Party Day!

Today was Goosie's birthday party. Her first with friends. She invited 10 girls to join her and Peanut at their gymnastics center and everyone had a great time! They did an obstacle course of the tumble trampoline,

the balance beam,

somersaults and pit-jumping.

The girls also played the parachute game called Sharks and Minnows, or Sharks and Lifeguards as one girl called it. This was hysterical. The girls sat with their legs out straight under the parachute. There was one shark who was under the parachute and would grab the legs of the other girls trying to recruit them as sharks to pull more under. The lifeguard would try to rescue the girls before they were pulled under. It was so funny to watch girls just *poof!* disappear! This is a shot of Goosie getting rescued by two lifeguards and the shark coming out of the water after her!

This is a cool shot of one little shark under the water~alas, I don't have an underwater camera and the shot is all blurred, but I thought it looked really pretty.

In no time at all it was cake time. I haven't mentioned the cake yet. Goosie, as always, was specific as to what she wanted: "A cake with Kit's face on it and pink polka dots around it." *gulp* Ok. This kid once again has way too much faith in what her mom can pull off. Weeks ago one of the gymnastic moms I chat with during the girls' classes mentioned doing a chocolate outline and inverting it onto the cake. I was sold on that idea! So, I tried it.

Of course, nothing is without it's challenge. I was out of wax paper and parchment, so I piped it onto a freezer baggie. I piped it with a medicine dropper-the kind that looks like a syringe because I thought I could get finer detail. (I was wrong about that, but it worked.) Kit's freckles were rather large. Noses are very hard to translate with chocolate. Her eyes sort of scared me, and Derek kept teasing because Kit's part and clip were on the wrong side. I kept worrying it looked like Martha Stewart more than Kit.

But Goosie, my sweet, sweet girl kept saying "It's ok mom. You don't have to get all the details." She LOVED her cake. She was so excited for everyone to see it. She couldn't wait. She, once again, lets mom know what's important. Not being perfect, but trying to give all you can with as much love as you have.

Goosie had a really fun time with all her friends, and I think she felt very special to have so many people to celebrate with her this year. I'm thankful that she has such a sweet group of friends and that everyone had a great time.

4

I haven't told you, but my Peanut turned 4 at the end of September.


See?



Yeah. 4. Four. Doesn't she look bigger?

She had a whole weekend of celebrating, starting with a present from big sister in the morning before school.



Then we brought the treat to school, and Peanut's friends sang Happy Birthday to her, and she chose a horse as her present from the gift box. After school, Peanut got to open presents from Grandma Sharon, Sally and Kirsten, and from Derek and me. Adorable outfits, purple suede fringed boots, little black shoes, a huge box of crayons and a new coloring book, stickers, Polly Pocket--all sorts of good things were well received. There was also a funny kitty card from big sister.



At last came the big box.



~*gasp*~



"It's Ruthie!!" and a very happy Peanut. :)

After this, we packed up and went to Chuck E. Cheese for a pizza lunch and some game playing and had tons of fun. That night Ruthie slept in a place of honor, on the pillow on her bed where no other of Peanut's "guys" ever get to sleep. Ruthie got two nights there actually. No other "guy" has ever had even one night.

The next day we went to Grandma Sue's house, where more celebration and fun was had. Super cozy pjs came home and adorable Hello Kitty slippers. Being a tired momma, I also was a bad blogger and didn't get any pics.

The following day, and last of the birthday extravaganza was celebrated by Grandpa Steve, Grandpa Dale and Grandma Marcia. This is the day mom almost ruined the birthday. I decided to make the American Girl Rainbow Cake as she was receiving her first American Girl doll, with hair to style, unlike her Bitty Baby. It was from an issue of the magazine and I first saw it on Boogie's blog (she also dyes all that wonderful fiber I have!) So I set out, started making it. Hmm, these layers aren't very thick...but it smells good. Just bake it. Here's what I got:



There's a red layer, orange, green and blue, and they are each a 1/4" thick. As it was baking, Boogie's blog words rang in my head "blah blah blah...Jell-o...." Jell-o! Jell-o!? I freakin' used Kool-aid! What was I THINKING?!?! Well, it still smells good. :/ The layers are still thin. Let's put it together and see what we have.



Aw, it's super adorable, and really, when your kiddo looks like this when she blows out the candles,



and like this when I cut into the cake for the first piece,



I just didn't care that I put the wrong thing in. It was adorable and she loved her cake.



