Birthday Pix

I just finally went through and posted 70+ pictures from Natalie's birthday weekend. We didn't get to go to the Insectarium or Children's Museum Sunday like we wanted to - we were just so exhausted from Saturday's events, but we will make it there another weekend. Check out the pix on Flickr. Ruben bought trick candles and I have over a dozen shots of Natalie attempting to blow out the candles and all the smoke filling the air. Too funny!

On another note I still have not heard back about my PET scan results. Tomorrow I plan to call the doc and see when they'll have them. I'm also going to make an appointment to see a dermatologist again. I saw one in Vegas who told me to use Cetaphil, which obviously did not work - well since then I have been told twice that I could possibly have a form of Lupus. Lupus also cause miscarriages, as well as joint pain. Or I could have chronic Rosacea or Eczema instead of cystic acne. Who knows. All I know is that I am tired of hiding, so it's time I see another doctor and not let them brush me off with some over the counter soap - cause no acne medicine is working no matter what I do, Now if only I could get my ass up on that treadmill, then my new year would be off to the right start. LOL.

Birthday round-up recap

The 4th was Natalie's 8th birthday. We spent the day doing whatever she wanted, and boy did it literally cost us! To start, I put highlights in her hair, framing her face, and made her eyebrows a little more "girlie" for her party - then we went to get more than 6 " cut off of it to make it more manageable. After getting her hair cut, she requested lunch at her favorite spot - Copeland's (which is well known here in NOLA for their cheesecake - the same people also own the Cheesecake Bistro here, and Popeye's Chicken) all I can saw is awesome food all around. Natalie had BBQ chicken w.bow-tie pasta and cheese, I had the catch of the day, which was Salmon, and Ruben had a shrimp po-boy. Lunch was followed with a slice of their 8 layer German Chocolate cake, with happy birthday written in fudge sauce. Afterward it was off to Toys R Us, or as we say, Pokemon Heaven. I thought she had gotten enough for Christmas, but it appears I was WRONG! She loaded up the cart with Pokemon items totaling $200. Then on the way home we stopped at Target so I could get some household items. We also looked into getting bikes for both Ruben and myself, but we decided we should go to a sports store instead, but it seems the bikes are near the toys, and more Pokemon were found. We let her get 3 that were new, and an assortment of card packs - but drew the line at that, since that alone was $100. Throw in the lunch we had, and she had one hell of a day. I posted lots of new picture online at Flickr.

So fast forward to Saturday. I picked up her cake and a few last minute items and met Ruben over at the bowling alley. At first there was that fear that no one would show up cause no one was early, but the invites said 130 - 330, and right about 145 they all piled in. Well maybe not ALL. Seems no one from school came, but with the 2 weeks they just had off, they more than likely forgot. Next year we'll hold her party mid-month. The important thing was that the majority of her neighborhood friends showed up, and some who couldn't make it sent gifts anyway! She had so much fun bowling with all her bestest buds, and got some really great gifts. She got 3 more Webkinz, a Fur Real Tiger cub, lots of Pokemon movies, and the High School Musical series - and of course Rockband special edition set (drums, guitar, microphone & game) for the PS3, and Guitar Hero III for the Wii from Mom & Dad.......of course we had all the dads there saying they wanted to come by later and play, LOL! Yeah, I know, we have one spoiled child! Couldn't imagine having 2 of them, and thankfully things have a way of working out perfectly. But hey, what can I say - her parents lead lives of excess (with all my cameras, computers, and scrapbooking needs and his blu-ray dvd, HD dvd, and HD tv's - among other things) so it's only natural that she too lead a life of excess = ) at least a little.

Anyway, like I said there are TONS of new pix on Flickr, so check them out and enjoy them. I have a few other posts to finish up, then on to the treadmill while Nat showers for school tomorrow. Ruben left just a bit ago, as he's outta town till Wednesday - but don't worry about us, we live in a safe area, and even if there was a problem, I have a loaded 9 right here and that makes me feel real safe.

Party Like a Rockstar

Ugh! I'm so worn out and I haven't even done much. Guess I'm just burnt out. It's this time of year - all the shopping, presents, cards......and then 10 days after Christmas we do it all again for Natalie's birthday. Actually from like now till February is "our" busy year. We've got Christmas, and all it entails, then Natalie's birthday(1/4), then mine (1/26), then our anniversary (1/30), then Valentine's Day. All those days take a lot out of a person (shopping & doing cards) not to mention their wallet!
This Christmas I prepared about 90 cards to send out, and now I'm filling out about 30 invitations for Natalie's birthday. My hand needs a break from all that writing! Plus I am still in pain from my surgery. I saw the doctor the other day and all is good, but he agreed that it is going to take some time before the nerves in my armpit area calm down and stop hurting so bad!
Anyway, back to Natalie's party. She wanted a Pokemon theme, but you can't find party goods for that theme anywhere. So instead she's having a whole High School Musical theme, cause as she said, she doesn't want anything girlie themed cause there will be boys there. So Princess stuff is out. I kinda figured so since she does play mostly with the neighborhood boys. Her age group is kind of young, but even so I've noticed there is a lot of cattiness between the girls around here. But I figured HSM is neutral, and she is a fan of it. Next I had to figure out the whole party thing. Chuck E. Cheese is booked solid till February, and honestly not something I want to do. McDonald's is out of the question because our local Mickey D's has horrible service. A few weeks ago we went to a Bowling Birthday party - and as much as I hate doing the same thing so close to the original party, I really didn't have many other options. It's not like they have karaoke bars for kids, and I thought the 6 to 8 year old crowd might be a little too young for laser tag. In any case, Natalie really enjoyed the bowling party she went to. It was her first time, and she didn't do half bad. So she's excited about what was booked, and at $12 a kid the price isn't half bad. I don't have to set up or clean up, so no complaints there!
So at least that's taken care of, now we move on to wrapping gifts which hasn't been done yet. I'm not looking forward to it - in fact I think I hate wrapping for Christmas! Ruben and I didn't buy for one another, so it's all for Natalie! Each year we always buy too much stuff for her, especially when she has Christmas and her birthday within 2 weeks of each other. She can't even keep her room clean now with all the crap she has! I foresee a hefty donation to Goodwill in the coming weeks!