Alisha's Harry Potter Party

I can't believe Alisha is already 8!  We moved to California 3 weeks after she was born, and it doesn't seem like we have been here that long.  For her birthday, she really wanted a Harry Potter themed birthday party.  With me not working yet, I said okay and dived in.  I surfed the net looking for ideas, and couldn't believe how some just got way over the top.  So I was really determined not to go overboard.  I tried, but it kind of took on a life of its own.

Here she is, wearing her Slytherin shirt she got in Florida at HP Land.  She was our "head girl."  We wrote the invitations, and printed them in green ink on nice resume paper, which looked like parchment.  We sealed them shut with candle wax, and since we were "Ogwarts," we took a cap from a marker and imprinted a nice "O" in the wax.  The invitations read:

Dear Lindsey,

          We are pleased to invite you to attend a celebration at Ogwarts School of Witchcraft &Wizardry.  We are celebrating the 8th birthday of Slytherin Head Girl, Alisha Ogden.

          The celebration commences on Saturday the 7th of April at 4:00 pm.  You will attend classes and celebrate with your fellow classmates until 7:00 in the evening.  You are welcome to wear either wizarding robes or ordinary Muggle outfits.  Please bring your own broomsticks for playing Quidditch. 

          The address of the school is *** Street Name in Town. Please respond to confirm your attendance by email at email@comcast.net or telephone 408-555-4545.

          We look forward to having you join us!

Sincerely,

Professor Julie Ogden, Headmistress

Ogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry

We delivered some of the invitations at school, since we didn't know most of the kids' addresses.  Alisha tried to be super sneaky and deliver them when the other kids weren't looking.  We hand delivered at home to some from other schools.  We took them to their house with her Owl webkinz on her arm so it looked like the Owl was delivering it.  

I made a sign for our front door, which was Platform 9 3/4, which transported the kids to the school.  

I made wands for the kids, and I really thought it was going to be simple.  In theory, yes.  I bought yard length 1/2" dowels from Michael's and cut them to various lengths between 12-14".  I whittled down one end with a utility knife to make it more tapered.  I sanded them smooth, then took a hot glue gun and made different designs down the wand with the glue.  I let them dry, then I spray painted them dark brown.  The problem was with the wands being round, the paint didn't dry smoothly on the top, it kind of ran down the sides.  I had to keep rotating them and painting more coats to try to get it even.  Then I added a final coat of clear spray so the paint wouldn't get on the kids' hands.  I thought they turned out okay, but the kids really liked them.  I put them in a tall vase, and had them close their eyes and the wand would "pick" them.  We bought some stick on jewels and letters for them to decorate their wands, but the jewels didn't stick too well.  Oh well, it was a good thought.

We even dressed up Molly for the occasion.  We turned her into Fluffy, the three-headed dog.  I had some Webkinz I was going to give away, so I found some and cut their heads off.  I sewed them onto a scrap of cotton fabric and sewed it into a circle for a collar.  It's kind of hard to see in the picture, but I thought it was hilarious.  

Next, we had a ceremony with a witch's hat as our sorting hat, and divided the kids up evenly between the houses.  We put Slytherin and Ravenclaw on one team, and Gryffindor and Hufflepuff on the other team for Quidditch.  We explained the game, and had them draw out slips of paper with their team positions on them, and had them grab the brooms they brought.  We took the kids to the park around the corner.  Chris had taken some old hula hoops from the garage and attached them to stakes for our goals.  I didn't want the kids actually beating on each other, so I gave them some small soft balls to try to tag the Chasers.  If they were tagged, they had to drop the ball and freeze for 5 seconds.  Megan was our snitch.  I put her in a gold t-shirt, gave her some gold pom poms to hold, and spray painted a face mask gold.  She ran around trying to dodge the Seekers.  They were all carrying their brooms like they were riding them, so that helped to slow them down.  Anytime they tagged the Snitch they got 50 points.  The first team to 100 won.  A lot of people stopped to watch our game.  It was pretty cute.  It took the kids about 20 minutes to win, and they were pretty worn out.  We walked back to the house and had a few classes.

