Winter Luau?

Limbo, coconut bikinis and a dj! What else do kindergarten, first and second graders need for a fun night? Nothing!

A Night To Remember

Big night here! K had a twerp dance (aka sadie hawkins dance). It was a fun week building up to the dance. Monday, bring Hershey kisses to your date. Tuesday, bring homemade baked goods. K made banana nut bread for S. Unfortunately, our dog, Cooper, who is SOOO BAD, ate the beautifully wrapped loaves before they could be delivered. Wednesday, take a candy bar love note, Thursday was breakfast with your date (at Bojangles). And Friday, the date bring you flowers (bouquet of beautiful daisies!). Then tonight, the day involved hair appointments, nail appointments and getting ready with friends. Then we headed to friends to gather for a dinner for 12. The parents all prepared and served the kids appetizers, salad (me), dinner and desserts. It was a fun gathering with photos and a yummy dinner. The kids looked fabulous and all were so polite. It was a delight to be invited and included in my daughter's special night! So thank you K!. You were the most beautiful and radiant one there! I love you and am so proud of you!

PS. who knew boutonnieres were magnetic now?

It's a pirate's life for me

IF only that really was Johnny Depp! I did have my picture made with him too, but alas my husband would not record the moment. On Friday night of the cruise, there was a pirate party. M was decked out in white blouse (which she later told me was for boy pirates and that she should be wearing a red blouse-go figure), hook hand, eye patch, gold earring and a parrot on her shoulder. The older girls chose not to dress up, even though I had patches and earrings for everyone. Then the ship was taken over by pirates. Mickey won the battle and celebrated with fireworks at sea. Quite a fun evening! I have to say that Disney does it right! ARGGH!!

How much would you pay for this pain?

The ship docked in Nassau, Bahamas and we got off to explore a little. The girls were a little underwhelmed to say the least and just wanted to get back on our boat. But first, M desperately wanted to get her hair braided like her older sisters had done years ago. We told her it would hurt but she insisted! We found a women who bargained with us (yet we still did not get that deal) and who sent us to some of her workers. Well it started out OKAY, but then our braider got into an altercation with other braiders. Something about "stealing money", and "not in front of my customers" and " I no shame you". Then things got a little rocky. We decided that a mad braider was worse than no braider!!! M said it hurt more than her broken femur last year. At the conclusion of our session, her sisters said she needed one or two more to even it out a bit and M burst into tears, shouting " I can't take it anymore!" We boarded the ship and went directly to our stateroom to get her some motrin because her head hurt so bad! (and it hurt for the next few days too) We are planning on removing them on Saturday after the luau at M's school because I have heard that if you leave them in much longer, tons of hair will come out because of all the breakage. Cross your fingers that removal will be less painful than getting them.

When you wish upon a star. . .

We left Thursday on a Disney Cruise! It was WONDERFUL to escape a cold, snowy venue for a warm(er), sunny and character filled one! We traveled with my parents who had just as much fun as the kids did! We all had a blast! Here are a few photos from day one. There was a mandatory lift jacket drill before departing and you had to wear your life jacket (much to the horror of my teens) and make your way from your stateroom to the assigned spot 2 decks down and line up with thousands of other passengers. It was a hilarious exercise!! More to follow so check back during the week.

Valentine's Day treat

Every year (for the past 20 years at least) i make these cookies for my valentine, H. They take FOREVER and only make 10 total, so it is a labor of love! They are chocolate window cut outs with raspberry filling and a dusting of powdered sugar in heart shapes, of course. Well this year I got a late start, as in 3pm on 2/14 and my kids decided to try them- and they liked them. So now H is guarding them with his life!

At last. . . the painting is complete!

After a full week of painting my bedroom, the task is complete, well almost. The trim has not yet started and the closet still needs to be painted. BUT the bedroom walls are officially "sea breath". It is a nice light bluish green. Much improved over the "weathered glass" of last weekend. And I like it better than the "corn silk" it was. So now I have to hang pictures and figure out how to empty my closet so it can be painted. I am completely overwhelmed by this idea! But hopefully I can rally and start that project next week! M wanted to help with the painting so we let her help prime the walls. While we were not paying attention she left us a little message. Cute! But then she really wanted us to keep it there. . . forever. Ah, no. Another funny moment from the painting project, while we were painting the last section on Friday night, M really wanted to help. H told her there was no painting she could do but he needed a cold bud. She made a list of items we needed, including the "colde bud" and left the room. Our door was closed, we were painting away when what do we hear. M is being carried upstairs by her oldest sister, bawling!! Apparently she went to get her dad that "colde bud" and got locked out of the house (the beer was on the screened porch from a super bowl gathering last Sunday). She stood outside knocking but no one could hear her. It was too dark apparently for her to walk to the front door and ring the doorbell. Finally K heard her screaming and went to rescue her. H did admit he "kinda" wondered what was taking her so long. It was funny but so sad too. We have now showed her where the secret key is kept if she ever gets locked out.

California Dreamin'

I have been back one week and only blogged once! That is because my kids have been out of school for "snow". Only problem, there was little of it, it got rained on (now even less) then melted in time for the weekend. So really no snow but no school. Today they are calling for more snow tonight and my kids are already planning a party, TONIGHT, once school is cancelled. IT has been wild around here. AND I am trying to paint my bedroom but haven't found the right shade. So a quarter is painted the wrong color, a quarter is primed (which looks worse than the wrong color) and half still the old, not right color. So while I sit and enjoy a cup of hot tea before I start dinner, I am dreaming of last week in Napa Valley. . . . if I could just get back to one of those wineries!!! These are only the first 2 we visited on Friday, Shafer and Hall. It was so fabulous!!!

The winter get-away

And get away we did! H and I went to California for 6 days! It started in San Francisco for 3 days then we went to Napa Valley and Calistoga for a long weekend, returning on Monday night (after a big snow storm at home). It was heavenly. I slept late, ate well, read, exercised, caught up with a good friend and tasted lots of yummy wines! Here is day 2: biking across the Golden Gate Bridge and to Sausilito. Okay, we do look like dorks with those helmets but we did see a biking accident along the way. Big fun anyway! "I will not dismount" was my slogan even as I climbed the hills.

A Hoppin' Good Time

M. turned 7! We had a family dinner with a favorite cousin coming to spend the night before the Princess and the Frog pool party! Big fun to swim in January! It was the LONGEST birthday party I have ever had for young kids, 2-5pm. When the lifeguard suggested we could be done after only 1 hour of swimming I had to tell him "no way, parents are coming for another 2 hours. We will swim until 4, thanks". It was fine because it did take a while for 20 kids to dry off and change clothes before our cute frog cupcakes, ice cream and goldfish snacks and then to open presents. M. had a ball and that made it the perfect party! She ended up sleeping over at a friends so H. and I went out to dinner! Hoppin" good time for everyone!