Around the World in Two Hours

Well, we've been a little busy since Christmas... sorry about the delay in posting. Two days after Christmas, my grandmother passed away after suffering for quite some time following a surgery in November. So our plans were changed. Then we returned from that trip with just a few days to remove all Christmas decorations and to prepare for a birthday party on January 5!

Yes, my daughter is now 7. Time really flies!! We gave Reagan her choice of venues... a skating party, a Michaels party, a pottery-painting party (my favorite choice), another Libby Lu party, etc. She said, "I want it at home." Ugh. So after some Internet-searching for a cool party idea, we came up with an Around the World party.

My goal was to keep the guest list to about 6 or 7 girls. Ha! I can never take my own advice with parties. Once we made the list, we realized we had to invite a few more to include the remainder of the Brownie troop (can leave anyone out). Then we had to invite a few more to include the rest of the girls in the class. Couldn't forget that handful of friends outside of Brownies and class that Reagan adores. Anyway, after all was said and done, we had a total of 15 girls! YIKES!

The invitations were boarding passes inside a mini folder explaining the party and showing a map of the continents. Unfortunately dummy me stated that we were hitting all 7 continents... including Mexico which I ridiculously counted for South America. Duh. I had to email all the moms and apologize for that... I was embarassed. We had one regret, and two girls were no-shows. So at 11am, we had 13 girls in our house. I felt so bad... I actually set the girls down in a circle and discussed the rules of the party! What a party-pooper I was... RULES!? But I tried to mention them in a nice way. They were the rules of the "travel agency". No touching the "locals" belongings. No yelling seeing as though we were a full plane and it would be too loud. No roughhousing since I didn't want to send anyone home due to injury without completing the trip. Etc., etc. The rules were listed on an itinerary sheet that also showed the map of the world on the back. I had empty stars at each of our stops which they filled in as we went along. They learned the rules after decorating their Souvenir Bag.We took off from Reagan InterNational Airport (ha ha ha) on Hollar Airways. Our first stop was downstairs in China. We learned a little about Chinese New Year and then the fun began. The girls had 143 balloons (we popped one out of the gross) in red and black to pop! As you can see below, Tommy thought that was a little loud! They were some tough balloons, but inside 12 of them were puzzle pieces. Once we found the pieces, we were able to assemble a picture of a Dragon Costume in a parade. Then they collected their souvenirs for their souvenir bag: Chinese folding fans.From China we went to Mexico, where we broke a pinata and filled up pinata loot bags. Then we collected our souvenirs: maracas.

Pizza had arrived, so we went to Italy! We ate pizza and listened to Dean Martin and various others sing Italian songs (Volare, That's Amore, Finniculi Finnicula, etc.) I loved just prancing around singing the songs! The girls then collected their souvenirs, soccer notepads. Okay... that was a stretch, but Italy loves soccer, right?

Then we went out to the cold garage for... what else... Antarctica! The girls did a little matching game trying to find two matching numbered plastic penguins. It got a little confusing and my own daughter broke down in tears since Mommy screwed up the directions. But, after the confusion, all girls left with their penguin souvenirs. :-)

We headed downstairs to safari in Kenya. We played animal charades where the girls got a chance to act like an animal and have the others guess, then we played a game where teams had to link together two parts of cards to make either a picture or a word... then they had to match the picture to the word (i.e. aardvark, chimpanzee, etc.) The winning team won 2 lollipops each. Then I gave the rest a lollipop, too. They collected their safari souvenir: binoculars.After Kenya, we scooted across the room to Australia, where we made our very own boomerangs. (The girls colored cardboard boomerangs.) I was a little worried someone would attempt to throw them... but no one did. Whew! I don't know that the cheap cardboard ones would return... but they did do funny turns in the air (yes, I tested one and nearly knocked a ceiling light down.) The boomerangs were their souvenirs.