The first class was Charms by Megan, or Professor Snitch.  She taught them simple charms to do with their wands and how to swish their wands and say the names of the Charms.  They loved it.  She had Alisha go into the bathroom and lock the door while she said, "Alohomora."  It magically unlocked.  They liked it a lot.

Then we had a potions class by Chris, who dressed up as Snape.  We found an old Snow White wig in our costume box.  It was pretty funny. He also wore a black cape, black shirt, black trousers, and found my snake necklace from Halloween.    He had put food dye on black plastic spoons and let it dry.  When the kids stirred their various ingredients, it would change color.  They were pretty impressed by his potion.  It turned out to be glittery goop, but they liked it.  He found a potion online which used various household ingredients, and gave them names like Bicorn Horn and Essence of Murlap. 

Next up was Divination by Madame Jenn.  She had dressed up in a gypsy outfit and talked to the kids about forseeing the future, such as the weather.  She also read their palms while we waited for Chris to come back with the pizza.  

Next we had a feast in the Dining Hall.  I put 2 long tables next to each other and covered them with black tablecloths.  I sprinkled gold star confetti everywhere.  I was going to hang star garland from the ceiling, like the enchanted ceiling, but ran out of time.

We ate pizza, breadsticks, salad, grapes, and drank Butter Beer and Pumpkin Juice.  I found a few recipes online, but ended up just winging it with the drinks.  They turned out pretty well.  For the Butter Beer, I mixed equal parts Butterscotch ice cream topping and coffee creamer.  I poured a little of that into the bottom of the cup, and filled up the rest with cream soda.  I probably added a little too much of the syrup mixture, because it was very sweet, but the kids liked it.  For the pumpkin juice, I took canned pumpkin pie mixture that already has the spices in it, mixed about 1/2 can into a pitcher, and filled up the rest with apple cider and pineapple juice, and stirred it all together.  It was quite tasty, like cold wassail.

Then we had the cake, which Jenn made.  It was a Monster Book of Monsters cake, and it was awesome. It was chocolate cake with vanilla custard filling.  We had soooo much cake leftover, that we shared with our friends for Easter.

Finally, we were going to do a Scavenger Hunt, which was their Final Quest.  I put up a big spider and web from Halloween, and that was our Aragog.

One of the clues were there, but we didn't have time for all the clues.  So I gave them the last clue, which referred them to the place where Fluffy sleeps.  They looked behind the dog's crate and found a large golden egg.  I had found large plastic egg that split apart in the Easter aisle at the store, and spray painted it gold.  Inside, I put the party favors, which were Every Flavor Beans I found at the Jelly Belly store, and I also did some chocolate frogs.  I found the molds online, melted the chocolate, poured it into the molds, and put them in the refrigerator.  I put the frogs in small plastic bags and tied them with a ribbon.  Easy peasy.

It all turned out pretty great, thanks to all of my awesome helpers.  After the party, everyone was worn out.  Even Megan wanted to go to bed early.  It's a good thing birthdays only come once a year!

Florida!

The girls had the week of President's Day off from school, so we decided to make the most of it.  I think we did the absolute most possible.  Megan had a swim meet in Phoenix on Friday-Monday.  We all flew down there to watch her swim.  She did really well, getting a Personal Best in each event she swam.  She DQ'd (disqualified) twice, due to one false start and once twitching on the blocks.  Apparently you can't even move a millimeter before the start.  We watched the film clip of it, and we didn't see any movement.  You gotta love subjective judging. 

On Monday, we flew straight from Phoenix to Orlando, Florida.  Between the time zone difference and the long flight, we were exhausted and fell into bed.  The next day, we got up and got breakfast at the hotel.  We stayed pretty close to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure.  We took the shuttle over, and spent the day there.  Inside that park, they have an area dedicated to Harry Potter World.  They have replicas of several buildings, including Hogwarts School.  It was amazing the amount of detail that went into them.  Inside Hogwarts was a simulation ride that made you feel you were riding on a broomstick throughout England and the school.  Afterwards, Alisha looked a little out of breath.  I asked if she was okay, and she said, "That.  Was.  AWESOME!!!!!!!"  I was so relieved, since she was a scared mess throughout the entire 90 minutes of waiting in line. 

