Sweet signs

You know how when sometimes you start down a new path and you think it feels right (or conversely, very wrong) but there are no guarantees? And you think, if someone could just give me a sign...tell me whether I am doing the right thing or not?

Well, things have been going quite swimmingly with my new job so far in that I've really been enjoying the work, the people, the big furry kitty cats outside my office door (who they tell me I can't pet), the fact that it's five minutes from my house (well, plus the 25 extra minutes the daycare drop off and/or pick up takes)... Still - it's always nice to get a "sign" that lets you know in no uncertain terms that you have made a good move. Well, today I got that "sign." It came in the form of a cupcake. But not just any cupcake...this was a special cupcake. Let me explain.

You see, once a month we have an all-staff meeting where birthdays of the month are always celebrated...with treats. The one for January was this afternoon. I had heard rumblings of sugar around the office, but of course I'm thinking the usual cake thing or something like that. Well, I walk into the conference room to this cute little tray of fancy-looking cupcakes. My first thought: "Cupcakes...yummy!" My second thought: "Where are those from?" Because I didn't recognize them and there are only two fancy cupcake shops in town and let's just say we are very familiar with both of them. Then, they get passed around and I hear something about Cold Stone. Cold Stone? Huh? What? I'm sorry, but are these....ICE CREAM CUPCAKES??? No way! Well, yes way!!

After much debate, I chose the one with an Oreo neatly placed on top, but here were all the choices. And please, don't even ask if it was good. Of course it was good - it was a COLD STONE CUPCAKE! This, I had never heard of. And it was super cute, which of course did not stop me from eating it. Even the cupcake "wrapper" was edible - a dark chocolate hard shell. So clever.

So, in the end, I ask, could there have been a better sign that I'm in the right place than a group who brings in ice cream cupcakes for birthday celebrations? I think not.

Until I write again.

I'm tumbling for the Tumble Bus!

Which, given the status of my back these days is saying a lot. First, let me

back up a bit. On January 10 my first little baby, Ian, turned five. Wow! It was like, just yesterday that I was pregnant, severely wine deprived and thinking I was crazy for ever deciding to become a parent and bam (!), I've got a five year old who will be getting ready to head off to Kindergarten soon. (Deep breath, deep breath...we'll save that topic for another post.)

So, for the first four years of Ian's life we never really had a birthday "party" for him. All were more like VERY small family gatherings. And that was just fine with us. And, it was just fine with him, too, until the past couple of years when we started getting to know more people in Portland and he started getting a clue that many of his friends got actual parties for their birthdays. By age 4.5(ish), our cover was blown...it was clear this kid deserved a real party for his fifth birthday. Fine. Okay, so it happens to fall at the tail end of the holiday season when we are already exhausted from Thanksgiving, Christmas...and did I mention that child #2 decided that she needed her birthday squeezed in there too? No biggie. I can handle one more "event," right?

By early December I was brainstorming location options. One thing we definitely knew is that we were absolutely, positively not having it at home. Somewhere I heard that fire stations gave free tours to kids AND had community rooms they rented out. And there it was...my big idea. We'd have a fire station bday party! The kids would tour the station and then have cake and ice cream in the community room. Done deal. Until the nice fire people told me they didn't like little kids shoving cake into the carpet in their community rooms and preferred that the party portion be held "elsewhere." Geez, touchy, touchy. I mean, really, how busy are they with all that time they sit around the firehouse waiting for calls that they couldn't afford to clean up a little cake? Anyway, so, for about 10 minutes I brainstormed how I could pull off a two-location bday party and then did what I always do...posted a message on DCUM for advice. Well, those lovely ladies on the east coast who never mince words told me it was a stupid idea that would never work.

Then, someone responds and says, "You know, Johnny went to a bday party recently where they had a bus come to their house that had been gutted and the kids played inside the bus and it was a huge hit. The kids played in the bus for a while, went in and had cake and then we all left. And it was brilliant because half the party everyone was out of the house!" Hmm....that sounds strangely similar to that bus that comes to Ian's preschool every now and then that has been gutted and the kids play inside the bus and it's a huge hit...called the Tumble Bus! Let me just see if they have a website...yep, yep, there it is...and if they do birthday parties...yep, yep they do! Well, faster than you can say gymnastics I was on the phone to Isaac ("Ike" as I later learned the kids call him) who was kinder than kind and more relaxed than I could ever imagine being...taking my reservation to show up at our house on Sat, Jan 8 for Ian's fifth birthday.

