Huckleberry Finn Birthday! Ideas Please!

I am a party throwing addict. I start contemplating birthday parties months before time. Once an idea/theme sparks, my mind goes nuts(eventually my budget calms my mind down and the ideas become more realisitic, but still cute). I just love it. In my life, Im not an incredibly organized or together type person. When it comes to my parties, I am a certifiable nut job/control freak. Our wedding day(I had put together and planned the entire thing myself), my friends had to beg me to go get my hair done and let them finish the décor. I had drawn out charts and placements for everything, so very stubbornly, I went.

My son turns 3(holy crap, how?) in October. Two weeks ago, after thinking through party ideas that were ok but I wasn't particularly attached to, it finally dawned on me what to do. I have very excitably come to the theme Huckleberry Finn. It is part of what inspired his name afterall. It is my favorite book, hands down. So with that theme in mind, I stayed up way too late thinking of it. Surprisingly there isn't much for it on Pinterest(which to be honest is part of the appeal, I can also be slightly selfish with my parties. I do love to help others with their own parties though). So it will all be coming from my own brain. Which brings me to the point of this post. If you were told you were going to a Huckleberry themed party, what would you expect? In my mind I picture old time games, burlap, pie, tin pie pans, twine, and just masculine/vintage feel. If you were going to this party, what would you picture in your mind?

I like to start planning early and I like it to be amazing. So all ideas are welcome! I have come up with favor ideas. I plan to make each of the kids a hobo sack with treats inside. I just think all the kids leaving with the stick over their shoulder would be adorable. I also am thinking pie instead of cake. Also perhaps instead of plates, tin pie pans. Just ideas like those. That's the feel Im aiming for. So any ideas you may have please comment. Or if you have thrown a party with a vintage feel, link me! Thanks in advance!

The Woes of One

My sweet Lorelai has a huge personality. She loves to give hugs and kisses. She has the attitude of a preteen, She can be ridiculously girly and she LOVES  to talk. With her brother being such a quiet guy, Im ever surprised with the her ability to have basic conversation. She responds to questions with "yes" or "no." She shows a lot of understanding for the things that I say.She is even learning to describe things. Which is my point of this post. Just a little funny tidbit, I wanted to share.

Yesterday, all 4 of us were in the living room. Finn was in his usual spot at his car table, Lorelai was at the end of the couch watching Elmo. Stephen and I were playing a game together on my Kindle(a recent and very beloved gift from him). The other day, I received a one cup sample of coffee. It was packaged in a Keurig single cup. It came with the mail and therefore was still sitting with the stack on the end table. I forgot about its being there and didn't think ahead to what a child finding it would do. As her father and I were playing, I see her waving her hand out of the corner of my eye. Before I can respond or even turn she starts exclaiming/whining "ewww, yuck, sticky!" The same little phrase over and over. Now the poor kid had gotten into the top of the Keurig cup, decided to dip her finger in and have a taste. Anyone who has tasted straight coffee grinds can understand her predicament. Not only did it taste awful, but her spit had made it wet and stick to her little finger and she was freaking out. She had NO  desire to touch it with the other hand to get it off because it was yucky. She was having a serious girly melt down about her fingers being dirty with this horrible stuff. After we mercifully stopped laughing(I know we are terrible, evil parents but despite her issue it was ridiculously adorable and funny), I cleaned it off with a wipe.

She may have ruined the cup and made it unable to brew but our house smelled amazing. We were able to leave it for a bit and enjoy the smell since we knew she wasn't going to get in it again. Haha. It had to be one of the funniest moments of our parenthood so far.

Body Art, Is It Really So Bad?

I'm up late waiting on my comforter to dry so I can go off to bed. We visited some family this past weekend which included sleeping in their living room. Somehow the night ended up with the 2 kids on the air mattress using the bedding I had brought for myself. My husband in the cushy recliner and myself on the couch. We arrived home pretty late last night and promptly got the kids into bed and headed towards our own. As I crawled in our bed and adjusted my pillows just right, I began to pull up my blanket and get it situated the way I like only to have the sudden stench of morning diapers waft up my nose. UGH!!! So off it went and I ended up stealing one of my husband's blankets for the night(one of the things that keeps us married is admitting to needing separate blankets at night. Also using separate bathrooms does wonders as well.) This morning I got up and went about my day and forgot about the blanket being crumpled in our bedroom floor. So when I went to go to bed tonight, I walked in looked at it and suddenly remembered I still needed to wash it. Not wanting to steal a hubby blanket another night, I opted to stay up and wash it.

As I set up watching Glee reruns(in my grieving process of Cory Monteith, heartbreaking!), I started thinking about a conversation over the weekend. We spent the weekend visiting some family. During the time, we had dinner with my Aunt, Uncle and 21 year old cousin. He is someone I've always enjoyed the company of. Growing up he always had the cool new video games and I don't know, we just always related well. I hadn't seen him in a while before this dinner, so as I sat across from him, I was engaging in conversation with him and of course the rest of the table. I noticed some scaring where piercings normally are. I assumed it was pierced holes, so I just asked if he still ever wears them. He said he actually went through the process of getting them pierced and gauging them. I asked how that goes(I had never been around someone I could really just casually ask before, so decided to take the opportunity.) He explained it and then said he decided he just really didn't like it in the end, so he had them stitched closed by a surgeon. His parents said something about it being more presentable with out them. Which you know led to the normal what jobs expect in appearances, as far as tattoos and piercings.

