In 6 years, I'm sure he'd kill me for posting this...

... but I've got to anyways.

I bought the Bear his first little boxer briefs today. And, boy did my heart go aflutter when he modeled them for me after shower tonight.

I was reminiscent of my second love, Mark(y Mark) Wahlberg.

Am I right??

Do I have a future Calvin Klein underwear model right here under my roof?

Sorry, Mark(y Mark) Wahlberg... we have history, but this little Bear is some kind of cute and has stolen my heart.

<3, Tabi :D

5 More Things about that Bear.

Well, I no longer have kids spaced 2 years evenly apart any more. There is no order, it's all chaos. 2, 5 and 6, pssht. Today, on 12/12/12 my middle child, turned 5 years old.

We had a fun little weekday with lots of goodies and blue icing. We ended our day with big bellies and passed out children strewn about the house.

In honor of my Riley J. Bear's 5th birthday, here are 5 more things about that Bear:

1. He is a Smarty McSmarterson. He was only 2 years old when we realized that he knew all of his letters. Sometimes I'd catch him helping his big sister out when she got stumped.
2. He loves Fifi. He must've skipped right over the whole 'girls have cooties' stage. You say Fifi, Riley gets a huge smile on his face. He's not even one bit embarrassed about it, either. I heard Roxy trying to taunt him with her little first grade "oooohhhs" and giggles and he just looked at her like she was immature. (For the record, I don't think he could've picked a more awesome girl to dote on. This Momma approves.)
3. His bedtime cuddles: Jack Skellington and now, his 'cuddly laser' aka his Plush Turret he got for his birthday.
4. When I first laid eyes on him, my first thought was, 'Wow! Where did you get such bushy eyebrows?!?' and then, 'How did I give birth to a red head?' He has always been such a surprise to me: being a boy (I somehow never pictured myself having a son, but I am sure happy I do), his in womb kung-fu kicks surprised the breath right out of me, his red hair, his mild manner, his incredible intellect, his milk allergy, his empathy, his creativity, his intense ability to be and stay in his own little world without waiver in spite of my pleas to come back to reality. 
5. He's a perfectionist. These drawings, if he makes one little mistake, they get thrown away and he starts all over. His bed has to be flat and wrinkle free or else.

Happy Birthday Riley J. Bear, aka Riye. <3

<3, Tabi :D

5 Things about my Bear.

1. The biggest sweetheart ever! He told me today he wished Santa granted wishes instead of brought toys to boys and girls.
   What would he wish for? He would wish that no one got sick ever.
2. LOVES Portal. ATLAS is obviously his favorite character ever. Every day he maps out his ideas for Portal 3 levels and characters.
3. Likes to draw cute things to make me happy. See his cute bunny?
4. Was born Riley, but wants to be called 'Riye' ( his choice of spelling, pronounced RYE ).
5. Has only 1 more day left of being 4 years old...

<3, Tabi :D

Portal Party.

This weekend we had a fifth birthday party for my not so little anymore guy. The thing about my kids that I LOVE is that they are into what they like and it's usually not what is so mainstream at that moment. It's also what challenges me to throw them the perfect party when decorations for their theme of choice just aren't readily available. I can almost guarantee you won't see another 5 year old party with a Portal theme anytime soon. For those of you who have no clue what/who... a Portal is: it's a video game. Riley walks, talks, draws, dreams Portal 2 all day every day. It's not so much a video game marketed towards children, but it's not a violent one. The main guys are robots, and those huge guns they are holding, they shoot portals, not lethal bullets, lasers, etc.

Now, the thing about myself that I would LOVE to change, is that I am a master procrastinator and generally throw these things together in much less than a week's time. I'm pretty good at working under pressure, but in review, I always think how much better things could've been if I just had more time!

Anyways, here are the highlights of our Portal Party.

the Invitations

 yep. I threw these together last Sunday... a week ago. Those guys look so darn cute in those party hats, dontcha think?

the Decor

My husband couldn't be more proud that his son is a huge Portal fan. So, he really got into the decorations at this party. Most of the decorations he made will double as new room decor for the boys' room, since we are redecorating Portal style. He made a 2 foot ATLAS cutout, that 20" x 30" ATLAS and P-body poster and some rad portal mirrors. 

I made that cute Happy Birthday banner... isn't it cute?? ATLAS guarded the snacks and we also had a tray full of blue repulsion gel (aka Jello) that pretty much no one touched. I guess Jello is not so popular anymore... We also served baked potatoes in honor of GLaDOS (I'm still on the fence if that was too cheesy or not). 

When the guests arrived, we armed them with our own little Deneweth Labs Portal Guns (dollar store nerf guns spray painted white with the Aperture logo) to go start their adventure in the bounce house. Sadly, I have no pictures of those...

the Cake

I feel like 'the Cake' is such an inside joke as far as Portal goes. I only sort of understand it and it's been explained to me many times. I'm no gamer girl. Apparently, in the first Portal game, there was promise of cake if you beat the game. When you did beat the game, you find out the promised cake was all a lie. So, I found a picture somewhere on the interwebs of this cake going through a portal and decided to reproduce it. I think it came out great, if I do say so myself. 