The girls both really wanted to get a wand as their souvenir, so we headed to Ollivander's Wand Shop.  There was a line outside the store, and we asked the worker at the front what was happening inside.  He only said that it was a "presentation."  Not excited about the line, but determined to get a wand, we waited.  The girls got really cranky in line, and wanted to leave.  I found up an app on my phone with Harry Potter Trivia.  So that distracted them long enough until we got inside.  They let about 10 people inside at a time.  Once we got in, it looked just like the shop in the movie where Harry first gets his wand.  The old man (can't remember his name) looked at all of us, and singled out Megan and brought her to the front.  He proceeded to try to find a wand for her.  She tried a couple with spells, and several things fell apart in the store.  He was able to "repair" the damage with his wand.  The next wand "chose" her, as there was a light over her head and triumphant music played.  It was pretty funny.  Of course, that was the wand she wanted to buy, and they led us into the rest of the store where wands were available to buy.  Genius marketing for all of us suckers.  We got their wands, and went to lunch at The Three Broomsticks.  They had traditional English food inside, along with Butter Beer.  It tasted like cream soda with a thick layer of buttery cream on top.  It was good, but not anything too amazing.  But again, marketing genius for us suckers. 

We also went into the sweet shop where the girls bought chocolate frogs and Every Flavor jellybeans, with flavors like vomit and boogers, along with traditional flavors like cherry.  They had the joke shop with gag gifts inside, and the girls had fun trying them out.    There were a few more Harry Potter rides there, but Alisha was too chicken to go on them.  So Chris took Megan on some rides, and I took Alisha over to Dr. Seuss land, the area for the littler kids.  I loved all of the decorations, and we rode the Seuss themed Carousel, the Caro-Seuss-al.  It was really cute.  After, we all met up to go on a rapids ride, where we got completely soaked.  We spent the rest of the day sloshing around in our wet shoes.  After we couldn't walk any more, we decided we had enough for the day and went back to the hotel.

The next day, we went to Sea World.  It was pretty fun seeing all of the animal shows and the exhibits.  Megan liked feeding the stingrays and the sea lions.  In the middle of one of the shows, it started raining with thunder and lightning.  Luckily we were under a big awning, so we didn't get wet.  They postponed the show initially, but when it kept raining, they cancelled the rest of the show.  Luckily, the thunder and lightning had passed, so the final Shamu show was still going on.  So we sloshed through the lakes on the sidewalk and made it over to the Shamu show just in time.  It was amazing to see not one killer whale, but 6 doing the jumps and tricks throughout the show.

The next day was Epcot/Magic Kingdom.  My friend Lisa lives in Florida with her husband, Rusty, and they drove over to meet us.  My mom and Ross were able to get us all in for free, due to Ross working for the AAU, which has offices at Epcot.  Thanks, Ross!  After we saw Captain EO, I decided to check my RN status with my phone.  I didn't expect any news, since I had already been waiting for 3 weeks.  Suddenly, I saw my name posted, and I squealed and made everyone hug me.  I thought, this IS the happiest place on Earth!  We saw all of the areas at Epcot, and the girls were getting antsy to go on some rides that weren't too intense.  So we took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom, where we went on Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and we finally convinced Megan to go on Space Mountain, which she loved.  We headed back to Epcot to Japan for some sushi and to watch the final laser light show.  We got some yummy chocolates in Germany, and watched the show.  After, we drove to Lisa's house, which was about 1 1/2 hours away. 

The next day, we spent the afternoon on the beach, where the girls buried each other and played in the waves.  It was nice to just sit on the beach in the warm sun.  Rusty made us a fabulous dinner, and Lisa and I got some good girl talk in.  We had to leave the next day, and it was way too short of a trip.  We finally made it home after the long flights, and we were so thankful to be in our own beds again.

RN!