Then we headed upstairs for our last stop in North America: New Orleans for MARDI GRAS! The girls donned their metallic masks, tinseled crowns, listened to cajun music (and a jazzy favorite... When the Saints Go Marching In), and ate King Cupcakes. I explained the tradition of a king cake. Although I had actually found and purchased little plastic babies to bake into the cupcakes, I decided not to risk a choking hazard. So, I used gummy bears. For the record, even after the cupcakes are out of the oven and have cooled for a few minutes... they are still too warm for little gummy bears. I thought I'd attempt to squish the bears into the cake while it was still warm and moist. So I did. Five minutes later I returned... no more bears. They ALL melted. So I had to replace them all. Fortunately the holes had already been made. I gave everyone a red gummy bear, except one. The girl with the green gummy bear won. I gave her a silly Mardi Gras jingly pen. I think the king cupcakes were a hit. Messy since they needed to find the bear with their fingers rather than eat it... but it was fun.
After Mardi Gras, we watched Reagan desperately open 12 presents in 15 minutes. And she made it just before the first mom arrived to pick up her daughter!

Lots of High School Musical and Hannah Montana gifts and Bratz and Barbies and crafts... Reagan was a pleased little girl! She even got her first Rescue Pets epets.com dog. So now the kids are officially on Webkinz (with what? 30 Webkinz??) and Shining Stars (with about 6) and now ePets.com. They now have a ton of pets to keep up with!All in all, it was a quick-paced, activity-packed party, and the girls were great! I was very happy with it (although I felt bad about the silly penguin game mix-up). And now, I begin to think about Tommy's party (May). I'm thinking of an indoor park party. $100 all said and done sounds good to me... and with no mess in the house!

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Our three kids seemed to make out pretty well in the toys (and electronics) department. The whole lot of us were blessed. We pray that you have a joyous, happy Christmas!

Another Christmas Song to add to your Favorites

This has been viewed many times by us, and now we're addicted to this group on YouTube. They are fantastic. We hope you'll enjoy it as much as we did. This is an a cappella group from Indiana University, called Straight No Chaser.

4 Days till Christmas

Funny how I started out with the right intentions of being organized this season. Now, I don't have any more shopping to do, so I'm at least 50% there. However, I am still remembering a few gifts yet to wrap (those last-minute gift-card purchases, late-arrival online orders, and those electronics that need loaded up... the latter of which is Mike's job.). Plus Ben and Reagan each have a bag of gifts to wrap for others (and of course, they must be done separately and in shifts with Daddy and I to avoid seeing our own gifts. Hmmm... wonder if I can trust each with a pair of scissors and a roll of paper on their own? We'll see...

I had the best intentions last night as I went to bed. I planned to tackle all these last minute things today... cleaning bathrooms, finishing baking, making food lists, shopping, and wrapping. I did none of it. I curled up on the sofa for 4 straight hours, dozing in and out of sleep, as Tommy watched Dora and Diego videos. Ever have one of those days?

Yesterday after running kids' teachers' gifts to school, stopping in at one Christmas party, cleaning up the kitchen, and talking on the phone with my mom about my Grandma's seriously-ill situation, I was already spent physically and emotionally. Last night, though, we went to Mike's ESOL dinner. He teaches level 2 (I believe) English to Speakers of Other Languages. They had a short sermon at the church (done beautifully by our pastor and the interpreter), followed by an outstanding international potluck buffet! Whew! I have no idea what half the dishes were called, but we went home full. :-) There was some Afghan recipe there that had everyone talking, but I still am not sure what it was. Need to find that recipe! Mmmmmm. We also enjoyed a flavorful citrusy drink full of fruit... think "sangria" with orange juice and water instead of wine. Tommy had pizza, but the two older kids had adult food (sticking with the ham slices and potato chips... ha ha ha). It was a great night, and a lot of fun meeting the students. I have a great respect for these people, trying their best to learn a new language as adults. Believe me... I'd be so confused and terrified.

