Then it’s the rush from work, get everyone ready, back in the car, try to have a decent meal (if that’s possible) and pack up all the healthy snacks and stuff. I just realized going through the list that it takes so much time and effort to do this twice a week, but totally worth it! The only downfall really is that I’m not sure if I can deal with little miss cranky pants the next morning because she ends up going to bed after her regular bedtime.

We take M everywhere with us! She’s really, really good in public but then there’s baseball M, the crazy little girl that won’t sit still and who is always on the move. How do I harness all that while at the ball diamond?

How does everyone else do it? Is it just the “trying threes” or are all little ones as “on-the-go” as she is? This will be an interesting season…

M’s outfit was perfect! Black leggings with red and white striped legwarmers with a mini hat in red… it was awesome and everyone loved it! The decorations were killer – red and white twisted streamers from the ceiling, pompom flowers, fish and hat cut-outs all over the room, balloons, signs, goldfish centre pieces, candy table, cake & cupcakes (made by a friend who did a totally amazing job), and cake-pops (made by another friend and they were perfect!).

The food was awesome (all done by my Mom, for 65 people…yep 65 people!!) which included Hooey Gooey Lasagna, Green Eggs and Ham Quiche, Cindy Lou Spring Mix, Whoville Penne, Grinch Greek salad among a ton of other goodies! People were asking who we got to cater the food Ches’ Mom! Our friend’s come hungry, they know how we roll.

The Cat in the Hat made an appearance to read the little guys the book. After they had their face painted, put on their stovepipe hat and had their picture taken in my make-shift photo booth (which everyone loved by the way).

Overall it was a total success! Everyone had a great time! It took 8 weeks of planning for the quickest 3 hours of my life! Everyone seems to think I missed my calling by not being a party planner!  So if you’re looking for some ideas or have a theme and need some suggestions shoot me a message.  Take a look at a few pics and let me know what you think! How’d I do??

Sign made, balloons ordered, all the accessories including making Thing 1 and Thing 2 out of clay and feathers done! Cake, cupcakes, cake pops, candy table – CHECK! Even have a costume for the bro-in-law to get forced into to read all the kiddies a book. Funnily enough, it actually didn’t take that much coaxing to actually get him to do it BONUS! I was able to find some Cat in the Hat teaching supplies to save me some time and effort, which was perfect timing – banner, cut-outs, huge Cat – awesome!

Crayon rolls in Cat in the Hat fabric, activity booklets made and stovepipe hats all done. I’m even going to paint their faces before the book reading and take a pic in the make-shift photo-booth I’m planning. Even have a fishbowl full of goldfish crackers in mind for centre pieces! Food will be ordered and made night before. Man, I may actually be ready for the 3 hours of craziness I am willfully torturing myself with!

Would love to hear how you all celebrate your little ones birthdays! Big or small…themes and all! (OMG I’ve been so encompassed in everything Seuss I’m actually speaking in rhyme now).

To top it off, I think I’m actually more excited than she is. Yes, as you read this I know what you’re thinking, that I’m completely nuts, going overboard and possibly may have OCD. To that I concur. I think you need a little-bit of crazy to have kids and to fully enjoy them. So cheers to loving Sweetpea and being a little off my rocker!

PS – I’ll be sure to take pics of all my crazy creations and share them with you!

Well Friday night was the night. We switched it out and she was completely fine. Excited that she can now get in and out by herself, she can play in her room whenever she wanted, sit and read a book or sit in her rocking chair (yes I locked it lol). I did a complete overhaul of her room. Only books on the shelves, we explained that there is to be no climbing, I even went through her closet and dresser,  arranged all of her clothes, took out anything that was too small, took tags off the new stuff …when I say overhaul I mean just that. I was exhausted after the hour and a half ordeal.

So far so good, we do keep a gate in her door way because her room is at the top of the stairs, though she never gets up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom so it works out. It also keeps the cat and dog out of her room, and her room warm all day. It works for us!

We’re on day three. Last night she fell asleep in her rocking chair watching TV so I moved her over to her bed. She’s allowed to watch TV for ½ an hour before bed, usually she’s passed out before the sleep timer goes off so we’ve never had an issue. Actually come to think of it ever since we started that she’s never had ANY sleep issues. She goes to bed and is asleep before 7:30-8:00 pm and wakes up 12 hours later. She doesn’t get up, wet the bed or even call us for the 12 hours she’s out! I guess we’re really lucky. Now to plan the birthday party! Taking it one hurtle at a time!

We didn’t really have a ton of traditions while I was growing up, other than one side of the family Christmas Eve, the other Christmas Day. Ever since “M” was born, I’ve tried to create some traditions for her to carry on with her own family one day. Christmas morning we always hang out in our PJs, watch the Grinch and Elf (sorry, literally my ALL time favourite movie), hang out, take our time opening presents and basically eat junk all day.

