what's a garden gnome?

today is my baby's birthday.  he's 4.  he's not a baby anymore.  but don't tell him that.  he thinks it'll make mama cry.

and oh. my. goodness.  this is the cutest baby in all of the land.  pass me a tissue, please.

just kidding.  i can handle this.

once upon a time, my baby, little c, had chubby legs.  and a chubby face.  and a bad temper.

he doesn't have any of those things anymore.  but i do.  i have all of them.  it's the circle of life.

but back to little c.  he's a real person.  he's smart.  too smart.  it's not good.

nevermind.  he just ate playdough.

it feels like yesterday that we were celebrating his first birthday.  i thought the first year went by so fast.  despite the challenges he threw my way.  like no naps.  and crying. and vomit.  and nursing every 20 minutes.  and no naps.

because, seriously.  look at that precious child.  he. is. WAS. is. perfect.

yesterday we had a birthday party for little c.  it was his first "real" party.  with presents.  and friends.  and presents.  mostly presents.  (and let me add that the greatest thing about inviting friends and family to your child's birthday party, is that you can buy them nothing and they're so overwhelmed with the other gifts that they don't even notice).  deadbeat mom success.

so this party.  it was going to be a quaint little get-together.  low key.  no stress.

i even bought ready-made invitations.

and then i made these because the aviator reminded me that i would be mad at myself if i handed out store bought invitations because i'm sorta anal that way.  go figure.

i made 20 of them.  front and back.  personalized. and every detail was constructed.  i hate myself.

and i baked a few cupcakes.

and decorated a few.

cake balls too.  oh sure, i made more than this.  but i didn't want to serve nasty cake balls to our guests.  it would be rude of me not to sample 2 or 30 of them to make sure they were edible.

because let's face it, you never know when another dimply mom will show up expecting some goodness. and we're new in town.  and i want to make friends.  or bake friends.  or buy friends.  and i was hungry.

you get the idea.

now, for those of you who don't know, we're a tad bit particular when it comes to halloween.  halloween costumes to be specific.  we don't do store-bought.  you see the trend?  it's a curse.  again, i hate myself.

i slaved away at the kidiots' costumes for days.  finished them.  then decided that they shouldn't wear them for the party because they may or may not be white.  and they may or may not be HOT.  long story short... i bought them costumes for the party.  but only to save halloween itself.  so i'm kind of like a savior.  stop it.  you're making me blush.

big c wanted to be a pirate.  target made that happen for $7.  and see how much fun the big kids are having at the party?  $7 was the high end of the costume budget for her.

little c didn't even know what he was.  i picked it out.  i couldn't get him spiderman or ironman.  of course he would've loved them.  but i couldn't chance him being a duplicate.

so he was a garden gnome.  you don't see too many of those floating around.

we had princesses.... the lovely cinderella and snow white.

and ironman, of course.

in fact, we had a little of everything....

except cooperation on the kids' parts.  i blame the parents.

not me though.  i'm a good parent.  i threw this elaborate party for my favorite son.

and invited all of his friends.

and decorated each and every cupcake.

and bought trick candles for him to blow out with a cotton beard that nearly caught on fire.  because i'm awesome.

but it didn't.  so let's move on.

after cake it was time for the pinata.  and let's be honest... we do the pinata to fill the time.  it takes forever.  party success, right?

wrong.  this is little c's second attempt at the monster.  we went through every kid.  including the bigguns.  that damn pinata was bulletproof.  so i did what any good mom would do.  i pulled it apart and let the most athletic kid take the final whack at it.  a time filler shouldn't take an hour.

and kids with candy are kids who i don't have to care for at my home in 20 more minutes.  hooray.

so we went back in and opened presents.  that's what the day is all about after all.

little c only asked for a few things for his birthday:

1. a race car like max drives on max and ruby (and yes, he was told this is a cartoon and it's not real)
2. a bowl with airplanes or helicopters on it.  so he can eat his cereal in it.
3. a lady under a tree
4. a lady under the grass

mimi and poppy (my parents) were in town, and they delivered on #1 and #2.  

and that made little c happy.

as for #3 and #4.... i'm just glad he wanted them buried.  i think.

that kid ain't right.

and i love him to pieces.

happy birthday, little c.  my baby.

now pass me a tissue, dammit.

-dimply stacy