Labor of Love

Yesterday I performed a labor of love for this boy,

my sweet, dimpled face son.

In approximately three days, Braden will be turning six; continuing with our theme for this year, he will also be having a family party, so I didn't see anything wrong with his request to bring in cupcakes for his class. So yesterday I dropped Braden off at school, and Colton, the girls, and I headed to Wal-mart. I was trying to find rings to put in the cupcakes, to no avail. Braden wanted pink cupcakes with girl rings in them for the girls, and red cupcakes with boy rings in them for the boys; I am here to tell you though, that the party favor section in our Wal-mart is seriously lacking in stock and variety. Striking out in the ring department, I decided white icing and sprinkles would be a nice alternative; after putting an end to the cupcake dilemma, I headed to the candy section and the toys to attempt to put together some favors. I finally settled on bubbles and a blow pop for each child. I don't know about any of you other mothers out there, but I know I personally don't want any more needless junk or trinkets in my house to add to the already ever expanding pile of clutter; I thought it would be the perfect solution, eat the blow pop, throw away the trash, blow all the bubbles, recycle or throw away the bottle, problem solved, time to pay for all of our paraphernalia and head home. Once home, I went to work making these for the children in Braden's class (making sure to construct one for the birthday boy).

Next, I made the cupcakes, using my lovely assistant, who we all know and love,

Mrs. Betty Crocker. Once the cupcakes were beautifully baking in the oven,

we took a brief intermission to deal with this; why yes, that is another nose bleed,... ...and yes, that is a baby who was not very happy about being put down quickly. Nothing a little cake batter licking can't cure; well that, and A LOT of napkins and paper towels. Once the cupcakes were cooled, and decorated,... ...I loaded up the cupcakes, the chips, the plates, the Capri Suns, the napkins, and the party favors,

dropped the girls off at LaNae's, and headed to Braden's school (with Colton in tow). Once at Braden's school, I then had the task of getting everything inside, quite the balancing act. Sighing a deep sigh of relief, I finally made it to Braden's classroom with goodies in hand. The kids ate, sang to him, and went outside to blow the bubbles. I think Braden had a good time, and I think he felt loved; that is what a labor of love is all about isn't it?!!!