Happy Hanukkah!

Things we learned:

1. The first day of Hanukkah and the first night of Hanukkah are not the same thing. This year the first night was 12/16, but we celebrated the first day 12/17.
2. Proper dreidel spinning technique
3. That Mommy likes latkes, but Riley is not a fan
4. That there are several different verses in the dreidel song
5. One of the acceptable spellings of Hanukkah
6. The candle used to light the other candles is called the shamash
7. You light the candle at night then blow it out and relight it the next night
8. Hanukkah being way less commercialized than Christmas is part of what makes it fun!
9. The first female rabbi was ordained in East Berlin in 1935, but female rabbis have only been ordained since 1972 in the US

Chag Urim Sameach!

Somebody's "A Whole Hand" Years Old

This year in lieu of my usual theme-a-poloza in honor of her birth I told Roo I'd take her on a birthday adventure. I brought Frozen pull apart cupcakes to school. I also made a special balloon run to surprise her before the class "party" (more Frozen, of course). Since we didn't have an official party theme I wanted her birthday shirt to be something not to fussy. Something fun rather than super girly. So I got "If you (picture of a mustache) I'm five!" from little hipster tees on Etsy. The crown with the sparkly 5 came out of a birthday card from grandparents, when your birthday's so early in the school year teachers rarely have it together enough to have a crown for you and for Roo that would be unacceptable.

We have a big family and a lot of close friends and without a party we wanted to make sure they didn't miss out on a chance to see the birthday girl on her special day. I skipped elaborate invites and sent a simple digital one letting everyone know which coffee shop we'd be hanging out in that morning and inviting them to swing by. We had a great morning, there was lots of love.

We also revealed that we'd be taking Miss Roo and her best-ie (whose birthday is 20 days later) to Disney. A princess-tastic birthday trip complete with princess make-overs and dinner in the castle! She was a bit overwhelmed at the time, but as the day wore on and it sunk in she got more and more excited.

After nap I gave her the last two presents from Mom and Dad. Isn't she stunning in that Elsa dress? She decided to wear that for her dinner with the princesses, can you blame her? Wow. Totally worth the website stalking it took to get it and the months of secrecy while it hung in my closet waiting for the big day! She also got an Ariel bed tent, is there anything cooler than sleeping in a tent and your own bed at the same time? I think not. It was a great day for me too. No frantic cleaning, no huge party to orchestrate or clean up and tons of quality time with Roo. We just played with new toys and hung out. Then after dinner she donned new jammies and another birthday crown and I put five candles in the four leftover cupcakes from the day before. We sang and after a few tries she blew them out. I can't imagine what was left to wish for...

I Forgot to Shiver My Timbers!!

Pirates & Princesses Party

I decided for this event since Riley has an amazing pirate costume that I would be a princess. I originally intended to wear my Halloween costume, but it needs some alterations. So, I did what any absolutely insane person who loves costumes would do...I put on my wedding dress. I borrowed Roo's crown to complete the ensemble. I love how we matched! It took some engineering to drive in, but I adore that dress and I was happy for an excuse to put it back on.

It was a wonderful afternoon of treasure hunting, dress up clothes, pirate-y snacks and sillyness!

Pirate Event at the Library

One day of pirating is never enough, so the next day after a lunch of pirate shaped macaroni and cheese we set sail for pirate fun at the library! We met a silly pirate captain, who thought Riley was "a bonny lass" and learned that the best treasure is inside books (of course!). They read us How I Became A Pirate which not surprisingly Roo had heard before. I quite enjoyed it. We sang pirate songs, made a treasure chest necklace, ate an adorable pirate snack and played pirate games! Roo's favorite games were popping bubbles with a sword and walking the plank!

Weekend Adventures!

Family mini-cation overnight at the beach!

