Monday, April 2, 2012

WEEK-END WRAP UP

Well here we are in the beautiful month of April....I have always LOVED this month.  The weather is gorgeous, (usually anyway) winter is over and everything is in bloom, and yet the real heat is still a couple of month off.  The days are getting longer, and Easter and spring break are upon us.  We had a somewhat gloomy and occasionally raining and cold week-end, but it sure is gorgeous today.  I have been out on my front porch this morning cleaning up the furniture and trimming some of the plants.  I don't have much I have to keep up anymore, and truthfully it suits me just fine.  I notice here in the blog world how many of you plant GIANT gardens and work HUGE yards and grow just gorgeous flowers, and honestly it makes me feel kind of lazy and uninspired sometimes, but then I remember that even when I had yards that were big enough to do all that, I seldom did, at least in the last few years anyway.  Oh, I LOVE how it looks and would tell my Gardner, (aka my hubby) what I wanted to have etc., but that's about as far as it went.  I have just never had much of a green thumb, and working in the yard always seemed like, well, like WORK to me, haha.  Don't get me wrong, I have done way more then my fair share of it over the years, but that's what brings me back to the appreciation that it doesn't take much anymore to keep it all looking pretty.  And just the little bit I do, I thoroughly enjoy.  : )

The birthday party was a HUGE success.  However, I did not get ANY pictures, and truthfully I have yet to stop feeling bad about it.  Oh I brought my camera, but I had not charged the battery and it was dead.  I didn't even get one pciture  : (  Now my dil Leah did take some pics, but I have a feeling by the time she has the time to edit and send them to me I am afraid it will be a very long time....sigh.  Soooo needless to say, the story of the party will not be nearly as interesting, but I will do the best I can.

I think it was every little boys DREAM party, haha.  There were around 14 guests, all of which were boys with the exception of his older sister Lindsey and her little friend Tia, AND one little girl who he had an unmistakable crush on, haha.  She was a definite tomboy and her mama told me she has 2 older brothers and was very use to "holding her own"...Reminded me of Melody in the 2nd grade.  ALL of her best buddies were boys too.  She was often the only girl invited to the birthday parties, and she never blinked an eye about it.  I don't think the boys had a crush on her either.  She was just a tomboy and preferred "their" way of playing.  But I digress...let me get back to the party.  Sooo all these little boys (and 1 girl) were running around at first with their little plastic light sabers and having a wonderful time with them.  My thrifty dil got them in LA for 1.50 a piece.  Can't really beat that, and they lit up and worked pretty well too.   But after they were all there, my son Joe took over and began playing games etc. with them.  It has been quite a while since I have watched him work with little kids and I honestly had forgotten how good he is with them.  Now of course I realize he makes his living teaching karate, and lots (in fact the majority) of them are children, but in the last several years if I have watched his students at all it has been the older ones and the adults as they have kick boxed or done kata's etc.  Anyway, he taught them all some very basic sword fighting, while keeping it very fun, and the boys were all sooo enthusiastic about it, you would have thought they were learning something much more.  After that he let them spar each other with foam swords he has, letting only two go at a time while the others sat around them and cheered.  They loved it.  Then they played a pretty elaborate game of scavenger hunt with clues as they all search for the hidden Yoda.  Again, they all loved it even though this Grandma thought some of the clues seemed kind of hard, haha.  After that game, they divided into two teams and had relay races.  Watching them made me remember how fun those always were.  After that they had pizza and Punch, and followed that by opening presents.   After presents they were back at the tables for cake, and then played a game of "Duck, Duck, Yoda (remember the Star Wars theme, haha) and finally ended with a boisterous game of Yoda says....I was truly amazed at how much fun the kids all had with these simple games.  I noticed too that Joe never really had a "winner" of the games per say either.  It was very obvious the fun of the game or the match was the point, not the winning or losing.  Of course it helped a lot that the karate studio is large, so there was plenty of room for running around, and has SUPER padded carpeting, and plenty of mirrors to watch themselves in action as well.  As they each left with their little plastic light sabers and their little goodie bag of candy, it was very obvious that they had a wonderful time, and would have liked to have stayed much longer, haha.  It amazes me how much some parents spend on elaborate birthday parties for their kids anymore, but this proved to me all the kids really need is some good old fashioned games to have fun.  Of course pizza and cake helped too, haha.  Oh, and I guess you would need someone like my son to keep it fun, kind of wild, and yet totally safe!

