It's snowing. Has been all day. Woke up to a world of white. Hubby and I tried to convince Kiddo when she first got up that we'd gone back in time and that this Sunday is going to be Christmas, not Easter, but she wasn't buying it. I am seriously, seriously sick of the snow.
Tomorrow is Kiddo's CSE meeting at school. A draft of her IEP for next year came home in her backpack today for our review before the meeting. I'd been worried that they were going to pull her one-on-one aide (remember? the aide that they didn't get in place properly until DECEMBER of this year?) but from what I can tell from the draft, that piece is still in there, which is good. Kiddo clearly is much more successful when she has the aide to consistently help with her sensory diet each day. Maybe tomorrow won't require my Big, Bad Mama cape after all, but I'm going to bring it just in case...
A person in my extended family is in the hospital right now. He went to the ER in the wee, small hours of the morning and will likely be in the hospital for at least three or four days. Depending on how he responds to the drugs, he may or may not require surgery. Surgery would not (obviously) be good, as there would be some long-lasting side effects during the recovery period. Please keep J in your prayers, those of you blog readers who are the praying sort. And while you're praying, another one of my friends has been having what very well could be the worst month EVER, and could use some prayers and comment love. Her blog is here.
In house-related news, we've found out that the town rec center for the 'burb to which we're moving has a summer camp program that is *much* more reasonably priced than any of the alternatives we've looked into and is located in the school she'll be attending in the fall. I spoke with the department supervisor and found out that it will not be a problem for Kiddo to have her OT during camp, either, which is good as that means one less thing to juggle. That is assuming, of course, that Kiddo will be receiving OT over the summer (we think she definitely SHOULD but who knows what the school district will say)...
An old friend of mine mentioned to me today that she is thinking of starting a blog. Y'all, if she does, you will TOTALLY need to read her. I'm not just saying that because she's my friend and would be a new blogger, but because seriously? She is one of the most interesting people I've ever known in my entire life. When we worked in the same office, she would tell me stories about things she'd done over the years and I'm telling you, each one was more fascinating than the last. She is an amazingly awesome person besides, so stay tuned because if she does start blogging, I will be plugging her blog like mad!
I don't know if it is because of the snow or what (I'd hate to blame it on my old friend PMS but let's just say I've eaten more Cheez Doodles in the past few days than anyone ought to eat...), but I've been in quite a mood all day. First I watched the 3 hour ER finale that had been hogging valuable DVR space since last Thursday, and I bawled my eyes out. Repeatedly. Then, (after brushing the Cheez Doodle crumbs off of my fleece blanket, which is decidedly not a Snuggie, alas), I was blogsurfing and wound up weeping while reading various blog posts. Also, I haven't changed out of my jammies all day. (I did take a shower, but then I put jammies right back on again.) All I want to do at this point is curl back up on the couch under my fleece non-Slanket (which Hubby read somewhere - Consumer Reports, maybe? - is far superior to the Snuggie) with perhaps a big bowl of popcorn or ice cream (or both!) and watch American Idol tonight. Although, I'm guessing that I'll be a wee bit depressed when all the contestants sing songs from the year they were born and more than likely, I'll remember each and every song from when I was in college or even after college. Yep, I'm definitely feeling a wee bit like Crotchety McGrump today for sure!
Last but not least, let me get some opinions from you, dear readers (and random Google Searchers who wind up here for reasons I'd rather not talk or think about.....). See, Kiddo once again wants to invite her entire class to her birthday party. With the upcoming move, we have been researching alternative locations to our house for a party. You know, places like Chuck E. Cheese or the zoo or one of the local bouncy houses. Well, the zoo has a "Radical Rainforest" party that sounds awesome, and would be within our budget (barely, but still within), and Kiddo would LOVE to have her birthday party at the zoo.
Here's the catch: The zoo has a maximum number of attendees and that number is 15. There are 17 kids in Kiddo's class, plus her 2 best friends from outside her class, so we're looking at a total of 19 kids. I called the zoo and found out that the 15 is a firm number, due to maximum occupancy requirements for the room they use for parties.
So, what do we do? Invite all 19 kids and hold our breath and hope that at least 4 don't show up? Make Kiddo *not* invite her whole class? (Which I'm really not a fan of on the one hand, having been the kid that didn't get invited to things back in the day myself, though the budget certainly would appreciate a smaller crowd...) The other thing is that the party could potentially be Memorial Day weekend (which is the weekend right before her birthday) and I don't know if that is a good plan or a bad plan. We don't want to do it the weekend after her birthday, since that is theoretically the weekend we'll be moving, but then again, we might be moving the weekend before if the closings come together quickly enough. The other alternative is doing it either two weeks before or two weeks after, though two weeks before would mean I'd definitely be skipping my 20th high school reunion. (I'm undecided on that one, as I haven't exactly lost a bunch of weight and gotten into crazy good shape as I'd intended, and also I don't know how many of the people I'd actually want to see at a reunion will even be there...)
What do you think? Invite the whole class and hope that at least 4 kids don't attend? Just keep looking for a different venue that would be able to accommodate up to 19 kids (to which our wallet says OUCH)? We can't do an "all girls" party because one of Kiddo's two best friends is a boy, and he wouldn't want to be the only boy there, and we can't just not invite him as his sister is Kiddo's other best friend. Hmmmmm. If anyone has a brilliant idea on this one, please let me hear it! Thanks!
I will leave you with a clip of a song that has been stuck in my head for days... The end result of being stuck home with Kiddo and her CD collection when she was sick!
6 comments:
I love the veggies...we don't watch them hardly anymore. I've had that puppies song from the Esther one in my head.
Ugh. Birthday parties. NO matter what you do, you won't be able to make everyone happy.
If it were me, I would not invite the entire class and just hope that 4 won't make it because with my luck, they would ALL make it. And their siblings.
If you are really set on the zoo, then maybe just invite the girls? Because that way, I don't think that any boys would feel left out because it would be a girl party?
While I haven't crossed this bridge myself yet, as a nanny, I advised that the parents I worked for to not invite the twins' entire class. That can be the start to a pattern that is not only costly but also can become expected, year after year. If you set your ground rules now, it makes it easier down the road to say "the way we do things in our house is to...."
As far as other children feeling left out, the way we handled it was to have each child pick a few dear friends. Invites were handled outside of school. We discussed that they shouldn't blabber on about their birthday party at school because we don't want to make someone feel left out. I think it is a fact of life that one isn't always going to be invited or included.
I personally don't agree with the whole "biggest birthday party rent an inflateable thingy with the private petting zoo and magicians" trend. But that is my soapbox.
I'd totally skip your reunion, have the party at a park that weekend, and invite everyone.
yuck...the whole party thing is a toughie. I'm not sure there is a good solution. But I'd opt for not inviting the whole class. If you did it would be the one time they all showed up! There has to be a way for her to weed out some kids that just aren't that good of friends. And lets face it...there is disappointment in life. You were sad as a kid and look how amazing you turned out!
Do not invite the whole class! All 19 will show up with siblings in tow, I promise you.
Tell Em she can invite a set number of pals, say 7-8, and allow her to choose. That gives her 5-6 to pick from class since the two BFF's are a given, right? Perfect. Only a few kids are invited, and if anyone asks Em can say something like "I picked names out of a hat". Maybe you could even actually pick the names from a hat, if she is undecided?
I know these things are hard, but I'm not a fan of "the whole class is invited" because it gets expensive, it gets complicated, and it's too much dang work.
Good luck, sweetie!
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