At this party, the cake was NOT a lie. And it was dairy free and DELICIOUS! I had zero cake left over. 

the Pinata, the Birthday Boy and his LOOT!

Christopher made a super cute Companion Cube pinata and we were both a little sad it had to be busted open. But I'm also super happy he captured the exact moment of pinata explosion on camera. What a great shot!! (Pinata busted by my nephew, Christian.)

Then there were presents, he got many many many cool things. In trying to not overload blog, I only chose to post the Portal presents. He got a "cuddly laser" or a plush turret, who lights up and talks and shoots on motion sensor. It is pretty cool. Oh, and Uncle Mike scored major points for best Uncle EVER when he got the Bear his own official Aperture Science Portal Gun!! 

If that wasn't enough excitement... after the party, we checked the mail and got another surprise. A while ago, Riley sent a letter to Valve, the company who makes the game he loves, to try and persuade them to make Portal 3. It read, "Make the Portal 3 Game. ... And I love it so much. Please make it so fast." So Gabe (the creator of Portal) signed his letter and sent it back to us so we could frame it. How awesome is that??

Today, we made little Lego ATLAS and P-body guys. I had to include them since they were cutie patooties. :)

Phew! I'm not kidding when I say that after all that, we stayed in jammies all day today. We all had Portal Party hangovers.

Last night I asked Riley if he like the party. He said it was, "the best birthday party ever!" I asked him what made it the best, he said because Fifi came. :)

GOD, what a sweetheart!!! I love that his favorite parts aren't the material things. I also LOVE his little 5 year old crush on Fifi. It's too cute. <3

That was our Portal Party. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. 

<3, Tabi :D    

This is STILL making me giggle...

So my 4 year old son finds a random piece of ripped paper in our living room. While making his way through the kitchen to the garbage, shaking his head in disbelief, he says,

"Someone must have been in our house who didn't know we had a trash can."

This is the product of a neat freak Mom. I couldn't be more proud.

<3, Tabi :D

The Bear's Apprentice

Get to know the Bear's Baby

Name: Darth Vader, Bobblehead Vader, the Bear's Baby, The Bear's Apprentice

Fun Facts: 

• Baby Darth Vader was a birthday present from Uncle Mike.
• He sleeps and goes everywhere with the Bear.
• Also known as the Bear's Apprentice as Riley is Darth Sidious, therefore making his baby his apprentice. Because Siths always come in pairs. Duh! (Sometimes, I'm known as Mrs. Sidious.)
• Where did he get that sticker on his helmet, you ask? His teacher gave it to him for being a good Sith in school.
• He likes to play hide and seek.
• Sometimes, he's so good at hide and seek, Mommy and Daddy employ a lot of time and patience to find him. Especially at bed time.
• One time, he hid for a whole day and was found in the bat cave. Who would have thought that Darth Vader and Batman were tight like that?
• He loves watching Riley play Sonic racing on the iPad.
• His favorite foods are sandwiches and pancakes.
• He likes juice boxes and apple juice.
• He has a birthday every 3-4 days, but he doesn't get any bigger.
• This baby naps a lot. He even gets tucked in for his naps.

<3, Tabi :D

 

May the Fource Be With Us All

... get it? Because he just turned FOUR?!?!

Star Wars party: success!! A great time was had by all and I am always surprised when I can pull off a party in my teeny weeny house. So successful that a certain little Roxtar is already asking for a Star Wars 6th birthday party in January. Well, I mean... who doesn't love Star Wars?!?

 My little Jedis.  <3
I could have posted 16 pictures similar to this group shot and every single one, my girl Roxy has a killer Jedi girl pose. She is so deliciously adorable.

My #1 suggestion for a great kid's party: GET A BOUNCY HOUSE!! I was so skeptical that it would even fit in my back yard, but it did!! Plus - you can't see my green pool to the left of the bounce house, but you can see the swamp like vegetation in the backyard. Very Dagobah. :)

 'Darth Vader' cupcakes. Because the Bear's favorite thing in the world besides Darth Vader is chocolate.

 Death Star cake. My husband the Redditer forwarded me a picture of this and it looked so simple and awesome I had to copy!!

(left) My first crack at punch at a party. I think I will cut the portion in half next time - but it was yummy. (right) Death Star peanut butter sandwiches and (not pictured) Death Star chocolate (nutella) sandwiches.

 Masks and Princess Leia headbands for the girlie Star Wars partiers.

 The spread. This picture really understates the awesomeness of this banner. It was so cute!

 General Grievous Santa.

 Lightsaber fights in the bounce house. Note the awesome foam noodle light sabers each partier got!

 Homemade Death Star Pinata. My husband rocked it!!

 It was destroyed!!!

 (left) More light saber fights. (right)  Boba Fett stopped by to check his email.

 The birthday Bear with that giant laser/flame! 

 Holy Moly, that's a lot of people in my 'dining room'.

And... presents! :)

The Bear declared BEST PARTY EVER and I feel like my mission was accomplished. Phew!!