And there it was - the bones of a real birthday party. Invites went out. (Thanks Tiny Prints - you rock!) and at 3pm on Jan. 8th, several small children showed up on our doorstep. (About 10, to be exact.) Five minutes after 3pm, right when things were starting to get out of control inside, Isaac showed up in his big, yellow gutted Tumble Bus. Oh shoot, time to head outside! I attempted to act like I knew how to control a whole group of small children by asking them to form a line so we could all walk outside to the bus. Um yeah, let's just say that thankfully they all made it safely to the bus parked on the side of the house. Once inside, it became immediately clear that "Ike" was no amateur. He actually knew what h

e was doing, and he did it well. And judging by the amount of smiles and level of giggling, the kids appeared the LOVE him, his partner and his gutted yellow bus. They did stretches, they played silly games and they they ran around the bus and jumped on a trampoline, swung from rings and climbed ladders for 45 minutes before it was time to come back inside. Ike made a point of quickly learning the name of every child and using it often...he was really awesome.

After they were all wiped out, (actually, who am I kidding? They are five year olds...they weren't wiped out at all.) they came inside for cake and then a book exchange where I once again attempted to create order among a group where no order seemed possible. (And they pay teachers what for this kind of job???) In the end, everyone got their cake, their book and then spent a little time at the very end doing their best to tear apart our living room. Just kidding. In reality, they were quite good.

All in all, I do believe that Ian's party was a success (it was reported that when I was out of earshot he had declared it "the best birthday ever!"...which sounds amazingly similar to when he declared this Christmas "the best Christmas ever!") and no small animals at all were harmed during the party...though that might have been because we learned from Elena's small gathering in November that it was best to lock Zach up downstairs in the mud room. Poor thing.

Three cheers for the Tumble Bus! (And for the ladies of DCUM who still manage to often come through for me in a pinch.)

Until I write again.

Pantry...or work of art?

I knew my destiny when I went to bed at about 1am New Year's Eve and woke up a few hours later thinking about my pantry. Yes, my pantry. The one I had reached in a few days earlier to grab a bag of rice (because what else would I be eating?) and the whole thing dumped open all over the place. If you've never had the pleasure of cleaning up rice from the back an overcrowded pantry - consider yourself lucky.

By 4am I had decided exactly what I'd be doing at least half of my New Year's Day: cleaning and reorganizing my pantry! After that I was going to clean out all the papers in my office and create a new filing system, and then fill all those photo albums with the pictures I had ordered months ago. Oh, and do just a minor reorg to the storage closet in the den/my office as well. (In case you haven't figured it out, "nesting" isn't just for people having babies...it's also for people who are about to return to work after a 2.5 year hiatus.)

By 8:30(ish) the next morning, I was hard at work. I recruited Jeff to sit with me and go through everything that was in there and vote whether to keep or toss. For instance, anything that was branded "Harris Teeter," which was our store in Virginia - we decided was probably worth tossing at this point. By 10am, with the entire room in complete disarray, it was time to make trip #1 to Target (hooray for stores who don't let their employees take holidays off!). No comment on how long I spent there sorting through storage options. Armed with what I believed would certainly be way too many things, I arrived back home and began the task of putting everything back together. By about 1pm, with Ian halfway through his second movie and still in his jammies (whoops) and Elena taking marathon naps, it was clear I still had a long journey ahead of me...and not enough storage items. Enter trip #2 to Target. Still, I was not ready to call "uncle" on my other planned projects for the day. After all, it was only about 3:30pm by this point. There was still time!

By 6pm as Jeff was opening the wine, finishing the mashed potatoes and pulling our New Years prime rib out of the oven - I was strategically placing the last containers of cereal into our newly organized area. Needless to say, I was exhausted and had to give up my dream of finishing the other projects for the day (but fear not - I got some done today!). But let me tell you, it is a beauty. Of course here is where it would seem natural that you'd look below this paragraph and see a picture of the finished product - but this is where I see that it's nearing 10pm and rather than go get my camera, take a pic and download it to the blog, I must be off to bed. After all, I do have a job to get to in the morning, you know.

Until I write again.

The best Christmas ever!

Or at least this is what Ian declared as we "wrapped" up our Christmas presents yesterday morning. Of course all I was thinking was, thank God we found that damn Cars set on Amazon had it rushed here at the last minute, otherwise we would have been front runners...again...on the "Lamest Parents of 2010" list. Maybe you haven't heard of it but it's a feature they run every January in Parenting Magazine. We've been runner-ups every year since Ian was born. So unfortunate. But this year we saved ourselves. Whew.

