7QT: Random Roundups

Things are pretty good over here! Plus it's Friday!! So I am going to join Kelly for some QT this fine morning.

one. Wednesday we got word that C got moved up the waitlist for MORNING preschool! All of my concerns about rearranging nap and lunch and whether C would adjust to not being crabby in the afternoon are gone! Hooray! Best news ever.

two. My husband is super handy. A really long story short: we needed a new lighting fixture for our dining play room. I ordered one. My husband put it up last night and I am VERY happy.

three. Have you seen the puppet Great Clips commercial? Well I hate it. Because C find it terribly upsetting. First the puppet can't find his "family" and then he didn't get a haircut and a lollipop. He saw it once. And hasn't stopped talking about it since. With tears.

It came on again yesterday evening and we covered his eyes right away but still... super concerning. It does not matter that I have spent two days telling him the puppet found his family and got a haircut and a lollipop, the kid is convincd that the puppet is still sad. We've got all the empathy over here. He's always been super in tune with people, always a sympathy crier even as a baby.

four. The internet approaches. I had to ask them to move their truck yesterday so I could get C to school.

five. Then M and I stayed out the whole time. We went to the museum but it was super crowded and even though there is an entire area that is for under 4, kids don't read the signs and the caretakers/chaperones etc. apparently don't care. So we went to the park and we had a great time. She is such a good little climber.

They have  little rock wall on the equipment labeled ages 2-4. (I don't know why they label, it's pretty clear which age range each section is for.) Well she would just scramble right up then go down a slide then run around and do it all over again. But she did get tired out and I had to convince her to use the stairs a few times.

six. If I could wave a magic wand I would invent two things. First, an indoor play area for children of some sort that opens at 7:00. While I am not the earliest riser my kids are, and a lot of things don't open until 9:00 or 10:00. That's a lot of my kid's day right there. Especially when morning nap factored in we couldn't go anywhere because by the time things opened it was nap time. This is a solvable problem!

seven. Also, I would build an entire playground for preschoolers. In a perfect world playground developers would understand that little kids want to be big kids so a few dinky slides and a climber doesn't compare to the giant play area over there!

We love our park. (The play area is fenced in now. And there's swings at the red arrow.) And you better believe both my kids play on the "big kid" side anyway but I'd love a larger area for M especially who doesn't realize she's 12 feet in the air and could careen to her death anytime.

Okay. Have a great weekend friends!

Analysis of Song Lyrics: It's My Party

Here at our house, we do dance parties a lot. Daytime dance parties. Night dance parties with "stick glows" and flashlights. While we make lunch and dinner. They work for us as a mood booster.

We, of course, feel like every party is like Footloose. But it usually consists of spins, running around in circles, clapping and a little hip shaking.

Sometimes I make the playlists. Other times I use the ol' Amazon Prime Music playlists. Yesterday we listened to the "oldies dance party" list. One of my favorites, "It's My Party" was on there. This is one of my jams. Because of Sweatin' to the Oldies you know? Maybe you don't? Whatever.

But as I was dancing with my kiddos I just couldn't take it anymore. What a ridiculous situation! Her parents gave her a very nice party with lots of invited guests. The boy she had a crush on, shows up with his new girlfriend and she pouts like a baby because he didn't pick her!

I mean, okay, technically the sentiment is okay, it is your party and you can cry if you want to. But what a shame to miss out on a nice time with the other guests, who are playing your records and dancing, just because you didn't get the guy. Get it together and cry later.

We have no reason to believe that Johnny was in a relationship with the guest of honor prior to the party. While I am sure horrible men have existed since the beginning of time, it seems just as likely that he had no idea that she had a thing for him, but he'd been hoping to date Judy for a long time.

The real issue is if Judy and the birthday girl had been close friends. It is kind of a faux pas to announce your new relationship with the guests of honor's secret crush if you know perfectly well that it will ruin the party.

So either Judy is thoughtless and a little mean. Or the guest of honor is a brat who hasn't figured out how to control her emotions enough to put on a smile and have a good time at a party that surely has a lot of additional guests who love you. Either way, it's not Johnny's fault.

I just had to get that off my chest. You may now continue with your day.

Things Have Been Busy

Two weeks ago today I took the kids to my parent's house. In that time Husband and I went to Vegas. Husband came home. Husband left on a work retreat. The kids and I came home. Husband came home. The two of us went on a day trip and came back. And Husband went to Chicago for the James Beard Awards. He comes home today.

And thus ends the 2016 Spring Travel. 

