Monkey goes bananas!

Okay...I am totally bananas now. I have been researching monkey everything for this party. I think this is why I hate planning a birthday party for the kids because it's so exhausting. The funny thing is that I don't think I even do it for the kids...I think I do it for myself. Why are parents like that? The kids won't care if the theme is perfect...the kids attending the party won't even notice all this extra effort I am putting into my monkey theme. The only people that might notice are the other parents...so am I trying to put on a grandiose show for them? I just I must be.

Well, here is what I have been thinking about. Your opinion counts here, committee! Please vote in the poll to the right.

First off, the cake: Baking cake/cupakes for the party (banana flavored and chocolate frosting to look like a monkey) vs. buying a cake. I was going to go with the great cake place here in austin called Lucy's Cakes. They are apparently "THE" cakeshop to go to...but I am second guessing whether I want to spend $50 on a cake.

(My thrifty side is starting to emerge once again. I looked over everything I want to do and I just can't see myself spening over $600 on a kids birthday party. So I have decided to trim back and figure out ways to be crafty. The place I rented out is already costing $325 so I want to cut back as much as I can...I still have to get goody bags too! arg!)

After days of looking at great birthday invitations online. I opted to not spend $65 on having custom invitations printed. I am going to attempt to make my own! There is something to be said about homemade invitations...if you do them right, they are the talk of the town!! I wonder if you all remember Lauren's 1st bday invites? Man were those cool!!!!

I really didn't want to put that much time into this party this year because I don't have a whole lot of time to spare. But it has to be done.

I am planning out the monkey invitations right now. Once I get a mock-up, I will post them and see what you think.

Now Announcing: My Birthday Party Planning Committee

Ok...so here is a big announcement. As you know, my kids birthdays are coming up soon. They are exaclty two years and one week apart. So from now on, every party that I plan will be for a JOINT PARTY. Yea, yea...say what you want about not making it special for the kids and blah, blah, blah...but you are not going to sway my position one bit.

If you remember back two years ago when I blogged about LT's first birthday party...that was a great party and the invites were cute and all of that....but it was the most stressful and exhaustive thing I have done for my kids. So I vow to never do it again...at least not twice in one month. I will sacrifice once, but definitely not twice. We'll see what my blog looks like 7 or 8 years from now. I might be singing a different tune.

Oh yea, so back to the big announcement. I have chosen my planning committee. It will be comprised of myself and you! haha. Yes, that's right...I need some opinions and I am soliciting your help. I am sure only Vivian and Kimmie will respond, but I am counting on Aaron and Jesse to chime in too if they are keeping up with the blog! (calling you out!)

So here's the first decision. I need to make a poll I suppose to go along with this blog. I have pretty much selected my theme. We are having the party at a place called JW Tumbles. It's a kids gym that focuses on fun, romping, swinging, sliding, bouncing, etc. They have games that include an electric train, roller coaster, zip line across the gym, rock wall, and much more. So with that, and the help of a friend, we decided that a Monkey theme would be fitting! So I found some cute monkey party supplies (who knew there was so much to choose from!!).
Give me your opinion via comment or my poll on which one you like the best out of these....







Curious George






















Bongo Drum Monkey














Mod Monkey

Oh barf!

Okay...wow, I am a blogging fool tonight. I don't watch much TV, but tonight I have the TV on and I just got through watching this stupid commercial.

Two boys are sitting at the table. One boy is eating sugary cereal and the other boy basically is giving him crap saying he must not know how bad high-fructose corn syrup is for him.

Then the kid eating the cereal begins to defend corn syrup saying "it's made from corn and it's nutrionally the same as sugar, and it's fine in moderation." I am so amazed that they are trying to tell people that this crap is actually good for you!!! Ha ha! Amazing....

On the same note....FDA has finally approved Stevia as a natural sweetener. Bye Bye aspartame and you devilish Splenda!!! We now have a NATURAL no-cal sweetner that won't kill you! I haven't actually bought it yet, but Truvia is what I am seeing ads for.

