Roller Mamas 2012

This year on September 28th I turned 34.  As I've said in past birthday posts, I sure don't feel 34.  I feel about 28 maybe but not 34.  34 sounds so old, it's almost to 40 and 40 sounds REALLY old.  Where has the time gone?

By 34 I thought I'd look like Cindy Crawford - busty, hippy and tall.  But instead I feel like I still look like a teenager some days and definitely don't have the boobs I thought I'd have (although they are pretty close right now!)!  I definitely acted like a teenager last weekend when a group of friends and I took to the skating rink to revive Spidey's Roller Mamas!

10 years ago, for my 24th birthday, we made matching shirts, dressed in 70's attire and hit up Skateland to attempt to roller skate.  Why?  I have no idea but we thought it would be fun to do it again this year!  So, all of these old ladies went roller skating for about 2 hours last Saturday night and spent most of the time recreating pictures from 10 years before - so really not much skating was done (to June's dismay!).  But, I had a BLAST and am considering keeping my skates to go again before another 10 years is up (wait for my 44 year birthday post - THAT one should be bananas!).

But, before I get into our roller skating fun, here is the best birthday present I've ever gotten.  On my actual birthday, before her bath, little Lemon laughed at her mommy (who was fake sneezing!).  A real laugh at 12 weeks and 4 days old.  It was music to our ears!

To start the fun - I found these vintage Puma Roller Kitty rollerskates on Craigslist in Massachusettes.  I had a light blue pair, 10 years ago, and sold them on eBay so I was bummed I wouldn't have them again.  But, I just happened to find them (in my size!) and paid a ridiculous amount of money to have them shipped to me.  You can't even buy them anymore and when you could they retailed for almost $300.  The pair I found was brand new in the box and I couldn't believe my luck, and in my new favorite color too!  The skates can be removed so that you just have the shoes, how awesome is that?!  Now the question is - do I sell them again or keep them this time?  (I also didn't realize, when I took this pic, that they had the magnetic sensor attached to them.  Stolen?  Maybe.  See below!)

(I went over to Christie's to get ready and left Ian to put the baby to bed by himself for the first time ever.  He did a great job and met our friends at the bar to wait for us to arrive!  Here is Jenny modeling her 2012 edition shirt.)

(Christie working and finishing dinner!)

(So, the skates I found on Craigslist still had the theft sensor attached to them, and I had no idea until I walked up Christe's driveway and noticed.  We looked up how to remove it and it all sounded really complicated so I just asked Christie for a butter knife and voila - I popped it off!)

 (Geared up!)

 (Practicing!)

(Espen watched TV while we got ready, I'm sure we are totally boring to him!)

(Showing June, the photographer, all the old pics I wanted to recreate!)

(Our mini photographer, Espen.)

(Christine set her camera to capture a bunch of pictures at a time so this is us doing tons of crazy poses really fast!  I gotta see how these turned out on her fancy camera, I bet they were hilarious!)

(Getting ready to redo the car shot with June directing!)

(And these two old lady moms almost peeing their pants trying to pose like this!  For the finished product, see below!)

(Shooting the car shot and me talking about how we are going to do this in another 20 years, Roller Mamas 2032!)

(Man this kid had NO FEAR!  He put his skates on and this little 6 year old fell and fell and fell but then finally got the hang of it!  Oh to be six again!)

(My new shirt and Christie's old one, I forgot mine but still have it!)

(Skates!  Did you know they have these weird, funky new skates now?  So strange, see Marisol's rented ones on top.)

(Twinsies)

(So many peeps, who knew?!)

(Me realizing that maybe this wasn't the best idea for a 34 year old who hadn't been skating in 10 years.  I was scared I was going to break something!)

 

(We got yelled at by a 16 year old ref to go in the middle where the beginners were supposed to go.  So dumb though because there are no walls to hang on to in the middle!) 

(Action shot of me skating!)

(June and Christine had the falls of the night!  But, they were pros so were a lot more gutsy than us!)

 

(Looking at the old pic trying to figure out what poses we were in!  Look at cute little Espen in the background!)

(Someone has a picture of me laying across everyone on my birthday - I don't have it.  So, we made Espen do it instead!  Whoever has the old pic - Christine maybe - send it to me!)

(Such cuties!)

(Best friends since 1994!)

 (Gah!  This one brings tears to my eyes.  I love this girl more than words!)

Ok, so we tried our best to recreate some of the old photos.  We obviously didn't have an old car this time (although some of my friends still do but didn't drive it that night), had a better camera, but didn't realize how crowded Skateland would be!  Who knew there was this whole alternative rollerskating culture that actually goes on Saturdays and skates?!  It was packed and we didn't have much time because we were heading to the bar after (priorities of course!) but we did our best.  So, here they are for your entertainment!

(2002)

(2012)

(2002)

(2012)

(2002)

(2012)

(2002)

(2012 - Our friend Marisol, wearing an old shirt, stood in Becky's place.  This is not a shrunken Becky!)

(2002)

(2012)

(2002 - Jenny fell!)

(2012)

(2002)

(2012 - SUCH a hard pic to do over!)

And some more oldies we didn't get a chance to do:

After skating we headed to the bar to meet some more friends!  I drank two ciders, was out until almost 2am (thanks Mom for watching the baby!) and felt AWFUL the next day.  This mama was not a big drinker before and definitely still isn't!  I swear the baby knew we didn't feel good either, she woke up right when we laid down to sleep and was up every couple of hours after that!

(My new mommy friends Ann and Melissa!)

(The husband who put our baby to bed!  Yay!)

(Ian's cousins were in from out of town so here is my sister-in-law Ashley, due November 2nd, and our cousin Katie.)

The next day Ian and I were DYING but my mom and Joe came over with lasagna, it's a tradition and my mom makes it from scratch (and now gluten free!).  She actually made it the night before, while babysitting for us, and it was SO good, as always!  Daddy even built the high chair for the occasion and ate at it with Lemon!

(That's daddy's bowl, not Lemon's - don't worry.)

(She loves to spit up on Grandpa Joe!)

(A very awful, hungover pic!)

(The best gluten free cupcakes I've had in Phoenix so far from Ollie Cake!)

(A very haggard family photo!  Good thing Lemon is always cute!)

Once again my friends and family made this the best birthday ever; and of course, my husband and little Lemon.  I think this will be my last "party" birthday since I'm getting old so it was a good way to go out.  I am so appreciative to everyone for coming out and celebrating with me, I know we all have kids/babies/dogs/lives and are busy, so it totally means a lot.  We are SO loved and I can feel it, we have the best friends and family anyone could ask for.  It totally takes a village to raise a baby and I want to thank you all for being a part of our "village."  We love you and are so grateful to have you in our lives.  Here's to my favorite birthday!  Cheers!