Also, since I have been back in the Midwest from my trip it has been rainy and gloomy every single day. Today, the sun is out. And I think it is supposed to stay out! Which means the lawn has to be mowed, but also that the SUN is out.

And today we are back at school for our final 6 weeks!

In case you're wondering how I am feeling about today, it looks a little like this:

Only decidedly less Asian and stylish. 

Have a hip popping day yourself. 

But What If?

Hello! Happy Monday!

Yesterday I was able to have lunch with one of my college roommates and her husband. My best friend/C's Godmother who also lived with us came too but she doesn't live in Florida and I saw her on Saturday as well so she was less excited though no less important.

I am not a salesperson. I just am not. I got into Scentsy, not for the money, but for the "discount" on my own purchases because I love the product.

But I got past myself and offered her a catalog and a sample. She had time to look through it at the airport and now she wants a basket to smell before she buys.

That's amazing. I need to stop being so afraid of the word no. The only way for me to fail is to not even try. There is an incentive promotion going on right now, it started yesterday. I want it. And I am not going to be afraid of it.

Scentsy announced some new products today called the Indigo Collection. They will be released on Monday. But you can enter to win one of 100 sets of 6 bars and a warmer by clicking HERE!  No purchase necessary, just fill out the form and you're entered. You can even uncheck the box to not get signed up for the monthly newsletter.

You could win this PLUS a warmer!

Scentsy consultants are ineligible from entering so go ahead and try to win! I think it's pretty fun that they're doing this. I don't remember a giveaway quite like this before so that's kind of cool! Worth a shot at least!

I hope you all had a great weekend and you are experience less-gloomy weather than we are. It however is a great day here because we found out last night that the live walrus cam in Alaska is back on,

Makes Me Happy

I have a story to tell you. But you will need a little 3 part background information to really understand.

Part 1. Once upon a time, on St. Patrick's Day 2008, my husband's mother was diagnosed with brain cancer. She underwent radiation and chemotherapy and had good days and bad days until she passed away in January of 2010. My long-distance-fiance-at-the-time and I would sometimes meet halfway at his parent's home. One time I arrived and the whole family was upstairs in the loft watching a movie. I must have arrived not too long after they started watching.

It was a John Denver documentary. You should probably know that I didn't know anything about John Denver, that what little I did know was that I didn't like that "country boy" song. I also don't really like documentaries.

It was the longest two hours of my life. Watching and hearing songs about hawks with blood on their wings. Clip after clip of a man who really looks an awful lot like a muppet, sing and fly an airplane. The only distraction was an old school Fisher Price barn toy and a one year old who actually seemed to like John Denver.

Part 2. Once upon a time in the summer of 2009, I was presenting a paper at a conference in New York City. Very last minute Husband (who was still long-distance-fiance) found himself accompanying me on my trip. He had gotten me a ticket to see Shrek the Musical so I could see Sutton Foster perform. She is his favorite actress and thought I'd appreciate it. I do not care much for the movie but was pretty excited about the musical.

We were able to get a last minute ticket for him to see the show too. Not seated anywhere near me but he'd still be there. Before the show we walked by the theater and peeked in the lobby to check the notice board and everyone was on during the matinee. We went to dinner. And when we got back to the theater, Sutton was out and was going to be replaced. To say I was unhappy is an understatement. To add insult to injury, her replacement Haven Burton was terrible. She couldn't hit the notes. She had a major costume malfunction and she just wasn't Sutton.

Part 3. Sutton Foster has two albums of music and one of the songs she sings is an unbelievably beautiful version of "Sunshine on My Shoulders." Kind of as an homage to my MIL I have been singing this arrangement to C before bedtime since he was a baby. (As well as You Are My Sunshine.) Sutton loves that song because it reminds her of her childhood and 8-track tapes.

The actual story. So, sometime in the fall, Husband was lamenting that he wanted to see Sutton again. Since he saw her in Thoroughly Modern Millie on Broadway. And sure watching Bunheads is fun and Younger is great but that's not Sutton live. My little Google happy self looked up her tour dates right away and she was going to be in Des Moines. I mentioned it and he wanted to know where else she would be. Boston. Australia. New Jersey. And then Des Moines.

I bought the tickets for Husband for Christmas. Because I still wasn't over the whole, not seeing her thing. So it was kind of for me too.

