First off, let me just say that this isn’t supposed to be a Look-at-what-awesome-parents-we-are-and-how-we-blissfully-utilize-every-moment-to-cultivate-our-brilliant-child’s-mind post. Z is at a new stage that has been challenging for us, and we are always second guessing and restructuring to try and make things work. I just want to put that out there so that I don’t give the impression that we’ve got everything figured out. In fact, if you want me to air out my dirty laundry you can give me a call, but this post is focusing on some of the positive aspects of our role as parents.

Now then, what I wanted to touch on today is how, like most of us, J and I both have a love for discovery and learning, along with a desire to foster that same curiosity in our children. I went to a parenting workshop the other day about Raising Responsible Kids and they asked each of us what we felt like our children would remember fondly about us in our parental roles. I thought about it for a moment. I would like to believe that my children would remember the fun we had creatively learning through art and play.

Lately we’ve been frequenting the Cincinnati Nature Center because we got a pass for Christmas and we can’t wait on the weather to cooperate any longer. So whether it’s snowy, sunny, freezing, or muddy we just go for it and one of my favorite parts is watching J teach the kids as we hike along the trails.

“Hey! You guys come over here and take a look at this! Do you know why this pile of dirt is here? It’s from a MOLE. Take a stick and see if you can push into the ground.” Each of the three children can easily plunge their stakes into the soft dirt. “Now try over here” J said, pointing to the part of the path where the ground hadn’t been tilled by the critter. The children continuously jab at the ground, but are unsuccessful in their attempts to pierce through the hard layer of earth. J goes on to explain where the path of the mole is, why it’s softer, and how it makes it’s way underground. Every time we go hiking J takes the time to observe and point out nature to the kids. His favorite subject when he was younger was science and you can still see the boyish intrigue as he points out quartz in the rocks, the age of the trees, or a tadpole on it’s way to froghood.

It’s the same excitement I recognize in myself when I do arts and crafts with them. I have always known that J and I were a great match. Okay, maybe I have wondered at times, but for the most part we compliment each other. It was when we were in the woods the other day that I realized just how well we work together at teaching our children. I could never be as good of a nature guide as he is, but there are other activities where I am the one that leads the way.

One of Z’s latest fascinations is with history. A couple weeks ago we learned all 44 presidents to the tune of Yankee Doodle. Learning through music comes naturally to me. For example a lot of the Bible verses I know are through songs. The Greek alphabet and the countries and capitals of South America were things my teachers taught by using simple melodies and now 20 years later I still remember them (at least for the most part). If it weren’t for the songs then I guarantee the information would be long gone. When Z showed interest in the presidents I realized I didn’t know them either, so we’ve worked on this project together. We play a game where I say one and he says the next one until we go through all of them. When my dad was visiting he got in on the fun too. There are several presidents that Z knows the first names and historical facts to go along with it, but this little clip is just of the song he learned.

J was out of town when we did this, but once he returned he got out an old book that he has, which talks about the life of each of the earlier presidents. Z was really excited to hear all about it, but in the end you could tell it was a little over his head. This photo is from one night where he drifted off to sleep listening to J read. Priceless.

 J suggested they should go to the library and find a book for kids that talks about each president. Then he said “And if we can’t find one we’ll just have write one ourselves” to which I thought Wow. Will you marry me? Oh wait, you already did. Perfect.

 God knew what he was doing when he put the two of us together because we bring different things to the table and together it makes a complete meal. All I have to say is I’ve got dibs on dessert.

I’ll admit it, I like to play with my food. As a young girl I would use toothpicks and build little creatures out of fruits and vegetables. I don’t have any photos because that was the 80’s when photography was reserved for vacations, birthdays, and yearbooks instead of every single little thing that kids do every single day. I am not complaining about either era by the way. The point is, I have fond memories of this activity and have continued playing with my food ever since.

