Okay, so the snow didn't start out being all that great for snowballs or making snowmen yesterday, but it was GREAT for sledding!! We have a somewhat long, but gently sloped hill in our yard, and the kids were getting enough speed down the hill to continue into the flat stretch. They had a BLAST!
After about a half hour, we walked out our backyard and down the back alley to the hill (shorter in length than the hill in our yard, but much steeper). One of the neighbor girls and her dad joined us for awhile.
Emily and I got an especially long run at one point (we started out by that blue speck (a sledding disk) up at the top of the picture)
Little fingers and toes were starting to get cold, so we headed inside for lunch and naps, and never made it back out again because it got dark before we were quite ready. Dan had been gone all day, but wanted to have some fun in the snow with the kids before the rain comes through, so we all bundled back up and headed out for some night sledding! It's amazing how the snow really does lighten up the night. We've been down that alley at night before and needed flashlights, but there was plenty of light!
The flash makes it seem UBER dark in the background, but it wasn't like that at all...
Emily and Jared wanted to make snow angels once we got back to our own house afterwards. There wasn't enough light to be able to see in the viewing screen of the camera very well, so forgive the mis-aligned photos!! LOL
Dan had the kids stand under one of our smaller trees and then shook it really hard to make all the snow fall down on them
In case you were wondering how two of my children managed to acquire large bruising injuries in the same night, here's the story:
I was at a Romanian wedding reception, OKAY!?!? And the kids were hanging out near our table, which was near a railing for the ramp up to the tables, and Emily had already been told several times to stop flipping on the bar, and it's not my fault Connor thought he was a few inches shorter than he really is as he tried to run under it. AND, Dan was off helping to steal the bride--which, I might add, is a tradition at Romanian wedding receptions. AND I'd been hauled off to the dance floor by a Romanian woman, who found it VERY ODD that I would be hovering over my children rather than dancing...
I knew we were attending a Romanian wedding reception (one of Dan's co-worker's reception), and I knew the bulk of the guests would be Romanian (pretty much everyone but my family of five, and one other man, but he was recently married to one of the Romanian woman so I'm not sure he counts! LOL), but I honestly, NOT ONCE, even thought about what was in store for us that night, or how VERY VERY DIFFERENT this reception would be from anything we've attended in the past.
We were warned by another of Dan's co-workers (who is also Romanian) that people traditionally don't show up on time, and that we should arrive at least an hour late. Dan and I both felt it would be rather rude to show up an entire hour late, but aren't we glad we listened, because there weren't many people there when we arrived (an hour late). We'd also been told it would be nice to buy a bouquet of flowers to give the bride when we arrived. Thank goodness for helpful Paul, because how silly would we have felt showing up on time, and flowerless??? The stack of flowers in one corner of the room was rather impressive, and I would say the number of guests doubled (at least) within a half hour of our own arrival.
At this point, the food was brought out, and I will be honest that I steered clear of most of it, being entirely unsure of WHAT it even was. For the most part, it was bread slices and an assortment of meats and things (mostly deli meats I'd never seen before, and some gray-ish stuff that looked a bit like tuna, though Dan assures me it definately wasn't...LOL). I had some bread and some salami-ish meat (I say "ish" because it wasn't like any salami I've eaten before, but it was good and very similar). There was also some thin strips of breaded chicken (if it wasn't chicken, I don't want to know what it was), which was good.
The music was getting going, and a few of the women were starting to dance. SEVERAL people made suggestions that we put the kids in the upper room (visible from the dance floor and seating area we were in) and leave them be, but Connor's only 2.5 and not really a kid full of any sort of "healthy" fear, so between the two of us, we "hovered" over the kids pretty good. UNTIL Dan was offered some Palinca, which is moonshine made from fermented plums and is REALLY strong stuff. At that point, Dan was doing a fabulous job socializing with the men and I was on my own with the kid-hovering job.
Around 10pm, I was feeling ready to head home; it was already 2 hours past the kids' bedtimes,and we had a long drive home, still. One of the women (helpful Paul's wife, Carina) saw that we were preparing to leave, and informed us that it would be rather rude to leave before the cake was brought out. When I asked when that might be, we were told that it's generally brought out around MIDNIGHT, sometimes closer to 1am. Of course, we didn't want to be rude, but MIDNIGHT, with three small kids, and a LONG drive home??? It was right then and there that I realized things were VERY different from an American wedding reception, and felt the need to ask further questions:
Why is the cake brought out so many hours into the reception? In Romania, a traditional wedding reception would last until 6-8am the following day. Which also explains why people aren't worried about showing up on time, because they'll still have PLENTY of time to celebrate with the happy couple. The cake is brought out late to give everyone time to arrive and to eat several meals.