So, we all came home at 9:30 exhausted. I think it's just snowballing these days. Too many things to do... we're all tired. The funny thing is that as of today, we have almost no "busy" plans. Just finishing preparations, and celebrating with family. I'm hoping to have a relaxing weekend.

Flu, Parties and Cocoa

Well, the week is going remarkably okay... despite having one child with the flu. Reagan is sick. She's had an on-again, off-again time with this bug. We went to the doctor to rule out Strept. He thought it could be a cold virus or the flu. We didn't do a flu test since there was no need. She couldn't take any medications for it since it was already day 5. However since it all started with 2 days of shivering (chills) and headaches and fever, I figure it's the flu. Today, she's just wiped out. I knew she was really feeling ill when she didn't even care that she missed the big Brownie Christmas party today. Poor girl. She did get a lot of goodies that I collected for her at the Brownie party, including a yummy hot chocolate mixture made by Ms. Traci, her secret Santa exchange ornament, and much more.

Tonight however she is doing well. So far today, we distributed gifts to 2 teachers and 2 coleaders, exchanged Secret Santa gifts at Brownies (and had our party), delivered cookies to Ben's party (or so I thought... I accidentally put the cookies in Reagan's bag... ugh!), and exchanged neighborhood Secret Santa gifts with the kids. By the 7pm exchange at the local pizza place, Reagan was feeling much better... even dancing in the aisle. Good thing... HER Christmas party at school is tomorrow.

At our dinner exchange this evening (which by the way, was so nice despite only having 3 families come) I was talking with Donna. She owns 3 terriers, one of which is a Westie... just like our Aspen. We were talking about the dogs and their personalities, etc. Funny... and quite ironic. You see....

We came home after the pizza dinner and exchange and light-sightseeing with Daddy around 8:30... which is past bedtime for the kids. We came in to a MESS on the sofa. It looks reddish-brown. I assumed she had thrown up. Nope... it was "dry"... and was just the beginning of the disaster. The sofa was the place where she dragged Reagan's cocoa mix (which she must have found inside her bag on the kitchen table) and ate all of the marshmallows and cocoa. I moved the cushions aside to clean after our bedtime routine. We then congregated on the loveseat with our bedtime Christmas book. Just after reading the book and saying prayers, I happened to reach down under a pillow I was sitting on. Yuck! That's where Aspen's stomach apparently began to object to the cup of cocoa mix. None of us sat on the exact location (somehow!)... but there are two more cushions to add to the cleaning. We commented on how she does not tolerate chocolate, and how we'll need to watch for her getting sick tonight. Ha... if only we knew at that time....

So I sent the kids upstairs while I pulled out the SpotBot. Shortly later, I hear "Mom! Aspen threw up on my bed!" Yes, Ben's bed was where Aspen's stomach FULLY objected to the cocoa mix. It soaked through a comforter, thick blanket, 2 sheets and a mattress cover. Thank goodness we have a plastic cover on his mattress!

So, at this point, as Aspen is following us around the house, I am realizing... ah! our dog's mouth is brownish-gray! She got a bath, to say the least.

Funny... at the first location, I had to use the steam cleaner to scrub out the powder from the creases in our chenille fabric sofa. Doesn't sound bad till you realize that water is just ITCHING to mix with cocoa mix. I basically created "hot" cocoa in my cleaning machine. At least that spot smelled chocolatey (it was only the hot chocolate powder).

As we were rolling our eyes and almost laughing at the situation, we joked. Aspen never seems to pick the middle of a big ol' cushion to throw up. Nope! She finds the crevice between cushions and the back of the sofa. So, one "spot" requires cleaning of 3 sides of each of 2 cushions, the back of the sofa, and the area under the cushions. Not to mention trying to clean around the cording along the edges of each cushion. Now, multiply that by 2.... for 2 sofas.

At least with bedding, everything gets thrown in a washing machine! Let "All Clear" do the cleaning instead.