Not to imply that I sculpt jaw dropping works of art from produce like Carl Warner or Saxton Freyman do.

Carl Warner’s Lettuce Scape

When I was pregnant with SJ (Sedona) we told her brother, who was two at the time, that his baby sister’s name was Sedona. I don’t know if he misheard us or if he couldn’t pronounce it, but for the longest time he called her “donut”. Throughout the pregnancy he actually told people that there was a donut in my belly. In honor of this nickname I decided to give her the ultimate donut party!

Here are the top 10 special touches from the big day.

1. The Donut Invitations

The real invite had all the information on it, but I didn’t think my brother would appreciate me broadcasting his home address on the internet. 


I just put together a simple design using her school photo along with this free donut stock image, and this free font. I had them printed on 4×6 photos from Costco. Very affordable!


2. The Menu


We had “brunch” food items including breakfast casserole, frittata, sausage crescents and some other sides.  I did my research to try and come up with the tastiest recipes so feel free to check out the links.

3. The Birthday Cake 

I just used strawberry cake mix, baked in a bunt pan, and topped with icing the way a donut would be. I figured if you are going to make a cake look like a giant donut then the sprinkles need to look giant too. So I used “Mike and Ike” candy as sprinkles. Tasty!

4. Tent Cards 

 I labeled everything using a really simple printable template that I found online. This site has tons of themes to choose from including the one I used for Ezie’s One Happy Camper party. The design I used this time was actually intended for easter.

The thing I love about party tent cards is that they are SO easy and I feel like they make any occasion more festive. However, if you ever come over and I have tent cards labeling everything in my home then someone arrange an intervention, okay?

5. The Book

 For SJ’s 1st birthday (cupcake theme) we gave her “If You Give A Cat a Cupcake” and her 2nd birthday (Green Eggs and Ham theme) we gave her “Green Eggs and Ham”. This year we gave her “If You Give a Dog a Donut” and I had all the guest sign it inside.

6. The Donut Balloons  

Okay, so maybe there weren’t any balloons that actually made it to the donut party. I did decorate the balloon shown above using this tutorial, but if you haven’t already heard about my pinstorsity you can read all the devastating details on “When Your Pinterest Idea Flies Out The Window (literally)“.

7. The Donut Piñata

This was my FAVORITE craft for this party and I put a lot of work into it. After having so much success with the Bob tomato piñata, and batman piñata, I decided why not try a donut? And it was a hit!

I took things up a notch this year by introducing the matching piñata stick.

If you read the story about my donut balloon fail then you know that I had a bunch of left over paper sprinkles. I had already designated a poster mailing tube for the piñata stick (not so hard that it’s dangerous, but not too flimsy). Then at the last minute I went ahead and covered it with tissue paper and glued sprinkles to it making my first ever coordinating stick. It’s the little things that get me excited.

8. Punch with mason jars


Mason jars with paper straws are so popular right now and if you already own some it’s cheaper than buying disposable cups. So I went with that idea and made sparkling pink punch using frozen lemonade, white cranberry juice, and club soda. Yum!

9. Party Favors

The party favors were the bags of candy that the kids filled up from the piñata, and Dunkin Donut bags to fill with donuts. I also always like to have a current wallet sized photo of the guest of honer so we did that too.

10. DONUTS! 


What would a donut party be without donuts? We had an assortment from Dunkin Donuts. Sprinkled ones for the kids and a little more variety for the grown ups.

We also had fruit kabobs with powdered donut holes. I ended up using all berries (strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry). By the way this would make a lovely addition to a 4th of July party with the red, white, and blue.

All birthdays are worth celebrating, but this one in particular was special because SJ turned 4 on March 4th of 2014. The party planning was a bit of a roller coaster as far fun versus stress, but all in all it was a huge success and I am so happy for my little donut.

For more donut ideas you may want to take a peak at my donut party Pinterest board. 

 

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For most of SJ’s life she has had a decent amount of hair to play around with.

