Our Safari Adventure

So I know everyone is waiting to hear - how did the safari adventure go? Was it a success? Well, friends, we did it. And we all had fun. And we're still recovering.

Saturday night we wrapped up prep work at 1am. Hit the hay and was up and at 'em at 6:30am. We loaded the truck and my Jimmy and was at my mom's by 9am to drop off Grace. We were setting up at the park by 10am. Right on schedule. Score. We were moving the last few boxes out of the way and taping down the dang elephants on the table one last time at 1pm when the guests started arriving. Whew.

We had a great time. There were about 15 children (and we didn't even have to rent any of them to make it look like Grace has friends!), 40 adults, and enough food for 100 (I always overbuy!). The weather was great - although a little windy which didn't help my grandiose decorating plans. Even duct tape couldn't hold down the ornery inflatable animals in the wind. Oh well. It was pretty to begin with.

We had the kids decorate safari hats, there was a pinata, and lots of bubbles. The bubbles were a huge hit.

And of course, the cake. I ended up making a tiger cake, which looked a little like an orange kitty, but you know what, it was midnight and that is not my cake-decorating finest.

But I've come to find out that really the talk of the party was the refrigerator. I guess it's not the norm to unplug your fridge and bring it out to the park. That's my husband for you. There's no mountain too tall for him. I have to preface though - it isn't a full-size fridge, and it wasn't from our house. It's about a half-size fridge, and it was from our garage. And hey, the fruit was cold, coleslaw chilled, ice frozen, and the tiger-cake still had its "roar" because of it. Like Mr. D told me today - "you gotta give me props for the fridge." Yes, Mr. D, - I will give you "props" since we are from the hood, and you have mad skillz.

And now, on to some more picture goodness.

Happy Birthday Grace

My little girl is 2 today!

Time goes by so fast. Sometimes at night when she's asleep I sneak into her room and just watch her and realize how precious she is and try to drink in the moments and remember her like she is now. It gets hard sometimes to remember details from just these past two years.

I never wrote down my whole birth story. I wanted to, but was caught up in caring for a newborn. I tried to go back after a couple months, but facts were already getting fuzzy. Some things are still crystal clear however. This is what I learned and will remember in preparing for this next baby's arrival.

• Staying at home for a long time is a good thing. My house is much more comfortable than the hospital.


• Don't eat during active labor. Don't worry - hunger will be the last thing on my mind for a while. Just because I only get ice chips in the hospital does NOT mean I need to go grab a sandwich before heading into the hospital. I will only revisit that sandwich a few times later.


• Reread "Birthing from Within". Skip over the new-agey mumbo-jumbo, but remember some of the pain management techniques. They actually work.


• Don't hold it against the nurses when they promise the baby will be here before midnight (or whatever given time they feel will encourage you along). They are just trying to help and can't help it if my baby is gigantic and posterior (sunny-side up).


• Pray. A LOT. It will keep my mind focused and give me peace.

Regardless of what lessons I learned, Miss Grace was born healthy at 12:19am on July 23, 2006 weighing in at 9lbs, 1 oz. It was such an amazing experience. What I find even more mind blowing is the glimpse of God's great love for us when we have our own child to love.

Plus, He has equipped us physically with these wonderful hormones that help "blur" the labor process so much that we willingly decide to go through the pain again for more children. Its truly amazing what our bodies are capable to endure.

I'm getting caught up in my own ramblings of birth. Its one of those topics that I find so fascinating and I am so thankful I was able to experience it naturally.

So in honor of Grace, here's a quick look back at two years ago. Happy Birthday my dear!

Dirty Forks, Vines, and Cakes

So... something I never thought I would say, much less write:

"I just ate my cake with the fork that I used to scratch your foot."

Never did think that would happen.

I was the recipient of the foot scratch, not the cake-eater. Fortunately.

In other less disgusting things, Operation Jungle Party is still underway. I have my to-do list itemized out for each day this week so I can systematically complete tasks with the goal of avoiding total meltdown at Saturday, 10pm when I wail, "and the party is tomorrow....." So far, so good. Today on the list is making my vines.

