Costumes and Chopsticks!

We celebrated Chinese New Year today - actually being the last day of the 15 day holiday. To clarify- no we are not Chinese, nor do we have any Chinese ancestry. But we like to celebrate stuff and Ben's mom has a lot of fun costumes to wear... so we do. :) It was a great way to close a wonderful month of February.







Jake's costume was a little big... but I think he looks quite dashing in the long braid, don't you agree?

Authentic Pei Wei chopsticks!



Doesn't get much creepier than this guy

But here's a runner up ;)

Trikes, Teacups, and NOT a Tarantula

Becca was a real trooper on her trike this morning at playgroup :) We went on a little bike riding, stroller pushing, walking excursion and we were all very much enjoying the wonderful weather. When we first moved to Arizona, I was under the impression that there was never clouds here... at least I never saw any (we moved here at the beginning of the summer 4 1/2 years ago). Well, I did learn that rain does fall sometimes and with that brings cloud cover of course... but for the most part, there aren't that many cloudy days and not much "weather" at all throughout the year. It's especially nice to take advantage of the cool-warmish temps right now and get outside as much as possible before the summer heat pushes us all indoors and into swimming pools.




Some random things...

I love flowers, but sadly they eventually die. :( Ben got me some lovely red and white roses for Valentines Day and a few days ago they started to look droopy and sad. But luckily, I remembered this tip from Real Simple (not often do I read a good idea in a magazine and then actually use it...) - float any remaining flowers that still have life in them in teacups! I was going to toss them all, but now I can enjoy them for a few days longer. How nice.


Also...
It's always fun when a little reminder of your desert surroundings finds it's way to your front yard... as long as it's not a scorpion... or a tarantula... or a rattlesnake. But a coyote will do. (If you click on the pic to make it bigger, you can see that the coyote's eyes are glowing green... creepy yes?) ;)

A WiLd and cRaZy day!

Today was most definitely the craziest day ever! It's always fun to have an exciting activity to do on a Saturday... but what about 3?! It wasn't supposed to be this crazy of a day because we were supposed to do Emma's friend party last week, but because of illness we had to move it to today right in between a 10K race and going to see the Mary Poppins Broadway musical at ASU. Whew! But thankfully, everything went well and my marathon day ended up being REALLY fun!

So, first - I ran a 10K this morning! I have dreams and aspirations to someday run a marathon, but c'mon - how do people do it?! I mean, I hope to give it a go later on down the road, but I was SO ready to be done running this morning when I crossed the finish line, and I only ran 6.2 miles - how could I possibly run 20 more?!! Anyone out there who has run a full marathon, let me know if it killed you, and how to possibly prepare yourself for something like that. Anyway... I'm so thankful to have joined in running a few days a week with these great girls. It's really been such a blessing to have friends to motivate me to get out with my kids and all our jogging strollers (I recently got my own double jogger for only 30 dollars off of craigslist!) and run regularly throughout the week - I feel healthier and happier then I ever have. ALSO, I'm very thankful to my husband for getting me actual running shoes for my Valentines gift - I got to go to RoadRunner and they tested out my running style and foot issues and fit me with a shoe just right for me (did that sound like an infomercial?) It's improved my running enjoyment tremendously!

Tessa, Leah, Kassie, and I - we all finished in under an hour - I'm so proud of us :)
Alright - next up on the crazy Saturday tour is Emma's Sweet Shoppe birthday party! I've had this party on my mind for over a month, and it turned out wonderful! I highly recommend this as a birthday party theme idea. The colors are fun, kids LOVE it, and it really was entertaining for me to prepare all the decor and games. I found SO many great ideas online. My favorite sites I came across in planning for this are here, here, and here. Ready for lots of pics (and a candy overload)?! Well, here you go... (Keep in mind that almost everything you see below was not my original idea, but was from the creative ladies at the sites I linked to above).



It was a rainy morning, so my poor little outdoor decorations were fighting for their lives in the wet and windy weather - the candy sign and lollipops were made with just colored paper plates, wrapped in cellophane, and tied off with colored ribbons... the lollipops also have wooden dowels attached.



My friend Tessa let me borrow her gumball machine - cute right?





Aw the candy buffet... let's just say we have a lot of leftover candy... :) But isn't it lovely. My favorite is the dum dum topiary - basically lots of dum dum suckers shoved into a Styrofoam ball, attached to a purple painted dowel and placed carefully in a vase filled with rocks, hidden under m&m's. All the glass containers were just random things from around our kitchen, like mason jars, little vases, bowls, and glass mugs - it's amazing how if you fill it all with colorful candies, all those boring jars and such become so beautiful



The hanging candies are balloons covered in cellophane and tied off with ribbons - we hung them from the ceiling with monofilament... ooo... it's like their floating :)




Our party agenda went as follows (my trusty husband Ben was my right hand man during the whole party...and decorating the night before... he sure is good to have around)-

1. Make marshmallow pops as kids arrive - they each stuck a marshmallow on the end of a lollipop stick and then dipped them in melted chocolate, added sprinkles, and an m&m on top. I then put their names on them and stuck them in the fridge to set... towards the end of the party, I wrapped them in cellophane and ribbon and put them in their favor bags to go home.