BUT, most of the time it looks like a mixture between a sea urchin and a disregarded cat toy.

 Seriously. I have sent her to school with unintentional dreadlocks before. For that reason I am ready for her to have her first haircut. As I am envisioning what it will look like and how she will feel sitting in the salon like a big girl, it occurred to me that she won’t be able to wear her implants during the haircut. I don’t care, and I don’t think that she will mind at all, but it was one of those aspects of the cochlear implant that I never thought about before. It made me wonder what it would feel like if I had my hearing turned off for a haircut. I asked around at SJ’s school for insight from some of the more experienced moms and teachers and they said that they usually leave one on and then switch sides during the haircut part. I’ll probably just leave them off tomorrow, since she is still very comfortable either way right now, but it’s good to know for future haircuts.

When I say this is her first haircut, it’s true for the most part, but when she had her surgeries she had to have her head shaved in the area of the incision. This photo was taken shortly after her first surgery.

 You can still see the scar from the incision just above her ear. At one point I posted this instagram which shows how trendy my preschooler was without even trying.

 Who would have thought that the side shave for girls would become so popular right when SJ had the side of her head shaved! Most of the time you can’t even tell that there are varying lengths because she wears a head band all the time, but when she doesn’t you can see where the shaved parts are growing back in and it’s in-between her chin and shoulder now.

That is why I decided to go with that length for her haircut. As long as we are going to be cutting it anyway why not just even it out? Here is one last photo of her which I took this morning before she had her headband on. It gives a bit of an idea of what we can expect tomorrow.

I think she’ll like it, but I guess we’ll see. She’ll be a cutie pie no matter what. That’s for sure!

Cue up the spy music! It’s been two weeks since the 7th annual gala for SJ’s school (the theme was 007) and although I was the photographer, I didn’t have any pictures that I was in. Now that I got a hold of a some I am ready to blog away!

The hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and food was all wonderful. 

The speakers were great, and there was a fantastic James Bond parody video that was done by one of the school’s alumni who is now in High School. He was witty, charming, and so well rounded. What an encouragement to see a deaf student from the same place SJ is in who is now thriving as a young man. The school hasn’t been around that long, so he is one of the earliest students. The video was probably my favorite part.

Second to that though would have to be the band. The Naked Karate Girls (don’t let the name fool you, they are none of those things) are the ultimate party band. So fun, so entertaining. They keep the crowd engaged and there is NEVER a dull moment with these guys.

The perfect Pinterest mom! That is what they call me. They really do, and all I can do is laugh, because I know how far from perfect or Pinteresty I really am. I love being creative and throwing parties, but this last party threw me (for a loop that is).

First was the ice storm that hijacked our original date at the last minute, and honestly, that messed everything up. Although, weather related issues are not the most irritating thing to me because I know they are out of my control. There are other things that I could say “if only I was more organized” Or “If only I had more money”, but Martha Stewart and Oprah combined can’t change the weather, and so I can rest assured that it is in God’s hands and I just need to go with it.

Then there was SJ’s hair, which is another thing that only God can control. Normally I don’t fuss with it AT ALL, but this was her big day and I thought rag curls would be cute.

We did a practice run the day before and they were soft, delicate, curls that smoothly hung around her youthful skin like a porcelain doll.

 Then the day of the party they were a little different, but not necessarily bad.

 By the end of the day she looked more like when Claire went crazy on Lost.

It’s all good though, she is still a cutie pie.

The hair and the weather weren’t the only things that didn’t go as planned. I forgot to add mint leaves to the punch and the matching table cloth that I bought was left at home. The slideshow of SJ that I planned to have on loop ended up showing my computer screen saver most of the time. None of that really mattered, but when the balloon that I purchased on the internet and decorated by hand flew into the galaxy (which was Z’s description) that is when I thought I was going to loose my cool.

It looked so cute and easy on Pinterest.