Truth be told, I don't know that was the BEST Christmas ever...I mean, I probably got fewer presents than normal which makes it just okay right there, but it was far from bad for sure. In fact, come to think of it, okay, it actually was pretty great. A few weeks ago when we were in the middle of all the hustle and bustle and we also had a few other things going on, I told Jeff one day that I had come to a new realization that the holiday season no longer represented a carefree, extra joyous time of year; rather it had come to represent a certain amount of added stress and pressure with the extra "to-do" list at hand. I'm not sure when this feeling snuck up on me...I guess kind of like that "Christmas Five" many of us experience after the holidays. Just not sure how those extra lbs. "sneak up" on you. But I digress. Of course this thought made me a bit sad but still I thought it all the way up to the nonstop traffic and running around I did last Thursday to appointments and last minute errands with everyone else in the Portland metro area. Believe me, there could have been a whole rendition of Jingle Bells with the horns I heard a honkin' just trying to get out of the strip mall parking lot. Ugh. But then this wonderful thing happened....

The clock struck 6pm and while the Burplings were home all snuggled at the dinner table with their dad, all the stress of the season melted away and a lovely long weekend began that reminded me why this season really is so special. It started with a great night out with my next door neighbors (at least the women part of the equation) and turned into a fun afternoon cookie decorating party with school friends on Christmas Eve afternoon, which then turned into a wonderful family gathering of neighbors on Christmas Eve with presents exchanged a lots of laughter (kids and adults alike). Seeing the excitement of the kids as they tracked Santa online throughout the night was so fun. And, of course Ian was as excited as he's ever been about Santa's visit that night and what he would leave him.

When we got home Friday night, Ian proudly left Santa a plate of milk and cookies on the kitchen counter (which Jeff had no problem consuming approximately 2.6 seconds after Ian went to bed) and we all jumped in his bed and read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" together. The morning brought smiles to all our faces as Ian discovered his new Cars race track

exclaiming it was "exactly what he wanted!" Again...whew. Bullet dodged there. The lack of a Stars Wars Lego set was briefly noted but seemed to be quickly made up for by the spotting of none other than...wait for it....wait for it...The Pillow Pet!!! Yay!!!It's a Pillow! It's a Pet! It's a Pillow Pet!!

Now if you're wondering where our littlest Burpo was at this time, well, she was still snoozing so she kinda missed out on the whole Santa-presents-under-the-tree experience, but we're guessing she was okay with that. Really, as long as her oatmeal and banana were waiting for her as soon

as she awoke (and believe me, they were), we had achieved Star Parent status in her world. After breakfast we did a round robin of gift opening. (Elena only made it partially through before it was her nap time...geez that kid sleeps a lot.) Unlike last year where Ian tended to tear through presents as quickly as possible without really knowing - or caring - who it was from, he totally got the concept of "reading" and appreciating who had given him each gift and that we were all taking joy in seeing everyone take turns and open their gifts. It was so fun to see him light up with each new gift he opened, but at the same time see him help and be excited for the gifts Elena received...as well as Jeff and myself.

The rest of the day we just spent hanging out...Jeff and I cooked the equivalent of a Thanksgiving dinner while Ian played with several of his new toys and Elena...well, she

played some, slept some, ate a lot. And, of course smiled, and said "Bye bye!" and "Hi!" a lot in-between. As Jeff says, she doesn't say much yet but what she does say, she sure says really well! She really puts a lot of smiles on the faces of all three of us, that's for sure.

After we all retired from dinner in the "formal" dining room and we put Elena to bed for the night, we let Ian stay up late again and we all snuggled on the couch to watch one of Ian's presents from us: Toy Story 3. It's a cute and clever movie for kids and adults alike. Then Ian was off to bed and Jeff and I were left to reflect on how great the day was...and remind ourselves that yes, maybe these days the holidays mean a lot of stress - but the second you see that big smile on your child's face when they come down and see that Santa left them they toy they dreamed of having...well, it's all worth it.

Until I write again.

The unfairness of life

Last week when I "relaunched" Burpo Banter I talked about the family, and the woman in particular, who inspired me to start chronicling our life online again. Last night, Sarah Lopez passed away with her husband, Alan, by her side. Jeff believes that she was 39 - the same age that I am now. Alan will be raising their two boys, ages 8 and 10, alone now but as he has already noted, his angel Sarah will always be at his side.

Jeff and I spent some time tonight sitting together and just appreciating one another, and also reading again through some of Alan and Sarah's blog. We also looked through her Facebook page (she and Jeff were "friends") and saw the many wonderful messages and photos that friends and family had posted for - and of - Sarah. We "heard" Sarah's voice as she commented on old pictures from grade school and high school all the way up to pictures she posted of the present. And of course, we cried. While there are certainly both lovers and haters of the Facebook world we live in now, I can't imagine that Alan will be interested in taking down this page of memories and chronicle of the outpouring of love for Sarah anytime soon.

