"I'm Not Big Enough"

We were watching our Toy Story on Ice videos and also the videos from the real show. As we were watching this one with Barbie and Ken doing lifts (video below):
Maletch said, "Wow she is a really good ice skater, I kept falling down."
I assured him, that he did very well for his first time. I also reminded him that he really only fell down during the first few minutes and that he got better as he practiced.
Watching the 'lifts', he said, "We can do that next time we go ice skating." Then, with such a disappointed look on his face, he said, "I can't hold you like that mommy, because I'm not big enough." Then his face lit up and he said, "Daddy can though!"
I thought it was so cute that he wanted to try to lift me, hehe! I did not dare tell him- there is no way I'm letting daddy lift me on ice skates anytime soon- haha! A few minutes later he said, "I could lift Sariah!" My heart melted as I pictured him dancing with her on the ice! Since he does lift/carry her around the house, I felt it was a good idea to explain how slippery the ice is, etc...
Then he said, "Maybe I can when Sariah gets a little bigger." :)

Then he grabbed Sariah's shoulders and put his face close to hers, and said. "We can do that Sariah, we will, but you just got to get a little bigger first!"

Toy Story 3 On Ice 2012 Barbie and Ken Lifts

Now he says, "Mommy you can be Barbie and daddy can be Ken, we can get you guys costumes, and you can do this!"
Daddy and I need a LOT of practice before that's gonna happen! :)

Important: Note to Parents!

Since our blog is public (opposed to private- invited readers only) I've made it a rule not to post photos of other children (Maletch's playmates). If you want to give permission to post, I am happy to.go back and add your little ones. You may chose to not have names given, etc. Out of respect for your privacy I will not post otherwise.
Most public bloggers will only post photos of immediate family in order to follow true blogging etiquette.
I wanted to be clear on why you may see photos of some kids and not others-  it will be based on permission- I don't want anyone to feel 'left out'.
I am giving deep consideration to making it private, but this would be a little inconvenient for readers to have to sign in each time.

Rockin' Toy Story Party!

Well I wish I could say that the event went off without a hitch, but during the last minute preparations everything went all kinds of wrong, haha! It is a good thing that John and I are able to laugh during crazy situations, because by the night before, we were busting a gut when we realized how out of control everything was! I might do a separate post about those details- and give you all a laugh too!
In spite of the craziest luck- a great time was had by all- and that is all that matters!! Isn't there a saying, "It doesn't matter how you get there?" Or "It isn't the journey?" or wait, "It is the journey," aw heck- I'm terrible with sayings- anyway you know what I mean, haha!

Now for the GREAT stuff:..
Ice skating was super fun, and was the main focus of our party! I was impressed that within 20 minutes Maletch was able to skate (slowly) by himself, without needing to hold on to the wall (or people, hehe). He wasn't able to get going too fast without getting squirly, but he did manage getting around all by himself. I was touched that everyone wanted to participate in skating with Maletch- and I also appreciated that a few girls (competitive skaters) that happened to be there practicing, came rushing over to help teach him!
I really enjoyed ice skating a lot! Luckily I felt comfortable on the ice pretty quickly and I really had fun doing turns and spins. When it was time to leave, I felt like a kid saying, "I want to come back tomorrow."
John wasn't able to skate that much since he was often holding Sariah, and he felt too squirly to go away from the wall with her. He is looking forward to going again and really trying it out. There were many areas for spectators (bleachers, etc)- but the best spot was the hockey team benches in the little dug-out areas right off the ice. We could have just set Sariah in a seat in the dug-out since there were plenty of people to watch her but we just didn't fetch her seat from the car.
We were so busy having fun that we did not take as many pics as I would have liked (and that never happens). Most of the pictures were taken in the first few minutes (right when we got there) which is a bummer since I feel like we didn't capture a lot of the highlights (on camera) - but at least we got some pics!
Of course we did our 'Toy Story on Ice' show, which was super funny and Maletch was so cute. There were so many "bloopers" and retakes, when one of us messed up our lines, Maletch would laugh and say, "I messed up we got to do that part again"  and we all had a great laugh when my Shepherd's Hook came apart when I put it around Woody's neck for the 'Let him look' scene.

Unfortunately it wasn't the best atmosphere for videotaping. The person with the camera was best to be off-the-ice (for stability) but that turned out to be just a little too far away to pick up our voices clearly (since we didn't have microphones)- so you really can't hear the dialogue.

Since I believe if you are going to be 'in costume'- you have to be in costume from-head-to-toe (from hats to the shoes), hehe! So you know I made sure that since Woody and Buzz are supposed to wear signature boots- that I found 'boot covers' that could be worn over (resting on top of) their ice skates! I got the idea from the real Toy Story on Ice show- when I noticed Woody wearing cowboy boot ice skates!

Conversation on our way home from the ice rink:
Maletch asked, "Mommy, have you ever seen The Fresh Beat Band on Ice before?"
Me: "No, I haven't."
Maletch: "I haven't either. We could do it, do you want to do a Fresh Beat Band on Ice show?"
I  laughed and said, "Sure we could do that, you have some pretty cool ideas."
THEN he asked, "How about Scooby Doo, have you ever seen Scooby on Ice?"
Me: "No, haven't seen that either."
Maletch: "Hey do you want to do Scooby on Ice and Fresh Beat Band on Ice shows?"
Daddy: "How about we just go regular ice skating?"
Maletch and I looked at daddy like- that's boring! haha!

Then it was back home for a party, with a crazy amount of presents, and a special cake! The party was informal and more like a trail of visitors at different times (before and after) the 2 hour skating session, which made it an extra LONG party day- super fun! It was nice since there were never too many people at one time. This was the most fun I've ever had at an event we've hosted since I did not have to keep activities going, stick to a schedule, etc. I just got to enjoy my family, learn to ice skate, and visit with our friends casually- pretty sure we'll be doing this again!

Since Maletch's idea for this birthday event came from the recent (Disney on Ice) show we went to, I knew that when we would go to the Fresh Beat Band concert and party 2 weeks before his birthday that he would not change his mind, but rather want two themes for his birthday party- I was right. Kids don't really care if a party theme is cohesive, they just like fun things, but since I do like cohesive-ness, I figured out a way to have a Toy Story themed party with Rockstar accents including stars, band posters, and instruments, and we topped it off with a custom ordered Fresh Beat Band cake that had a photo of the band- he LOVED it- and we called it a Toy Story Rockstar party!

We set up a table for gifts, but it overflowed and we ended up covering the entire wall-unit from top to ceiling stacked with gifts too!

I have no idea where we will put all of his new stuff?- but everything he got was super awesome!

It was so funny, after he blew out the candles he said, "Oh no mommy, I got frosting on my shirt!" He smashed the front of the cake with his belly trying to reach the candles, haha! You can kind of see where the cake got squished in this pic:

Oh and what Rockstar party would be complete without an appearance from The Fresh Beat Band?? You bet we put on a jam (in costumes of course)- I will be posting videos from that performance too!
Below are 2 videos of Maletch learning how to ice skate, and a slideshow (that I am still adding to). Sorry the first video is so shaky, I was skating over to them, and I just could not hold the camera steady enough.

** Remember to pause the music player at the bottom of the blog, or the sounds will be battling.

Note: In progress--- just beginning this post-- Lots of photos, videos, and more details still coming.....

Woody's First Ice Skating Lesson VIDEO!!

"Toy Story on Ice" Birthday Party VIDEO!

Toy Story on Ice Birthday Party Slideshow!!

Sariah Dancing to The Fresh Beat Band VIDEO!!