Tequila, friends and....wait for it....Drag Queens

I have to tell you about my Saturday night because it was just that much fun. Chad and I went to dinner with Chuck and Melissa. We went to Ruby Tequila's. I think their food is ok...the appetizers are great, especially the queso inferno...but the food, to me, is just ok. And I give the drinks a thumbs up. After dinner, I figured we would head home or to Chuck & Melissa's to hang out. Oh how I was wrong. There is a bar within walking distance of their house that has....here it comes....drag queens. Yes, it was a gay bar. Chad & Chuck were all gung ho. "Yeah, let's go check it out." They thought it would be entertaining. Melissa & I were like, eh, drinks are free at home. But we went. Here are some highlights.....

• Bathrooms at this bar are apparently unisex.
• It was a low key bar when we first arrived. John Mayer was playing. The Rockets game was on. 10:00 rolls around. Bam!! We have ourselves a night club!! No more Rockets. The lights go down. Music starts blaring.
• Did I mention the small stage with the stripper pole and the other stage on the other side of the bar (where we were sitting) that was bigger...a performance stage, if you will?
• Drag queen comes out, lip syncing to Celine Dion. She was beautiful - tall and rail thin...no breeding hips. After her number she welcomed everyone to Amateur Strip Night. Oh. Lord.
• Chad and Chuck got hugs from "Spice Boy." He only shook mine and Melissa's hand.
• We stayed until a little after midnight. The ones who were all, eh, drinks are free at home, had the best time.

We headed back to Chuck & Melissa's place where we turned their downstairs room into a karaoke room/dance floor/live band. We felt the need to continue this until around 2:00 in the morning. Good thing it wasn't a school night because thanks to the cluster that is Washington Avenue at closing time, it took me an hour to get home. Always a good time with Chuck & Mo...and drag queens.

More Party Pics!!

Birthday Weekend

This past Saturday, we celebrated the Ladybug's 2nd birthday. It was a bumblebee theme, if you can't tell by the cake. Last year was a ladybug theme and with the bumblebee theme this year, we are already wondering what bug we are going to do next year. We had lots of family and friends come out to help us celebrate. Here are a few of the pictures we took.....

My friend, Lynn, did the cake and the cupcakes. It was soooo cute and soooo good, as usual.
Homemade bees by Chad.....

This is not a face of anger. This face is saying, "give me my damn cake."

Getting some advice on what to do next.....

And blowing out the candles....

I'll post more pictures from the party in a separate post.

Then on Sunday, we celebrated Sarah's 30th birthday. She's had her eye on a new Coach purse so several of us chipped in and got her some gift cards to help with that purchase. I got them in $30 increments and then decorated the envelopes. Then I hot glued the envelopes to the ribbon so when she pulled the ribbon it was a continuous stream of envelopes. Of course, Sarah bypassed the presentation and went straight for the gift cards so I had to yell at her. I worked hard on those....she needed to recognize. Hey Melissa! I did those all on my own!!!! Yay me!!

Costumes

The week before Halloween, the Doodlebug had nursery rhyme day at school. He wanted to dress up as the mouse from Hickory Dickory Dock. I thought I would be the creative mom and make his tail and ears. How hard could it be? I mean, really? I, of course, sent the artistic genius, Melissa, a text asking her what was the easiest way to make a mouse tail. She replied...I did not reply to her because what she was saying was basically a foreign language to me. I saw her that night and she interpreted her text with hand motions - perhaps thinking that would help....

Melissa: Just get an piece of felt, about a yard and a half, and cut an elongated triangle out of it. Then just blah, blah, blah and stuff it with blah, "AND SEW IT TOGETHER."

Long pause.......................................

Me: Sew it together with what?

Long stare.......................................

Melissa: Oh. You don't have a sewing machine?

Hold your laughter.

Melissa: Well, you could always just use a needle and sew it by hand (doing the needle and thread motion with her hand).

Me: Yeah, maybe I have enough string in that sewing kit I got from the Mirage a few years ago.

It was that moment (when I called it string instead of thread) that she knew she was going to have to take care of this project for me. So, here is my mouse....ears and tail by Melissa. A special thanks to Bruce for modeling the pieces the night before.

Sleepy mouse....
View of the tail....Me and the Ladybug on Halloween....yes, I'm wearing cat ears. Halloween is not just for kids.
Me and Indiana Jones.....
The whole family.....do Chad's mouse ears look familiar? Please do not ask why the Doodlebug is striking a pose in this picture. I have no answer for you.

Yesterday

So, yesterday I played a new game I invented called, "let's see how many activities I can do in one afternoon/evening and see how late I can stay up after being up since 5:30 in the morning." It was a fun game - here's how it goes. After work, I headed to the bowling alley where a small group of colleagues met for a couple of hours of bowling. Then Sarah and I headed to a jewelry party and I bought a couple of things that I absolutely had to have. We then headed to my house where our husbands and Royce & Michelle were waiting on us. We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner called Ciro's. We haven't been there in a long time - it was yummy. I had belinni's....it's been too long since I've had one of those....I missed them. Next up, we went to see Chuck's band, the Wedding Crashers. They play occasionally at a nice little hole in the wall. We stayed for one set. I think everyone in there was a friend or relative of the band...except for one not-so-sober dude at the bar. We walked in and he instantly thought he and Michelle were long lost BFF's. Then, in the men's room he told Jason that "it was all his fault." Jason: What is? Not-so sober dude: Everything!!! Sarah wasn't feeling well so she and Jason headed home. Chad & I and Royce & Michelle headed to the Hotel Sorella where Hamilton Loomis was playing. I don't think we had intended to stay as long as we did but they were really good so we stayed to the very end. They stopped playing a little after 1:00 AM. We finally headed home and I think we crawled into bed close to 2:00 AM. It was a fun evening. Hamilton is coming back on December 10th so perhaps we'll repeat the evening. I think that should give me enough time to recover.....

Kindergarten

What?? Kindergarten?? Seriously?? Yes, it's true. The Doodlebug has started Kindergarten. He loves his teacher, Mrs. Lopez. He's apparently very entertaining for any teacher he comes in contact with. He's making friends, eating his lunch (even bought his lunch one day), following the rules - he's doing great!!

They do a gingerbread unit to start off the year so he had a homework assignment before school ever started. As a family, we were supposed to decorate a gingerbread man. We had a bunch of popsicle sticks around the house because the Doodlebug had been creating things with them throughout the summer so we used those. He did the coloring and I did the gluing. Chad took care of everything about the neck.

Here he is before we left for school on his first day.

And here he is walking into his classroom.

Did I cry? You betcha!!! But then again, so did his father......

Summer Fun Days

The bugs went to Summer Fun Days at the school the Doodlebug has been going to since he was 18 months old. It was back in July (yes, I'm a little tardy) - 3 days a week for 2 weeks. It was a nice little mommy break. This was the first time the Ladybug had ever been in a school setting. Actually, it was the first time she had been away from any family. The first few days....well, she was not a fan. But the second week she had fun!! She would go to her teacher without any tears. She played all day and even laid down for her nap without any tears. She will be attending this school starting in the fall so this was a good rehearsal...she'll be fine. Here are a few pictures (the second one cracks me up). Check out the Ladybug with her backpack and lunch kit.

The Doodlebug has only a few more days left before he is officially a kindergartner. Lord help me......