Ten's

Well I may change it as my kids get to that age group. Here is my last picture of my baby and he will no longer be five in a few hours. I am ready what the six's will bring. Seems like I need an adjustment with how I parent and I am actually resorting to reading. As you may know I cannot sit still long enough to read but I can do it. For the kids I say I can. I need to be a growing mom and grow with the kids.

Fun ! Fun ! Fun !

Now these are the joys of childhood and in my case motherhood. I am the biggest kid around and my kids are fortunate to have me as their mommy. When I was a kid my family did not have a lot of money and my childhood days were filled with simple pleasures like a yo yo , a top and string, marbles and rocks. In today's world with technology every where we turn it is just amazing. I embrace it all everyday. My hubby and I can sit together while he plays with his blackberry and I play with my cell phone. Our idea of quality time together is him on his computer and me next to him on my laptop. No really, we never plan it that way but it seems like it works out that way. We are both silent and never have an argument.Who could ask for a better date that costs no money. So what has happened to the world. It is fast paced and no matter how fast it gets , it is never fast enough or are we all just impatient people. I am for sure. Oh come on..... 60 sec rice , 3 min mac n cheese it is all crazy convenience but not necessarily good. Well since technology is taking over , telephones have replaced telegraphs, cars have replaced horses, e-mail has replaced hand written letters, ipods and mp3 players have replaced cd's and cd's have replaced tapes, computers have replaced typewriters, DVD's have replaced VHS tapes . The list goes on and on and there may be more you can think of. Well my fight is to help my kids remember and appreciate the simple joys in life. Kids today are spoiled with technology and my kids have so many toys that needs cartridges as they have a chip in the toy that makes it work. Well unfortunately for me I was not the one that invented the cartridge toy so I am not raking in the dollars. That was nothing short of brilliant and you and I together with many others are helping make the toy companies rich. Not a bad thing but my point again is it is good to remember the simple good old fashion days whilst we embrace the age of technology in the hopes that our kids, the future of the world are given a fighting chance with the amazing tools available. Just some food for thought. Okay enough of rambling. If you have been following my blog you will remember a post from a few months back on bubble magic. I love bubbles and so do kids. It is fascinating and makes everyone smile. The thing I do not like about it is the mess. It is also no longer very cheap. The cheap one at the dollar store is weak and a waste. Well when we were in Oregon I bought this special bubble thingy. I did not believe it will work but took my chances. It was just amazing. i made my own bubbles and here is a recipe for all you moms out there. BUBBLE RECIPE : 12 cups of water 2 tbsp baking powder ( not baking soda ) 1 cup of cornstarch 1 cup of dish soap (joy, dawn, ivory ) Put it all in a bucket or store in bottles. It is an amazing solution. Check out my pictures and be amazed !

Go have some fun and help the kids experience the simple joys and pleasures that life can offer.

Count down begins

Okay just two more days for Pravan's birthday. Today I made a list of everything that needed to get done and decided to tackle a few items. I had a few returns and with the store credit Pravan was able to get two more transformers. He was thrilled about that but he won't get it until Wednesday. I am busy sewing loot bags for the party. Pravan loves to help me get things done when it is for him. I was impressed that he wanted to sew with me. I told him that talking while sewing was just as dangerous as drinking and driving. I also taught him how hard to push on the pedal to control the speed of the machine. He reminded me that there was a pedal just like that in the car and he learned it was called an accelerator. He also learned that he needed to keep his eye on the needle at all times to make sure his fingers did not get sewn. It was so adorable and extremely nerve wrecking to watch him. This was the second time he helped me sew and he likes it. I am not sure if he should enjoy sewing. It would be great when Priyasha shows me such interests. This afternoon we had his friend Dylan over and his sister Raya as well. Raya is six months older than Priyasha and all four kids play great together. I will post some sewing pictures later tonight. Until then take care. If you need help with a transformer party let me know. I have lots of ideas.

Crazy Weekend

Wow I am so exhausted. The weekend was crazy. On Saturday we split parenting duties and kids. Todd had a date with Priyasha and I had a date with Pravan. I took Pravan to Alan's sixth birthday party. Yes we have been to one every week so far. It was so peaceful to have just one kid. Pravan enjoyed the fact that he had all my attention and I could tend his his every need and pamper him like I used to when he was the only child. Priyasha and Todd hung out in the sprinklers and had a great time bonding. I was beat when I got home and I discovered a ton of sheets that needed to be washed as Priyasha had an accident in her bed. I picked up a little and rested before we planned a delicious steak and mash potatoes with green beans for dinner. After dinner Todd decided to take the kids out to ice-cream. I stayed home and enjoyed my overdue alone time. It is getting better as Priyasha gets older and Todd can manage them both better. There is hope at the end of this parenting tunnel. Today, Sunday was a family day and we all went to the pool. I packed lunches and gathered up towels, sun block and toys. Priyasha has this new doll that can swim in the water and I could not wait to try it out. I forgot that it needed batteries so we will have to wait for the next pool trip. I spent the afternoon shopping all by myself. I was very tired and it was extremely hot. I got Pravan some outfits for back to school. I also discovered the science section in toys r us and got Pravan an ant farm, the human brain model and the human body model. He is very interested in the human body and learning all about the different parts. This would be great for him. I cannot wait to see his face. He will get lots of transformers as well. Only three days for his birthday.

Hot August nights

A tradition year after year and stroll down memory lane for many. Here is Reno they host this spectacular event. Here is a clip I got off their site for you to read to get a better vision of what my day was like today. "Shine your Chevy, detail your Deuce Coupe and hustle your hot rod over to Reno and Sparks' Hot August Nights for a celebration of America's love affair with cars and rock & roll August 1 - August 10, 2008. This "blast from the past" allows baby boomers to relive the "happy days" and it provides an opportunity for those who didn't experience the 50's and '60s firsthand to enjoy the era.During Hot August Nights, cars are "cherry" and cruisin' is "too cool." More than 800,000 people flock to the Event where cars are the stars and rock 'n roll rules through dozens of concerts -- most of them free -- throughout the Event.There is a Prom night, where you can take your sweetheart and dance the night away. Controlled cruises and show-n-shines, where you can watch rolling Rembrandts on display. " Today I took the kids to Victorian Square and we walked around and I told Pravan all about the cars he thought were cool. Both the kids picked out their favorites. It was 90 degrees and there was no breeze. I do not use the stroller very much these days so it was not in the car. I was half way to Sparks when I realized that I may need it. Well I did not go back home. I decided to chance it. Priyasha was very good about walking and I carried her when she was very tired. Surprisingly she only needed to go to the bathroom once in 2.5 hours. That was unusual but a good break. We made a quick stop at the toy store on the way home as Pravan got a check from grandma and he was excited. This morning we stopped at the bank and the teller asked him to sign his own name on the back of the check and that made him feel so grown up. His face lit up with joy and was thrilled to get his money in exchange for a piece of paper. We got him a huge transformer jet and he has spent all afternoon playing with it. Thank you grandma and grandpa. Todd got home early from work today and after a short nap we all went back to Victorian Square. Every night they have the streets blocked off and then they have a cruise down the streets. Hundreds of people line up against this barrier that is put up and watch the cars go by. There were cool ones, old ones and awesome ones too. We were next to a very knowledgeable couple that knew about every single car and obviously these were from their days and it was great listening to them. The biggest thrill for the kids was catching the candy that was thrown to them. It was almost 10pm before we headed home and the kids were asleep before we even left the parking spot. I have hundreds of pictures and need to upload them soon. Well I have more to report when I can steal 10 mins or so. Until then take care !