Thursday, August 18, 2011

Ooops, I did it again!

Welp, there is no secret here. I did it again.  I completely neglected my commitment to blog.  The bad part is, I was consciously doing it.  Let me tell you why....

Reason #1:

Last weekend was my daughter's 5th birthday party. 




I took last Thursday morning off of work to take Ellie up to her old daycare to see her friends and bring them treats for her birthday.  I decided to test out my vegan baking skills on her class.



Since Ellie was having a bug themed birthday party, I made "dirt n worm" cupcakes.  They were a huge hit!!!! And everyone knows a bunch of four year olds are the toughest of critics!!! 

I then spent all day last Friday (which I took off from work) and all weekend making food and preparing for the shindig.  I am kind of obsessive compulsive when it comes to party planning and I go WAY over board, and tend to "geek out" at every minor detail.  I made her a vegan "bug" cake, vegan lady bug crackers, "insect egg" bean salad, "caterpillar" spinach and artichoke dip (Thanks to Emily at Daily Garnish. Click here for this AMAZING receipe)  "butterfly wing" pasta salad, ants on a log and bug juice.  The food was SPECTACULAR and  90% vegan (I had to include ham and cheese croissant sandwiches for the husband) and everyone LOVED it!


Birthday cake....Stage 1!

Its coming together! The cake was white, so i decorated the leftover daycare cupcakes so that guests could have the option of having choclate cake if they desired.

The finished product!!!!!!

....and the mess! Thank goodness my husband wasn't home to see this!

And a glass of wine to make me forget what a mess I was making....;-)

Although everything turned out well in the end.  The party started a little rough.  I had tried to reserve the park where we were having the party through our local parks and rec office and unfortunately the park we had chosen did not allow reservations.  The women at parks and rec assured me that I would not have an issue finding a picnic table because generally on a Sunday morning at 11:30 the parks aren't that busy.  Boy was she wrong!!! We showed up at the park about 11:15 (yes, I should have been there earlier so this is partially my fault!) And all of the picnic tables were reserved.  Luckily, there was a family that was reserving about 10 picnic tables for a large party later in the day and she was willing to loan us a couple of our party. 

Once everything was set up, the clown arrived and painted all the children's faces and entertained with lots of balloon animals.  We ate lunch, opened presents and enjoyed some cake.  I had planned a few bug themed games, but with the amount of kids at the park I didn't even want to attempt the activities I had planned. It worked out find though because between lunch, cake, present and clown we took up a little over 2 hours of time...perfect amount of time for a birthday party if you ask me!

We had such a great turnout for the party and enjoyed spending time with both Kiley's side and my side of the family at one event.  We are so lucky to have such wonderful and supportive family in our lives! xoxo


Reason #2: Ellie is now a KINDERGARTNER!!!!! The first day of school was Tuesday and boy has been an adjustment. Ellie is doing just fine...I am the one that is struggling.  On the first day of school Ellie would not let us take pictures of her once we got to school because we were "embarrassing" her.  Then when it was time to line up and go in the classroom, I tried to give Ellie a kiss goodbye and once again, Ellie was mortified (I almost broke out in to tears at this point).  I found her concern for being embarrassed extremely ironic considering the little boy in front of her, and behind her in line were both BAWLING because they did not want to leave there moms.  El did break down and give me a quick peck on the cheek just as her class began to enter the building! :-)


On the second day of kindergarten Ellie informed me that she "doesn't watch noggin anymore because it is too babyish" and that she "watches Nickelodeon instead."  I don't think I like Kindergarten! :-(

Today is day number 3 of Elementary School, so we will have to see what kind of comment she has to make this evening when I pick her up!

Reason #3)  I accepted a new position at my job.  Under my current role I was doing alot of traveling to see clients and prospects.  As fun as it is to be on the road, I missed my family.  Especially now that I am married and Ellie is in kindergarten I had an even stronger urge to be at home.  So I have been busy making the transition from my old role to my new role this week!  More on this too come....

Reason #4) Sigh......So I have mentioned a couple of times prior that I needed some good luck.  Well, I didn't get the good luck I was hoping for.  Long story short, Kiley and I put an offer down on our dream home and we lost it! We found out on Tuesday that the house had slipped between our fingers.  Devastated does not even begin to describe how hurt I was after finding out we lost the house.  I have spent the last two days crying..and crying...and crying...and finally taking my frustration out on my poor undeserving husband who is just as upset as I am.  So today I finally sucked it up; admitted defeat to myself; and decided to move, which is why I finally feel like I can blog again!

SOOOOO in a nut shell, that has been my life the last week.  I have been absent in the kitchen the last couple of days due to the "cooking extravaganza" I took on over the weekend prepping for the birthday party.  But I am itching to get back in it tonight and for sure this weekend!  I can't let a small upset like a house take me off track from the things that make me the happiest....i.e. my daughter, my husband, cooking and running!  In the end, it was just a house.  It's my family that makes it a home! :-)

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