As I was planning the party, I did some searching on the web and Pinterest for ideas, but didn’t find much off-the-shelf party stuff. I loved this post of  kid party ideas but found lots of stuff for adults, too. We were going for a smaller-scale party and didn’t plan too much in the way of decor.  Mostly, the kids wanted to bounce in a bouncehouse, so we rented one from the base like we did last year.  This time, we got one with obstacles in the middle so they could “explore” the alien planet with less gravity than we have here on Earth.

For decorations, we hung our standard birthday banners, some new Star Trek fabric banners, the big 36″ balloons (Noah named them Kirk, Spock and Scotty) and that was about it.  Noah really wanted me to hang up curtains into the dining room so that he could pretend it was the Enterprise and make the “swoosh” sound when he walked through.  I couldn’t find the curtains we had used for Ava’s party, though, so he had to make the sound without the visual effect.  It ended up ok anyway.

Since we had a small group here for the party, we did things backward.  Cake and ice cream first, then presents, and then lots of bouncing.  That gave us adults time to fix dinner before the kids were hungry and also gave them an outlet for all that sugar. It worked out so well that we might do it that way from now on. Reverse birthday parties rock!

Ava made Noah a fleece Star Trek blanket as a gift. 

He loved it.

Grama made Noah a whole set of Star Trek shirts – Kirk, Spock & Scotty – and they get worn every day they are clean. On the other days, he wears his Reds gear.

In addition to the costumes, Gramma and Grampa send some of Matt’s old Star Trek toys our way. The transporter room and shuttle craft were huge hits (with both the big and small Trekkies in the house). To stick with the theme, Noah received a full armory of phasers.  Matt made him three (a real one and two prototypes) and Uncle Michael made two as well. Once he had opened his communicator from Auntie Brooke and a model Enterprise from us, he was a real-life space voyager.

Auntie Moe scored an awesome sound machine that makes the “swoosh” door sound when you walk by it, so he has one less doorway to make the sound himself when he walks by.  We hung it in the doorway between the playroom and the kitchen so we get to hear it a LOT.

After presents, the kids bounced while we made hamburgers and then we all shared a meal together.

Image re-creation from last year’s bounce house.

We sent everyone home with their own Star Trek command badge, a phaser, and an TOS Pez dispenser.

All in all, I think Noah had a great time and we have 1000% more Star Trek stuff in our house. We got to keep the bounce house through the long Labor Day weekend, so we enjoyed it for several hours in spite of the sporadic rain. Now that the party is over, we play Star Trek daily but, since we can’t play baseball all winter, it’s sort of nice to have a go-to indoor game to play for the quickly approaching Ohio winter.

Live long and prosper, Noah!

]]> http://mscaspers.net/ohbladi/?feed=rss2&p=2285 0 http://mscaspers.net/ohbladi/?p=2281 http://mscaspers.net/ohbladi/?p=2281#comments Sat, 20 Sep 2014 13:40:25 +0000 http://mscaspers.net/ohbladi/?p=2281 Noah’s birthday this year was on a Wednesday, which meant that school and work were non-negotiable. Plus, Matt was away TDY, so we were celebrating as a group of three rather than four. His party was planned for the following weekend, but I still wanted to mark the actual day with some fun.  So, Ava and I took our guy out for a fun evening and kicked off his celebration as we picked him up from school.

We started, of course, with cupcake delivery for snack time in his classroom.

He had been wearing that big, goofy hat all day and LOVING it.  We served chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting (his request) and topped them with Star Trek command badges. Noah loved hearing his class sing him “Happy Birthday” and we apologized profusely to Ms Donna for leaving her with a classroom full of sugared up kiddos.

When we got home, we opened a couple of small gifts (because what good is a birthday without presents, right?) and Skyped with Grammie. Our gift to Noah was a set of tickets to a Dragons baseball game that night. His gift from Grammie and Grandad paired nicely with ours and he was soon all geared up to go to the ball field.

After we answered numerous phone calls, we headed out the door to dinner. Noah picked his favorite place and we yummied on burgers at Five Guys.  We headed downtown and to the ballpark after that. Heater (the Dragons mascot) always hangs out in the plaza in front of the gates before the games, so Noah immediately ran over to say hi. He LOVES mascots (#minorleagueheroes) and always scores a photo op with them at the ballpark.

When Noah told Heater that it was his birthday, he got the royal treatment.  The whole Green Team swarmed and he was treated to a special birthday song, lots of laughs and some fancy balloons.

