Goodbye Souska Party

We had our good bye souska party today. It was as nervewracking for us as it was for the poor little guy. I suppose in the rush to make a memorable and final goodbye, the excitement carried us all away. I have a video of our little ceremony, but it's not on youtube yet, but I can embed later.

Anyway, the premise of our party was based on this little girl's farwell party:






We had our cake, decorated with balloons and pacis complements of AC Moore and we whisked off to our favorite playground where we sent the souskas into outer space to help the alien mommies quiet their babies.

The three of us were jittery all night from the experience, but despite some tears, T made it to sleep in an hour. Whew!





Ta-dah! I looked all over for tiny ballons and pacifiers. I don't think that anyone cared but me! So, enjoy my artistry!




He looks so sad! Moments before he was running around with the souska in his mouth dragging the red baloon all over.





This is the last picture of him with Souska. And probably the last picture of him with a haircut by mom. Maybe he's really sad over his bangs?

Birthday Party

All Dressed up and Ready to Party!




Yep. We went all out and got him a little suit for his special day. If you notice, the little tie is floating around his neck and the top button of his shirt is undone. Also notice the tears drying on his face. I bet I don't even need to tell you that story! The rest of his pics are behind the cut. Warning! Image intensive. We are posting for a host of photo-hungry relatives in Moscow.





Naturally, Tyoma has the same love of ties as his Papa.



"What! All these presents for me!"



"Oh, my! I couldn't! It's simply too much!"



Our twin cakes. The little one is for Tyoma to demolish.



Waiting for the cake, he takes off his party hat for the twentieth time.



Intrigued by the candle.



The candle is extinguished.



I'm showing him that he can eat the cake.



"Wow! This is delicious!!!



Heavens! He ate the whole thing!



And now he's eating the decorative balloons.



Awww.

We had no idea how gluey icing could be until we tried to clean up Tyoma. I contemplated using Orange Blast, but Ivory, warm water and patience worked fine. Opening presents on and off took up most of the afternoon (there were three). Tyoma had a tiny sip of grape juice while we toasted with champagne, since he clearly didn't have enough sugar with his cake.
We do have more photos, but I'm a bit to exhausted to post the rest.

Happy Birthday Brotherkurt

Make that happy belated birthday! brotherkurt’s birthday was a few weeks ago--April 12 to be exact, but it took some time for the party to catch up with him. This weekend’s celebration includes two days and two nights of gaming, involving some intriguing homemade board games. Tonight was mellower that Friday night which involved over thirty avid gamers and (I think) four separate games (as reported by Ewbliette).

I arrived just after the cookout, and had the opportunity to witness the last piece of venison disappear down the gullet of the neighborhood gourmand. I compensated by scarfing down numerous slabs of delicious (salty!) garlic bread followed by four perfectly ripe watermelon segments. Yum!

Under a back porch illuminated by hundreds of tiny orange lights, Rodeyo, Lizard Light and Countessa conducted an animated review of their insane childhood adventures. New Mexico rules—when your ten and firecrackers and bottle rockets are legal, there is no limit to the stuff you can blow up. I am personally amazed that I managed to survive my youth with both eyes and all my fingers and toes intact.

Later, Ewbliette and I moved indoors (smokers!) and I overheard the following snippet from a homemade game being played at the kitchen table, “So, the young blonde woman is now naked, running through the hall and you have to roll to see if she’ll swallow….” Whoa. After an hour discussing Brotherkurt’s home décor (his main bathroom has adorable handpainted fishies festooning the walls!), my brain died and I went home. Tennisfiend, who liked my fashionable new blouse, insisted on taking my photo to send to his family. Unfortunately, the flash revealed a bit much of Bestfiend, particularly my navel and JC Penney undergarments. But I liked my goofy smile, so voila!


The paparazzi effect.
Needless to say, I exchanged my blouse for an opaque cousin, so Moscow was spared the indignity of my Bali and belly.

Nukestock Shots

I am pleasantly surprised that a few photos from Nukestock turned out. Unfortunately, I was unable to do justice to the spectacular decorations created by Robert, Delphine, Mukor and company. Enjoy!

Mukor (L), our host as Baby Cthulu and as the Dead C.

Lizard and Countessa Light.

's lovely fiancee, . What great hair! has requested her to be my future wig consultant.

with sparkler. I was so entranced by folks playing with sparklers that I took a dozen photos, but this is the only one that turned out. Despite the number of red wigs at the party, Nirik's locks are all natural (envy, envy!). BTW, he makes excellent mead.

Pastafarians unite! The Flying Spaghetti Monster has finally arrived!!

Chris, forlorn without his Romanian sweetheart.

Rrrraaawr! The Dead C is mighty pissed that I drank her Mimosa!

Yours truly as the Red C. I should actually call this the the Traveling Costume. The top traveled north, the skirt cruised towards the equator and the cape voyaged into the back of my red fishnet tights! Thank heavens for Ewbliette's sharp eyes!!!

Whoa.....

'Nuff said.

Thanks Mukor, Ewbliette, Lizard Light, Robert, Delphine, et. al. for a fantastic party! Yay!