Big Birthday Recap

Even though Peeper's actual party isn't until Sunday, we did a lot of celebrating (and other stuff) today.

Last year, we ate leftover cake from her party for breakfast on her actual birthday, and I declared that she should always get to have birthday cake for breakfast on her birthday. Since we don't actually own any birthday cake yet, we had to make do with some leftover donut holes from playgroup on Monday.

It worked, and she to practice blowing out (and not grabbing!) candles.

Our local theatre has just started drop-in art classes for toddlers, and we went to our first one today. We painted a pumpkin, glittered a gourd, and make TootsiePop ghosts.

Then we had lunch at Red Robin, where Peeper got her free birthday meal and ice cream Sundae.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

From there, we went to Dr. Tara's, where for the second week in a row, Peeper crawled up in my lap just minutes after we arrived, nursed to sleep and napped through the entire session. Sweet! (in both senses of the word)

Then back home, where Peeper opened her birthday gifts from us. Yes, that is a snowman bag. It's what I could find in the basement, and she looooves snowmen. So there.

So much for her birthday not being All About Elmo.

I picked up the stickers and tub toy bag (not Sesame Street) while back, we found the Abby Potty book last week, and yesterday, I found the Abby Cadabby pail (can't see it very well here), the snowman bowls and silverware and four - count 'em four - different Sesame Street "My First . . . " books on the dollar aisle at Target. So, of that pile, seven of the ten items were $1 each. Nice shoppin' Mama!

She's signing "Cookie" here.

Studying closely, I hope!

After we sent Mommy off to work, Peeper and I ran to the grocery store to buy / order some of the food for her party.

I ordered meat and cheese for sandwiches, and some potato salad, and bought crackers, chips, spinach dip and ingredients to make Anonymama's cheeseball dip. I'll also be baking the ladybug cookies tomorrow, and Shrike's vegetarian aunt will be bringing a pan of macaroni and cheese. And, of course, the ladybug cupcakes, which we have to remember to pick up on Saturday!

On the way home, we popped into a convenience store to buy the camera batteries that I forgot at the grocery.

When we got home, I got Peeper into her ladybug costume again and we went out to the mall to trick or treat.

She dozed off in the car a few blocks from home, and when we got in, it was all I could do to get her changed into some jammies, and she nursed to sleep around 8 pm - which is incredibly early for her.

She woke up about an hour later, nursed back down and woke up again when I (woke up and) tried to sneak out, then flipped and flopped and flopped and flipped for about an hour and a half before finally going back to sleep.

So, although she was down for almost five hours before Shrike got home from work, I still didn't get a damn thing done, because I spent almost all that time in bed with her.

But I don't guess I can complain too much, because I got to spend all that time in bed with her.