Fish Sticks?

The kid had to complete an All About Me poster for school.  She listed a few of her favorites.  One of which included, her favorite food.  SURELY, it's *insert somethin' mama made,* RIGHT?

NO.

Fish sticks.

Fish sticks?

What?  When? How?

Islanders, I promise I have NEVER made a fish stick in my life!  Never. 

Munch, what do they look like?

"Squares and rectangles."

When did you even have a fish stick?

"Summer camp."

I just don't understand... I mean, I've never made a fish stick.  Are they even real fish?

"Mommy, you just take them out of the bag in the freezer and put them in the oven."

Noted.  

I finished the project and the next day, I went on a hunt for this fish stick.  I found it and what better day than a Friday to surprise the kid with her "favorite" food?

I plopped them on a plate with a simple salad and called the kid to eat...  Happy squeals and moans filled the dining room while she dipped her fish sticks in an assortment of ketchup and BBQ sauces.

Don't judge me.  I won't make it a habit but the convenience and the happiness those frozen sticks of fish brought the kid made my night, lol.  

2 snaps and a round of claps for making life easier.

Do you have any frozen foods you'd NEVER admit to indulging in?  

DO SHARE! I won't tell :)

WW: First Grade Fashionista!

Wordless Wednesdays: First Grade Fashionista.

Target, Children's Place, Crazy8 are our places to shop!

The Travel Corner, lol.

Me: Zion, you have chips at home so you're not getting any chips at this store.  Now, if you ask me again, I'm going to put you in the corner.

Munch looks around in the middle of Walmart as if to say there are no corners in this huge place.  She turns her lip up and raises 1 eyebrow...  CHALLENGE?

Me:  O, ok.  I see!  You don't think-- let me-- you know what?  

I dig in my pocket and pull out my hand.  THUS, the travel corner is born.  I held up an open palm (with my fingers - except the thumb - touching).  I announced its name and covered her eyes with the travel corner and slowly used my other hand to shop the rack of clothes.  

If you can imagine, I was shopping with one hand, my kid was covering her mouth quietly asking if she could get out of the corner and apologizing for not being a good girl. I probably looked crazy but what mom cares at that  moment?

I seldom have problems in public as a result of the *queue the dramatic music*

TRAVEL CORNER!

While this post is pure comedy to me, the travel corner is a tried-and-true mama-showed-you tactic.  Plus, the threat of the travel corner means I can shop without the worry of my kid NAGGING me (if only for a few additional minutes?).  

Shoot, I'll toast my ice water to that!

Bruised and Bratty.

First grade is going really well for Munch.  We had picture day on Tuesday.  What did she wear?  Her black eye.  

Yep.

You read correctly.  The kid has a black eye.  Apparently, the class had a rocket ship game they were playing in p.e. last Friday. My overachiever must've twirled her little heart out because the nurse called to inform me that my child twirled right into another student.  With nothing more than a red cheek when I picked her up, I knew we'd be fine... That is, until she woke Saturday with a blue circle around her eye.

Great.  First grade.  First black eye.  WHICH will officially be documented in the first grade pics.

Have you ever been that person explaining a blemish or mark (O, no. No. I know what you're thinking and that's not pee on my pants. I just spilled some water down there OR no, it looks like I hit my kid but I didn't. FOR REAL.)?  No?! 

*Looks around during the awkward silence*

Yea, me neither.

First grade has also brought more sass.... and a new speech ISSUE!  What is this -uh on the end of words lately?

Mommeeeeeeeey-uh!

Goshhhhh-uh!

Yesssss-uh!

Whyyyyyy-uh?!

Nooo-uh

O.  You're not dealing with that either? Well, that's just the beginning.

"Please don't treat me like I'm 5. I'm almost in middle school." - her new favorite "big" girl phrase. 

Middle school? She must not know her front top teeth are going to fall out soon.  If she doesn't get back to her cute self, I can't promise the black eye and snagga-mouth pics won't make an appearance on her first date.

Ahhh the cruel joys of parenthood.

How are you adjusting to the first weeks of school?  

WW: Where'd My Baby Go?

Wordless Wednesdays:  No More Toddler?!

Doll Bakery Party - The Activities.

Hi, Islanders!

We're finishing the doll bakery party series today!

You may recall that I told you I had 5 girls to get ready for the party before we left for set-up at Michael's.  In case you forgot what 5 little girls means, here's a before pic:  

Luckily, Munch and I shopped for her outfit in the weeks prior.  Munch found a doll-n-me outfit at Kmart:

Day-of, we chose to wear our BFF necklace from Chazzy:

She was ready!

Once I had all the ponytails and lip gloss and outfits and opinions and snacks and -- WHEW! I'm tired just thinking about it!  Anyhoo, I finished, we hit the road and the girls left only a few minutes later.  As you can imagine, the girls arrived a few minutes early so I had Hubbs keep them entertained for about 5 minutes in the parking lot until we finished with the decor.

Who's the we I'm talking about?

Me.

My friends, Dani and Sheena.

O and my new favorite Michael's employee, Elliot.

This guy went above and beyond to make this party a success and you can bet I've let corporate know that I really appreciate him!

We were set-up on time so I headed out to the car where the daddies had them waiting in the comfort of Hubbs' car. Here was my view from the store's entrance:

I could hear the girls from the street! They were just so excited to party!  

Are you ready for fun?

YEEEESSSS!!

One quick pic before we head inside. DIVAS!

Check out the next pic!  They did NOT believe a party could possibly be in this STORE!

...Until they turned the corner into the party room and saw the decor, the activity table and the sweets!  They rushed to get ready for fun:

The dolls got ready too, lol:

The first activity was to decorate their chef hats.  Didn't they turn out adorbs?

Once they were ready, Chef Shar taught frosting techniques on doll-shaped cookies:

They all paid very close attention.

They each got 2 doll-shaped cookies and got to work!

While the kids decorated, we enjoyed the food.  Have I told you my boo, Sheena, is pregnant? Well, she is.  I announce it to everyone and you guys are no exception, lol.  Look at her eating pizza, lol:

After the cookie decorating, the girls made beaded jewelry for them and for their dolls to wear. Mr. Elliot led this portion of the class.  He also dug in the tubs of beads for the sparkliest beads:

I had a game planned but the girls were so focused on their crafts and snacks that we let them eat and sang happy birthday:

If you look closely at the candle, I got the princess pack from Michael's and carfeully placed a tiara candle on top of the Munch-inspired cake topper - LOVE!

We all enjoyed the sweets then headed back to our house where Munch opened her gifts.

Hubbs surprised her with an Eagles jersey.

Isn't it crazy how long his locs have gotten?  I also hate that he was BLESSED with 2 eyebrows that are perfect and I battle my unibrow every two weeks. ::shrugs::

She read her own cards... Because we can do that now :)

Munch gave out lots of hugs to our friends and family... ya know, obligatory birthday girl stuff!

She was so pleased with her birthday celebrations it was contagious and I was so pleased that I got to enjoy the party I could take a picture (or not... baby steps, people.  Baby steps)!

Mission accomplished!  

FINALLY! Islanders, we've survived Munch-face's birthday party wrap-up posts.  It's been loads of fun reliving the event but I must admit, I can't wait to get back to our regularly scheduled program!

Cheers to celebrating!