Saturday Night Fever

My previous post mentions Braedan's enthusiasm for bowling, so much so that we threw him a bowling birthday party. Well a couple of weekends ago we ventured out for a family date night of bowling since he does love it so much, but it wasn't without a lot of begging and pleading. And that was just from mommy and daddy. For the last few months we have attempted to go but one thing the hubby and I have learned about Corpus, besides it being a fun beach town, is that it is a hotbed for bowlers. I know that sounds crazy and like a bit of an exaggeration but the hubby can agree with me because he has been a participant to all of our failed attempts at getting to just one little, lowly bowling lane for the four of us. If there weren't birthday parties taking place, then it was bowling leagues or tournaments getting in the way of my little bowler's dream to get back at the lanes.

But that all changed on just another regular Saturday for us, because when I called at 1 o'clock that day I was told 22 lanes would open up by 5 o'clock so you can bet we were there by no later than 5:05. Braedan had never heard such sweet words from us when we announced we would be bowling that night. And when we walked in, the place of course was hoppin'. I had never seen it so crowded, but after a bit of a wait at the check-in counter we found our way to lane 38 where we could finally live out the dream.

Since it was after 5:00, they turned down the lights for an added bonus.

And I have to share the results of our bowling prowess. Please keep in mind that this was daddy's and my score WITH the bumpers up (and his is the last score posted). He claims the bumpers played a major role in my victory and I'll admit they may or may not have helped on certain frames, but hey they were there so what could I do.

 

But his first game proved to be a warm-up for him because he improved greatly by game two. Thank goodness I didn't marry him for his bowling game.

 

 

 



Confession of a Stay at Home Mom

Here we are, just a few weeks to go until the little lady turns one. I cannot even begin to tell you how quickly it has gone by, and the other thing I can't tell you about...what I am going to do for her first birthday party. Not because I can't decide on the cute themes and craft ideas that I'm sure are just waiting to be pinned on Pintrest, but because I do not have one burning desire to immerse creative energy into trying one. So here's my confession, my name is Jen, I am a stay at home mom of two AND I can't pull off a cool looking kids birthday party. Many of you reading this know I stay home, but I throw in that disclaimer, because for a little while I felt like since that is my role good party planning should be part of my "Motherly Repertoire." But as the hubby knows, when it comes to certain things I'm about as organized as a dog, and don't even let him get started on my indecision tendencies. I think it's safe to say that I would give myself panic attacks if I tried a massive party undertaking.

So as I've become somewhat comfortable in motherhood (I say somewhat because even though I'm four years into it, I still second guess most of my decisions and from what I hear that never goes away), there's one big thing I've learned about myself and that is I will never be the mom who comes up with the cute and fun party theme complete with matching banner, cupcake liners, water bottle covers, party favor bags and fun food to admire and devour. I know I may sound pretty defeated about this, but I truly feel tired just writing about the process. Don't get me wrong, those details look very nice and for a while I was envious of those moms, but while logging my time in motherhood one piece of knowledge I've gained is to know your limits. That realm of craftiness is too far out of my comfort zone to attempt; I'm not that crafty, or crazy for that matter, to squeeze in that kind of work when planning a party.

Since I can't do those other things, the one thing I can do for a party is make a decent cake. I figure that's all that really matters to my little guy and gal anyways. For Braedan's 4th birthday, I chose a construction truck theme bowling party. I know what you party planning moms must be thinking But those two things don't really go together. I'm aware that when you hear bowling it doesn't scream, "Construction" but I wanted to do something fun with his cake and those are the two things he's really into these days.

On the day of his party the only thing he cared about was how much he was going to get to bowl and if the cake had the right construction zone. It was so fun just to see him having a great time. Pintrest did inspire me to make this cake, but like I described it didn't push me over the edge to really get jiggy with it in terms of decorations. I let the bowling alley take over from there.

And as my sweet baby girl turns one next month I know she will not remember If I made her a special banner or if there were special treats made in her honor. I only hope she's ok with having a pretty fun cake and getting to eat it too, because that's all her mama has in her.