The Review of the Zoo

When I was in 5th or 6th grade, our family visited a zoo. I was bit on the back of my leg by some kind of bird. I remember it as a duck for some reason. It left a little blood blister, but I was fine. The only lasting consequence was my disdain for zoos. Ever since then, I can't stand the thought of going. The smell of animals, the sight of the little plastic melty waxy toys you can buy in the vending machines, and the feel of the feed you buy in the gumball-like dispensers all take me back to "the attack." Yes ... that traumatic!

My Wednesday playgroup has scheduled Phillips Park Zoo a few times in the past, but the weather never seemed to work out. Darnit. They have attempted to convince me that it doesn't smell, there aren't animals loose, and it's free ... attempting to appeal to my cheap-ness. Most of them had already been and promised me it was a great place to go.

Last Wednesday, it was on the calendar again. And so was rain. It looked like I dodged the bullet again, except it was only occasionally sprinkling. So, everyone decided to chance it and go. Sigh.

I'm so happy we went and now it's one of my new favorite places. I'm sorry it took me so long to get there, but I promise not to drag my feet next time. The animals don't smell and the only thing loose was a snake for the kids to touch. It was securely held by a zookeeper.

They have a large playground area with plenty of covered picnic tables. I wouldn't suggest going there unless the ground is dry (it was really muddy on Wednesday). But, it was still fun.

A side note to the playgroup ... don't think this makes me want to jump into a big zoo like Brookfield. I wouldn't call myself a zoo-fan yet ... just a person that tolerates this zoo!

The Burn and the Fire

I've never been known to take a fall gracefully. This was no exception.

My friend, Rutu, was up from Texas with his fiancee (of about one week ... congrats, man). I was really excited to head over to Chicago for dinner and drinks and to see other friends like Nadine, Cormac and Deven. I even convinced my sister to tag along. I had on a super cute jean skirt and my new yellow shirt (from Lubbock's party).

We walked out the front door, made it down the porch stairs and as I was doing my last minute "make-sure-I-have-my-cell-phone-and-wallet" check ... bam!

I forgot I have another set of steps at the end of the sidewalk. It wasn't a very graceful fall. I landed with my skirt hiked up and everything! Oy!

So, I went in and washed off my knee and put some ointment on and thought ... I'm a tough girl ... I should still go. But, then I looked down and the blood was dripping down my knee. Hmmm. Maybe I should stay home.

I texted my apologies (along with a picture as proof) and tried to figure out what to do with my night.

Of course! Build a fire!

We bought a fire pit last week in hopes of using it while our friends were over for an evening grillout, but we never got around to it. If there's one thing I learned from growing up around two Eagle Scouts and a Queen Scout (the Canadian equivalent ... yes ... Queen Scout) ... it's how to build a fire. Well, there's other things ... but I'm talking about fires right now.

So, I got some dryer lint and dried up clumps of grass and small, medium, and large twigs and built myself a tee pee. Kevin tried helping, but all he was doing was putting logs on before it was ready. He almost killed my fire three of four times. But, I triumphed and had a roarin' fire shortly! Go, me!

My sister got her tent out and set it up (to make sure she had all the parts for her trip to Wakarusa this weekend). Lubbock loved going in and out and in and out. I think he needs a tent, too. How fun would that be?

I'm not a big fan of camping. I hate being dirty, I hate bugs, I hate peeing in the woods. In fact, I think the last time I went camping ... a tornado warning was so close to where we were that we decided to pack up and leave. (You can imagine my disappointment.)

In shindigs for kids news ... I have my first two 'gigs' booked! Thanks, Audrey and Heather. They're friends, but I think they count. Audrey is doing a ladybug themed second birthday party and Heather is doing a train party for Joey's second birthday. Both are going to be super cute. In fact ... I have the outside of the ladybug cards complete ... what do you think?

They're very three-dimensional ... the ribbon going from the '2' to the ladybug making it look like the ladybug is flying. I couldn't decide if I liked the loop or the lazy 'S' better, so I did some of both. I hope Audrey likes them!

The Second Party Review

Phew! I can't believe it's already Saturday and that my little man has been two for almost a whole week. Where has the time gone?

I wanted to hop on here and give a quick pictorial review of his hippie birthday party. I hope everyone had as great a time as I did ...

I hired Bornhoff Photography to come to the party, allowing me to socialize and not have to worry about catching the perfect party images. Well worth the money! I'll have the disk soon with all the pictures to share, but the above were just a few of the favorites.

Pastry Girls made the tie dyed cupcakes. There were rave reviews of the chocolate cupcakes and the design fit in perfectly!

The giveaway was a balloon ball from Kerry Crafts. It's a fabric ball that you insert a balloon into and blow it up! The tie dyed fabric pouches with orange ribbon drawstrings just sent me over the moon.

I had be the thread iron on some orange twos in case anyone forgot that Lubbock was two. And these twos matched the large two she put on the back of Lubbock's tie dyed shirt.

If you want Lubbock's shirt, though ... too bad! It's a one-of-a-kind find courtesy of Aunt Lo. She picked it up in San Fran from a for-real hippie. Pretty cool, huh?

The Launch

I've been super busy thinking lately. If you've followed me for a while, you notice I 'disappear' from the blogosphere whenever I start doing that ... thinking. It takes more effort for me to think than most people, I think. Or maybe I'm just not the kind of person that's very good at multi-tasking.

Anyway, the official launch of my business is May 27th!!!

