Lilah's Birthday

Sunday was Lilah's *actual* birthday. We had celebrated with friends the week before. Sunday was a day for us to celebrate her birthday as a family. Despite forecasts of snow, the weather was clear, and we headed down to see the Cherry Blossoms in full bloom, as we have done every year for as long as I can remember. I love seeing them. I love seeing them through my children's eyes even more. Sophie is now old enough to remember how much we love them and to look forward to them every year. I think Lilah might be getting there. We took time to really enjoy them up close before walking around the Tidal Basin and finally stopping to picnic. After a wonderful afternoon, we went to Nana and Poppa's for dinner and birthday cake. Lilah had a great birthday- and so did I :)

Purim - Panic = Success!

I was talking to a relative on Friday and telling them about Sunday's party. He asked, "why is it that you always have to host the party every Purim?" "Because I LIKE to!," I replied automatically. And I do. The one year I didn't host Purim I was literally depressed all day. Despite my usual panic, I really do love throwing parties. Which brings us to yesterday's party.

This year's annual Purim bash was SO MUCH FUN! We decided to go with a Sesame Street theme. I was Grover, Shimmy was Big Bird, Sophie was Abby, and Lilah was Cookie Monster. We had a great group of friends over, great food, and no pre-party panic! I'm not even sure how that happened. I'm always prepared, so it's not the last minute rush that stresses me out. I have been known to have the pre-party panic even if everything is 100% ready and I am sitting down waiting for guests to arrive. Maybe blogging about it last week helped? If I put it out there in the universe (or internetz) it can no longer attack me from within? Who knows. All I know is that yesterday we had one heck of a good time.

Since Lilah's birthday is this coming Sunday, I had already thrown parties the previous two Sundays, and the same group of friends would have been invited to a separate birthday party, we decided to celebrate her birthday yesterday too. This weekend we will celebrate with family!


(Best family pic of the day even though Shimmy had lost his costume by this point, Lilah took off her hood, revealing very messy hair, and Sophie is wearing/holding the entire contents of the dress up bin. Hey, I look okay.)

Location:
Our house, which was clearly made for entertaining. We can seat 30+ people around tables comfortably in our dining room. Love it.



Menu:
Glazed corned beef
Sweet and sour meatballs
Chicken stuffed wontons
Mock shrimp cocktail
Sesame noodles
Whipped potatoes in phylo shells
Vegetables and dips

and for dessert:
Ambrosia (I cannot wait to make this again- it was SO GOOD)
Pumpkin muffins (per Miss Abby Cadaby aka Sophie's request)
Hamantashen of course, with a BIG birthday hamantashen for Lilah (also Sophie's idea)



Activities:
Eating, hanging out, and a costume contest for the kids, which Lilah won! I think people voted for her because it was her birthday party. She was super cute in her cookie monster costume, but she had some good competition.


(Sophie was Hawaiian Abby Princess Aurora- she definitely got points for creativity)

Party favor:
Our Mishloach Manot bags, which were Sesame Street themed to match our costumes! The bags contained Bert's Oatmeal, Cookie Monster's Cookies, Oscar's Mud Cakes (brownies), Big Bird's Bird Seed (sunflower seeds), and Elmo's Juice Box



As successful as it was, I'm taking a break from parties for a while. As the host, that is. I'd love to be a guest if anyone else is so inclined to do the planning :)

If it weren't for the panic attacks, I could be a party planner!

I enjoy entertaining. I really, really do. And also, it really stresses me out. I enjoy planning parties, sometimes themed ones. I enjoy sending out invitations, planning the menu, decorating, searching for party favors. I enjoy preparing the food, trying out new recipes, designing the presentation of the food. The hours before the party I am a wreck. I am in a constant dialogue with myself that goes something like this:
"Oh crap, crap, crap."
"Everything is going to be fine. You ROCK at this."
"I am literally shaking."
"You have planned everything to perfection and now it's just in its final stages."
"I want to throw up."
"This is going to be FUN."
"I've changed my mind. I want to spend the night in bed watching TV instead."
"Pull yourself together- it's all going to be FINE."
And it IS. It's better than fine, it's amazing. I have fun, the guests have fun. I spend the next day looking at pictures over and over again, smiling, because everything was so great!

Most Recent Party: Shimmy's 30th Birthday Booze Cruise

Location:
An electric boat that toured the harbor for 2 hours

Menu:
Mexican pinwheels
Cheese ball and crackers
Babaganoush and veggies
Caprese salads in tomato bowls
Mini fruit tarts
Birthday cake made to look like a life preserver

Party favor:
Koozies that said "Shimmy's 30th Birthday Booze Cruise"






Next up: Purim Party on Sunday
We're expecting a large crowd of great friends. The menu is planned. The party favors are assembled. It's going to be awesome! Except for the panic attack that will ensue shortly beforehand.

UNION!

I am ready to organize. Who's in?

I am waiting for my kids to burst in the door any minute. It is Saturday night. It is past their bedtime. They are supposed to be at my parents' house until tomorrow afternoon. Apparently my four-year-old can manipulate a couple of 54-year-olds into making the 45-minute trip to take her home early. On one hand, I get it. She's a little kid and at that age (really, at any age) homesickness is real and hard to work through. One the other hand, I am angry. LIVID, actually. She has been spending a few weekends a year at my parents' house for entire life. Though I am sure there were some tears at some point during previous visits, she was never driven back early.

The real cause for my anger is that I feel cheated out of what was supposed to be a break. Breaks that come few and far between for me. Being a stay-at-home-mom is a full time job for me. I do EVERYTHING from the minute the kids wake up until they go to bed at night, and I hope and pray they stay asleep all night so I can at least clock out until the next morning. I don't have the weekends to look forward too, in fact, they are worse than the weekdays in many ways. 99% of the time I do this all alone, with no other parent present due to a demanding job of his own. I need a freaking break once in a while. Not to mention the conditions under which I work. I often eat scraps for meals. I am not afforded proper bathroom breaks. I get no sick leave at all whatsoever. And I'm tired of it. Let's organize! Union!