11/11/11

We had a little party to celebrate the fun date of 11/11/11.  I even got to make a big wish at 11:11 am.  (complete coincidence, but fun anyway!)

We didn’t play Uno like I’d planned, but other than that we did everything on our list. 

We had cupcakes with candles and everyone made a wish.  They were egg free, but the kids thought they were still really yummy.

(these pictures are post cupcakes… didn’t want to ruin Spencer’s snack!)

Then we played a "You are #1” game where each person got a poster board square and wrote what they liked about themselves then passed it around until everyone at the table had said something they liked about you.  They LOVED this game.  It was so neat to see what they wrote on each other’s papers.  Silly things, but fun and serious things as well. 

Seeing the big kids help the non readers with their words and thoughts was so sweet.

I made them pose with their posters. Of course.

 

Then we colored American flags wrote thank you on them to mail to the local VFW.   We talked about how we need to be thankful for our freedoms and what the VFW was all about. 

I hope the kids will remember our 11/11/11 party for a long time and the importance of this special day.

School Pictures and Better Pictures

I am always torn about school pictures. They are expensive, but it beats having to drag them to another studio. My main concern with them though is that they are not always great.

Some years they have been wonderful. This year just so so. Same for last year.

Don’t even get me started on the crying pictures of Spencer that grace his student ID each year at middle school. (They never believe me when I tell them they just HAVE to get his face… not him looking at the camera, not him smiling etc) Next year I’m submitting a picture and if the school doesn’t like it tough.

Here’s this year’s- I got this funny picture idea from 71 toes.

Ignore the 1/2 eaten cereal bar on the couch. I interrupted his breakfast to take this photo.

Sammie’s is pretty, but didn’t capture her quite right.

I think I did better.

I still can’t get over how grown up she looks in these pictures.

Remember this picture of Spencer? It sits on our piano. The close ups of Sammie and Tyler will be replacing the school pictures soon.

Park Trip

We met some family at the park on a recent trip to Jacksonville.  The kids were off on the 4th of Nov. for a teacher development day so we went to see my Dad.  My Aunt Linda came up from Winchester too so that was good and we got to see some of Thomas’ family and my brother and his family as well as my cousin who had just had surgery!  Whew!  Talk about throwing as much into a 24 hour period as possible!

I love to take pictures at the park- all of that pretty natural light. 

Halloween 2011

I know the holidays are going to be hard without my mom to share them with. I know that. I didn’t expect Halloween to be hard though for some reason- I am not a huge fan of Halloween and we never did much with my parents for the holiday. Boy, was I wrong. I got through the actual day ok, but the leading up to and after were difficult. My “down in the dumps” feeling was probably made worse because of the crazy amounts of chocolate I eat every Halloween. That sugar crash sure didn’t help!

The kids had a great time though, as usual. We had a ton of costume choices at home this year so rather than the painstaking search and hunt for the perfect costume we decided to let the kids pick from what we already owned. I think they chose really cute costumes.

This one was mine when I was about 2 years older than Sammie. She can barely fit into it now so we thought we better dig it out this year. It’s a Korean dress my mother got when we lived in Japan when I was a girl. She looked great in it.

Tyler was Mr. Fantastic or “Stretch” as he would tell anyone who asked. Loved that it didn’t come with a mask.

Here’s a close up of the hair- the best part according to Tyler- we spray painted his hair white on the sides.

I couldn’t seem to get a good one of our Karate Kid by himself, but here’s a few groups pictures with Spencer trying to run off…

I went to the little kids school Halloween parade- super cute costumes this year:

As much as I could do without Halloween each year- this parade is a pretty cute way to celebrate it.

11/11/11 Party

 

We are having a little party around here tomorrow for 11/11/11.

It may or may not include-

An Uno Marathon

cup cakes with candles to “make a wish” because it’s 11/11/11- you know- like the clock?

You are #1 certificates for the kids- they love these.  It’s a chance for me to tell them how great they are in a formal way- earning a certificate an a little prize.

We will write a letter to a veteran and color a picture of a flag.  We’ll take these over to the local VFW later in the evening. 

I’ll take pictures of everything and post next week.  I also need to catch up on Halloween, seeing cousins, and a few park days to celebrate fall.

Have a great veterans day tomorrow- 11/11/11! 

Ronald

Tyler had two doctor’s appointments back to back (I try to do that when I can because they are 2 doors down from each other!) and we thought it would be fun to run through McDonald’s since he missed lunch at school.  Well, the drive through was so busy we went in and we saw this guy eating a salad with some buddies! 

Tyler got a signed picture.

 

 

Fun huh?

Favorite new hot chocolate recipe

Here’s the new fall favorite I adapted from this recipe on family fun.

Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate For A Crowd

Adapted from Family Fun Magazine
1 ½ cups water
12 oz white chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli)
6 cups milk (whole or 2% is best)
2 (16 fl oz or 6 cups) pumpkin spice creamer (refrigerated section)  
a few dashes of salt

Combine water and chocolate chips in a large saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is melted.  Bring mixture to a boil for 2 minutes then reduce heat to low.  Stir in milk and creamer.  Warm until heated through.   Can also heat through in the crock pot.

Measurements for serving 4.
½ cup water
2 oz  white choc. chips
1 ½ cups milk
1 ½ cups pumpkin spice creamer
dash of salt

I made this for a church pumpkin party so I don’t have pictures, but man it smells great in my crock pot.  The kids liked the giant pumpkin marshmallows I bought to go with it though!