What a weekend!

It's been a busy weekend. Our weekend started Friday as the girls did not have school. In true fashion, we invited some friends over for our annual cookie decorating party. We supply the cookies and usually the frosting, and they all bring toppings. This year, I realized too late, that we were out of some ingredients to make frosting and the frosting I had hanging around was old. Very, very old. So I asked a friend who was coming to bring some. No problem. Only, it started to get late, so just as I was sending another friend out to get some, he arrived. The kids, I think, had a blast. And of the 5- 6 dozen cookies I made, we had only a handful left that didn't get decorated. And true to fashion, my younger two girls put frosting on their cookies and then dumped heaping piles of toppings on top. Even Einey was stuffing handfuls of sugar into her mouth.

After that, we had to head over to school for parent teacher conferences. Einey is doing great. Her test schools for her first standardized tests surprised us. Her language skills are just way up there. Her math skills are normal for her age, but it's something we need to work on. Overall, she's doing great in school.

Next came Meenie. She's doing as well as she should be doing. She had some issues adjusting to kindergarten at first and took her teacher a little bit to figure it out. You see, while Meenie is very outgoing, when it comes to new situations, she withdraws. She watches and observes and once she reaches her comfort level, she starts to come out of her shell. Now that she's comfortable, she isn't as nervous in the class anymore. Her biggest issue is speed. She races through things just to be done and move onto the next task. So, we need to work on getting her to slow down.

Moe is doing okay as well. Her evaluation was done in October, right after she turned four, so there were some things she didn't know. In just a few short months, we've watched transformations. She went from hieroglyphics with writing her name, to actually writing her name so you can understand it. It's still rough, but it's getting better. She never wanted to write before and even now, it's hard to get her to pick up a pencil and do her homework.


Saturday, was, by Einey's opinion, the best day ever. We had her seventh birthday party and she didn't stop smiling the whole time. The house, while a bit crowded, didn't feel overwhelming. We had her friends arrive an hour before the entertainment. We did cake and presents, and as she was opening the last presents, the entertainment arrived in the form of a man and his reptiles. So we all went down to the basement, which was a little more crowded then I expected, but not overly. Einey got to be the helper with every reptile and invertebrate he had, holding it first and then bringing them around to her friends. Every time she was asked to reach into a bag to pull something out, she didn't hesitate at all. Seriously, she just reached into bags of snakes to pull them out. Even when she was told, "Our next creature is a carnivore, and do you know what carnivores eat? meat. Yeah your made of meat, so just put your hand out like this" she didn't flinch. We had everything from geckos to an alligator. From the sounds of it and the looks on the girls faces, they had a blast!

And this morning, we woke up to a slight covering of snow. Einey has her first cheer leading game this afternoon (she missed yesterdays game) and then hopefully, if the weather holds out, we'll be able to go to the light parade tonight.

I hope everyone else is having as great of a weekend as we are. I don't remember the last time I've been so relaxed on a weekend so full of activity!

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Congratulations to Lauren and Karen who were winners of my blog giveaway.

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I posted a review of the party over here.

Life's lesson on being a hostess #1

Today we celebrated the end of summer with our second annual back to school bash. We invited some great families - kids who go to school with the girls - over for a afternoon picnic. We provided drinks, cake, and the basics, and asked each family to bring an appetizer or dessert. We picked up books for each child and had them do a picture scavenger hunt. They were given a picture of various objects in the yard (and at each object were some gems) and they had to bring back a gem from each item. At the end they got a book.

At the end of the day, after everyone had left, we sent the girls into clean the playroom (which, may I add, was much cleaner than when it's just the three girls!). Of course, the complaining started - "why do we have to clean it", "we didn't play in here" and my favorite "We ALWAYS clean at our friends houses, why don't they clean up?". These came as Husband and I were putting away chairs, picking up dishes and putting away bottles. It was a great way for us to tell the girls that after parties, adults and children need to put stuff away. So in a way, we were picking up after our friends as well. Since they saw us cleaning, they quickly went in and had the playroom cleaned in less than five minutes (it really wasn't that bad). And we were finished not to long after that.


Oh, and I did have to remind them, that they don't always clean up after themselves at friends houses - and not just after parties.

It's part of being the host!

And as for the party - we had a blast. We have a GREAT group of friends - and some new friends as well. As Husband remarked (and like he always does) he loves spending time with our friends - it's always alot of fun. He loves that we have so many wonderful friends. And I do too. (And yes, by friends - I do mean people we met after sending our kids to school - so their friends parents). Definitely a great group of people! We couldn't ask for better friends.

Harvest Party

Yesterday, we attended a friend's Harvest Party. We all had a blast.

There was food, oh so much food. Chicken pot pie, beef stew, chili, homemade bread, cornbread muffins, baked mac and cheese, chicken nuggets (for the kids), buffalo wings, crackers and cheese of all kids, apple pie, pumpkin doughnuts, apple cake, bacon biscotti bread, stuffed pumpkin, apple danish, candy apples, cupcakes and cookies. I'm sure I missed something. Then there were dozens of types of October Fest beers and pumpkin spiced ales. They had apple cider, hot cocoa and spiced teas. To end the night, there was a giant bon fire where we sat on hay bales and there were fleece blankets to wrap yourself in.


For the kids, there were games and activities, pumpkin painting and cookie decorating. There was a honey comb ball to roll around in and a moon bounce to jump in. A word of advice, put the kids shoes somewhere where you could find them before it gets dark. There were soccer balls and baseballs. Frisbees and beach balls. There was an innovative bobbing for apples game where you had to use your foot to grab the apple.


It was a great way to usher in the season.


The only problem was the weather. Don't get me wrong, it's hard to find fault with a clear 85 degree day. Except when the weather should be crisp and cool. Where you should be wearing jeans and sweaters and huddling your loved one's for warmth by the fire.