For those that live in the area, the ever-awesome Gretchen is hosting a "Spring Market" on Wednesday, May 27th from 4p to 8p. You can come and go as you please. (You can email me if you'd like the address ... natadash (at) hotmail.com)

Other businesses include:

Bottle Cap Necklaces
The Blackberry Briar (soy candles and room sprays)
be the thread (custom embroidery and children's apparel)
M.A.Gs & Me (unique & quirky creations)
Pastry Girls (cakes & pastries)
Bornhoff Photography

and ...

shindigs for kids (children's party planning and hand made cards for all occasions)

Ya ... that's me! shindigs for kids. You can hire me, too! I'm already 'thinking' about my first project.

Just an FYI, too ... I may not be on here much in the next little bit ... my dad arrives tomorrow night to help celebrate Lubbock's birthday. He leaves on Tuesday, so I'll likely be busy partying and hosting ... unless I take advantage of free babysitting. In which case, I'll likely be busy thinking.

The Mom and the Potty

I wouldn't say that I'm working on potty training, but we did have a slight success this week. Our first pee-pee in the potty!

I bought a chair a while ago and sat Lubbock on it, but wasn't thrilled at the low-ness of the guard in the front. The little frog one seemed to have more of what I was looking for.

Lubbock likes it, too. He likes carrying it from room to room, putting it in the bathtub, and standing in it. I try to sit him on it and he thinks it's all pretty hilarious.

One of the things he also thinks is pretty funny is to take his diaper off and pee wherever he may be. I've been paying attention to this, though and trying to run him into the potty chair when he does this. I successfully sat him on the chair earlier this week. I made a really big deal and clapped and hugged him and kissed him. He then wanted to stand in it. I guess I'll take what I can get.

This whole exercise reminded me of the qualities that make many of the moms I admire so great. Patience, persistance, and positive attitudes. (Yes, they start with P ... pee ... get it!?!? I crack myself up.)

I've been a mom for almost two years now and these three qualities are the ones that I seem to work on the most. Perhaps being a mom is more about making changes in me than about making changes in the little people that make it all possible. On that note ...

I'd like to thank all the little people that make it possible to be a mom. Especially, my little guy! I love you.

And just a quick side note: if you're looking for free stuff ... check out Savvy Cyber Mama (my friend Jen ... Hailey's mom).

The Birthday Card Reveal

Okay ... it seems most people have their cards ... so, to everyone I didn't send one to (mostly because I figured you weren't making the trip anyway) ... here you go!


The front sets the tie dyed theme with peace, love, and happiness symbols on top and a big craft paper two in the bottom corner. Orange craft paper is used for the paper ... allowing me to use orange as the party's theme color instead of going completely over the top with tie dyed (a very fine line to walk)!

The greeting inside states that "Lubbock is turning ..." and then uses a die cut I found with the hand peace sign. It was just what I needed to bring the whole party together!

Each guest was invited using their own hippie name. Grandma Funky Foulkes, Lauren Love Child Foulkes, Gigi Groovy Potts, The Flower Power Foulkes Family, and The Right On Round Family were a few of my favorites. The return address label stated the invites were from Lubbock "Peace."

And now for the only part of the invitation that seemed to cause me pause.

Last year, we determined that Lubbock was probably the most loved boy on Earth and that gifts for his birthday were not needed to prove this, so we held a fundraiser where we asked guests to bring camp supplies for a local program for troubled/disadvantaged teens. It was so great to see how all of Lubbock's friends helped out and the camp really appreciated Lubbock's support.

We wanted to continue this tradition for his second birthday and determined that Red Oak Nature Center was in need of a new puppet theater. So, I included the above note requesting no gifts and to consider making a donation toward the puppet theater. While I am aware this is against proper etiquette, I feel there are always exceptions to any rule.

What are your thoughts about this?

The Sock and the Shock

Sometimes ... and by that, I mean ... very infrequently ... Lubbock wakes up in a good mood. I'll hear him talking or singing in his room and I'll open the door to his big ol' smilin' face.

Last week, we had one of those mornings. I heard him singing (what, I don't know) and he sounded so happy. He then said, "Mom!" and I opened the door promptly as I had been standing outside his room listening to all of this. He saw me and started jumping up and down and screaming at the top of his lungs. Happy screams.

And I then noticed that he had a sock on his hand. He's been doing that lately. There was one morning when I tried to put socks on his feet and he just wouldn't have it. Apparently socks go on hands. I tried to put a different pair on his hands, but he wanted the pair that matched his shirt. What a silly kid!

I know the second picture is blurry ... but, have you tried taking a picture of your silly monkey jumping in his bed? I kind of like it that way. You can still tell he's smiling. I think some of my favorite pictures of Lubbock are blurry ones. It reminds me when I look at them that one day, my memories, too, will be fuzzy, but I think I'll always remember how I felt at the moment the picture was taken.

So, we had a happy morning and then I got to wrap up work on his invitations ... or so I thought! I was placing the hand made beauties in envelopes and only needed to print labels and place the hand made stickers on the outside ... then off they were to go. I had paused to look at my handy-work and started to feel like something was wrong.

Gasp! I didn't put the date on the invitations. I couldn't believe it. How could I (the person who just declared her intention to start a party planning business) forget something like that? I suppose it taught me a lesson. I have every intention of making a checklist for clients ... to include simple things like ... is there a date on the invitation?

Thankfully, I was able to carefully remove the portion of the invitation that contained the information, re-print that portion and reapply, but I did have to make all new 'peace hands' to go on the inside. I'm an official pro on that, now. I won't release the images of the invitation yet since I just placed them in the mailbox on Saturday. You will get to see, however, the aftermath of my creativity. I really don't think I can be creative without making a mess. I can see how Kevin gets nervous anytime I begin a 'project.'

Hopefully, I'll have lots of projects soon! I've come up with a company name. That, too, is a guarded secret for now ... don't worry ... it's really cute!