Happy National Pancake Day

So today for dinner we headed over to IHOP (we do this often on Tuesdays because kids eat free). When we got there we noticed the parking lot was very crowded. We walked in and realized that they were giving away free pancakes (because it was National Pancake Day). So people were coming in and ordering pancakes and water, so they paid nothing. Talking to our waiter, apparently many of these peeps did not even leave tips. Now, I am the first to admit that I like a good deal and like I said we go there Tuesdays because kids eat free, but...do people not know that they can make pancakes for almost free at home. Seriously there are some deals that are worth it and some that are not. I would classify this as a NOT. We just stuck to our kids eat free and I had myself some stuffed french toast.

Noah's 2nd Birthday

Yesterday was Noah's birthday and because he obsessed with Mickey Mouse, that is obviously the theme we went with. This was hard for me because we have done a Mickey party before, and until this point I have never repeated a party theme, but he likes what he likes, so....
My great big sister helped me make the invites. (Although she said they were not her favorite, I was still impressed, so thanks Andrea.)
Since he is only 2, he did not have a friend party, we just invited our friends and family. Still he had a great time and felt very special. He knew it was a special day just for him.
For lunch we served sub sandwiches, Mickey shaped peanut butter and jelly, salad, fruit salad, chips and Mickey cheese. I also made "Mickey Punch", this was just lemonade with red, green and blue Kool-Aid ice cubes. It looked really fun at first, but then the ice cubes started melting and it became a light shade of brown, supposedly it still tasted good, but whatever.












I had a Mickey cake pan, so that is what I used for the cake. It certainly does not take a lot of creativity, just a little patience. When we sang to Noah, he didn't have much reaction, but he tried to blow out his candle and he certainly enjoyed eating his cake (he has quite the sweet tooth).

For decorations I blew up some pictures of Noah with some Disney characters, plus for centerpieces I made Mickey rice krispy treats on a stick dipped in chocolate. They turned out cute. I just put them in flower pots that I painted red. We also had a big Mickey balloon (bigger then Noah). The kids had so much fun playing with Mickey that he even became decapitated, luckily we were able to fix him.

Instead of goody "bags" I just made goody baskets (one for each family). They each had a puzzle, Mickey game, crayons, coloring book, spinning top (all purchased at the dollar store), I also made Mickey and Minnie magnets (ice cube tray and plaster of paris, and black paint) and then we put the rice krispy treats in them.

For entertainment, I did a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse game. I painted a poster of O-Toodles with three different tools. A flash light, a stool and the mystery mouskatool. The kids had to go throught the house and try to find Mickey and his friends. I hid a Goofy, Mickey and Donald costume (from Halloween) and they had to use the tools to find the costumes, when they found them one of the kids got to dress up. Goofy was up high so they had to use the stool to find him, Mickey was in the dark so they had to use the flashlight to find him, the mystery tool was a map and they had to follow the map to find Donald. It was pretty simple little activity, but the kids seemed to enjoy it.
Thanks to everyone who came. Noah is still enjoying all of his presents, so thanks for them. We had fun with all of you.

5 Weeks Left

I just had a doctors appointment today. Remember a few weeks ago I wrote how excited I was that I passed my glucose test, well...Today at the doctors office they found lots of sugar in my urine, soooo no diabetic diet yet, but they have asked me to change my breakfast diet. No fruit, juices or cold cereal. What else do I eat in a hurry. Their suggestions: hard boiled eggs, whole wheat toast with peanut butter,and cottage cheese. Anyone else have any suggestions let me know. At any rate, it is only five weeks, I can do anything for 5 weeks.

Not much to Blog About

Life has kind of slowed down. (Still normal day to day stuff, but nothing real exciting) That is why I have not been blogging.
We are trying to get ready for the baby, only 6 weeks left. Still haven't agreed on a name, but that's okay. (Kind of funny, that after almost 100 votes our baby name poll is tied)It is fun buying pink, painting pink, etc. It is a nice change.
Today I went to Target in search of an end table. I was excited to see that they were having a 75% off sale on some of their furniture. I left there with a minivan full of tables, bar stools, throw pillows, accesories, etc. Gotta love Target.

Disneyland, again.

We just returned home from another fun trip to Disneyland. This time we went with Kevin's parents and his brother Sterling and wife Zoe and their kids Asher, Miles and Owen. It was suppose to rain the entire time we were there, but instead the weather was great (except a bit windy on a few days). January is a great time to go, there was nobody there. Not to much line waiting, which is good. Noah was so cute with all the characters, he would just run up and give them all hugs. Very precious. Last time we went he was a little scared of them. Tanner and Isaac had so much fun with his cousins, especially Asher. While we were there Kevin and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. Kev's parents watched the kids so we could go out for dinner at the Blue Bayoo. It was fun to just spend time with each other for a little bit. Unfortunatly I'm as big as a whale and was unable to ride the fun grown-up rides with him, but we had fun anyhow. Sad to say we will not be returning to Disneyland for a while, we are hoping to make it to Disney World this winter, but it has been fun having the season pass, most likely we will do that again.
On the way to Disneyland we stopped at Circus Circus and the kids had a great time there. On the way home we spent a few days in St.George the kids got to go swimming at the Sanhollow swimming pool and then we took them mini golfing at Fiesta Fun Center. All in all it was a great trip. We will be staying home for the next few months to get ready for the baby.