SEVERAL MEALS? Because the receptions last so long, new meals are brought out every few hours to make sure the guests are well-fed and having a good time. (FYI, two meals were served while we were there; the second being some sort of roast, mashed potatoes, and cabbage rolls. We were still full from the first meal, not having any clue there'd be a second one, so we didn't eat any of the second one).
The kids were having a BLAST, and short of being rude, it seemed best to just make the best of it, stick around, and enjoy ourselves. Carina pulled me out onto the dance floor, and any of you who know me personally, know that I am NOT a dancer, that I am extremely self-conscious being in any sort of setting where I'm being spot-lighted in any way/shape/form. I was honestly near tears from pure embarrassment of not having a clue what to do with my body. Not too long after that, the more organized dancing started up.
My computer is still "sick" (as reported by Kaci Thursday) and isn't currently allowing me any volume capabilities, so I have NO CLUE what the audio portion of this video is like; I'm just going for the VISUAL here, and there was a lot of this sort of dancing happening that night (and so you can see how I could be momentarily distracted from my mothering duties!) (PS mostly it was the women doing the dances, with the occasional man joining in from time to time)
As part of a group, where everyone was doing the same thing, it was far easier to let loose and go with the flow, and I ended up really enjoying myself. Emily was fascinated by the "circle dancing" and came running every time one got started (which was rather often, to be truthful!).
Around 11pm, Dan was asked to be a part of the group that kidnaps the bride. WHAT?!?! I can see your reaction was similar to ours. The guys adding Dan to their group thought that we were quite the funny pair to have never heard of that tradition (Dan and I, at this point, were still trying to decide if they were pulling our legs). But surely enough, they grabbed the bride and took off with her, and about 15 minutes later, they sent Dan in to negotiate for her safe return. It was pretty funny!!
The bride was returned, bottles of wine were given to her kidnappers, and the night continued.
sometime around 12:30am, the cake was brought out, served, and eaten. Thank you's and good bye's were said, pictures were posed for, more thank you's, more good bye's, and somewhere around 1am we were making our way out to the car (we were the second family to leave, and no one else was showing any signs of leaving, despite the fact that they couldn't find a place they could affordably rent out until 6-8am)
Somewhere mixed into all the fun/excitement were wounded children, who were promptly soothed and cuddled by doting parents, who were never out of visual contact with them for more than a few minutes at a time. And although we kept our kids out WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too late, they had a fabulous time, and I'm glad they got to experience something so different. Emily happily shared her version of things for her sharing time at school, which I think I will prompt her to write down in her journal.
And here's me, STILL (one week later) kicking myself for not having my camera with me that night!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's been a week of Halloween festivities for our family!
Last weekend, my IL's had a costume party at their house. Here are Emily and Lily (our neighbor and Em's dear friend) dressed for the party:
Jared's preschool had a Trunk or Treat event on Wednesday, where the families all decorate the trunks of their vehicles and the kids go trick or treating from trunk to trunk. It's always set for early evening, so it's still light outside, we all know each other and can be sure the candy is untampered with, and the kids have a blast hanging out with their friends getting candy for an hour or so.
Here's our trunk (not too shabby for being thrown together an hour before the event! ha!)
Three little trick or treaters: (please allow me to toot my own horn while you take note of the coordinating trick or treat bags I finished at 12:30am that morning...)
And the pretty bridal bouquet Emily and I made last weekend:
Once the kids had all made the rounds getting candy, the parents thought it would be loads of fun to gather all the kids up for a group photo (why do we do these things to ourselves and our kids???) #1 and #2 are cooperating, though #2 seems a little hungry and has bypassed the idea of eating candy and has opted to gnaw on the eye patch elastic instead... #3's off checking out the tractor oblivious to anything else that is going on
And now #3's wandered back into the group, looking a little lost, while #2's still working on devouring the elastic band from the eye patch.
And now #3's off getting up close and personal with the tractor, #2's given up on the elastic, SOMETHING is going on off to the left of the picture, and many kids can't decide if they want to be in the picture or not (marked with arrows; I've got several more group pics and those kids were in and out)
Jared's NEW pirate costume FINALLY arrived in the mail halfway through the day yesterday (I know, I know, the kid doesn't need two pirate costumes, but this new one is WAY cooler than our other one, and it was ridiculously cheap online, and we've had the other one for two years now already...I couldn't resist the splurge). It came just in time to put on to head over to Grandma Marlee and Grandpa Jeff's house for some early trick or treating (Grandpa Jeff has to put in a 12 hour day today and won't be around to see the kids, so we went yesterday instead).
Don't mind the little ghost in the picture. It was the only way we could get Connor to stand still for the picture. We told him he had to stand in front of the ghost and hide it. ha!
