Audrey said...

"Wow mom, look how big you're getting!" (As I viewed my 5 month post partum self in a mirror)

Treasure Hunt

Audrey’s 3rd birthday party was by far her BEST party yet. Searching for ideas for her big day, I came across the blog “From the Blue Shed”, in which blogger Robin Gage sung praises of a recent treasure hunt party for her little girl. She had me at hello!
Initially I thought “Ok, keep the cake/food/decorations low key, no presents. Replace all the birthday fluff with a simple treasure hunt in the park, ta DA! Easy for me, fun for everyone!” Then I started planning and shopping and it got complicated, fast. Lots of brain cells burned on this one, folks! I quickly lost track of how many trips to Hobby Lobby, Target and Michaels I made until I felt good about what was in each kid’s treasure chest. All that AFTER I had researched, bought, reconsidered and returned a piñata, which was originally the final ‘treasure’. Bless little Audrey and Neve; they were so patient with all our trips to the store. Surprisingly Audrey didn’t pay much attention to what I was purchasing and was just as excited as the other kids when she got her treasure on the big day.

As I continued to plan, I started to think that the activity promoted materialism too much, so Graham and I decided to incorporate a bible verse about treasure. At the start of the hunt, we briefly mentioned that Jesus talked about ‘treasure in heaven’ and what that means for kids… sharing, being kind, obeying parents, etc. stores up treasure in heaven. In each kid’s treasure chest was the verse Mt 6:20. Not sure if the message stuck (those 11 kids were sooo ready to go!) But maybe it did.

To start, each child got a tote bag, a tool for digging and copies of a hand drawn map of the park that revealed where the first clue was hidden.

At each location, a rolled up paper 'clue' was near or attached to the object. It was set it up so that everyone heard the clue in a group before rushing off to the next location so the smaller kids didn’t fall behind. I found smooth round rocks in our back yard (we have a plethora of rocks to choose from!) and painted designs on them. These were buried in the sand for clue #1.

Little Neve was content with my friend Shawna for most of the hunt, which meant I could participate!

Graham and I (laaaate one night) test-popped a glitter filled balloon with a clue inside. Rrrouch! Warp speed glitter stinging eyes and face? I’ll pass. We ended up filling 11 balloons with 11 pieces of paper, one of which was clue 2. Much better. Clue 3 was rubber banded to a pine cone under a pine tree. I bought packs of splash bomb balls for clue 4 and scattered them in the grass around a big beach ball. All the kids ran excitedly from one location to the next, it was so cute!

The adults followed behind...

For the final clue, pink feathers were placed on and around a tree at the far side of the park. (Someone accused me of kidnapping a rare bird from the Denver zoo, a-la a recent news story. Nope, Hobby Lobby.) Audrey ran with dad - precious!

Finally, the BIG surprise! In the volleyball court, name tags attached to string were sticking out of the sand everywhere… and buried beneath were individual treasure chests filled with all sorts of fun stuff! The kids LOVED it! So fun!

Note to self: I couldn’t have pulled this off if every single detail wasn’t in place ahead of time. Maybe YOU could, but if I feel ill-prepared and guests start showing up, I’m a deer in the headlights man! But thankfully this time the details were all in place and it ended up being a really fun party – for kids, adults, and the hostess too! I most highly recommend this type of party for kids ages 3 – 10 and maybe even beyond (city-wide scavengers hunt anyone?) Good times, great memories. Happy 3rd birthday, Audrey!

Dog Blog

Don’t get me wrong, I love our dog Maya. It was I who found her online six years ago at a shelter in south-central Iowa, and knew she would be ours. It was I who convinced a skeptical husband that adopting her would be emotionally healthy for our family and foster an invaluable sense of responsibility, preparing us for the arduous task of raising children when the time came. I took it upon myself to convey to him a joyful new life together with our well trained, beautiful canine specimen that would enrich our lives and turn our house into a home. This made sense to Graham, and he conceded.
God bless him for never complaining about and rarely pointing out that it is he who remembers to feed her each day and reminds me to buy dog food. Graham is the one who knows when she is due to go to the vet, and Graham prompts her grooming appointments. He also takes 15 minutes every day after work to play with her in the park.
Maya adores him for it, and herein lays my issue. Once two years ago, I awoke to her staring at me with her big brown Michael Jackson eyes from the corner of the room. Graham had left for work and it was still pretty dark out, so I had to glance twice before knowing for sure that she was, in fact, staring me down . So I stared back. I didn’t get her to break her stare for a long time, and to this day I am confused as to why she did it. It sort of scared me, man. How long had she been looking at me, and with what motive?
Sometimes when I am on my way home from work in the morning I try to guess whether she will be sprawled on the futon or curled into a cozy ball on MY pillow, next to MY husband. When the latter is the case, I will quickly shoo her out of my territory. She needs to go outside and I need to sleep, plus she knows it is against the rules to be on my pillow – gross. And every time she slowly (deliberately, mind you) rises to get off the bed, she grunts and gives me a scowl as if to say, ‘I don’t like you right now, and I’ll do this again next time.’

And yet, despite our routine tiffs, we love each other. Although she is woman like me, she is first a dog who quickly forgives and forgets. One affectionate word, one pat on the back, or one dog biscuit later she’s happily wagging her tail and smiling at me. Do I take issue with her behavior at times? Of course. Do I still wonder why she stared me down that morning? Definitely. Does there even exist a little competition for Graham’s loyalty? Indeed. But there IS a place for her in my heart, and in our home. In the big picture, I’m glad we have our lil’ gal.