Dinner Party

Thursday, February 26, 2009

This week we enjoyed a small dinner party at the house with a few of our friends. Being at home during the work day allowed me to prepare a nice meal for everyone. I really enjoy entertaining friends and family and am trying to do it more often. It's a New Years' Resolution that I'm still succeeding at and it's almost 3 months into the year - a little pat on the back for me! We had seasoned chicken, baked potatoes, snow peas, Wendy brought a caesar salad (and beautiful flowers) and I had time to bake a pumpkin spice cake - yum!

The cake turned out so well one of the guests had two slices and took a piece home with him - I'll keep their identity hidden. He even told me he's never liked pumpkin prior to tasting the cake. This was such an easy one to put together I thought I'd share the receipt. It whipped up very quickly. I hope you have an opportunity to enjoy it.

Finished Projects!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

This winter a friend and I took a 4 week knitting class at the community college. I thought I'd share the outcome of my recently acquired knitting skills. The purple hat is for my great-niece. I can't believe I'm old enough to have a 'great'-niece. She is the sweetest baby there ever was. Her cheeks are adorably squishable, she's very calm and happy, smart. I love her to pieces. She just turned 4 months old. The hat matches a blanket I crocheted for her earlier this year.

The blue hat was finished tonight during swim team practice. It's for Justus. Half way through the project he said he wanted a hat that would cover his ears. Thank goodness this one just makes it! I think I'll look for a pattern that's actually intended to cover the ears for a little variety in my next project. Ear coverage would be good... and not just because he asked for it.
This is for my friend Delena (Happy Birthday BTW). She missed this little adventure because she successfully rangled her kids out of the pool much earlier than I did. Justus eventually emerged from the locker room. When you're a boy there must be some really fasinating stuff in there because it takes FOREVER to get out when your mom's waiting for you. He was followed by his friend who came over to the parent's bleachers and announced to everyone that he heard someone say, 'Frickin' idiot.' He then divulged the name of the offender... I left quietly. Frickin' is my favorite word right now, it's useful in a variety of situations (driving, laundry time) but usually reserved for use in front of the immediate family members. Guess I need a new word. Or ear flaps!


The Longest Valentine's Day Ever!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Both boys had a Valentine's Day party on Thursday this week. Then Jordan had another one on Friday. Then of course Valentine's Day was on Saturday. They were bouncing off the walls with all the candy in their tummy's. Mom was bouncing off the walls too...
Picture of Jordan at his preschool party enjoying his cake. He talked me (forced me) into bringing an entire sheet cake from Costco to the party. I had planned to split Costco cupcakes between the two schools but I didn't realize Jordan thought this was a birthday party. When we got to the store it was either spend the money and buy the cake or drag a 60 pound 4 year old out of the store by his heels... do you know how far of a walk that would have been... the bakery is in the back of the store you know! I quickly decided this wasn't a battle I was up to that night. So we left Costco with a full sheet cake AND 24 cupcakes. My boys must have been the class favorites this year! Next year I'm shopping without kids.
On Valentine's morning the boys had fun decorating personalized Valentine's Day cards for their daddy, grandparents and great-grandparents.
Honestly, there are days that they actually get dressed before noon!
Steve had a beautiful bouquet of roses waiting for me and we enjoyed an early dinner at our favorite restaurant. Then we had family over for a thrilling card game (1,500 trump anyone!) to top off the day.

Hope your family enjoyed the Valentine's Day Weekend as much as ours!

February Junior Bible Quiz Meet

Sunday, February 8, 2009


Yesterday Justus and I traveled to the Seattle area for a Junior Bible Quiz competition. The teams are much tougher this year. Being able to buzz in quick enough to answer a question is actually pretty impressive in and of itself. He was in competition with approximately 50 kids. He earned enough points over the course of the day to fall into the 25th spot. I am very proud of him.

A Quiz Bee was held afterwards which is very similar to a spelling bee. They read a question and the child gives the answer. If they do not give the answer they are out. They started with about 50 kids. Justus made it through until he was the 13th child left. The top 10 kids earned a trophy. It was a very big accomplishment for him - he had such a big smile on his face! Even when it was his turn to sit out. He knew he had done well. One of his team mates actually made it into the top 10 - that was very exciting!


Today we had an Ice Skating party to celebrate the teams efforts over the past 4 weeks. They spend several hours studying in prerparation for these meets. I didn't get a picture of us today but this is one from a previous skating experience with the boys. Can I just mention that taking a 4 yr old child who weighs approximately 60 pounds ice skating should not be repeated; Back pain!

Two Play Dates for the Price of One

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Yesterday Steve was gone to an all day Diving Meet. I invited Mitchell over for Justus and Caleb over for Jordan. The four boys played very well together! You'll see that Caleb and Jordan were Batmand and Robin and Mitchell and Justus were Hot Wheel Designers. Their Hot Wheels creations were so cool that the little boys just had to join them. And believe it or not, the big boys scooted over and made room for them without any prompting! They were all so well behaved I cleaned the kitchen to stay out of their way.

February's Menu Plan

January dinners were so stress-free. I put the January menu plan on the refridgerator and referred to it every day at lunch time. There were days that situations popped up and I had to move a meal around, etc but having the basic structure ready to go was great. I knew that I had the right food in the house to make any of the meals for that week.

I have completed the menu plans for February. I've attached a picture below and believe you can click on it to view in a seperate, larger window (pretty proud of figuring that out BTW). If you're interested in any of the recipes just let me know. I'll probably post some of our favorites during the month.


Yipee!