Thursday, January 6, 2011

Three Things Thursday, the letter "P" edition ...

1. Polite: Yesterday, Dizzle received an invitation to a friend's birthday party at Build-A-Bear. I opened the invite (yes, I screen her mail) and saw that the party was scheduled for next Saturday. The only Saturday this month that we already have plans for.

I considered not telling her about the party. I knew that she would be upset to miss it, but then I thought about it and realized that she'd be more upset if she thought she wasn't invited.

So, I told her and the conversation went like this:

Me: So Dizzle, you got invited to K's party.
Dizzle: I know! It's at Build-A-Bear!
Me: Yes, it is. But you can't go.
Dizzle: (instantly crying) But I want to go!
Me: Honey, stop crying. You can't go because it is the same day as Uncle J's wedding and you already made a commitment to be his flower girl. You can't miss that. I'm sorry that you have other obligations.
Dizzle: (whimpering) Fine. But can you write K a letter to let her know?
Me: Sure.
Dizzle: OK. I want it to say:

Dear K,
Thank you for inviting me to your party at Build-A-Bear, but I will be unable to attend because I have to go to my Uncle J's wedding in a different state.
Dizzle

And that's when I started laughing. Unable to attend? Seriously, Dizzle? What five-year-old declares that she is "unable to attend" rather than just saying, "I can't go"? Oh, wait. I know. The kind of five-year-old who has a mother who reminds her that she has "other obligations." Yup, we are prepping for the SATs over here.

2. Party - And while we are on the subject of parties, I need an idea for one. Dilly turns two in three weeks and I have no idea what to do for her party. G had two really good ideas, but both of them have one minor detail that could have them blowing up in my face. So I am looking for suggestions. Here's the scoop.

All of our family lives far away, so this fiesta is friends only. And since we don't have too many friends, it's going to be small. Also, I am looking for easy and cheap. Not a lot of clean up and it has to fit within our monthly budget. Oh, and it has to be suitable for a wide range of ages. The guest will include the following:

5-6 adults
1 two year old
1 three year old
1 four year old
2 five year olds
1 eight year old
1 11 year old

Any suggestions?

3. Posh - And sticking to the celebrating, did I ever tell you how we celebrated New Year's Eve? Well, my totally awesome little sister, who just happens to be the Hotel Manager of the Baltimore Tremont Plaza, put J, the girls and me up in the W.C. Smith Suite.

Talk about FANTASTIC. Here's the a description of the room:

A spacious two-bedroom Suite with over 1,400 square feet of superior comfort, including one king bedroom, one queen bedroom, two and a half full baths, and a spacious open living, dining, and entertaining area.

Yeah, it was pretty much amazing. The room included a sauna, exercise room, built in speakers and iPod docks, a television over the bathtub, and heated bathroom floors.

We were totally spoiled. Just take a guess at the per night rate ...

$1500.

Sheer lunacy. (Thank God I didn't have to pay it.)

32 comments:

Unknown said...

WOW! What a beautiful suite. First thing I thought was ya'll were so sweet to take the kids. Chris and I would have been definaltey looking for a sitter. (Isn't that awful??) I love that you took the kids. I bet they had a blast and it was a night they will never forget.

Carly said...

What a fun way to ring in the New Year!

jilliusc said...

awesome new years! have fun with the birthday and at the wedding!

Jill@Run for the Hills said...

I'm ticked at blogger this morning b/c it eats my comments! errgg!

Anywho. I love the picture of the girls in the tub watching TV. So cute!

Regarding the party, I'm not very good at planning that kind of thing but I was thinking that a costume party where everyone dressed up as their favorite princess/superhero/whatever may be fun, especially with the wide age range. For fun, you can also cover your table with craft paper and put out crayons or colored pencils so the kids can draw and entertain themselves.

See? I told you I'm not a party planner. good luck!

Anonymous said...

WOW!! That tub looks amazing and I'm not a bath person!!! How awesome is that room!!!!!

Rene' said...

alright i want that hotel room, can i borrow your sister for a week?
parties...i am the worst. we have them every other year because of the expense. good luck.

Unknown said...

Wow, what a room! How fun for your hole family!

How about an indoor pool/beach party? The only component I have for this party (even though it would be fun to be little and run around in my swimsuit in January) is the cake. It's a swimming pool circle cake with blue jello in the middle. Here's the link: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Simple---Delicious-Magazine/Pool-Party-Recipes-and-Tips

I made it for my friend's son for his November birthday two years ago, super easy.

Unknown said...

Geez, whole family. That's what I get for not proof reading.

Katie said...

$1500?! wowza!~

Pam @ herbieontherun.com said...

SWANKY!

And it's bigger than my first house was.

Runners Fuel said...

