Birthday planning.

It's a really nice feeling when folks call to RSVP and make sure to completely "Wow!" over how nice the invitations look. It's heartwarming, and it makes me feel good, as I did put a lot of work into the invites.

A.J.'s birthday sleepover will be in two weeks, and his invites will be mailed out today. I've been hard at work, tracking down his intended guest list by phone to snag their home addresses to send the invitations. Because he is having a sleepover, we wanted to keep the list much smaller. And you're not allowed to bring invitations to school unless you're inviting the entire class, so we had to find another way to distribute the cards. He's super-excited about hosting his first big sleepover, and in just talking with the parents, it looks as if we have three definites (including two girls!), plus two that will stay until bedtime, then leave for home.

Jack's birthday party will be in four weeks, and the guest list is enormous! We worked hard at the end of school to get information from all the kiddos in his class, and it has paid off. We've invited his kindergarten classmates (the school year ended about a month ago now) by mail, a few of his indoor soccer buddies, his entire outdoor soccer team (the season ended two weeks ago), his entire summer school class (the program just ended yesterday, so he took these invites to school and handed them out), as well as several other family friends. Most of the invitations will be mailed, but from just the dozen or so he gave out in summer school on Thursday, he now has eight RSVP's already! Good thing I was expecting this party turnout to be BIG, right?!

Their birthday celebrations are being bumped up this year, since both of their birthdays are actually in August. Jack's birthday is the 9th, falling just three days before the first day of school. If we did a party on his birthday (Saturday), it would be hard to catch folks, as that's the last weekend for school shopping, last-minute summer vacations, etc. A.J.'s birthday is the 23rd, and that's no better. School is already in session, and everyone is getting so busy by then, including ourselves. Plus, to give the parents enough notice, we practically have to send home invites on the first day of school. Maybe it's just me, but I consider that kinda tacky. A couple years ago, we waited an extra month into school, having A.J.'s party in mid-September, but I've always felt badly for making him wait so long. So this year, we just decided to bump things up a bit and have true summer birthdays (which both of their birthdays *should* be - stupid school calendar).

But even that was easier said than done. Our high school reunion is the 26th of July, and we'll be in West Virginia for that. We're planning on leaving the 19th, and won't be back until the 31st. A.J. is in summer camp from the 13th-18th, and I really didn't want him to miss Jack's party, either (brothers are supposed to be there, you know?). So Jack's party is the 12th of July (almost a month early). And A.J.'s couldn't be the week prior because 1) it's 4th of July weekend, and people will be all over the place, and 2) it's the weekend of Buglet's birthday, as well as marshmelococoa's visit. So A.J.'s celebration is the 28th-29th of June instead - almost two full months early!

See, there's reasoning behind my madness. ;-)

Phasing.

The tub needs some phasing-OUT of toys. We've had so many of these tub toys for years, and I'm just sick of them. Plus, Jack only plays with a small handful of them anymore. A.J. takes showers in the stall in our bathroom, so Jack's the only one to use the bath toys anyway. But we've got a cabinet full of toys, plus two hanging, mesh bags filled to overflowing in the tub, plus a couple other sets hanging from the back of the door in the bathroom.

Goodbye toys, I won't miss you!

A picture in time.

Going through all of Jack's summer school paperwork right now, I found an interesting assignment. He had to write a word for each of the letters of his name, but he chose to bend the rules just a smidge and write an entire sentence. It looks like this:

J | Jackolantern
A | Ate a
C | Carrit, you
K | Know.

Spelling is preserved just the way he wrote it. :-)

Thank you.

I received a box today from flyingwolf. Inside, I found goodies: four DVDs the boys will LOVE (documentary-type stuff, plus MythBusters!), one of her very own tie-dyed scarfs for me, a notecard of her own gorgeous picture made into pro stationary, and a whole bag of Coke caps. She is too kind, for sure.

I got a box yesterday from magnummom, but I was expecting it. Still, I'm now the proud owner of my fourth camera lens!

The doorbell rang today while I was decluttering Jack's school papers, and it was ctr29's husband, stopping by with a surprise flower delivery for me. Too sweet, and too gorgeous. She had written an encouraging note inside the flowers, too.

Last week sometime, I received a handmade card from 1grl_revolution - so pretty. She's really just so good at making the cards, and yet she still finds time to scrapbook!

poetlady has taken the time to check in on me almost every day, and she even called once. I heard that purrrplekitty sent a text message as well, but since Philip always has the cell phone, I've not yet seen it. And I believe lesliepear was the first to LJ-"nudge" me over a week ago. That says something in itself, since you can't "nudge" someone until they've not posted in a week.

And several of you have checked in on me through comments or by email: desertmommy, loquacis, scarletharlot52, mrs_picasso, livemockingbird, saffirebleu, manicmomma, chelelev... I hope I'm not forgetting anyone (please forgive me). I appreciate your keeping me in your thoughts right now. It's touching me so deeply, really.

hetterrific and lilmissriss, thank you for being here "in real life." For making me smile, making me go do stuff, and taking my mind to other places, even if just temporarily.

Thank you all.