My husband is in a position with his job that requires interviewing and hiring employees. He gave the input that he does tend to take a second look at things like that and will generally choose the better presented one if qualifications are comparable.

Tonight I was thinking about this conversation and just have some thoughts swirling around. These days, its not hard to find numerous people who still have clean & undecorated bodies. On the other hand, you can throw a rock and find someone with at least a tiny tattoo somewhere. It's also become a society where MANY people get higher educations and qualifications. Tattoos and piercings don't carry such bad connotations anymore. They no longer represent just street gangs and husky bicycle guys. They no longer only litter the bodies of drunks and druggies. They exist in all shapes and forms on the bodies of all types of people. They range from creepy flaming skulls to innocent turtles(or in my case Tinkerbell and music notes.) They are found on such a large number of the population.

With that being the case, why is it still seen as a hazard to a successful life? Why do we pin so much pressure on these things? Do most people associate tattoos/piercings with being less knowledgeable or untrustworthy? I cant remember the last time I personally met someone with one of these and thought, wow I better get someone else in this store to help me. Those tattoos have got to be clouding their information! Are these views what society really still thinks or are they just left over stereotypes?

Im honestly not meaning to rant now, I just don't understand why we associate seeing the presence of these things with something bad. Are we still too close minded to just not care? It's a piercing not a hole in the brain. Just something I don't understand, I suppose. I just wonder if there will be a day where it doesn't matter anymore.

I tend to see these things as creative outlets or maybe even a hobby. Everyone usually has the thing they enjoy spending their time and money on. If it's a creative outlet, isn't that a good quality to have for a job? Creativity can go a long way in many things. It's a choice of expression. Often it's done as a dedication or in memory of someone or something important. I think those can be a beautiful expression.

I can maybe understand asking that foul or crude ones not be on display in a place of business but that's true of all foul or crude things. There could always be a rule that if it's more nudity than Facebook allows than you should cover it, haha! I don't know I just wanted to get my thoughts out. Hope this was a good read for someone! Goodnight!

Here is my ink:

I have my next one planned but this stupid being responsible with money in adulthood thing stinks!

Surpressing the Laughter to Appear More Serious

My son is IN LOVE with hotwheel type cars. Loves playing with them on the flat floor or sending them down the ramps on his car track table. He is very passionate about them. His favorite thing to do is line up like 7 or 8 of them and push them on a line down the hills on the table. Lorelai on the other hand pretends to want them and will walk and steal like one from the line up. This upsets him like a lot. He doesn't like her touching his cars at all. She is doing literally just to anger him. She has noticed how upsets it makes him and sees it as entertainment. It's a ridiculous show to watch. I step in some because Finn is very sensitive and isn't much of a fighter. He does nothing but cries. So I'll step in and get onto her for being mean to him. Sometimes I encourage him to take care of it and ask for it back. If he does she'll usually give it back. Tonight, however, he was eating a snack of graham crackers as he played at his track table, she came up and stole one car(a new one he received for his recently great potty efforts, so is still very cool and exciting). As she stood there waiting for him to get uspet, she was surprised to find that instead, he chose to start throwing pieces of cracker at her.

For me it was one of those moments of parenting where I had to take a few seconds to surpress the laughter I wanted to have in order to appear more serious in straightening out the squabble. It was beyond difficult. I barely had them apart and in time out before I rounded the corner where I could finally let it out. How often does this happen for you guys? What were your surpressing laughter moments?

4th of July

It's the week of Independence Day! This is my favorite holiday! I enjoy the sense of pride you feel from everyone throughout the day. I enjoy the methods of celebrating. Bar-b-qing, lake going and fireworks watching are the usual. The whole day just makes me happy. The last 2 years we went with good friends of ours to an area military base. It has a nice sandy beach lake running through it. Their family includes a former soldier so they are able to get us on base. It's always been enjoyable to be among former and current soldiers on that day. It feels like we are celebrating them while celebrating with them, at the same time. This year however, my husband will be working. I do not feel comfortable taking my 2, getting ever quicker, toddlers to a lake on my own. Finn is a very stubborn boy and Lorelai is getting to the daring age. So this year we have to miss out on those plans. The kids and I will be joining some near by family for a day of bar b qing, instead. Regardless, I will not forget what the day is about and will be thinking of our troops. What is everyone else up to this holiday? If you aren't American, do you have a national holiday that you celebrate like this? I'd love to know! I enjoy studying and learning about other cultures!
Ive still been working on learning to do my own nails. This is a picture of my current DIY Fireworks nails. They all have a red base. I then used blue and silver glitter polishes to create the look of fireworks. Then I accented with white for a little pop.