Lydia's Birthday Party

Lydia is a little princess, and she LOVES superheros, so naturally she wanted to have a Superhero/Princess party, and invite boys. This girl has a bazillion best friends, so I told her she could invite 5 kids since she was turning 5. It took nearly 3 weeks for her to decide on her 5 friends. Her first pick however was her friend Nathan. On every different list of different kids she wanted there, Nathan was on all of them.

Side note: She is in LOVE with Batman. He is her husband actually. Uncle Joe has a lot of batman stuff, so he is now Batman, or "uncle batman" to Danton. She knows that that is just pretend, but she gets all swoony and flirty with him, it is hilarious. But in all seriousness, she knows that she will actually marry Nathan when she grows up.
I asked her what she wanted at her party, and I did my best to fit it in. The boys dressed as Superheros, and the girls dressed as princesses. (although she her self couldnt decide between superhero or princess. I told her she could do both. But even still through out the week she was flip flopping between, princess batgirl, (regular) Batgirl, Princess Heart-Breaker (also a super hero), and Princess Lovely Lydia....there may have been a few others, I don't remember.

She also wanted to make sure that Nathan came as Batman, and she could be Batgirl with him. (I can't tell you how many times she said that)

She wanted to play a game where the superheros rescued the princess from the bad guys, and she also wanted to punch a bad guy. Her cake was becoming elaborate, so I talked her down to this:

We also decided on capes and masks/crowns, cause I saw an easy cape idea online. The capes are just old t shirts, the back of the shirt is the cape, and you cut the front of the shirt, and the sleeves off but cutting around the collar. So they slip the cape on like a t shirt.

First they made their capes. I already had them cut out, and I had several colors and shapes cut out from felt that they put together to make their own superhero/princess emblem. I had fabric glue to put them together. Only, they couldnt wear them for most of the party, the glue took 2 hours to set. So they got to wear them at the end.

Then they played a little. I had the video camera set up and plugged into the tv so they could watch them selves

That was a big hit with the big screen tv. Then they made masks out of craft foam while we waited for the last couple kids to come. We needed EVERYONE there to make the movie. Which out of the 5 that she invited, all 7 showed up. :) (I invited a few other family members so they wouldn't feel left out)
Before the movie everyone was deciding who they wanted to be, and Nathan decided (on his own) that he wanted to be Batman, and he wanted Lydia to be his Batgirl. (course since it wasn't her idea, she didn't want to do it....silly girl. But she ended up being princess batgirl, with her batgirl shirt over he princess dress anyway.)

Finally everyone was there and had their mask/crown, and we could start the movie. THEIR movie.

I ran out of space on my disc, so I had to change right at the end

Then we did presents while they waited for the pizza to finish cooking, then pizza, then cake and ice cream. Then they got to watch their movie, they LOVED it.



Yes, we did things a little out of the typical order. :) But since when are we typical.

By then the capes were dry so we took superhero pictures of them flying over the city. They all had such a great time. (this is Nathan)I didn't realize that Lydia didn't get a princess OR superhero picture in the city till after the party was over and I had already taken it down and put it in the hamper to be washed. So later on that day I got it back out so her and Danton could take pictures and play. The chalk was slightly smudged, but it still looked pretty good. I told them both to say cheese, and Danton said cheese with a big smile, and Lydia said cheese very seriously with this face:
Here you can see Danton flying like a superhero, and down in the corner is a "damsel in this dress" (as Lydia says) that is in need of a rescue.
I saved my villain pictures and my pow signs to use for future superhero themed events. The city scene was just black sheets. One tacked to the wall, and the other draped over the couch. I drew on them with side walk chalk. My total cost for the party was about $11. (not including food) I bought the chalk for $5 (50 pieces, that will last forever) and the paper plates, and the fabric glue. I had everything else. Oh, I also made little pow magnets for the kids to take home. (only cause I already had all the stuff to make them. I printed off the sheet of pow signs on card stalk, and cut them out, covered them with clear contact paper and put adhesive magnet strips on the back. they loved them)

My kids keep asking me to put the city back up. That thing was a big hit. It was such a fun (and cheap) party.

Buggin

A couple months ago I started noticing tiny months congregating in my Pantry. Just a couple at first. I would smash them or vacuum them up. Then as many as like 30. I figured they were eating something in my pantry, it was disorganized and cluttered. I knew I needed to clean it, but part of me was afraid to find the source of the little buggers.
So I continued to clean them up when I saw them, usually by vacuum. It was not unusual to suck up about 30 at a time, usually once a week. I thought that maybe since I only vacuumed them, they were finding their way out of the vacuum and going back to the pantry.

The Laundry room and Pantry finally got to be too much so I cleaned and organized them yesterday. I did not find any like cocoons, or caterpillars or anything. Must have been a fluke. I havent seen any moths in a while anyway.

But then today I went to grab something out of my nice clean pantry, and when I pulled it out there were two tiny caterpillars on it. I frankly smashed them, and checked it further to make sure there were no more. I didn't find any more, but then I realized that I had just moved that item next to the brown rice. I had a bunch in a box. I looked closer and guess what I found. TONS of tiny caterpillars all over, and inside my rice. Can you see him? just above the i
They had pretty much gone in every bag I had, but on a closer look I found the source, I don't know if you can see it very well in the picture. It almost looks like very thick cob webs
So I threw out all my brown rice, I have no idea if that is the only thing they were eating or not, but my dry beans were right next to the rice so I threw them out too. no big loss, I cant remember the last time I cooked with my dry beans... And now brown rice is kind of ruined on me.

All about poop ...sorry, no pics

This evening as I was getting Danton's diaper on him for bed he stopped me and said "Iwannagopotty! I wannagopotty!" (I wanna go potty) So we went potty.
He went pee and I was excited (although it's not unusual for him to go pee on the potty. Justtrying to get HIM excited) I asked if he was all done, and he said "um, NOPE" Then he got 2 little poops in the toilet. Which of course are not actually poops at all. They are CHRISTMAS TREES!
So I said something about his Christmas trees, and he corrected me. They are little fishies.

I asked if he was done. " Um.....NOPE. I gotta go fishing" a little grunting later and LOOK what do you know, more fish. He then esplained that they are little fishies, but they didnt' have eyes. A few fish later I found out that you don't eat those fishies either, they are YUCKY. (seriously I was cracking up. We were in there for like 10 mins)

Then he had one that went *PLOP* "MOM! That was a POP!" So then we had Christmas trees, little yucky fishies with out eyes and a pop. (but we werent dont yet)

Next he had to examine as he pushed. He got excited again cause THAT one was a BIRDIE!

You know most kids find things in the clouds, but it take a really creative one to find shapes in their POOPS.

Then next came two little oranges. Then a BUNCH of oranges, and at last examination, there was a pretzel. As I was telling Daddy about everything (which was a lot to remember) I forgot the pretzel, but don't worry, Danton reminded me.

That was the funniest 10 mins I ever spent in the bathroom.