Monday, November 25, 2013

Schtuff

What a game last night!

First it was all...

Then it was like...

And then this happened...

And in the end, Wes Welker helped his old buddy win it.

Sorry Broncos fans, but I think the better team won.  Mwahahahahaha! 
(Are we still friends, Sandra?)

We had a busy weekend.  On Saturday, Phil was a Team Leader for the freshman retreat, and so I was on my own for the day and night.  But my awesome mother offered to take four of my kids to the Thanksgiving Parade in Plymouth, MA and so it was just me and this little bugger for a good chunk of the day:
 How cute is that minion ball?  A student made it for the retreat (their team's theme was Despicable Me) and my kids haven't stopped playing with it since! What a great birthday party idea for you craftier moms, and they also had these to eat:

Let me tell ya, as happy as I was to have 4/5 of my children doing something fun with their grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins...I really missed them!  It was WAY harder watching Alexander without the others around.  Not because they help with him, but because they are built in entertainment for him.  He just followed me around all day, talking my ear off.  He even made me read books and play hide-and-seek and "helped" me cook.  The nerve.

To the moms who don't believe that having more kids is easier than having only one.  Have more, you'll see.

Oooooh, wanna drool over my new kicks?  After I waddled the Little Flowers 5k, I found out that  I won the Running Warehouse gift card generously donated by Susan, and ordered these sneakers!  Booyah!  Thanks Susan!
Flashy enough to draw the attention away from my ginormous belly.

We went to a birthday party for Alexander's friend on Sunday, and oh my gosh, talk about being ducks out of water.  The party was for a 4 year old girl, whose parents are from Portugal.  (Alexander and the girl have grown up together at the nanny's house).  

Xander with his nanny, "Ba" and her husband "Neenaw".
They love him like he's their grandson since they don't have any grandkids yet!
  They had about 50 people over to their house for the party, food out the wazoo, and a magician came and put on a fantastically funny show. 
Everyone cracked up when the magician asked Eamon to say "Knots be gone!" for one of the tricks, but Eamon misheard and said "Nuts be gone!"


All five of my kids wanted to help out the magician, and totally loved the spotlight.  I think I'm in trouble.
Maggie let go of the balloon and it hit him in the nose.  
   It was really great, but my introverted personality began to kick in, and after 2 hours, I started rounding up the troops.  After another 30 minutes of them trying to force feed us (it's a cultural thing?) we tried to leave and they kept coming up with excuses why we couldn't.  "But the kids are being so well-behaved!"  "But you just got here!"  "But they are about to cook the malasadas!"  "But we haven't sang Happy Birthday yet!"  

We finally squeaked out after the fresh malasadas were consumed and the song was sung both in English, then in Portuguese, then in English again for Xander who cried because he wanted to blow out the candle.  

I'll have to write a post someday about how we  do and don't do birthday parties at the Martin house, because as wonderfully generous and hospitable as the hosts of the party were, we all left feeling that it was a little too much.  And felt guilty that we perhaps appeared rude for leaving after only 3 hours. 

We also picked up Maggie's new-to-us bed and bureau to get ready for her birthday on December 1.  I tried to do some Christmas shopping online, but chickened out before actually hitting the purchase button.  I had wanted to get all the shopping done before Advent started (this Sunday!!!) but all of a sudden it seems to soon!

We only have 2 and a half days of work/school to get through this week, and then it's a nice long holiday weekend!  After this busy weekend, I need a break ;)  I'm sure you all feel the same way!

20 comments:

  1. despicable me is one of my favorites and I hate most kid movies--but that one makes me laugh and feel good. And the cultural birthday parties--Oh my! I have been to a few as well and its an all.day.affair. At one, I was urged to stay for the cake--well they didn't tell me they don't do cake until midnight...LOL. Yeah, fun but a bit much.

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  2. That was such a good game, but I felt so bad for Wes Welker at the end. Poor guy. And umm, those minions are awesome.