I was also babysitting my cousin's daughter, Grace, so I requested they send her Halloween costume as well so she wasn't left out of the fun:
That costume also happens to be the same one Emily Grace wore on HER first Halloween:
Today, I am volunteering in Emily's 1st grade class for the Halloween party, and I need to spend this morning making the cookies I said I'd donate. This evening, rain or shine (and RAIN is predicted), we're heading out to trick or treat around the neighborhood, and tomorrow is another Halloween costume party (this one is at my friend Nikki's house).
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! May you enjoy a day full of spooks and laughs, may your children get lots of goodies, and may we all learn to keep our hands out of the candy bags after the fact...
We recently took our kids to a fair that is happening somewhat near us. We met up with two other families and spent HOURS letting the kids ride rides. They all had such a good time! As much as having a large group slowed things down a bit, it worked out SO WELL having extra adults to help load/unload the kids from the rides, to keep track of all the kids, and it allowed us to split up here and there so the two girls could ride some of the bigger rides, and the four boys could ride the rides they wanted to do. Everyone had a VERY good time. Such a good time, in fact, that we kept them all out WAY past bedtime. It was 11pm before we ended up at home (and it was a school night!!). We're such responsible parents... LOL
Here are Lily, Emily, Connor, EJ, Jared, and David
We have neighbors that moved into our neighborhood last November and we've become good friends with them over the last almost year. They are a VERY friendly, generous, FUN (etc!!) family and we're so thrilled to have them as friends and neighbors.
They recently invited us down to dinner, which they've done MANY times before. Jason has severe pet allergies and we have a cat, so we're unable to ever invite them HERE, so I've been asking them to allow me to provide the meal one of these times. They finally agreed, and I took the Deceptively Delicious lasagna and it was a hit!
Here are Jason and Michelle
Jason and Michelle are wine drinkers and KNOW their wine. Dan and I don't know a darn thing about wine, but figure we'll eventually learn! LOL After we finished dinner, we started discussing the different wineries they've been to over the years and they started showing us some of the bottles they've saved and telling the stories of what event went along with each bottle. Somehow it came up that Jason could fit an entire bottle of wine into his wine glass. I will admit it appeared to be a large wine glass, but I was skeptical.
Do you think he could do it?
The answer is YES, he most certainly CAN fit an entire bottle of wine into that wine glass!
Talk about having a GLASS OF WINE!! ha ha ha! He didn't actually drink all that himself, though, he poured it into other glasses for everyone else (except me, because I've found I prefer white wine over red).
I'm thinking that bottle is worthy of saving after the night of fun and laughter and PROVING ME WRONG! Years from now he can pull it out and say, "Remember when you wouldn't believe me that I could pour this whole bottle of wine into my wine glass, and even though we'd had plenty of wine already, I cracked open the bottle and proved you wrong?"
CHEERS!
PS Honest to goodness people, get out and buy Deceptively Delicious and make that lasagna!! And then come on over and comment about how grateful you are to me for bringing it's amazing goodness to your attention. And then invite some friends and/or family over to enjoy it with you. And maybe even crack open a bottle of wine and create your own stories to share over the empty bottle years from now.
For the rehearsal and picnic, we had Emily, baby Grace, and Julie wear flower girl t-shirts. We tried to buy iron-on decals that said "flower girl" already, but all the craft stores were out of them, so I got creative and bought a flower decal and a "girls rule" decal and cut off the "s rule" and stuck the flower with the "girl" and TADA...flower girl shirts for all three girls
Here's Jared, the ladies man. He's sitting by some little girl he met just that day!
All the kids with Jessica on the wedding day
The little boys with Christopher (Em's camera doesn't' zoom without making things blurry and I couldn't get closer because then I would have been in the way of the professional photographer for this shot)
Tanner (Christopher's nephew), Emily, Jared, Julie (Jessica's cousin), and Connor
JUST as the ceremony was about to begin and people were finding their seats, it began to rain, so we quickly got everyone inside and set up for an INDOOR wedding (which meant no real aisle to walk down, unfortunately). Because I helped guide the little boys where to go (Jared and Tanner, age 4, and Connor, age 2) I don't have pictures of them making the journey with their little ring pillows, but the professional photographer does, and I will share them when I get my copies!! But I do have Emily and Julie just before they headed out the door into the big room
Emily captured the first dance
pretty tables (fish in the little bowls, with Hershey kisses and candles surrounding)
Here's the beachy-themed cake (the same lady that did their cake did my cake 8 years ago, and will probably do my brother's cake next June when he and Alisa get married)
Emily also captured part of the cake cutting (which I missed because Connor said he had to go potty; and I'll try not to be bitter that I also missed the entire ceremony because I had to leave with Connor who wouldn't be QUIET!)