It’s hard to tell from the video, but his first balloon sword totally deflated mid-song. If you know Noah, you also know that such an occurrence could have put him into a major funk. But, the Green Team magic was at work and kept him in a comical mood.  The team was cracking up and, when they were done singing, Noah said, “I did not see that coming!”  With a new sword in hand for Noah and a green kitty for Ava, we finally went in to watch some baseball.

The kids were SO good for the whole game and were respectful of their neighbors with their balloons.  In fact, the man behind me tapped me on the shoulder in about the 5th inning and said, “Relax! They’re doing really well. You should be so proud of how they’re behaving.” So I did and I was.

The game started at 7pm, which is about 15 minutes before bedtime around here, and we left after the 7th inning stretch because it was a school night.  BUT, Noah and I were up on the big screen while we sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” so I think that was pretty much the high note to leave on anyway.

There are two things that are absolutely always true about Noah – he loves baseball and Star Trek in equal measures and with his whole heart. Since we’d be enjoying his other passion for his party, it made good sense to celebrate baseball for his big day.  We couldn’t love our little baseball man more and love watching him grow up.

Happy 4th Birthday, Noah!

It wasn’t that nice, but you get the idea. Ava shouts out, “Mom, that car has a nodder!” I asked her to clarify and she said, “You know, like in Cars! ‘We’ve got ourselves a nod-der!'” (If you’re not fluent in Pixar, here’s the applicable movie clip.)

For Ava, spoiler = nodder.  Classic.

I am never, ever, ever going to correct this. Feel free to giggle at her until she’s 18 and figures it out for herself.

I spent last night worrying over the drop-off schedule so that Ava wouldn’t be late for the 0810 bell and how best to juggle Noah into the mix so that no one ate breakfast too early or showed up too late. In the end, I decided to drop Ava off first and have Noah tag along for that. We could leave the house later that way and it worked out great. We dragged our feet as long as we could before we left, but still arrived to school before they’d opened the doors. At least this time we weren’t alone! A big crowd was gathered when we showed up, so we had plenty of company. Noah and I walked Ava to her classroom and she got settled in. She was happily coloring a “welcome to school” worksheet when I left a minute later.

In her report at the end of the day, I learned that she had not eaten her sandwich at lunch because it was too cold (a big deal for PBJ, apparently), had eaten half her yogurt cup (and left the rest of the open yogurt cup in her lunch box), had PE and recess, read a “mind story” about a monster going to school, does not remember any of her fellow classmates’ names yet, and she kept her behavior clip on the green plate all day. So far, so good, I think. Tomorrow brings more firsts, as she’ll be riding the bus on Tuesdays and Thursdays and will have Music class.  By the end of the week, I think we’ll all be old pros at this school thing.

Noah returned to Mini U for Pre-K this year and we are all thrilled that his teacher from last year, Ms. Donna, has moved up with him. They were only together for about 8 weeks last school year, but were fast friends. Their mutual love of baseball might have something to do with their instant connection. (wink, wink) She and I had a good chat this morning and I left feeling confident that many of our challenges from last year were going to be resolved in this new academic year. Everything about school was familiar and that got Noah’s day off to a great start. Drop off was a breeze. When I picked him up, he had had a GREAT day and was sweaty and exhausted from playing on the playground. He has grown up so much over the summer and is going to make huge gains this year. I can’t wait to watch him grow and learn!

We’re off and running! Here’s to a great 2014-2015 school year!

Things I want to remember about this season when we get ready for next season and forever:

– Sign the kids up only if they really want to. If they get signed up, they will play the whole season. Period.

Ava was all for signing up when the signing up happened, but decided she wasn’t really in love with playing t-ball. In spite of this, she was actually pretty good and always played hard during her games. Have to remember to let it be her call when it’s time to sign up next year.  Noah LOVES baseball but, at three, loses patience with the pack-ball nature of the game and with the rigid structure of non-backyard imaginary play. Also, he’s really good at following a coach’s direction – a very pleasant surprise. Another year of maturity will probably serve him well next season.

– If you don’t volunteer to coach, only coach when asked.  Also, an organized volunteer coach is earning his sainthood every practice and game. Say thank you…often.

We did a lot of sideline coaching during the first couple weeks of the season. Then, we started sitting in the outfield (the safest place to be since the ball is NEVER out there) after that. The kids did a lot better when there were fewer competing voices and we learned a valuable lesson about the real reason for their participation. Six words only: “We love to watch you play.”

– Six weeks is a long enough season for kids this age. Don’t get overzealous and try to let it take the whole summer.