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  3. My husband has a man-crush on Peyton Manning, so I won't tell him about your comment. :)

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  4. The husband and I also watched the game last night (hoping desperately for a Broncos loss, after the Chief's game). We're still trying to figure out how Brady pulled it off in the five seconds we turned the channel, but we'll take it. "Tonight, we're Patriots fans." As he put it.

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  5. Love the minion ball and cupcakes!

    That sounds like quite an intense party for a 4 year old!! Although the magician is pretty cool!!

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  6. Agree ~ Great game!!
    The party sounds fun if a bit intimidating.

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  7. Something just happened to my first comment...sorry if this is a repeat.

    3 hour birthday party? Oh my heavenly days. Two hours as a hostess is my max. Then I'm all "come and get your kid" mode. Lol

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    1. Thinking that I may have sounded judgemental in my comment, I'll add that they were obviously very generous and that is refreshing in our day and age.

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    2. Patty - the party was 8 hours long! We only stayed for 3. They outdid themselves, and it was VERY generous, but in no way could you ever sound judgemental!!

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  8. We don't even have birthday parties, so that should tell you pretty much everything about my personality right there. I make the birthday kid's favorite meal, we sing the song, and eat the dessert of their choice. No one comes over and for the little ones we don't even have presents really (since we already have SO MUCH STUFF). I think my minimalist birthday attitude started when we were still in the Navy and we were always so far away from people so we never did a big party.

    But, I DO love to get invited to a fun bash. I admire people who have that much hospitality. I have to work on that in myself.

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  9. Your life seems sooo exciting...and I'm all "I'm in my jammies at 4:30!!!!! Yay!" Its a wonder you even talk to me. ; )

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  10. Ugh you're a Pats fan?! I judge you in my heart.

    Just kidding.

    But really. Pretty boy Brady churns my stomach with his personal life and his perpetual smirking. The better team may have won, but the bigger man walked off the field wearing good 'ol number 18 and a heart of gold.

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  11. thankful for this blog..only one that has alerted me that ADVENT is THIS SUNDAY...how am I missing this.

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  12. Looking forward to your future post about birthdays, what you do and don't do. This stuff fascinates me!

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  13. Yes, it's a cultural thing. I write that as thought I'm Portuguese… but I guess living in Fall River will make someone think that!!! ;)
    Bill stayed up for the game. I almost did after getting home from a girls' night at mom and dad's.
    Nice shoes! Love that neon is still in because who didn't like neon when we were growing up?
    I'm hoping to be almost done with shopping by Sunday too. That way we can enjoy Advent… so I pretty much have been spending like a fool all month!

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  14. I like Jenny's comment up there and will ignore the negative comments about the Broncos. Peyton has class...and the truth hurts people. ;-)

    You're so kind to link to my blog Colleen! I'm FINALLY back in the game. 2012 was a rough year so it's no wonder it's taken me a year to get back into it. :)

    I've been trying to get our Advent stuff all prepared and even the boys said they couldn't believe how fast the year has gone! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! We get a 4 day weekend with Keith!! WOO HOO

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  15. Years ago my sister and I went to a Spanish Mass because it was the only one that we could get to on our road trip. There turned out to be a birthday party in the parish hall right afterwards and they told us to come, so we did... And then they just. kept. feeding us! And same thing - didn't want us to leave until we had eaten this, or done that, and they were COMPLETE STRANGERS!

    It was kind of hilarious :P

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  16. I was laughing picturing you all at a portugeee b-day bash. They are amazing when it comes to hospitality and entertaining... amazing! I want a twinkie after this post.

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  17. Oh my gosh, as soon as you said your mom took your 4 kids I was thinking---"That's not easier!! That's way harder" and then you said it. So true.

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  18. On behalf of Chiefs fans everywhere... we'd like to thank the Pats for helping us stay in first place with the dirty Broncos! We had a tough loss, but seeing the Broncos lose helped ease the pain!

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