Reality Checks

Sometimes I plan things to turn out a certain way. Or I have great intentions. Often times, the reality turns out quite different.

Reality Check #1: Super hero cut-out birthday activity

"A great gathering activity is to have the kids make their own superhero. Trace each child's body on butcher paper and provide markers, paper, and other accessories for them to design their own fun. We had a hard time getting the kids to stop once they started!"

super hero party - birthdaypartyideas.com September 2002

Reality:

The tracing and cutting actually takes up a lot of time. And during that time, the kids don't really have anything to do. And some kids feel very threatened lying prostrate on the ground while an adult tells them to hold still. Once we finally had all of the bodies cut out and on the floor, no one (except Seth) was really all that interested in doing this. Most of the kids glued one pom-pom ball on and called it good. All righty then.

Party Headquarters

Some of the cut-outs.

One of the more elaborate decorations. Abandoned.

Reality Check #2 - The Spider Web That Wasn't

" I had all the kids form a circle and tied the end of a ball of string around the birthday boy. He then threw across the circle to another child who then wrapped it around his waste and this continued until a web was formed in the center. The kids loved this! They enjoyed being all tied up. I then placed two spiders in the web and the kids had to jump around and try to knock the spiders off. They wanted to do this over and over again."

super hero party - birthdaypartyideas.com honorable mention December 2004

Reality:

Form a circle? Four year olds? Please. Especially big enough for someone to toss a ball of string. Try this...stand shoulder to shoulder...no, not in a line...here let me move you over here. Oh you don't want to do it? O.K. Let's scrunch in closer. O.K. Nobody move. Here's a ball of string, Sam. toss it to someone. Whoa boy...not so hard. Here you go again. Actually, just hand it to someone. Seth? But he's right next to you. don't you want to hand it to Graham over here? No? O.K.

After about five minutes of trying, I put the spider on the "web". Fell right through. Hmmm...a few more times around the kids then. Next time. One jump - right on through. This clearly isn't working when the kids figure out that they can just start jumping and falling down and then everyone falls down. That is one fun party game. Who needed a spider?

Um...we need to closer guys.

Closer...in a circle....

Some sort of web

Hang on

I'm thinking the spider might have an easy time with this one.

A tangled web

The real fun starts

Reality Check #3 - Mom's Decorating Prowess

We've made many changes over the last few weeks with our new budget. Birthday cakes became the newest casualty of Dave Ramsey. Girls Night Out Dave Ramsey Style...smashing success. Birthday cake Dave Ramsey Style - quite lame. Good thing kids don't care, at all!

This was my attempt at making a superman birthday cake. The reality was a far cry from the intention.

The Budget Cake

Just as fun to blow out. (There were other kids there besides Andreas. One was shy and usually with his mom and one was totally happy just doing his own thing.)

Reality Check #4 - Going, Going, Gone

We will be making many, many dump runs over the next few months. We have accumulated lots of "things" over the last five years and not all of them will be moving on with us. When Jay announced that he was getting rid of the Christmas Tree out in our front yard and taking it to the dump, I wanted to add some of my own goodies. Included: one dresser broken from original move from Provo to Denver. Lots of cardboard from large toys, new washing machine etc, and one For Sale Sign we've "stored" in our garage for four and a half years. It was tucked away on the side but anytime anyone saw it, they always wondered why we still had it. It wasn't really doing any harm in it's little corner but we figured we needed to get rid of it before the next one went up. It's been on our to-do list for years. Reality - we are moving soon!

The City Dump

It's gone!

Reality Check #5 - Eating Habits

"Dad, are we going right home after the dump? " asks Sammy.

"No, we are going to a store afterwards."

"And then are we going home? What about dinner?"

"Mom said that we're having Macaroni and Cheese" (ne'er fret...it's homemade. Tara's recipe is delish!)

"I don't think we have all of the ingredients. Are we going to a restaurant?"

"Probably not, son. We'll go home to have dinner."

Awwww! No way! I'm starving to death! This is the worst day ever! And so on, and so on.

. . . but the kid knows us. We ended up at Staggering Ox (best sandwich shop ever!). When you're four-year-old predicts eating out...our reality is that it happens WAY too much.

Staggering Ox bread

Drinking the ranch dressing when all the guts were gone. Pretty gross but their ranch is so good...it's almost understandable.

A Clubfoot sandwich

Seth's turn to drink ranch dressing

What happens when Seth's chooses his clothes.

Just some observations from my weekend.