I did it!  I finally got my RN license!  This has been an extremely long road.  It started 15 years ago when I was at UVSC (now UVU) and decided to change my major from Elementary Education to something else.  What that was, I wasn't sure.  I needed a science class for my Associate's Degree anyway, and the Anatomy class looked interesting.  I've always found medicine fascinating, and I actually wanted to go to medical school to become a Pediatrician.  But I also knew that was a very long process and probably not too realistic with also being a mom.  So I put it in the back of my brain and focused on something else with kids.  I found along the way that I didn't want to be a teacher.  The lesson plans were too tedious, and I realized teaching was more than playing with the kids.  I took the Anatomy class just to see if I would like it.  I wasn't planning on anything after that, I was just taking it one step at a time.  I was also engaged to be married that semester, with the wedding and honeymoon in the middle of it.  I was gone for 2 weeks at midterm, and still managed to squeak out a C.  But I was fascinated.  We worked on cadavers, and after the initial grossout, I was amazed.  The body was an amazing thing.  It all worked so perfectly together, in healthy people, of course. 

Some of the people in the class were taking it for nursing prerequisites.  I looked into the program more, and thought that would be a great way to still be in medicine, but not as intense and long as the doctor route.  Little did I know.  I moved on with Physiology, and did pretty well.  I graduated that summer with my AS degree, and we moved to Washington DC so that Chris could go to law school.  I put my school on hold and got a job at a law firm as a receptionist.  It didn't pay really well, but it definitely helped with the bills, and we were able to take out less in student loans.  I worked for the next few years, until Megan was born right in between Chris's finals and graduation.  We moved to New York City that fall for Chris's job and I stayed home with Megan.  I knew I didn't want to start school until we were settled somewhere more permanently, so that I wouldn't have to worry about transferring and possibly losing credits.  So I waited.  Then we had Alisha, and we moved to California 3 weeks later for another job.  After we moved, we found we loved it and wanted to stay.  So after a year to establish residency in California, I registered for my first official nursing class.  It was a slow process, only being able to take one class at a time, since the girls were little, and Chris was working so much.  I relied on friends, mostly Diane Keller (the best wife ever),  to take care of the girls while I was at school.  I did well, getting A's in all of my classes.  It took 2 years to finish the prerequisites, and I put in my application, thinking I would get in right away.  Riiiiight. 

There was a lottery process to get in to the program.  They took 24 students each quarter.  Once I was accepted into the program, everyone was weighted the same.  At the lottery, I would sign in, get a raffle ticket, and wait to see which numbers were chosen from a big box.  The more lotteries you attended, the more tickets you got, slightly increasing your chances of getting in.  But I didn't get in time after time, and it was maddening.  I felt like I couldn't plan anything, since I MAY be starting school in 3 months, or I might not.  After I attended 6 depressing lotteries, they decided to change the system to a waiting list.  So after one more quarter, which was 2 years of just waiting, I was officially starting nursing school.  The rest they say is history, or at least blog history. 

Nursing school was tough, to put it mildly.  I found that I loved it and that I was good at it.  I loved talking with the patients, and being able to help, even if it was something small.  I loved feeling like I could make a difference and help people at their most difficult times.  I felt joy as I saw the patients going home, especially when I was in the NICU.  I also felt scared and helpless with the sickest patients.  I loved the wide range of everything I saw.  The hardest part for me was juggling going to school, studying, and taking care of the girls and everything else.  But I managed, mainly again with the help of my awesome friend Diane.  She picked up the girls from school, and watched them until I could get home from school or from my clinical rotations.  My sister Jenn and Chris also helped out when they weren't at work.  And now, 2 years later, I am done, I took the dreaded NCLEX, which is the licensing exam, and found out that I passed while we were at Disney World.  I think it actually IS the happiest place on earth!  We came home and found my official license in the mail.

I think I am still in shock that I made it this far.  The day I passed my last final of nursing school, I was walking with Alisha, and I realized that I had waited for *that* day for 15 years, and it brought me to tears.  I am grateful for all of my friends and family that have been so supportive over the years.  I know a lot didn't agree with my decision to go to school, but supported me anyway.  Thanks everyone!!

After the tornado

I'm sitting here, after a day of sleeping in, reading a book with absolutely no intellectual value, and playing a Lego XBox game with my girls, and wondering if this can really be my life right now.  So much has happened in the last few months, that it feels like a tornado has come and gone, and left me dazed to make sense of it all.