Dan coaching Jared about the garter toss
Here's a certain little princess catching the bouquet!!
Jared propping his feet up after a long day!
Here's Emily before the ceremony (her hair looks all flat at this angle, but you can see in just about all the pictures that it wasn't! LOL)
Emily partway through the wedding dinner
notice anything different???
It was a great day, and Jessica and Christopher really seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was a bit of a long day for my little boys, but they did very well overall, and looked soooooooooo adorable in their little tuxes (and I'm still blown away by how grown up Miss Emily looked in her dress and fancy hair-do!). I think Jessica will have about 800 pictures of Connor because he drew quite an audience of amateur AND professional photographers (sorry Jess!). Jared kept to himself coloring at the table (or hiding under it), so I doubt there will be much of him, but hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised because I didn't end up with much of him!
Jessica and Christopher, thank you SO MUCH for letting us be a part of your special day! We wish you a LONG and happy marriage together. XOXO
Jessica and Christopher's wedding day has finally arrived! We're busy with doing Emily's hair and packing up all the fancy clothes and shoes for three little children to show up at the location for pictures. Pray that Connor behaves himself, that nothing happens to the little outfits before the ceremony is over, that the rain holds off, and that the bride and groom have a fabulous time.
I hope to have pictures to share tomorrow, but it's going to be a long, busy day and I might just be coming home to SLEEP! ha!
PS Can I just brag that my little boys in their tuxes are about the most ADORABLE little things EVER?!?!? Especially with their darling haircuts. CAN'T STAND IT. Em's a little princess in her dress and has been prettily pouting for days and days begging to finally get to wear it.
Oh, and the bride is gorgeous in her gown (it is HER day, afterall! Can't leave her out of the brag!)
I woke up this morning to the pictures from Jamie in my inbox so I get to post them afterall!!
The shirt she got was longer than her shorts, so I had the brilliant idea to just knot it up on the side (she was concerned people would think she was in just her t-shirt and panties if her shorts weren't showing), but I didn't take into consideration what would happen when she raised her arms! At the time I tied it, the shirt was nicely around her hips, but once it got raised up once, it just stayed up. OOPS!
Before I get too far into this post, I just want to make it clear that we are NOT referring to the NFL Seahawks in this video... This cheer is for a high school in our area. Funny story: Emily came pouting over to me after the first day of cheer camp and said she didn't want to go back the next day because she didn't want to be a stinkin' Seahawk. She wanted to be a Steeler girl (her daddy has trained her well, eh?). After I set the record straight that THESE Seahawks were for Grandma Marlee's work, NOT the football team we see on TV, she was beyond excited to go back for days two and three. Her next pouting moment came when she found out cheer camp was only three days long... ha ha!
Alright, onto the video of the performance yesterday. Bear in mind this is after only three days, so I don't think she did too badly when you take that into consideration. And forgive the camera-person's crappy filming. She was also trying to take still photos, AND wrestle a certain two-year-old little boy to the floor one-handed lest he RUN OFF! (Don't forget to pause the music player)
The company my dad works for owns a large section of property at a lake about an hour's drive from where we live, and they've used it as a campground, complete with a roped off swimming area, playground, short basketball court, beach volleyball area, and fitness trails. When I was a kid, we used to go camping there all the time over the summer, and would do day trips to swim and play. I haven't been in YEARS, but my mom invited the kids and I out there earlier this week. Here are a lot of pictures of our time there (but not nearly as many as my mom took!):
I truly think this "boat's" dog head should have been facing OUT instead of IN because it just poked Connor in the face the whole time and he couldn't resist just CHEWING on it!
Jared was "napping, so you have to be quiet so you don't wake me up"
You can see just how much of Jared's hair got wet while he was "napping" and how much didn't! LOL But it's a sweet picture of all three kids
There is a tree near the swimming area that is actually 6 or so trees all joined together. There are several different kinds of trees and all their roots and trunks are intertwined at the bases, and one of the trees has this goofy branch that my brother and I would pretend was a horse when we were little. I had my kids test it out:
The water felt sooooooo good on that hot day. The kids barely wasted anytime before getting entirely wet (minus dunking under water, my kids DON'T do that!). I expected to need to enter the water slowly to get my body used to it, but it truly just felt great. We didn't spend quite as much time in the water as I expected, but with three non-swimmers, I guess there's only so much time you can wander around in the shallow end and float. LOL
The kids are already asking when they get to go back again!
I'm a SAHM to Emily, Jared, and Connor. They are my inspiration and my muses as they will most likely be the characters of my stories and the subjects of my pictures! And I hope you like stories and pictures because I'll probably go entirely overboard with this... LOL