The directions were simple. Buy some donut shaped latex balloons from your local party store, paint them, and decorate with paper sprinkles. Easier said than done, let me tell ya. In all fairness I did a practice run and it turned out fine, but it was without helium, which apparently makes a big difference.

The first problem I encountered was that I could not find these balloons at my “local party store”. I couldn’t even find them at a far away party store in Kentucky. I tried. So by the time I realized that I needed to special order them I had to choose expedited shipping. The day of the party when I had them inflated, one of the balloons looked more like a defective heart than a donut. It’s okay. Don’t be a party Nazi I told myself. I thanked the employee and took my 4 balloons out to the car. When I got in the apartment I only counted three balloons and one of them was the wonky one. I guess I lost one somewhere along the way. Oh well, keep moving forward. The fourth problem was that when I painted the balloon it sank. It sank and landed flat on the painted side! Everything I envisioned for the party decorations was turning into a real flop! Not to be detoured I did a light coat of paint on the final balloon and used a small portion of the MANY sprinkles I had tediously cut out (and end up throwing away). It was decent. I could handle the idea of one lonely donut balloon floating next to the birthday girl as she blew out candles on her donut cake. It was all going to be okay.

That was until, I got in the car to leave and low and behold the balloon that could barely hold it’s own weight in my apartment had suddenly found it’s true calling and turned into the lightest, free flowing balloon in the world. It was out the door and up, up, and away before anyone had a chance to do anything about it. I am the grown up here and my six year old was  consoling me saying “It’s okay mom. It’s just a balloon.” and I was like “wahhhhhhh!” J asked me if I at least had a picture knowing that I always take pictures on my phone of every. little. thing. But not this time. I was in too much of a hurry.

However, this wasn’t my party so I couldn’t cry if I wanted to. This was SJ’s party and what a  party it was. I will reveal all the glorious details of it later, but when you see it you will know that it didn’t happen without any hiccups. Every time I throw one of these parties I learn something. I learned that sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and when your balloon idea isn’t working you may just have to let go.

This year SJ was invited to her first birthday party! She’s been to many parties with us as a family, but this was HER friend from school so her brothers and dad stayed behind. It was a ballerina theme at a dance studio and SJ’s first time to be a part of dance class. She loved it. Most of the girls there go to her school. They all looked adorable and proved that deaf girls CAN dance!

Stretching (way to go SJ, reach those toes)

Dancing to the Frozen sound track of course. 

Later that day I made her cake and she said “birthday” it was the first time I had her say it and it was all on her own. She has been very excited about her special day. Unfortunately the party that was originally scheduled for Sunday ended up postponed. I was really reluctant, but we didn’t have a choice. There was hail and ice followed by snow. The roads were just too treacherous. School was even cancelled the next day and it wasn’t nearly as bad. I know even Texas gets a wee bit of snow or ice on occasion in March (they did this week I believe, someone correct me if I am wrong), but when we lived in Texas I would joke that SJ’s birthday made the flowers come out because we would see the first blossoms of spring right around her birthday. In Ohio the flowers are not so kind. I always know I am taking a gamble with the weather when I throw an outdoor party, but I thought I was safe having an indoor party in March! Oh well, the good news is we did celebrate last night and I will elaborate on all the donuty mayhem fun that took place once I get some photos to show off. I am also waiting on a photo that was taken at the gala so that I can tell you all about that too. The messy mom has a lot to catch up on. Now that the donut party is out of the way I should have a chance to get to it.

For those that haven’t already seen my rant about the latest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue you can read it here.

I received a very prompt response from Target after emailing my complaint to them. I was pleased with how genuine their reply was because it appeared that someone actual read my message. Unfortunately I was disappointed that they chose to dismiss my complaints by hiding behind the guise of diversity. Here was the response

“I’m sorry to hear you’ve been offended by the sports Illustrated Swimsuit magazine featured at Target®.