Sunday, September 08, 2013

Back to School 2013

And.... we're back.  This time I have a valid excuse (see previous post).  I'd try to catch up on the summer which included trips to the beach, lots of swimming in the pool, and fun with friends.  However, the reality of the summer is that I spent most of it on the couch.  Or my bed.  Or one of the kids' beds.  They were good sports.  It was no fun -- I'm too old for this.

Q did have a lovely trip to Russia and my angel mother once again came to the rescue and entertained the kids and babied me for a couple of weeks. Yes, I know I'm lucky.  Yes, she is amazing.


So jumping right back into life (ok, it's already waddling at a slow pace), here are our First Day of School 2013 pics
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 Someone didn't want to be left out
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 Waiting for the bus... which we heard eventually came an hour late.  We drove the kids to school instead -- a bit of a stressful beginning to the day, but at least they weren't late on their first day!
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A sweet finish to a successful day

Big News

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We're told that a little girl will be joining us early next year.
L is so excited to be getting a sister!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Mario Party

Even though Mario was the theme of C's last birthday, his infatuation with a little Italian man with a mustache left us no choice but to go that route again this year.  It took quite a bit of convincing, but he finally conceded that it wouldn't work to have all of his guests take turns switching between 3 controllers for 2 hours.  It was truly what his heart desired, but instead we created a Mario Adventure where he and all of his buds would go on a mission to free Princess Peach from Bowser.  

It was a lot of fun to plan and believe me, I only chose those things that I knew would be simple and easy to pull off.  Take for example these Invincible Star Rice Krispy treats for his class.  Super easy, didn't have to go out and buy anything, and yet his classmates thought they were crazy cool (at least the Mario geeks among them).
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It was pretty awesome for the birthday boy to be handing out Wii remotes to his friends (with the invite rolled up inside).  The pattern was simple to cut and fold, and worked perfectly with our b/w printer!
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I loved the sign that greeted the guests: 
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 Our Birthday Mario
(Freezer paper shirt, felt mustache, and *felt hat)
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 The Mario Team
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 L had helped me make a short video of Peach begging Mario to rescue her.  After the kids watched the clip, they began completing tasks to get closer to finding the princess.
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Coin Jump (hung above our indoor tramp) Image
 Goomba Stomp (some balloons had coins inside)
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 Dodge the Boos (they had to try to pick up coins while running backwards and not getting hit by ghosts floating around the room).  
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I didn't get any great shots of Musical Stars (Inviincible Stars on the floor, while doing the cake walk). The last child in the game got to keep the star, giving him invincibility power for the other games.  The kids thought that was the coolest part of the whole party, "The Boos can't get him -- he's invincible!!!" Image
I have to mention the soundtrack for the video and all of the games during the party.  We got the Mario Galaxy Orchestra with our Wii and it has become the most listened to CD in the house.  The orchestral music is great and the kids love it.

I didn't get any pictures of "Mario Says."  It was an impromptu filler -- things were moving along a bit too quickly...

And finally: DEFEATING BOWSER!  The kids tossed Ice Power (water balloons) at a Bowser picture (how did I not get that?!).  They LOVED this part.  
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 The rescued princess gave out thanks liberally to her heroes (much to the boys' dismay).  Then she offered them cake and ice cream to show her appreciation.
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 The mustache was such a simple way to keep it Mario without spending all of my time in the kitchen.  
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 Finally.. the presents!  One of his gifts was a pair of dart guns which have provided (literally) hours of entertainment.  Mostly for Q, but the rest of us have joined in to protect ourselves.
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A fabulous birthday weekend, with Monday being spent enjoying his new Paper Mario game from his grandma.  And just think -- I'm already set for one Halloween costume!  

* The hats were lots of fun to make.  I haven't used my sewing machine in FOREVER and I loved the way the kids looked running around in their Mario hats. I looked at a ton of sites and then just winged it, but this site was similar to what I made.  I simply traced an 11" bowl on a folded piece of felt, drew an oval in one of them, sewed them together, cut and sewed a moon shape (brim), sewed all of them together, and then glued (with No-Sew -- so simple!) the white "M."  Ta-da! 