Yesterday we drove to Des Moines, leaving our kiddos with C's Godmother. We parked, and walked around downtown in the rain. We had dinner. Got to the Civic Center. We waited for the house to open and we found our seats. The website had said that there wasn't a bad seat in the house and they weren't joking. We had cheap seats but it didn't matter even a little. I kept telling Husband I wouldn't believe Sutton was there until I heard the voice.

The symphony was playing with her and they started with the Anything Goes Overture. Then Sutton came out and I relaxed. She started singing and my grin went from ear to ear. But then, a few songs in, during the break between songs she asked for a show of hands of who remembered 8-track tapes. And I knew she was going to sing "my" song. I had hoped she would but she's been in a lot of shows and has a pretty big wheelhouse. She told the audience how she sings this song for her mom who passed away two years ago. Then there was the opening little trill of the piano and I lost it.

I was the girl in row Y, silently crying. I was so overcome with emotion. Finally seeing Sutton perform. Her singing the song for her mom. The song I sing for my little boy because his grandma he never met liked John Denver. The song with the very best message even if I still don't like John Denver. The song with lyrics I change from "high" to "smile" because how 70s? It was all the feels. And the tears kept coming.

The rest of the show was good. But those three minutes were magical. Hearing that arrangement live and with an entire symphony accompanying the powerhouse voice that is Sutton Foster was something I will never forget.

I am a rule follower and didn't take any pictures until curtain call.

It was the very best date night a girl could ask for. Tears and all.

7QT: Birthday, Well Check and Cirque Du Soleil

one. Today is Husband's "birthday." It was really last Saturday while we were gone. But the kids didn't get to celebrate and if you know anything about almost 4-year-olds it is that they take birthdays very seriously. We are going to do all the normal things, special dinner, cake, etc. It is going to be a fun evening! 

two. M had her 18 month check up today. Can you even believe that she is halfway to TWO?! Oh my goodness I can't stand it. My girl is healthy, happy and completely convinced she's three. No concerns. Passed her ASQ and MCHAT so that's about the best she can be. She has been adding new words to her vocabulary every day, today she said "apple" finally. So cute!

three. I love Cirque du Soleil. I have seen La Nouba twice, Corteo, Allegria, One of the stadium shows and I just love Cirque. So when we knew we were for sure going to Vegas I started pricing out shows. For a long long time it has been on my bucket list to see "O" it's the show in the water. (Eau is water in French.) As I was looking at tickets, it is just really expensive. And I eventually decided that we should put our money towards another less expensive show and bought tickets for "Ka."

four. We saw "Ka" last Wednesday night. It was amazing. The theater was spectacular. It was as much a character in the show as the talent.

This is a picture from the internet. This is what it looks like. 

This is the picture I took of the exact same thing. Don't judge it by my picture.

The preshow brought us to amalgamation Asia, with ninjas, warriors, spears and a haka. The show was the first Cirque show that had a real and true followable plot. That was really cool. The real star of the show was the set which was this giant rotating plate. It was amazing. I can't even describe it. It was really really good. 

five. So because "Ka" was SO good I felt even more like I should just try and make "O" happen. Then the stars alligned and we bought tickets. This theater was gorgeous. Like breathtaking. It was designed to basically be a European Opera House and it is just beautiful. 

The internet wins again.

My picture of the ceiling. 

What the ceiling actually looks like. 

And the show started. The synchronized swimming was as cool as I imagined. The Russian Swings that turn to diving was my favorite part for sure. I loved it. I am so glad I saw it. 

But at the price point I was expecting it to be AMAZING and blow me away. And it was just like any Cirque. I think I maybe even liked "Ka" better. Also we saw the 9:30 show on a Saturday. Which meant a great deal of our audience was clearly inebriated. I have never in my life seen so many people come and go from a show before. It was unreal and very distracting, which also may have contributed to my feelings on the show. 

But I am SO glad I saw it and have no regrets. 

six. I don't really like Michael Jackson and I pretty much can't stand the Beatles so I will never spend money to see "One" or "Love." I am unsure that I would appreciate the adult themed Cirque so "Zumanity" is out. I would however see "Mystere," the original Cirque show and "Zarkana" should I find myself in Las Vegas again. (There's also the Criss Angel one that I am rather un-opinionated on.) 

seven. We have more exciting plans this weekend and I can't wait to tell you about them next week! Have a terrific weekend friends!

Linkin' w. Kelly 

Viva Las Vegas!

Saturday morning in Vegas was the good show. It is Husband's favorite food show of the year because he doesn't really have much to do except for make the rounds, be seen and get some free stuff. He nabbed me a brown butter sea salt rice krispie bar. It was delicious. He wasn't gone too long.