I'm taking twine and cutting crepe streamers and draping them over the twine to create a vine-like look. Some streamers I'm twisting, others just letting fly. We are going to hang the vine-rope across the center of the gazebo (27' - you can refer to the map, if necessary). I have some inflatable monkeys that will then hang from the rope in the vines.

I am also going to make another trial cake today. This will be the third! I want to make the cakes rather than purchase them to avoid all the preservatives and make it somewhat healthier. I'm trying to use whole wheat pastry flour in lieu of the white flour, but I don't want to serve a cake that's too dense. I have decided that I'm going to make one chocolate sheet cake, and then two lemon cakes in my animal molds that I bought. That way I have plenty of cake and still get to make some of my animal shaped cakes that are so time consuming to decorate.

So I've tried out two different lemon cakes - one was too dry, the other was pretty good, but I'm not 100%. But, since chocolate will probably be more popular anyhow, I'm going to try it out today. I've made it before, just never with the whole wheat flour. We'll see!

Oh, and I should do some housework today also.... but that's just not as fun as party planning!

Safari Party

Lions, tigers, and bears... oh my!

Grace is having a wild safari adventure for her birthday bash this year. We're having it at a local park. We have reserved one of their large gazebos. It's less than two weeks away and I am in planning mode.

Invitations went out last week. I was pretty happy with them. I decided I wanted to make them myself, so I researched online and visited Michael's to come up with a plan. For my first attempt at making invitations from more than fancy stationary, I think they came out nice. Its trifolded black cardstock. On the inside, I attached animal printed paper. In the center is a piece of vellum that has all the details. For the front we found these nifty little foam crafts of animal heads (that Mr. D so patiently glued together).

We spent yesterday at the park measuring the space so I could draw up a layout. Yes, that is the level of my planning craziness. I need a map. Today I laid out a map on the computer and it is oh, so pretty. This isn't the best image of it, but you get the idea.




I'm not even going to justify it either. Either you understand why I need this, or you will think I'm nuts and my explaining won't make a difference. My husband thinks I'm nuts, but he humors me anyhow. Just wait thought, he will appreciate it once we show up to set up on the day of the party and all my tablecloths are cut to fit, my paper crepe vines are just the right length, and we know exactly where everything will go. Hmm...I guess I'm trying to justify it after all.

Next in line is planning the menu and cake. Menu will be pretty straight-forward picnic faire. Burgers, hot dogs, chips, watermelon, corn on the cob. Cake on the other hand has yet to be decided. I would love to make a few different animal shaped cakes (tiger, monkey, elephant) using the fun molds, but I don't know if I might be biting off more than I can chew. I could always order a cake, but that's just no fun. I think if I can keep the menu pretty easy, I can spend the time on the cake.

It should be fun. The decorations and party goodies that I ordered online are set to arrive next week. We bought little plastic safari hats for the kids to decorate and wear. I can't wait!

Waiting for Folding: Four Loads

I have just broke my first cardinal rule of laundry. My mother would be so ashamed right now.

In my laundry room, sitting on top of the washer, is my laundry basket. My laundry basket that is overflowing with four load of clean, unfolded laundry. Yes, four. I have washed and dried four load of laundry and piled them all in a basket for folding later this evening. Well, later this evening came and went, and yet the laundry is waiting. This is my number one rule of keeping on top of the laundry - when it comes out of the dryer, fold it. Don't pile it. Take 10 minutes and fold it.

Why don't I listen to myself?

I have an excuse of sorts though. I have been neck deep in planning Grace's birthday bash. We decided to celebrate her 2nd birthday at the park and invite everyone. We didn't do much for her first birthday, so Mr. D wants to make up for it this year. I had to get all the decorations ordered online so they would arrive in time. I have spent hours searching for the best prices and best discount codes available online, and then compared them to availability and prices to our local party stores. Madness.

But, decorations are ordered. Invitations have been made (by hand) and sent. This week: food. I am planning on posting how super cool the invites turned out too. Stay tuned.