I will personally stay with my Agave nectar for natural sweetner for now. I hear that the soda companies are already starting to formulate their diet drinks around stevia....interesting!!

Learning something new!!

Don't you love when you learn something new everyday...I know I do!

So what did I learn today? Well I was watching Ace of Cakes and it was the one where they make the world's largest cupcake.

Well, he cracked 91 eggs into a bowl and he said not to worry if you get shells in your bowl. Just let the bowl sit for a bit and the egg shells will make their way down to the bottom. So when you pour them out, the shells will stick to the bottom of the bowl and won't get in your cake!

Awesome! If you already knew this...don't comment and tell me that. I want to feel like nobody else knew that either! LOL.

Roid Rage....arrrrg! Ok, not really.

I went to one of the best Allergists in Austin, according to the Austin Monthly 2009 Best Doctors Report. Dr. Lieberman was recommended to me by someone I work with and this doctor was amazing. He told me that it was unreal how severe my allergies were because the day I saw him was the lowest pollen count in forever. He said that he didn't expect to see my nostril openings (sorry for the technical terms) pushed all the way to my nose lining. NO WONDER I COULDN'T BREATH.

It is also why the nasonex and other nostril sprays were not working...cuz they couldn't get up in my nose! He also was suprised that I got them my first season in Austin. He says it usually takes transplant about 2 years to start becoming allergic to cedar. The fact that I have gotten it on my birthday both years also points to hypersensitivity to cedar because the bad season doesn't really start until mid January!!!

So he put me on steriod pills. Yes...I am 'ROIDING! GRRRRR! No, its more like cortisone. He explained to me that the shot that most family physicians love to give are VERY VERY BAD! They are a full dose of steroids and that can mess some people up. You see, you can go one of two ways when getting steroids...you can be fine and dandy or you can go through severe mood swings and depression. So in order to control the situation when going the bad way, you just stop taking the steroid pills...nothing you can do after you get the shot except cry.

Thankfully, I was not affected negatively by the roids...phew! Anyway, that has opened up my nose so I can use steroid nose spray and I am continuing to use zyrtec. There is nothing really stronger that I can take he said. The first day, I was getting so much air through my nose that the lining was burning from all the cold air going through my nose! Wow...amazing!!!

Anyway, he said I can't come back next year and just ask for another dose of steriods. Apparently it is very bad for you and very bad for your body in the long term. So those of you that get this steriod shot every year...watch out! You are really hurting your bone density (osteoporosis) among other bad things!

So I am going to get that skin test where they prick you a thousand times and test each one to see what you are allergic to. I will go on a therapy where I take a shot every month and then during allergy season I go ever week. He said this should help me and I should be good after 3-5 years.

Rhinorrhea....allergy season, once again.

Okay, so last year around this time I was pregnant. On my birthday (Dec. 21) I got this wonderful present from mother nature. It was a season full of cedar pollen allergies. Texans around here call it "cedar fever."

Since I was pregnant, I was limited to the medications I could take to rid me of this awful allergy. I tried everything...even bought a neti pot. What a mess! Well, nothing worked. I had itchy, watery eyes, back-to-back sneezes and my nose was stuffed up until mid february.

Well, it happened again this year. I was hoping I was just susceptible to it last season because I was pregnant...but it is a permanent allergy. So one day before my birthday I got it again. Well, I have been so lucky to be able to try everything I can get my hands on....zyrtec, claritin, nose sprays, allergy eye drops...anything and everything. But guess what? Nothing works! And to top it all off I have Rhinorrhea!!!!!

What the heck is rhinorrhea you ask????? Well, basically it is diarrhea of the nose! haha. It won't stop running. I am going through boxes and boxes of Puffs. This is the tiny drop that runs down your nose when you are sick...this is like blowing 1/2 cup of liquid out of my nose.

yes, I know it's gross....but i just had to blog about it (typing, while a tissue is stuffed up each of my nostrils...no I am not posting a picture!)