Showing posts with label snacks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snacks. Show all posts

Wednesday, 21 October 2015

Emma Turned 7 Last Month - Now I'm Planning A Party

Emma, my now 7 year old, has a birthday in early September.  In the past, party organizing has gone fine (and by fine I mean we'd generically invite all the kids in her class and hope they don't all show up).  This year was different.

September got away from us very quickly.  The later school start this year, as well as Emma joining a modelling and talent agency, and busy weekends led to us being busy most weekends in September.  She even participated in a fashion show at the local mall.  She enjoyed every minute of it.  But as a result we kinda skipped over the school-friends birthday party.

We did have a lovely party for family and friends (it was more an end-of-summer party for us than for Emma, but she did get gifts from grandparents etc.)  She enjoyed that party, and I did invite some of her friends but not many came by.  So this year we decided to throw a Halloween birthday combo party.

It's getting hard to ask her to narrow down the guest list.  She has one boy best friend and then every one else she invites is a girl.  I have no issues with that, but sometimes she thinks she should invite more boys (after we've discussed all this and created the invitations).  And some years she leaves out people I would have totally thought she'd ask.  It's so interesting what goes on in their young minds.

We are pretty much all set.  Costumes are decided on, house and yard mostly decorated, cookies are baked (but not yet iced - job for Friday night or Saturday morning), snacks decided on (but not totally purchased), loot bags created and living room fairly tidy.

The party is Saturday.  We are expecting 9 or 10 kids plus my two.  This feels like a lot to me.  Plus my kids have been sick this week.  Emma started on Sunday and seems pretty much over it now.  She went to her 2 hours of dance class tonight, so I'd say she's better.  Rose has it now - threw up once and is just off and on feverish, with cold symptoms and extreme (cyclical) tiredness.

Today was my day to get most stuff sorted out for this party.  Then the school called to say Rose needed to come home.  Somehow I still managed to pull off most of what needed doing.  I did think I'd like to go to the grocery store, but we didn't get there today.  I was most excited to get cookies mixed, rolled, cut out and baked all before sick girl got home.  She went straight to bed, so I had most of an hour to stay productive.  And it mostly worked out.

Saturday morning will be finishing decorating and getting the table set up with treats while hubby takes Rose to dance (and hopefully Emma decides to go with so I can have more productive time!)  There will also be last-minute tidying, and mummy-dog making for dinner with the party kids.  I'm feeling more organized with this party than I usually feel for these things!

If you have any tips for kid parties (or Halloween parties) please do share - like game ideas or other easy to prepare fun snacks.  I have a few days yet to finish organizing myself - and everyone else!  And stay tuned to see how everything turns out.  I'm sure another blog post will occur - maybe with photos!

If I don't post again before - Happy Halloween everyone!  We're planning on a great time this year!

Friday, 29 May 2015

Kids and Food

I don't know about anyone else out there, but my kids are really weird eaters.  And I don't just mean food choices.  Tonight we had the noodles cooking and the sauce heating and Rose knew all this but asked "can I eat something before?"
"No Rose, you have to wait for dinner."
"But I'm hungry right now!" in that perfectly whiny way all kids perfect at some point. "I want letters in a bowl!"  (She means Alpha Bits)
So I give in and she eats a small bowl of dry Alpha Bits, with some help from Emma.  Then she asks for more "but with milk."
Cereal isn't going to hurt her, so I say "Ok, but you still have to eat your dinner," and we put out the watermelon she usually eats with cereal in the morning with it.  (She definitely had some of that too.)
"Ok, I will."
When we look back both the girls have a spoon and are eating out of the same bowl of cereal and milk.
"Emma, why are you eating out of Rose's bowl?  If you want some you can have your own."
"But this one is already here," she says.  Kid logic, right?  So they just happily keep eating out of the same bowl.

Cut to dinner time (about 5 minutes after they ate the cereal) and Emma is whining about wanting to play Play-Doh and they both seem to have forgotten we haven't actually eaten dinner yet.  But, lo and behold, they both eat spaghetti like champs.  Rose had a bowl of noodles with sauce and a bowl of noodles with butter and Emma ate a bowl of sauce "on the side, Mommy" which she then drizzled over her first bowl of noodles with butter.  Then she continued on to have another bowl of noodles with butter and ate a decent portion of the meat sauce out of the "side" bowl.  Why they couldn't have just waited that extra 15 minutes I will never know.  I guess I just don't remember being a kid and being SO HUNGRY that you just can't wait.

Toodles!