Low budget, quick camping trip? Yes. Planned. Packing started. The weather! Oh no. Cancel. Bummed. Break is needed. Beach? Maybe...Research. Discuss. Discuss again. Decide not to. Discuss some more. Change our minds. Ready, set, go! Um, someone's already in that room?!? Take two. Pool! Dinner...There's no cheese on my cheese burger?!? Ice cream!! Beach! Sunset. Seaweed mound. Crutches in the sand. Back to the pool! No bedtime! Pool's closing guys. Ok, bed ZZZZZZZZ. Roo it's 7am, go back to bed. Nope. Saturday morning cartoons? Where are the Saturday morning cartoons?? Treasure hunting movie. Breakfast poolside. Walk back to the beach. Crutches on sand some more. "Ok, Mom you fill my bucket with sand I gotta hit the water!" Time to go back. Dry clothes. Packing up. Is vacation over? We'll have "vacation" lunch and a "vacation" nap at home later.

We go home that afternoon and rest. Roo and I had somewhere to be in the morning.

Which Frozen shirt? Can't wait! Hair Glitter=Ice Powers!! BFF quality time (x2)! Frozen soundtrack at full volume on repeat. Was that my turn? Did I just pass the place? Great parking spot. Check in. Swap shoes for neon gripper socks. Did we miss them? Are they here? They're here! Hugs that could knock a girl over. A long chat with the royal sisters. Pictures! Time to jump. Boing! Boing! Jump dancing. A picture with the moms! The girls get back in line. One as mini-Elsa and mini-Anna! Let's all be in one. Everyone be Sven! Now be very cold! More jumping! Pizza break. Snacks. Cake pops. Anna and Elsa come to say goodbye. Raffle tickets? Didn't win. Potty break. More jumping. I'll help you up...uh-oh, help me up! A couple games. How many tickets, is it? Two lollipops, a bracelet and a ring. Want to share? Of course! Treats for good listeners in the car. Shoes back on. Bye! Frozen sticker books for Boo & Roo. More Frozen soundtrack! Home again. Nap time.

Easter

Our Easter party was a big success, as always. You can't go wrong with a house full of excited kids. The pancakes were yellow (bananas foster), blue (blueberry) and my favorite, pink (chocolate raspberry). This year we didn't have a single pancake left by the time we were ready to find those eggs. Lot's of happy full bellies after Mike's pancakes and all the yummy breakfast foods family brought. The Easter bunny had four dozen hard boiled and 173 plastic eggs to hide so it's a good thing Roo left him a snack. I let the kids out into the yard in 3 waves: babies/toddlers, preschoolers and then big kids. In years past I had big kids wait on the patio, but this time I kept them inside the house until Mike signaled me to send the next group. We get a little bit better at this party every year.

Happy Easter!!

Hippity Hoppity Easter on it's Way

Spring has sprung and Easter preparations are underway. I'm always excited for our annual gathering which has grown from four kiddos to somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen. This party was one of the reasons we chose our house with its amazing backyard. I live for excuses to fill my house and yard with happy children. Every year we invite friends and family over for Easter egg pancakes and egg hunting.

Miss Roo filling eggs for her classmates.

The eggs we dyed and decorated

Treats and favors

Cookie Swap

I had no idea how busy our Saturday would end up being when I declared in November I wanted to do a small cookie swap with my mom friends. I made brownies and Roo decorated all the tags for me. As it happened my little get together forced Mike and I to clean up the front of the house (dining room and Christmas tree area) which I was immensely grateful for. Nothing else mattered for a few hours. I would sit at my pretty table with friends and converse completely uninterrupted by children. It was a much smaller group than I anticipated, but that didn't matter either. It was about taking a break in the middle of all the craziness for an hour or two. It was wonderful! I'm blessed to have friends who bake wonderful things and make beautiful jewelry.

Party with the Preschoolers

"Make new friends, but keep the old one is silver and the other gold."

We party-ed with the old gang tonight. It was so fun to get everybody together and do Christmas stuff. We watched Polar Express, ate pizza, made treats, exchanged gifts and played with the train! S'munks are marshmallows dipped in melted chocolate (or Nutella in our case) and rolled in crushed graham cracker. I brought a rainbow of sprinkles choices for them to add at the end too.

It's hard to believe our teeny babies are in preschool! They were all big enough to converse with us and hand out their gifts to their friends. There were lots sweet hugs and silly play. They're so lucky to have "old friends" at four. It was a lovely evening. A great kick off to our festive weekend!

My Little Pony Party