I'm Grateful For... #21

Party and Get Togethers!!! They're fun, loud and memorable!

I had a lot of fun (and muscle aches) from co-hosting (and catering) L-Infinity's birthday dinner party. So glad Mr. Man was home!

Just two of the food items in the menu: Lumpias and Pancit (mini eggrolls and noodles)
We also had steamed rice, tocino, bbq ribs, calamansi juice, sparkling cider, shrimp and snow peas, and Cheesecake Factory sampler boxes from Costco as her cake. She asked for a Filipino themed dinner which meant three days worth of prepping and cooking for me!


Got these toasting glasses from Kohl's FREE- all 12! I had two @$10 giftcards that the store gave out thru their postcard ads. On Friday, I bought a box of 6 for $9.96 making it FREE then on Saturday morning, the price was down to $8.96! The napkins were from a Target clearance find back in 2007, so again, FREE! On the label, it said, 48 cents for 20-ct. Love that!

Here are some of the activities- Beatles Rockband on the Wii...
Switching of instrument use...
Waiting for the cheesecake...
Matt and Cori Adams, enjoying the food... Matt came late so Cori joined him again. :-)
Mr. Man borrowing their baby...
Me babysitting on my downtime...
Taking a group shot- after the cheesecake and sparkling cider toast. I videotaped the toast. Everyone raised their glasses and yelled out, "Happy Birthday, L!" and "Hajza!"
Some I-Phone and MP3 video viewing... L got a scarf, earrings, argyle kneesocks, a personalized bedtime stories book and Eeyore. She loved them!
Tyler and L, listening to some music...
Our family feels blessed when we open our home to friends, neighbors and loved ones. That's why we host parties, we want the unique spirit each person brings...

I Thought We're Swimming!

So today was the day J-Pony get to have her "Big Girl" party with a few of her friends. And we decided to go to our local Rec Center to try this new... two flumed water slide! But the clouds threatened with rain, lightning and thunder so we didn't get to go...
Instead, we took three girls and our family to see this movie. It was amazing! Two thumbs up!!!
And because we were early, we saved major dough! Gotta love that!


Then it was lunch time, so we went here to unwind and have fun! The "King" made sure we "had our way". LOL
But before any play, they must eat! There's J-Pony and I-Dude on the right with Alexis, then Rubab and Allison on the left.
And here are Mr. Man and L-Infinity on another table. Yours truly, of course, behind the lens!;-)

After dropping off two of the girls home, we watered the plants for some family friends and they let us use their pool, so since the smallish kiddos never took off their swimsuits, we let them have fun while I watered the plants, L-Infinity took pictures and Mr. Man supervised as a lifeguard.
Here they are...

The dark rumbly clouds never did fruit beyond a short lived drizzle, so I visited my own patio to water and to check on my herb pots and I was pleasantly surprised to see these!
Sprouts everywhere! Yay! I can't wait to see them get big and ready to top our meals! Yum!

While I was cooking, I asked the kids to open up the window and Cece quickly parked herself on the sill. Well, I-Dude thought it was a good spot as well, so Cece, nuzzled his hair from gratitude. LOL

Have you ever seen the tendrils on a grapevine? I've always wanted to see one and I did! How cute is this? We capped the night with a pasta and sausage dinner with these awesome grapes and the rest of the brownies J-Pony baked. Hit just the right spot!

FHE is tomorrow; night swimming! Yay!!!

How did your Monday turn out?

Party On!

Tonight, J-Pony partied, her theme; "Dinner at the (Horse) Ranch".

This is the adults' table; surrounding the centerpiece are horses and tealights. She helped me choose the typical ranch "fauna". I love the look!

We also used her dinnerware, "Running Horses", a transferware of an original drawing of the artist and naturalist, Scotty Zimmerman. She loves those plates, we do, too! But where did she go?

She's at this table! Love that smile and that hair! Big sister, L-Infinity made sure her coiff was perfect for the party and it is!

Here's a closer look...

One with I-Dude is always a great shot don't you think?

Here are her guests: From the left: Annette (next door), Cori & Matt Adams, Ricky, Scott and Naomi (Cori's family). Below is her mom (also named Annette) and her first baby girl, Adolina Adams. Grandma is pacifying Adolina with a mock binky. It worked; go Grandma!

Oh, sorry you got to peek into my messy kitchen. Oh well, my kitchen motto is, "No mess, no party!" (Anyone who knows me, knows that... LOL)

From the left again; Rick (Cori's dad), our missionaries, Elders Patterson & Zobel. We found out later that Elder Patterson was being transferred to another area, so he earned another rib! LOL That's L-Infinity's back. There she is with one of Annette's kids and J's friends, Megan.

We fed everyone baby back ribs (got cheap at good ol' Costco), garden salad, corn, maple baked beans and white bread. To drink, lemonade and rootbeer!

Mr. Man was the grill master and his ribs were a hit! It was a simple enough wet rub. We waited until all was done then it's "keck" time! See, there I go again... I meant "cake" time!

Do you recognize the cake? Yep, Costco to the rescue! Rainbows form everywhere right?
Here's a better view... That's J with her good bud, Alexis, neighbor Annette's middle child.