After the party my youngest son James and I took his son (they had come up for the party too) to the movies (grandpa watched the basketball game) and after the movies we had dinner at my favorite place... Market Broiler...haven't been there in several weeks, and it was soo yummy.  All in all a perfect day.  Yesterday I woke up with a sore throat and what seemed like the start of a cold, but we decided to go to church anyway.  After service I wasn't feeling too hot so we headed home, and I spent the rest of the day on the couch with the remote.  I woke up this morning feeling MUCH better, so guess maybe it is going to be a pretty mild cold.  I take so many vitamins, I am thinking maybe my immune system is in good shape thank God.

I have a busy week ahead of me, so I am trying to get all my chores I need to do for the week out of the way today as I will be gone most of the rest of this week.  How I do appreciate being the age I am now (most days anyway, haha) and being in the position to just enjoy so much of life as I do now.  I used to feel kind of guilty I think that I am not busy with more "work" items I guess lol, but I have decided it was MANY years of work getting here, and guilt is a waste of time. 

Hope you all have a wonderful week.

Melody put Sam in his little padded thing for the high chair at a restaurant for the first time this week-end.  He is getting to be such a BIG boy!

ALWAYS SOO HAPPY!



11 comments:

  1. Hi there, Loved hearing about the birthday party and all the fun. I have to tell you that I totally related to your info about gardens-I'm with you; although I love fancy gardens I hate to weed and the older I get the harder gardening is. When we eventually move to the house of my hubby's dreams we will have a smaller garden but I did stipulate that it has to be pretty. I want more trees!
    Glad you are beating the cold, I'm trying to take lots of vitamins to keep it at bay. Have a great day Debbie.
    Love, Noreen

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  2. He gets cuter and cuter with each passing day if that is possible! Those eyes...oh those eyes!!!!
    : ) Kris

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  3. I am so glad you had such a nice time. Your weekends are always so busy. Well, you know, I think gardening is okay if you like it but if you don't well no big deal. I think your job is pretty full with being such a good grandma.
    I always feel guilty too, because I just think up more work for my husband.
    I like April too.
    I hope you have a lovely week,

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  4. You crammed a boatload into your weekend girlie! What fun!

    I take a slew of vitamins too and feel like I am the better for it. I sure do hope so because I do get tired of swallowing them. :0)

    Oh, I just hate that your camera battery died. I live with my camera in my hand and should I miss something it makes me sick.

    Happy Easter week!

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  5. That little guy is soooo adorable, the most beautiful blue eyes! I enjoy gardening but I don't do as much as I used to...hubby has to do the major digging. And whenever I can I plant something that will come back year after year...then all I have to do is weed. Call me crazy but weed pulling is kind of fullfilling...like I said crazy right...Have a great week

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  6. Glad the party was fun and you all enjoyed your time together. I've done that before with my camera, so don't worry! When my parents had their 50th wedding anniversary, I took 2 pictures. I was so upset also! Hope you have a nice week!

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  7. Guilt is a waste of time.
    Let me say it again: Guilt is a waste of time.

    Just thought I'd help cheer you on with that!

    The party sounds wonderful, and if your DIL does get pictures, I hope you do post them. I chuckled about Duck, Duck, Yoda and Yoda Says.

    You are a family after my own heart!

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  8. Guilt is a waste of time.
    Let me say it again: Guilt is a waste of time.

    Just thought I'd help cheer you on with that!

    The party sounds wonderful, and if your DIL does get pictures, I hope you do post them. I chuckled about Duck, Duck, Yoda and Yoda Says.

    You are a family after my own heart!

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  9. Hi Debbie,

    Sounds like a great time and little Sam is the happiest little guy....always that big smile.

    Enjoy your day.
    Maryrose

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  10. What I love about you is that I feel you have found who you are at this stage of life and you are enjoying it to the fullest.

    Right now I feel a little loss after all the years of non-stop going with the kids...so I seem to be trying things to find out what or if I even want to do them again...my list of what I have done is so long, but what do I want to do again...so this year a garden, next year it might be crossed out

    Oh a wonderful boy's party....and again, you have enjoyed it!

    Thanks for sharing where you are in life...it allows me to see I will find my way also..without guilt!

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I am so glad that you would take the time to comment on my thoughts and feelings, it is such a blessing to me!