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You’re Invited to Dayton Mom’s Nite Out!!

It’s party time ladies!  Next week is the 2nd annual National Mom’s Nite Out!!  Last year we had such fun celebrating this event with some local friends.  As a matter of fact, it was at this event that we first met our reader Katie, who is a totally awesome blogger at Domestic Debacle and a TOTALLY BIG DEAL!  I can’t imagine my life without her now!  So, this year, we wanted to have another smashing event – and by “we” I mean my partner-in-crime planning, Tricia of Once a Month Mom.

Here are the details:

The party is Thursday, May 6 at 6:30 PM.  That’s right, it’s NEXT WEEK!!! We have an amazing location at the office of FORGE in the Oregon District of Downtown Dayton (where Tricia’s awesome Tweet-Up was, if you attended that.)

This event is open to ALL MOMS!!! And we have some amazing sponsors, FOOD!!!!, prizes, and SWAG!  SWAG! SWAG! Swag bags, baby!!

Here are our kick-butt sponsors.  These companies are making an effort to make sure YOU have a GREAT NIGHT and feel like a pampered Mama!!  The sponsors of the event are truly pampering us with their products! Here is who is involved so far!

Primary Sponsors:

Secondary Sponsors:

Product Sponsors:

Ok, SO…Ready, SET, REGISTER!!! Here is the link to register for the event, with all the info you need to know. Of course this event is TOTALLY FREE!!! Nursing infants are more than welcome, but leave all the other kids at home so you can have a night of relaxing and fun.  We have a limited number of spots available, so register for your free ticket NOW to make sure you don’t miss out on the best night of mommy fun in town!

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Birthday Fun & Why Our Readers Rock

Last week, Kate turned 6. I wanted to get a craft table for her without breaking the bank, so I turned to all of you lovely people for advice.

And, like always, you came through!

Melissa left this comment, which I thought was brilliant:
Great idea for a gift for your daughter! Our kids LOVE arts and crafts as well, so we just did the same thing – in the most frugal way possible! Our table seats 6 kids, but a smaller table can serve the same purpose…
1. Scour Craigslist for a great table in the color that you want. Keep in mind that you can paint or stain it.
2. The table we found happened to be a little tall for our kids (all under 6), so my husband trimmed off a few inches to make it the perfect height.
3. We found great kids chairs on Craigslist as well – again, you can stain/paint to match. If you’re only getting a table for one, you might want to splurge on a cute chair at Ikea etc…
4. My husband is cutting 3 holes in the middle of the table, and I bought cute metal buckets in the Target $1.00 section to put in the holes to hold colored pencils, crayons and pencils.
5. You can get reasonably priced organizers (metal or otherwise) from Ikea or Lowe’s and attach them to the bottom of the table to hold paper, stickers, hole punches etc…These organizers are often found in the closet/kitchen organizing sections.
6. Buy a dowel rod and attach it to the bottom-side of the table for your role of paper
*voila*
There you have a perfect arts and craft area for your little one for a fraction of the price!

So, I had all these visions of finding the perfect old table and painting it multiple colors… I still can’t figure out what kind of tool would be required to cut a hole in a table top, so that part was going to have to be modified (although seriously, how cute would it be if you were handy enough to do that??). Re-purposing something old rather than buying something new – perfect! I looked on Craigslist and had plans to go to the local flea market… but it just didn’t happen.

Instead, I found myself by Big Butter Jesus on I-75 the next day, and thought of the comments Elizabeth and Jen left suggesting Ikea… so I quickly exited, dropped Kate off at the kids’ area, and Sam and I made a mad dash through the store. I only had an hour before I had to pick Kate up… and getting through Ikea in an hour is not an easy feat!

It turns out that they have an area where you can mix and match table legs and table tops in pretty much every conceivable material and style imaginable. The one I picked out was – are you ready for this? – $19.99. The legs were $4 each and the table top was $3.99. CRAZY. So, after getting that taken care of, we dashed through the the rest of the store, picking up organizers from the kitchen area and craft supplies from the kids area. By the time I got to the warehouse part where the boxes of furniture actually lives, I was pushing Sam in a cart with one hand, and a flat-bed cart with the table with the other. I was breaking a sweat! But I was turning over my credit card to the cashier at exactly the same time the buzzer sounded, signaling it was time to go back and get Kate, so it all worked out perfectly.

The table – with some help from my super-handy friend Jana – is awesome.


Kate was thrilled!

We had a great day with her – Andy and I took the day off so we could all spend it together. We went to school with her, and since her birthday is also Earth Day, we brought in dirt pudding as a snack.

She opened presents.

We went out to lunch and to the park.

And then we sent Daddy off to his tennis match and had a little girl time at the local nail salon.

I love that girl!

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Three is A Magic Number

A few months ago, when I wrote this post about the struggle I was having knowing whether or not Bobby and I were “done” having kids, reader Liz wrote this comment:

Somebody once told me you’ll always regret not having a child, but you will never regret a child you have…

Those words have stuck with me.

Which is part of the reason that when I called Emily the other day and she said, “What’s up?” and I said, “Um, you know how I’ve always said I’ll probably have an unplanned pregnancy because I’m so critical of couples who do and act like they had no idea how it happened…”

I said it with much joy and laughter!

But it’s true!

Bobby and I are thrilled to announce that we are expecting our third baby.  We’re gonna have THREE kids!!  THREE!!  And you know what the wise sages of School House Rock say:  Three is a magic number.  Yes, it is!  It’s a magic number!

We gave away all our baby stuff long ago.  I gave away all my maternity clothes.  We don’t know where we’re gonna put this kid.  I can’t fit three car seats in my car.  I had even told my pregnant cousin Anna that she could have my crib – the last baby thing we have.  Oops!  (Sorry, Annie.  I’ll make it up to you!  By having a BFF for your baby!)

But that doesn’t matter.  It’s all going to be awesome.

Bobby and I have been walking around grinning and shaking our heads at each other for the past couple of days.  We really can’t believe it.  A big surprise, not part of “the plan”, but we are sooooo happy & thankful for this new gift that God has given us.

I can’t believe it!!!! Can you??

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