Other traditions we’ve started… getting an ornament with our names and the year on it. So far we have a deer, penguin, and the recently added moose family. I think it will make for a great collection one day! She’s also allowed to choose 1 ornament to add to the tree, this year it ended up being Abby Cadaby, which totally clashes with our blue and silver tree, but that’s ok.

Lastly, Santa pics. It is a rite of passage, and the way I see it, mandatory every year. Well, this year was something special alright. One semi-good pic out of 6 taken, the rest of them consisted of her screaming and wiggling out of Santa’s arms to the point where she almost wriggled right out of her shirt and flashed the camera. Ugh… what a horrible experience for everyone involved! It was like toddlers gone wild! Bonus, I now have some added ammunition to her wedding slideshow in 25 years and these ones are fantastic!!!!

It got really bad after a “biting” incident at preschool. “M” being the receiver in the episode. I found she’s acting out a lot more, not listening, basically all the things an almost 3 year old should have been doing for the last 8 months of her terrible twos but really never seemed to get around to doing.

Every morning is a battle. I realize these little tantrums are normal, but you can only take so much. We call whatever this demon is that takes over her twice a day the “Ugly Attitude” and when she wakes up I can tell right away what type of day it will turn out to be.

Wish me luck… I’ve heard the “trying threes” aren’t any easier!

I thought to myself, “Say WHAT?” I pretty much burst out laughing, as tears ran down both sides of my face.  I’m sorry I think that it was the funniest thing I’ve ever heard!!! At the same point you have to think, wow, I really have to watch what I say around her! She sounds EXACTLY like me…the tone, mannerisms, including a little “stink-eye” and curled brow. You can read what she’s thinking because it’s all over her face.

It’s funny how little ones pick up on the tiniest things, the things you wouldn’t even think twice of doing or saying. Thought I would share. She’s really starting to have some great one-liners… and she uses them at the perfect times too!

Well, I figured nahhh let’s have a few drinks (which is funny because I don’t actually drink) and some apps. Hang out for a few hours and make it kid friendly if necessary. Here’s my dilemma. I’m kinda sick of the whole go out and buy apps and pre-made munchies. I don’t know what I’m getting myself into but I kinda want to make a few different ones, just to mix it up a bit. I found a bunch of fun alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, which should be fun and colourful, cake I figured nah, not going to bother. I tried a few people to see if they could make something and everyone seems to be too busy so there goes the super cute fondant cake out the window, but that’s okay.

Decorations…ya right! More like plates, cups and cutlery so I don’t have to clean any dishes! I’m sure that’s a staple for a lot of people’s parties so I’m not ashamed to be too lazy to clean up after a party and I’m not the only one! LOL. I think that’s pretty much it. So I’m looking for a few good, quick and SUPER EASY appetizer recipes. I mean like the 5 min magical ones, not like cheese sandwich type ones. The fancy shmancy looking ones and some would need to be kid friendly too! Any suggestions would be fantastic!

I love spending as much time with the fam as possible, so being able to take an extra day to enjoy the beautiful weather, do a day trip, or take “M” somewhere new ends up being a perfect weekend. The hard part is getting back in the swing of things the week following a long weekend! Ughh!  This past one started with fun, sun and a pumpkin farm and ended with some kind of tummy bug in the little one (yuck!).

There’s so much to be thankful for family, friends, health and just think… Christmas is right around the corner! (wow already? really?) . How do I know this? Because the dollar store already has Christmas decorations up right beside the Halloween ones! LOL. I never actually understood that. Marketing? Overstock? Just plain craziness? Hmm… maybe.

So long to all the long weekends of the year. It’s sad but true, BUT  I have a milestone birthday coming up so I booked a day off to treat myself to a day alone full of shopping (probably won’t end up being for myself but what else is new lol) maybe a facial and a mani and a pedi… amen for make-shift long weekends!  I’ll be sure to fully enjoy this one. I can’t wait! I totally need it!

Now that she’s 2 ½ (where has the time gone?) I can’t get rid of the stupid thing! She doesn’t use it during naps at pre-school actually… at all there or even during the day, just at bedtime. We try to keep it that way, but there’s one that snuck its way back into the car because she likes to “cat-nap” on occasion.

Now, enough is enough. I’ve bought books, gave her stories about how all the other babies need them and maybe she should donate them, everything short of cutting them up. I’ve even threatened to throw them in the garbage. I’m at the end of my rope with this. She wants to be a big girl and I explain to her that only the little babies use a soother but without fail she’ll scream her heart out until she gets it. We try to stand our ground but sometimes enough is just enough.

I’ll take any tips and tricks that would work! The Choo-choo and I are officially not on speaking terms with each other and I really think my time will come by death by choo-choo.