Saturday was also Husband's birthday! So that was kind of fun. Don't worry, we are celebrating tomorrow and the kids have no idea that they missed it. The joy of littles. I had this great fear that if C realized that it was his dad's birthday he would be upset because to him birthday's = cake. We weren't even having cake so I didn't think he needed to know.

We lazily sat around on our balcony and watched the world. The temperature cooled off significantly but by Vegas standards, not normal people standards. So it was in the 70s and awesome! We met the entire group from Husband's location in the lobby at 12:15. We got on a big bus which was the first air conditioned vehicle we had been in the entire trip. (Apparently cabs don't use the air conditioning until it's in the upper 90s or they didn't think it was hot or I don't know.)

We went back to Fremont Street because the company had scheduled us for "team building" which meant going zip/zoom lining on Slotzilla.

I did the "zoom" which is the doors that fold down over where it says Slotzilla.

That roughly translated to about 20 of us actually doing it and the rest of the people chickening out. The weird part is that every single female who was on the trip as a guest or sales rep went and tried. It was mostly men who didn't go.

It was awesome. I was slightly unsure when I was dangling there like superman before it was time to start but I really enjoyed it. Because the group had prepayed for 50 people I was able to go again, It was even MORE fun the second time. The wait was shorter, I knew what I was doing and I made sure to keep my arms in for speed.

That's me flying. I didn't pay $40 for one of the professional pictures.

It was a really wind day and people weren't making it all the way to the end where the tow thing was. So then an employee would have to come out and hand-over-hand pull them all the way to the end. There wasn't any chance in heck that I was going to have that happen to me, so I pushed off really well and kept my hands in per the instructions. The person next to me the second time Kellie got stuck and it's really kind of sad because you're just like an upside down turtle. She was moving her hands and arms but she wasn't going anywhere.

The company had opened a tab at both a bar halfway down Fremont and at the end. Which was great because I really needed a water! So yes, I had 3 bottles of free water and a coke during the course of our outing.

A funny story, when ALL the reps get together, they're loud. And they all try to out do each other. One guy started doing this yelling walking thing and people kind of made a circle around him, just from our group, Only because Fremont Street is full of street performers doing all sorts of things, this one guy came over and watched for a long time. Then started interacting with the rep from Husband's company. Everyone was dying.

We got back to the hotel in time for Husband to go down to his training for his roll-off table. I started getting ready, which was a good idea. Note to self: if going back to Vegas pack my own hair dryer. The hotel one was REALLY bad.

We went to the roll-off which was a buffet dinner and cocktails, a shorts dance performance and then the actual roll-off. Where all the many many many reps rolled the dice fifteen times to see how much money they'd win. I'm just going to go ahead and explain here that the event was kind of a cluster. It was disorganized and overcrowded and generally ridiculous. I would have words with Fred from corporate who planned the whole thing on how he could go ahead and solve at least some of the problems.

When the roll-off was nearly over, I took off for the Bellagio and when it was actually over, Husband joined me. We had tickets to see O and this was a giant bucket list item for me. O is the Cirque du Soleil show with the water theater. I had ALWAYS wanted to see it. We didn't think it was going to be possible but we made it happen. And I am so glad.

Post show however, I became extremely disenchanted with Las Vegas. Too many drunk people in miniskirts and I did not like it. Plus I was really missing my babies. 

Sunday we walked the strip down to the Mirage to go to The Sigfried and Roy Secret Garden gift shop. I got the kids some white tiger souvenirs because animals! And that just seemed really Vegas to me. I got a gift shop only ticket which gave me 15 minutes to get in and out. Husband couldn't come too. But in order to get to the gift shop you had to go right by the dolphins, like they were 2 ft. away in their pool. It was super cool. C would have loved it. I would definitely take kids there if I were to bring them. We walked to the Venetian and walked around and had lunch. I wanted to go on the gondola ride but Husband didn't. He has an aversion to doing tourist-y things. 

Then we went back and got our bags and headed to the airport. I did a lot of waiting because Husband's flight left hours before mine and we obviously got there in the recommended time for his flight. But our gates happened to be right next to each other which was kind of handy. I made it back to my parents house and looked at my sleeping kiddos and all was right with the world. 

That in a nutshell was my trip to Vegas. It was really fun! Made more fun by the fact it was nearly free! Plus 5 days of kid free time with Husband?! I mean, that never happens and while I was missing the kids after a while it was SO good. Thanks to my parents for watching them!