I only wish it tasted as delicious as it looks. It was very fruity tasting, but sour. Luckily, Derek had run out the night I baked it so that we'd have the backup cake. *sigh*

All in all, it was a fantastic birthday weekend. We can't quite believe our baby is four. Though when we look back on pictures and it's hard to imagine her being so little. I think we have a happy four year old though, and for certain we had a tired one!

Goosie Turns Five!

Today our Goosie turned 5! She got to celebrate at school with her friends~how exciting! For her family party, she wants a Hello Kitty cake, and I thought she'd want to do Hello Kitty cupcakes for her class. Alas, she said "Well, there are a lot of boys in my class and I think they wouldn't like Hello Kitty cupcakes." So, she chose a funfetti cake mix and frosting, helped me make them and was very proud to bring them to school today.


She also put together goodie bags for her friends. I wasn't too excited about this, but I think we kept it simple and she was excited to do them. We chose mini Tootsie pops, a candy necklace kit that you have to string yourself first, either a Cars or a princess temporary tattoo, and then Goosie made bookmarks for all her friends. She also made a bag for her teachers.


After school, and lunch, we opened some gifts from Grandma Sharon, Grandma Sue, Peanut and from Derek and me.





For dinner she wanted "Chinese noodles", so we made chicken lo mein. I added bok choy and Rooibos tea. She and Peanut helped shred the vegetables. It was tasty!


Mmm tea!


Or juice!


Finally, we had the birthday cupcake. Yes, she had 2 cupcakes today. The official cake will be Saturday. Make a wish!


You too Peanut, big sister wanted you to have a wish too. :)


My sweet girls.

How can my Goosie be 5?

Celebrating Peanut

Today we had a little party for my Peanut. She turns 3 on the 24th. It's so incredibly amazing to think that 3 years have gone by so quickly. It's something you always hear, something that's so cliche' sounding, but really, the time does just fly by. She's the sweetest little independent thing~

Here is her cake:

Here is her happy reaction to seeing it:

And here are some adorable photos of her opening gifts and playing with her sister.

It is tradition for the birthday girl to go with daddy to the store to choose a ballon, tablecloth, plates, napkins for decoration for her party. Peanut had chosen the blue Barbie princess theme cake. She them switched gears at the store and went with My Little Pony themed goodies to decorate for her party. Then, she gets home and says, "Mom, why did you make a blue Barbie cake? I wanted a Pet Shop cake." Ahem You're lucky you were so cute when we presented the cake to you honey. (Says the mom up until 12:30 letting cakes completely cool before she went to bed after 2 long days of selling at a garage sale!) ;)

The Big "I know I haven't posted in a while" Post--picture heavy

Well helloooo~ It's me again. I have good intentions and then the day is done and no blogging. But I'll at least catch you up. Starting August 6th, I finally pulled together some ideas of what to do for Derek for his birthday. We were trying to avoid spending money, and that coupled with the fact that Derek typically gets himself whatever he wants, it is difficult to buy gifts. (that sounds kind of bad-he doesn't spend if we're watching it well, he just sees stuff and gets it when we are able to buy ;) I want to thank the ladies at the Reclaiming the Home group on Ravelry, who helped point me in the right direction, and then Derek's friend Ryan personalized the ideas which are all related to World of Warcraft goodies. So, here:

The girls painted a Happy Birthday Daddy! banner:

I copied some WoW art and framed them:

More copies for decoupage on a box:

side

back

front

inside with some goodies

mana, health, gold and damage

healing potion, hearthstone and character stones

all in the box in pouches I made

Rune of Teleportation and Rune of Portals, in case he needs to bust out of work really fast

knitted, felted and needle felted zipper pouch with the Alliance symbol on it (not yet finished, needle broke!) (and, Alliance Lion or Cowardly Lion? You choose. He was happy though :)

And, um....green proto drake cake. Yes is it. Squint. See?

The girls also painted rocks for him and little figurines (a pig and a treasure chest) and got him WoW game cards. :) It was a very geeky birthday and he had tons of fun.

We've also been watching nature. We had gone to City Knitting and the girls saw this and wanted me to take a picture:

And, lastly, while we did not plant sunflowers this year, we still got one. We're keeping track of how it's growing and we're excited for it to bloom.

8/13/09

8/21/09

8/26/09

So that's where we're at. :) I have to go get the cream puffs out of the oven...mmmm!