If there is a positive side to this story, it's that she is no longer suffering and can be at peace now. We sure are thankful for that, and sending thoughts of courage and support to Alan and his sons during this incredibly hard time for them.

Until I write again.

Santa saves the day - and it's not even Christmas!

Okay, so after I posted last night I was definitely feeling a little guilty about the whole not getting Ian either of the gifts he requested thing. But as I said, the Star Wars Legos were just out of the question right now (plus they all start at like age 7) and we really could not decipher what he was trying to tell us about this Cars thing. However, we had attempted to do another grilling in the car on the way home from the illegal Santa portrait session and got just enough information out of him that another Amazon search late last night pulled up what we believe he has been talking about: the Disney/Pixar Cars Playset Piston Cup 500 Track Set. (Just try and say that one five times fast!)

So, being the completely amazing parents that we are, we whipped out the credit card (so handy, those little cards are) and two seconds later we were selecting the "rush shipping" option so our son could have all his dreams come true on Christmas morning. And now Jeff gets to drive BACK to Costco (after he had made a special trip there just yesterday morning) to return what was supposed to be his big Santa present - a tabletop foosball game (actually air hockey was the original idea, but they were sold out) - so he can have his Disney/Pixar Cars Playset Piston Cup 500 Track Set instead. (PS - Do you think the person who named this product realized they used the word "set" twice in the title? Because it's kind of unnecessary, but that's just my opinion.)

I have to say, this Santa stuff is kind of exhausting.

Until I write again.

Sit on Santa's lap...check

Of course no holiday is complete without a visit to the local mall Santa where your kid gets to sit on "Santa's" lap and tell him about the iPod, iPhone and Wii Fit he wants for Christmas. Oh wait, maybe that's me. Anyway, a couple of years ago I was tipped off to a Santa at a large strip mall joint not too far from our house, which is, shall we say, a little less trafficked than Washington Square Mall. (See prior post for more information.) Maybe it's the Hello Kitty store...I mean, is Hello Kitty even still popular?

Still, with the big date fast approaching, we suspected that pretty much any Santa who is worth his weight in presents and reindeer would be quite popular today. So once again, we got strategic (we are a highly strategic group, we Burpos) and decided to head over shortly before Santa's quittin' time for the day. We strolled right up to a lovely woman who said, "Wow, you timed it just right...we've been running at least an hour-long line all day but now we're empty!" "Well lucky us!," I said as I peered over toward Santa who seemed to be stashing a clear bottle behind his chair. Probably some Perrier...I know Santa likes the fancy water.

So off Ian goes to share his biggest hopes and dreams for this Christmas with Santa - which consistently seem to be a Star Wars Lego set (not happening) and a "set" to go with his Cars stuff. Now, "Santa" may actually bring Ian a Cars "set" if "Santa" could ever figure out what he was talking about but since "Santa" (nor Mrs. "Santa") could not and have reason to believe that what he wants might only exist in his head, well, he's probably not getting that either. Of course he's getting plenty of other things - including two other Lego sets that do not feature Lego people shooting one another. (Besides, he has no real clue what Star Wars even is - he just heard about it from someone at school. This is why we need to get him that bubble we keep talking about.)

Truth be told, I hope he's not bummed out on Christmas morning when neither of these items appears under the tree because on the way home when we were asking him exactly what he and Santa conversed about up there, he said he told Santa that he wants these two particular items and "that's all I want for Christmas. Just those two things." Hmmm...well what about that damn "It's a Pillow! It's a Pet! It's a Pillow Pet!" I practically tackled someone for during the gift exchange at Jeff's holiday party and then had to lay down 20 smackers for one at Fred Meyer when they wouldn't give it up because apparently their kid wanted one, too??

Anyway, suffice it to say that all went very well with the Santa visit. Except Elena, who we quickly gathered wasn't into the large man in the red suit yet when she immediately started screaming bloody murder as soon as Jeff sat her down on Santa's other knee next to Ian. Of course it was actually kind of funny but just so as not to be contacted by CPS tomorrow, I suggested to Jeff that he scoop her back up and we just go ahead and take a pass on bro/sis Santa pic this year. Ian did take a couple of cute pictures with Santa, which the lovely woman was more than happy to sell us at the low, low price of $16.95 per shot - but I figured, why do that when I had slipped the ole' Canon PowerShot out of my coat pocket while the lovely woman was occupied at her camera. With that said, here's our official Illegal Mall Santa Shot of 2010. Enjoy!

Until I write again.