Independence Celebration

Happy 4th, err, 6th of July. Well, better late than never. That's my motto typically these days - I seem to have lost any time management skills I used to possess. Being out of work, and on a toddler's schedule really messes things up.

Anyhow, I digress.

We had a nice celebration of the our nation's Independence. It started off rather slow. Mr. D decided to celebrate our freedom by repairing my car. See, we don't have to be told who will fix our vehicles and when. We have the privilege to do it ourselves. Okay, he'll do it himself. I'll watch. And send Grace to help.

He finally finished up, and we cleaned up and headed over to a friend's house to set fires and blow things up. Our friend lives in a city where fireworks are legal. Here in dry and dusty Southern CA, there aren't many cities left that allow personal fireworks. Most people head to parks to watch large scale shows. But we celebrated old-school with some sparklers and fountains.

Grace dug the fireworks. I wasn't sure how she would react, but after a few loud squeals and explosions, she was ready to light her own.

Some of the other (older and wiser) kids wanted to give her a sparkler, but we decided just to let her watch this year instead. She'll have plenty of other opportunities to play with fire when she gets older.

All in all, it was a nice time. We saw friends, ate some grilled burgers, set off some firecrackers, and realized just how blessed we are to live in such a great country.

A Trip to the Lake

It was a hot and sweaty weekend. We packed up our gear and left our 95 degree temps for the lake - where we had even warmer temps of about 110. We took Showdog III (our boat - the name, silly story) to Lake Mohave in Nevada.

We left bright and early at 5am (okay, more like 5:45am) on Friday. We carpooled with another family who have a 10 month old. Crammed like sardines - three across the front of the truck (the husbands and the wife), and me in the back with the babies, we headed off for our 5 hour trek. It went fairly smooth: babies cooperated, truck cooperated, we got breakfast at the Denny's with the slowest. service.....ever. We arrived in the small town outside of our destination and drove up to the motel (that title is even questionable) where the rest of the group (two other families) were staying. Upon looking at the rooms - I wished we were staying at a Motel 6. At least they leave the light on for you. And perhaps have windows that lock! So after much debating about should we stay or should we go now - we decided to stay. Our options were limited after all. There's not much within a close proximity and that's why this place manages to stay in business while charging $65 a night! $65 so I can fear my safety and wear flip-flops in the shower!

Okay, okay, enough about the skeezy motel. We finally launched the boat launched and got out on the water. Its about 2-ish at this point. And honestly, I'm done! Finished. Nothing left. Running on fumes.

Here's the recipe: Take only three hours of sleep (one day maybe I'll actually do my packing before the night before), mix that thoroughly with travel weariness, add a dash of motel drama, and a good heaping of pregnancy - allow to bake at 110 for about 1 hour and you will have a bonafide tired and cranky mommy.

So Friday wasn't exactly a blast for me. I chilled out roasted on the beach while counting down how long until I was going to get air conditioning and sleep.

Fortunately, as soon as my tired body hit the spring loaded, saggy mattress at the skeezy motel, I was out like a light. Almost 8 hours of sleep later, I felt like a new person - ready to hit the beach.

Saturday was much better - your typical day at the river. Lots of suntan lotion and lots of bottled water. The non-pregnant people rode the jet skis and inner tubes. I did venture out in my maternity swim suit (yee-haw) and played in the water with Grace. It was nice and relaxing.

Sunday we spent some more time out in the water before calling it a day to try to make it home by dinnertime. Of course dinnertime is relative - we didn't get home until almost 9pm. Why do trips home always seem so much longer? Without the anticipation of fun - we all just realized how hot, tired, and dirty we were, and how much work we have waiting for us at home! Actually, the trip home wasn't that bad - we chatted, laughed, cleaned up explosive diapers. An explosion that warranted removal of entire carseat for cleaning. That's my daughter - boy can she poop! But we all made it home safe and sound - albeit a little sunburned (no thanks to my suntan lotion).

So that was my weekend. Here's proof.

Playing in the "kiddie" pool

Singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider"

Family Self-Portrait "Showdog III"