See the ten candles, they're colorful aren't they? Believe it or not, we bought the candles at Marshall's (Mr. Man's find) weeks ago. The cake, ordered last weekend. Gotta love great coinkidinks!
See one of the horses on the table? That one is called, "American Paint". That was our gift for her to round out the horse ranch theme. We had all the intention to use the lanterns but we couldn't find the oil! A-yai-yai!Oh look, Cece wants to give J-Pony her present, but it's inside her "bedroom". What is it?

Oh, it's not a gift! It's I-Dude's "Grfffll". Don't ask.... That's my children for ya. LOL

Back to the cake... see the candles, each color had a matching colored flame! There were green, orange, yellow, blue, red and purple flames. So cool!

Gifts next!

She decided to open the last one from Grandma and Grandpa tonight, so here it is... A collection of goodies a budding chef can start with. My in-laws are so cool!

Next, she opened Cori and family's gift and she was wowed with some horse shoe bling and a story/history book about horses! That's an "it's great to be me today" smile.

Annette (next door) and family got her a dog alarm clock called "Rousers". Hope it wakes her up!

Daniel, "D-Boy" joined us at about 8:45 and he too, loved all the food. He gave J a generous Barnes & Noble giftcard. Thanks, D!

We had a great time eating and getting to know each other. All in all, we had 18 people and everyone felt comfortable, welcome and well fed!

I also made the lumpias afterwards when I found out that Cori and family have been to the Philippines. Originally, I decided to wait on it since there were a lot of hugging going on and I didn't want to smell like lumpias as it is a fried delicacy.

Where are the pictures you ask? Sorry... they were that good!

Good night!

Birthday Fun & Love Dare Challenge- Day 14

Part 3 of Ian's Birthday fun- the dinner party!

We were going to feed the missionaries anyway, so we went ahead and invited our family friends, the gorgeous Heather Wolfe with her son Chase whose birthday also happened to be today. We had the cake to say both of their names. Our next door neighbors, the Lindahls and their three children came after dinner to help us eat the "ever so colorful yet another chocolate cake!" So in total, we had 15 people in one tiny apartment! I wouldn't have it any other way, it was great!

Lisa's boyfriend Daniel got him a package of Legos, we found him more cars on clearance for his Turbo Driver computer game and the Lindahls got him wooden cut out cars to color and a Crayola Color Explosion kit. He had a great time listening to all the laughter, well wishes, and of course, more gifts!

Our menu for tonight:
Vermicelli with Polska Kielbasa & Basil tossed with Garlic & Olive oil Sauce
Broccoli & Tomato with a thin Scampi Sauce
Wheat Dinner Rolls with Homemade Honey Butter
Red and Green Grapes
Calamansi juice (Filipino citrus drink)
Birthday cake



Yesterday was both quiet and fun. Going to church refreshed my love for my children as well as my husband. Let's see how tonight fared.

Day 14

Love Takes Delight

"Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun."

Ecclesiastes 9:9 KJV

DARE:
Purposefully neglect an activity you would normally do so you can spend quality time with your spouse. Do something he or she would love to do or a project they’d really like to work on. Just be together.

What I Did:

We had a lot of errands today for Ian's birthday dinner, but when we got home, we watched some Smallville together before we tackled the living room and the kitchen.

I am so exhausted! But it was so fun laughing with everyone and seeing Ian enjoy everyone's company. It was a great day...

December 19 (6 Days to go...)

If I would have posted this last night, it would have born the title, "A Day in the Life of a 1st grader."

I went to Ian's classroom Breakfast Winter Party in the morning and helped them with musical book exchange & winter bingo games plus their "breakfast snack" of muffins, grapes, cheese and fruit punch. I had a great time taking pictures. Though today was an "early release" day, it was still packed with worksheets, reading and conditional learning. On a typical day, this is how they normally get things done:

1. Attendance, Pledge of Allegiance (both federal and state) and lunch count
2. Calendar and Superstar (aka Line Leader)
3. Homework check and instruction
4. More instruction and in class work
5. Recess, lunch and bathroom break
6. Downtime
7. More instruction
8. Class work
9. Homework pickup
10. Clean-up and more staying put
11. Lining up and...
12. Remembering if you are a "bus or car rider".

It's fun, but very exhausting at the same time. Often, Ian comes home so tired that when he hits the couch, he's out like a light!

We also had a late lunch, a gift exchange with one of Lisa's school friends, Daniel, a quick trip to Target, three rounds of Rummikub, a great dinner, video games and we all watched "Bridge to Terabithia" for the first time. Of course, since we were all home, we read a Christmas story.

Story: History of Silent Night (Stille Nacht)

Song: Silent Night

We had an awesome day! What a great kickoff for our Winter break. :P

Dancing & Winter Party (7 Days to go...)

Today, Jasmine had her Winter party and I took lots of pictures (been like that lately). They played three rounds: at least one on each finger, using different fingers for each and walking backwards. It was a blast! Feasting on a cheese and grapes platter didn't hurt either.
Getting ready for the candy cane relay

Passing the "baton"

"Mommy, can I think about having my picture taken first?"

Lisa came home long enough to change into her Sunday clothes because she was headed to the temple with the other youths in our church ward.

At night, we had to go back again since Ian was invited to be part of the 5th grade Winter performance. It was wonderful! Seeing him dance with a partner just melted my heart...

(We couldn't take any stills of Ian dancing because there were so many people when the music teacher called out the 1st graders on to the front, plus it was too dark without using the flash which was a no-no...)

Busy, busy, busy...