So glad we tried tball this summer because I think we all learned a lot. It’s good to get fresh air on Saturday mornings and I’m sure this is only the beginning of our organized sporting activities.  We’ve gotten a taste of what’s in the future, but, for now, we’re glad to be done with the season. We were so happy to watch them play.

To mark the occasion, we enjoyed a picnic dinner and some time at Eastwood Metropark. Eastwood has become our favorite stomping-grounds this summer since it has both an abundance of “nature” (read: longish grass, water, and birds/ducks) and a good playground.

We’ve got one more Saturday morning full of t-ball games tomorrow and then we’ll rest up for the big day Monday. Not gonna lie, I might be doing a happy dance by 0830 Monday morning. Together all summer is cool, but school days are awesome.

PS – The blog is back!! I’m going to try to make this a regular-ish thing, so come back soon!

In November, Ava put together a playlist of songs for her dance party birthday party and one of the songs on the list was OneRepublic’s “Counting Stars.” Its driving beat and upbeat message have made it a family favorite and it was on heavy rotation as Matt and I were making choices about how we wanted to live our life going forward. For me, this song became an anthem of sorts…a reminder of all of the options we are lucky enough to have and of the freedom that comes from truly dreaming big.

Lately I been, I been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin’ hard
Said no more counting dollars
We’ll be counting stars
Yeah, we’ll be counting stars

I see this life
Like a swinging vine
Swing my heart across the line
In my face is flashing signs
Seek it out and ye shall find

Old, but I’m not that old
Young, but I’m not that bold
And I don’t think the world is sold
I’m just doing what we’re told

I feel something so right
By doing the wrong thing
And I feel something so wrong
By doing the right thing
I couldn’t lie, couldn’t lie, couldn’t lie
Everything that kills me makes me feel alive.

-OneRepublic, Counting Stars

So often, I’ve lost sleep thinking about all the little moments we were missing at home and with our kids and rather than taking time to count the stars, we’ve been counting up the wrong things. Little moments are, in fact, our big dream.  It’s the whole thing. To live them, notice them, collect them, treasure them. When I search my heart for what I truly want in life, I have found that I only really want to have done good work. To get to do good work for a family I love? That is a big dream, indeed.

To capture this dream in a tangible way, I took the moments we’ve collected this year on Instagram and made a video. These little moments…these snapshots in time…these are our big dream realized. It is truly beautiful.

And, hey, Matt? This video is your Valentine’s Day gift, as are all the moments I know are ours to share in the future. Thank you for making our dream possible by doing the work you do. LYS.

I couldn’t have managed to blog it all, but Instagram was at the ready to capture the memories. When it was over, I used another app to make a video of all the photos we took. Thank goodness for the iPhone or memory-keeping would be lost altogether in this crazy.

So, here it is. Our advent 2013.
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Wishing everyone a joyful 2014!
]]> http://mscaspers.net/ohbladi/?feed=rss2&p=2180 0 http://mscaspers.net/ohbladi/?p=2170 http://mscaspers.net/ohbladi/?p=2170#comments Wed, 25 Sep 2013 19:50:56 +0000 http://mscaspers.net/ohbladi/?p=2170 A snippet of life after dinner in our house. Two thumbs up for turn taking, right? The rest is, well, just creativity run amok.

To understand his imaginary world, one must first understand that our boy is obsessed with baseball.

He sleeps in his baseball cap, wakes up in the morning wanting to go out to play, sits still for inning after inning on TV and in real life (no three-year-old does this!), demands a catch with a parent every chance he can.  It shouldn’t really come as a surprise that he not only has an imaginary friend, but that he has a whole team of “baseball men” to keep him company during the day.  These baseball men sleep in his room, keep him company at the lunch table, and generally bring joy to his life. The pitcher is named “Bubbles” and the catcher goes by “Strike 2.” There are a few other named players, but their titles are such gibberish that I can’t transliterate them yet.

In a dream earlier this week, Bubbles and Heater (the mascot from our local AA team) were up to some mischief on the ball field that Noah described in such a detailed, descriptive way that it was impossible not to be caught up in his story. Never mind that following the logic of three-year-old storytelling is nearly impossible.

Noah & Heater having a chat at a Dragons game.

In another of Noah’s baseball men stories, the team had wings and flew around the baseball field. I think he’s going to love both Field of Dreams and Angels in the Outfield when he is older.

Love that our little guy has found something that makes him happy. Delighted that the thing that makes him happy is something we love too. Here’s hoping that Bubbles and the gang are here to stay!