Well, one good thing came out of this. I still had almost a full tank of water after refilling and finishing cleaning the sofas. So, I cleaned our basement staircase. Wow! It looks amazing now! :-)

Hmmm.... shall I even hazard to attempt doing anything tomorrow?

219 Houses

What a month, eh? Last Friday, the older two kids hosted their own craft table at the elementary school spaghetti dinner/Santa shop/silent auction/craft fair. When I learned that they would allow kids to have their own tables for free (and one silent auction item), I knew my little budding entrepreneurs would love it. So, for the last 6 weeks, Ben and Reagan have been going mad with Perler beads! They made 43 ornaments and/or magnets and 12 craft kits to make a Pokeball magnet. They did remarkably well... sold all by 12 magnets and 5 kits. Each came home with over $10 (which for 50 cent magnets, isn't too bad!) Well, they insisted on getting a handmade crayon truck for Tommy (from the vendor next to us), so they did spend a little of that.

After we packed up our stuff and left, I took them through our neighborhood and the adjoining neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. I'm guessing there are approximately 300 homes total combined. We counted the number of lighted/decorated homes. 219! Now if that isn't a perfect example of Suburbia... competing for the best holiday-decorated home, I don't know what is. Of course, there is always that one that makes an impression on you, too. This home just glows! You can see it from several blocks away. To say the least, we HAVE to get Daddy and Tommy to see it soon!

The next day, five of us chaperones 8 brownies (and 2 brothers) to a theatrical performance. It was great! The girls made us proud, and we even got to tour the stage to see the fly system, girls' accessories, and scenery. Can't wait to see the pictures.

Then came Sunday... our home group's Progressive Dinner. After such a great weekend thus far, I knew something had to go wrong. At the end of appetizers, boom... electricity went out. After a half an hour of panic over what to do with our kids and ourselves (since pizza shops for the kids were all closed and we had NO food for the kids), we all finally ended up in the home of one couple for dinner AND dessert. (We were supposed to host dessert, but with all the complications involved in no electricity in 30 degree weather, we just stayed at the one home.) It was fantastic. A little congested with 20+ kids and 18 adults... but with the candlelit dinner and fireplace-lit dessert and game, we had a great time! After our Chinese exchange/white elephant/whatever-you-want-to-call-it game, Mike and I came home with a mini chopper and a "wonderfully cute" (ahem) football snack dish that plays the Fox NFL song when you push the little button. Somehow no one wanted to steal it away from Mike. Bummer. Well, at least Tommy is having a ball with it... though I now hum the Fox NFL song in my sleep. We finally succeeded in bringing a fun, well-stolen, gift (took us a few years, but we finally figured out what interests our group the most... toys!) Our marshmallow shooter was stolen 5 times till it was "locked". :) The second gift we brought was a big box of marshmallows... but that never ended up with the shooter owner's spouse. Oh well.

Monday night was the neighborhood mom's Secret Santa reveal. I am the new one of the bunch this year. It was great! We shared some stories of being seen during drop-offs or almost-being-caught. Somehow no one found out. :-) Anyway, it was great fun meeting so many new people (all who live in my neighborhood!)

Now off to a new week full of 3 school Christmas parties (okay... two are called holiday parties), a neighborhood kids' Secret Santa exchange at a pizza place, an ESOL Christmas buffet (Mike teaches ESOL), a Brownie Christmas party, and many gifts to hand out (9 teachers!!, Brownies, Brownie co-leaders, and the list goes on).

Only a week till Christmas. Whew! Hope everyone has a great Christmas and remembers what the season is all about. (...and no... not diamonds and new Wii systems.)

God Bless!

Six Digits

So, the old minivan finally did it. Six-plus years! Yesterday after driving all around the area doing some shopping at the mall, Kohls, Target, etc.... we pulled into the driveway at exactly 100,000 miles. :-) What are the chances we'd park at exactly that number? And in our driveway, to boot? So, we had to take a picture. And nope, with adoption costs... no new car in our near future. This old van better last another 100,000.