2. Color! As the kids finished up their marshmallow pops, we sent them over to the small table to color a lollipop.



Becca had a hard time leaving the table... because she wanted to sit there and eat m&m's.
3. BINGO! - such a party staple... and so versatile for any party theme. :)




4. Candy Walk - I printed out a bunch of candy clipart and put them on colored paper (and laminated them, since the kids would be stepping all over them). This is a pretty standard party game (also very easily switched out for different party themes)... play music and the kids step from one to the next - when the music stops, call out a picture and see who wins - OH! and for prizes for all the games, the kids received plastic gold coins - at the end they traded in their coins for candy at the candy buffet, so it was more like shopping at the candy store. :)




5. Cupcakes! We sang to Emma, she blew out her 5 candles, and the kids ate away. Mmmm...



Such cute kids! Emma invited all the girls from her primary class and one special preschool friend (and one and only boy at the party)- a few other primary girls couldn't make it and they were definitely missed... if that includes you, I just may come surprise you with lots of leftover candy - we had enough to feed an army of 5 year olds!
6. Presents!










And last, but not least... a visit to the candy store - the kids eyes were seriously huge as they tried to decide what to 'buy' with their money. It was really fun!


So, it was a good time... but I'm glad it's over... and now I'd like to take a 5 year break from throwing parties ;)

OH, but don't stop reading! I'm not done! After the party, I had 30 minutes to get the kids in their dresses and into the car... and then we headed off to the Gammage theater at ASU to see Mary Poppins! It was AMAZING! The special effects were awesome (I'm still not sure how Ms. Poppins pulled out a full size lamp and mirror from her magic carpet bag), and the chimney sweepers tap dance number was incredible... one even tap danced upside down on the ceiling! At the end Mary Poppins flies off with her umbrella gracefully over the audience - pretty impressive.

That's quite the grumpy face on Becca - I'm not sure what happened when I took this photo... I don't recall her being grumpy :)

Whew! I'm tired... it was quite a day... a GREAT day, but now I'm ready for bed...

Be Mine

Since many of us were sick over the Valentine holiday, Ben and I postponed our 'romantic dinner date' till last night. This will most definitely end up being a memorable Valentines date and we didn't even leave the house! Ben planned the whole evening.... just one of the many many reasons why I'm glad he'll be mine forever. :) Cheesy? That's alright.

It was a night of cooking, feasting, and watching a romantic classic. We started the evening at about 6:30 and finished up dessert at almost 10:30. We tried to keep the kids occupied with toys and tv upstairs... Emma inched her way downstairs several times however (thankfully they all went to bed shortly after 7) and when we told her that we wanted her to stay upstairs so we could have some privacy, she tells us "well, if you want privacy you should have gotten a sitter and gone out to eat". Having a clever child definitely has its drawbacks. Ben did most of the cooking while I tried to clean up behind him - it was nice to spend time together in the kitchen. We went back and forth between preparing food, watching our movie An Affair to Remember while a course was cooking, EATING, and chatting over our candle-lit table - It was like eating at a fancy restaurant, only we did all the cooking... which ended up being really fun. (Note: We are not professionals at plating, nor am I skilled in the arts of food photography, but it all tasted amazing!)

First Course- Artichoke Bruschetta

Second Course- Sweetheart Salad Ben got fresh beets and we roasted them and then sliced and cut them into heart shapes... awww



Third Course- Mushroom Risotto This risotto included three types of mushrooms... mmmm.



Fourth Course- Peppercorn encrusted steak and Creamy Spinach.



Fifth Course (Dessert!)- Chocolate Pudding Cakes with vanilla ice cream


The food was literally incredible! Really, it was. But my favorite of the night was the dessert. PLEASE - everyone needs to try making these- I had never made a pudding cake like this before and it seemed really weird to be pouring water directly onto the batter into the ramekin, but like magic it somehow turned into a delicious crunchy on the outside, gooey in the middle cake. The best!

Thanks to my cute Ben for a wonderful evening at home.

Emma's Big Day

Emma is 5 today! Where has the time gone?! This girl has so many talents and admirable qualities (such as- great reader, kind older sister, adventurous, thankful, polite, inquisitive, logical, amazing memory, adept at using a computer, etc, etc, etc...) - I just feel lucky to have her in our family. :) Emma's birthday started out with her daddy waking her up to a rousing rendition of the Happy Birthday song before he headed off for work. I later sent her off to school in her "Birthday Girl" shirt along with little pink frosted brownies to give to her classmates at school. After school I surprised her and took her off to the Anthem Outlets to shop at Claire's for their 10 for $10 sale. (I learned from Tessa that at the Claire's outlet, they do this sale everyday!). Emma had just received 10 dollars from her Great Grandma Szymanski the day before and she was excited to get to spend it on some girlie stuff. I was impressed when Emma told Becca that she could pick something out too and that she'd buy it for her. Becca ended up getting the pink tub of lotion. :)




After spending Emma's birthday money, the kids played on the playground for a good long while, and then we did a bit of wandering ...












That night Ben came home from work and surprised Emma with a pink rose; she was thrilled!


We asked Emma what she was going to want for her birthday dinner a couple days back and she said - "chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, sausage, and chocolate bananas smoothies". She's always been particularly fond of breakfast foods and not so much of dinner foods, so this request came as not much of a surprise.


After dinner Emma got to open her presents. This girl is the best to give gifts to because she just showers us with hugs, thank you's, and huge grins -









We've got some trips coming up in the next couple months, so we thought Emma would appreciate her very own girlie suitcase for traveling - we were right! Who would have thought a 5 year old could get so excited over a piece of luggage :)

One of Emma's gifts was a game called Qwirkle (kind of like Dominoes and Scrabble combined) - we played it all together and, maybe we're nerds, but it was really fun! It's not a kid game really, but younger ages can play it a bit and get the hang of it. Emma really liked it and was rubbing it in my face when her and daddy won. :)









So, Happy Birthday to my sweet Emma! It was definitely a fun day - good thing there are many more birthdays coming up in the near future to keep us all entertained... let the birthday season begin!

Very random: Ladies, watch this - saw it last night on the tv and laughed myself silly :)