Pintrest and party days

I was at a 4-year old's birthday party today at our community pool. R was so excited to be at one of his favorite places (the pool) with one of his favorite things (cake). There is not usually cake at the pool, so could it get any better?

It was a really nice, low-key party. The cake was a Despicable Me cake, the decorations were one bunch of 8 multi-colored balloons, the goodie bags were Angry Birds bags stuffed with sports trinkets and a little candy. The invite had come via text message two weeks before. All this from a mother who I have always thought of as very high-strung, everything-must-be-perfect kind of mom.

The kids had a great time in the pool and running around the playground there. Some of the moms (including the birthday boy's mom) were talking around the party table sipping bottles of water, and people started taking about Pintrest.

"Great time-suck"

"Ugh...people just post picture after picture of stuff they like but will never make, places they want to visit but will never go, and food they want to eat but will never cook."

"I hate Pintrest - it makes me feel like a bad mom" one woman said with a laugh. "My kids will never have parties like on Pintrest."

Everyone agreed on this last point. I mean really, if you look at the kids section on Pintrest, you would think everyone's 1st birthday party must have a designer theme with a 5-tier "Cake Boss" fondant creation, complete with Martha Stewart designed place settings, banners and garlands. And of course the birthday child in a designer outfit posed in front a backdrop of dozens of white balloons and mason jars with candles in them. At dusk. With fireflies.

The birthday boy's mom spoke up at this point. "You know, it just wasn't going to happen this year. I had plans to do a themed party, but there was just too much going on, and I realized, he's four. He wants pizza, he doesn't really like cake, he just wants to run around with some friends. So that what he got."

And I thought back to R's fourth birthday party, which I had done plenty of Pintrest research for, looking for the perfect superhero-themed games and decorations and goodies. Now, I am a graphic designer, so part of me is programmed to think about how to do things creatively and make things I am proud of. And R's party was awesome - I wouldn't go back and change anything about the day. He had the BEST time, but it wasn't because I made special cake toppers, graphic BOOM! WHAM! decorations, and personalized every kid's goodie bag with superhero names for them. It was because he got to eat unlimited Cheese Curls (something I hardly ever let him have) run around with his friends, see all of his family members dressed up as superheroes, and eat cake. I could have eliminated a lot of stress on my part in the weeks prior to the party.

So I thoroughly enjoyed today's party, probably as much as R did. And I really respect moms who get that when it comes to kids, it's not the details - it's the big picture that counts for birthdays. Details are for graduations and weddings. I will try and remember that for R's 5th birthday.


-the good stepwitch

So What's New?

Really, I know, I know.

This is the saddest blog ever.

Thank goodness no one really reads it, though it might be neat to see how quickly our life progresses when I only post about once every 8 months or so! Except that the info I updated on my last post and nice family picture I uploaded are already sadly outdated. Bummer. I think I just have to accept that this is way I blog now. There is no schedule, there is no theme. It is a random few minutes to jot down some some thoughts, share something funny, brag about something our kids did. It's not something I should feel pressured by. It's a 10-minute brain break. I only hope I get to have 10-minute brain breaks a little more often...

It's the start of another school year, so what better time to start a new blog post. P headed back to Penn State for his sophomore year. Such a difference from last year! He was excited to see his friends, there was no great "setting up of the dorm room". It was a "throw everything on the bed and let's go get lunch" sort of move in day. He has a new roommate, someone he knows and likes (thank you God!), no 8:00 classes, and we haven't heard anything from him, which means he is content and that is good.

H and A started classes this past Monday as well. A is a junior this year and H is 8th grade. The girls are becoming so beautiful I can hardly stand it. I can't believe A will start looking at colleges this year.

My little guy is 4 now. He likes to remind us of that fact. He just got his first bike and that has been more stressful than I could have imagined. R has a love/hate relationship with his bike. He loves that he has a bike, he hates to ride it. He has had some good rides (rides usually consist of going around the school parking lot across the street one time) but he has also had plenty of tearful rides where I feel like we are torturing him by forcing him to ride his little green two-wheeler with training wheels. The drama! Coming in from a particularly bad ride the other day, he announced (for the whole neighborhood to hear) he was NEVER GOING TO RIDE THAT BIKE AGAIN!!!!!! sigh. It can only get better!

This was a good bike day!

Oh, and in other news, C and I are going to be celebrating our 7th anniversary in September. According to the Traditional anniversary gift list, this year is the "Wool" anniversary. I thought that was pretty lame, so I checked what the Modern anniversary gift is for the 7th anniversary. I would never guessed it. It is the "Desk Set" anniversary. DESK SETS???? Nothing says bring on another 7 years like a good desk set... I loved you last year C, but this year I "Desk Set" love you! 

So that is my 8 month update. When will the next entry in my blog be posted? Your guess is as good as mine. Hopefully before our 8th anniversary, or should I say our "Linens/Lace" anniversary. (that's way better than desk sets...)

- the good stepwitch