I just finished my last quarter of nursing school.  It was great to discard the much-hated dorky blue vest in favor of regular scrub tops.  I was able to precept in the NICU at a local hospital for 8 weeks.  I took care of some very tiny preemies, and some other sick newborns.  I was able to attend several births, including C-sections, and was able to "catch" the baby from the surgeon delivering it, take it to the warmer, dry and suction, and stimulate it to breathe.  It was exciting watching the babies breathe and get pinker, and see the joy in their parents' eyes.  It was so great to be a part of such a happy day.  It was also great to see very tiny babies grow and develop, and "graduate" to be able to go home with their mommies.  The nurses were awesome to work with, and I had a great experience.

My sister Jenn that has been living with me for the past year and a half got married.  My family all drove in from Utah for the weekend, and it was great spending time with them, despite it being such a short visit.  My sister moved out, and I was able to move the girls into their own rooms again, which has made everyone happier with a little more space.  It was fun painting their rooms to reflect their maturing tastes.  Alisha chose a Kermit green walls with peace signs on the wall, and Megan chose a turquoise blue walls with a beachy theme.  We found flip flop vinyl decals and put them on the wall.  They really love their new rooms and most vitally their own space where they can kick each other out when they want space and quiet.

I finished up with nursing school officially, and had a great time celebrating with the friends I have made there over the last two years.  We all became very close, from very early on.  Our personal space shrank considerably, as we practiced moving each other in bed, transferring each other to chairs, and put each other on bedpans.  We practiced finding sites for injections, looking at each other's veins, and even practiced flu shots on unwitting students on campus.  We bonded over our drill sergeant instructor, waking up in the wee hours of the morning, our fear, our mistakes, and eventually our successes.  We cried together, laughed together, and hugged each other through everything.  So many dropped out along the way, and we mourned together.  I'm going to miss seeing their faces in class and at the hospital.  It was so nice to just make eye contact, and have someone immediately understand exactly what I was feeling.  It was bittersweet ending nursing school, because I know I will probably never see some of them again.  But I have made great memories and great friends that I will always treasure.

Christmas came and went, and it has been so nice not having to study, and being able to spend time with the girls.  I have been able to actually clean and organize things around the house, and catching up on mommy duties.  Chris is a great dad, but not very good at being both dad and mom.  He has been pretty busy with work, too, and a lot has fallen through the cracks.  So I'm trying to pick up the pieces of where I've been slacking, and giving him less to worry about.

Now I am onto taking a Kaplan prep class to prepare for the licensing exam (NCLEX).  I will take the NCLEX sometime in January and move onto finding a job.  The job market is pretty tough for new graduates, so hopefully something will open up soon.  I really want to work in pediatrics, but will take any job I can get.  We'll have to see what pans out.

So now I am back to "real" life, and making a new one in the process.  It's exciting and scary to think I have absolutely no idea how this next year is going to go.  Stay tuned...

Summertime bliss

Ahhhh, summer, how do I love thee, let me count the ways:
Sleeping in
No homework, neither for me nor the girls
No real schedule
It stays light out really late
Warm summer nights

In the last 3 weeks, I have accomplished (AKA stuff I never get to do):
30% more sleep on average every night
Found my bedroom floor
Found my desk
Cleaned my house near spotlessly
Had 40 people over for a BBQ
Drove an hour each way and got 40 lbs. of berries
Stayed up late with my husband and got to talk to him on SEVERAL occasions
Played with my girls
Started new Lego Pirates game on Xbox, and got 100% of game finished
Helped with middle schoolers' late night party
Gone to all of the girls' swim meets
Watched all of my shows on my DVR
Went to Chuck E. Cheese for a birthday party
Took the girls to the mall for some back to school shopping
Watched my friend's kids
Gone to Target, Costco, and grocery shopping several times
Ran on the treadmill a few times
Walked my dog a few times
Napped a few times each week
Watched movies with my husband
Lots of lazy days

I'm LOVING summer!  This may be the last real summer vacation I get for a while, since I will be graduating this December, taking the state board exam in February, and hopefully getting a job shortly thereafter.  I'm going to soak up every single bit I can get.