Sunday, March 17, 2013

It's Great to be 8

Recently I read about how blogs are becoming a thing of the past.  I realized how few updates I receive from friends' blogs now -- usually 1 a week instead of 3-5 a day.  My blogging hasn't been very consistent, so I'm sure that my every 3 month posts will come to a non-dramatic end as well.  But before we disappear into the non-blog world, I thought I'd at least update on our latest and greatest.

Primarily, L's baptism happened at the beginning of February.  It was a great cause for celebration -- including an entire month of grandparent visitors.  We had some at the beginning and some at the end, but they overlapped for a couple of days, resulting in:
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  But it was so nice to have help around to play with the kids, let Q and I go out a couple of times, get some help with the yard work, and to make the baptismal event feel extra-special.  

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Somehow I didn't bring my camera to the church.  We'd taken pictures beforehand, but this was the only photo I have -- thanks to a member of the bishopric that snapped it before the baptism.  I wish I would have gotten pictures of the Primary Choir, the yummy treats, and L after her confirmation.
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And this guy gave the sweetest prayer every.  I had talked to him earlier about how a lot of kids would be there and if he was silly -- they wouldn't understand the importance of the baptism.  He took his part of the program very seriously.

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One memorable part was hearing the Primary Choir singing while L was changing after her baptism.  We heard "Stars were Gleaming" floating into the changing area.  L was a little confused, "Mom, I don't think that's on the program."  They were taking requests and the chorister chose C, not knowing that his favorite is a Christmas tune.  It was a beautiful day with lots of love from our family and ward -- and L agreed that 8 really is pretty great. 


Friday, November 30, 2012

Fall in Florida

I'm going to lump our Fall happenings into one post, so buckle your seat belts!

*Halloween:
It was PERFECT weather.  I couldn't believe that the kids didn't even need long sleeves.  We had a wonderful evening walking around the neighborhood, meeting some of our new neighbors.  There were not a lot of kids out, but that meant that everyone was giving out handfuls of candy and we only went around the block before their bags were full.  Our little dragon shed his costume about 1/2 way through because he was too hot.  We had to explain to the curious that his costume was not his dinosaur pjs (that he wore under the costume).
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(Just for those of you wondering, he is a witch, not a warlock -- even though his dad tried to convince him otherwise)
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My mom was in town for two weeks -- baking up a storm (for cub scout and class parties).  As always, it was so wonderful to have her around.  I was able to go to the Kindergarten Pumpkin Patch field trip, volunteer in classrooms, and take care of a sick little boy. 
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(This is how C spent a good part of my mom's visit -- mummified on the couch)

My Dad joined the fun during the 3rd week and we managed to get some fun activities in.  The nearby State Park had a scarecrow walk that we all enjoyed.

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I had been missing the whole "Fall experience" with pumpkin patches and mazes and farms.  I was delighted to find a place that had all of the above, plus a barrel train ride, corn box, animals to hold, and cornmeal waffles.  It was the first year the farm was open and it was very small scale, but it was exactly what I needed to really feel in the Fall spirit of things.
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Somehow we and the other new family in our ward missed some important information and showed up at the wrong time and place for the Trunk or Treat.  So we shared some candy and then came back to our place for an impromptu Halloween pizza party.Image

My parents were so sweet to bring me home a Cinderella (white) pumpkin. I think I am going to find one every year -- I loved the green inside showing through and it smelled like a honeydew!
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I also thought I'd include pictures of these two critters: 
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This was the honored guest of the annual pig roast in Q's department.  The kids responded better to it than I did -- for some reason pork didn't sounds very appetizing to me that evening.
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And this little guy was trying to make a home under our deck.  It was so cute with it's pink nose and big teary eyes.  It just kept quietly looking at me, wondering why it was in a cage.  I'm told that opossums are often mean -- hissing and scratching.  I almost kept ours as a pet.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

More Adventures with Aunt Kimi

While Kim was here we also went to the local nature museum where it was "Farm Days."  The kids got to help make cane syrup, play games about farming, and ride tractors.
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The museum also had a small zoo -- pretty cool.  Though I must admit that my favorite animal was an albino squirrel that was following us (or there were a bunch of them).
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I especially like the dinosaur sculptures scattered throughout the museum that were made out of car parts.

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We also went to Wakulla Springs where we saw a bunch of manatee on our boat tour.
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