Awesome looking room. The only time I stayed in anything close to that was our wedding night (given to us by my brother and his wife).

Marlene said...

WOW, you guys lived it up on NYE! Nice score.

H Love said...

TV by the tub...sweet! Great way to bring in the new year.

Julie D. said...

How about Disney part coming off of your big trip? LOOVE that room. Perfect NYE!!

Julie D. said...

that would be 'party'

MCM Mama said...

Most of our parties when they were younger involved an art activity and then a lot of free play + cake. If you want to feed everyone real food, make your own pizzas are cheap and easy or you can order pizza. Or just have lots of finger foods...

So jealous of your NYE accomodations. I'm pretty sure Beer Geek would have made me leave the kids at home if we had a place like that though, if for no other reason than that my kids are hellions. ;o)

Christy said...

BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Christy
http://christy-goingthedistance.blogspot.com/

Stacie said...

Dizzle cracks me up. Sound like her and my Little M would get along quite well :)

Today is Little M's birthday. We are going with a Tangled theme. Just cake and ice cream tonight. We have to wait 2 weeks and I'll be letting each girl pick a friend for an over night stay and lots of fun. I'm still working on the fun part.

If you need an extra sister, let me know. That room looks like a dream. What a great gift. Your sister rocks. Loved the girls in the bath watching TV.

Silly Girl Running said...

Hahahaha! Can't wait to hear what Dizzle is like at -say- 15!

TV at the tub: pure heaven! :)

Anonymous said...

Awesome room! I'm totally jealous

Judi said...

I'd love to have one of those tubs in my bathroom! :)

Hannah said...

That suite is awesome! Very nice!

Ok, I'm cracking up at Dizzle. Adorable!

Rae said...

Awesome Suite! How fun!

Dizzle cracks me up!

The Hungry Runner Girl said...

BEST NEW YEARS EVE EVER!!! I am completely jealous! I am pretty sure I am going to have to come watch your 1/2 marathon in San Fran!!!

Kurt @ Becoming An Ironman said...

Dizzle is too cute! Maybe she could draft a few of my own business correspondence letters. haha

Marissa said...

I did a dinosauur party for my 4 year old since we had kids age 1 to 10. I know kinda boyish, but girls like dinos too (and we had both at the party).
Bought some baking soda and vinegar, made "volcanos" (using a paper cup with the bottom removed and turned upside down. Placed on baking sheets to control the mess. have the kid put a spoon full on baking soda down cover with cup, give the kids another cup with a little vinegar to pour i nthe top while holing the cup down). Kept the kids busy forever!!! I also bought a tub of the "air dry clay" at Michaels (you know used a lot for handprints) to make "fossils". I gave each kid a chuck on a piece of cardboard and they used a rolling pin to flatten, then pressed rocks, sticks, leaves, toys, anything in to make prints in it. They had a blast. Several people asked me if they could steal my ideas for future parties since all the kids were so entertained (and adults too).

Detroit Runner(Jeff) said...

That is some place to stay. I know you didn't need to pay but often wonder who would spend that much per night? Obviously not me! LOL!

ajh said...

Awesome NYE!

Anonymous said...

$1500!!!! WOWSERS!

AM! said...

Hi;-)
I was all ready to talk about suggestions for your 2 yr old party (as i'm planning my 5yr twins bday party this sat)....and then I saw your NY'S DIG and i can't believe it! smashing!

so now...whatever you do for the party don't matter. you had your party at the freakin' awesome hotel!;-)

Anonymous said...

I didn't read all of the previous comments, so sorry if this party idea has already been posted~ we just sat down yesterday to plan my daughters party for the end of this month (had to switch the party date so it wouldn't be too close to my next run!)
Anyhoo.... we are doing a pinkalicius party after her favorite book. With all your girls, I'm sure you've read the book.We are dressing up in pink, and encouraging the guests to do the same. As far as activities, I'm going to let the kids frost their own cupcakes and for snacks we'll do the green stuff (to make sure they don't turn pink!) Still playing around with some games, but I'm going through BirthdayPartyIdeas.com ~ have had a lot of success planning parties with the help of this site!

Have fun!!

Melissa said...

Do the party as a cupcake theme. Have cupcakes there (with no icing) in a couple of flavors and have an icing table with a couple of piping bags and spatulas with lots of toppings. The kids (and adults) will have a blast.
Then, add a fix your own ice cream sundae bar if you want to do something additional.
The plates, etc, can be the plain pink and red ones that they have out right now for Valentine's day (cheaper usually than the birthday ones)
Take cups and decorate with stickers.
If you want to do a meal, how about make your own mashed potato bar with a brisket and some veggies? The mashed potato bar I saw somewhere had the potatoes already done in cups (piped in) and had a variety of toppings you could add.