Catch Up Wk: The Girls' Actual Birthdays

On Ella's birthday (Feb. 26) she wanted Blueberry Muffins for breakfast.  I made these the night before, using Gwyneth's recipe from this cookbook. Oh sin! They are so good!

I sent her off to school with a Birthday book, which is a tradition in her class. You buy a book for your child, wrap it and then they unwrap it during class and read it to the class.  Then the class keeps it in a special basket for the rest of the school year, returning it when the school year is over.

In the evening we went out to dinner. She chose a recent favorite of ours, Pizzeria Uno, for her dinner and insisted that I ask for waiters to come to our table and clap and sing to her.  I was game. They squirted a huge pile of whipped cream into a bowl and added a candle. She was in heaven!

Our last stop was Fro-Yo where we each got a small cup with fun toppings and sang a very loud rendition of Happy Birthday in the store.  We opened family presents and had a great time.

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On the day before Evangeline's birthday I asked what she wanted for her birthday breakfast.

Eva: Bacon.
Me: And what? Eggs? Pancakes?
Eva: JUST bacon. Bacon's my favorite.

We obliged, but we also served scrambled eggs and whole wheat toast.

I sent her off to school with Custom Silly Straws for each child in her class.  A big hit, as always!

For dinner we headed to her choice of restaurant, Chili's. She also requested much ado about her birthday with singing and clapping. 

Of course there was singing by our family and family presents.  It was a wonderful day for her.

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Catch Up Wk: Eva's 6th Birthday Party

For Eva's party we chose to go to Arnold's Family Fun Center. It is a huge...and I mean HUGE...party place with a Pizza Buffet, Go-Karts, rides, arcade games, bouncy houses, rock walls, mini bowling, a carousel and everything else you can think of.  We got a great (and inexpensive) party package which gave us access to all of those things for our guests as well as a private table and attendant.

Evangeline had 5 friends attend.  Sadly, the bad part about Arnold's is the horrid, horrid, lighting for photos.  So we did not get a group shot of all of the girls together.

After we ate truly heinous pizza (I mean, what did we expect...although I had a perfectly decent salad) the kids went berserk on the many rides.  Here is Ella and Bianca on the train.  Again, horrid lighting, but classic Bonka.

After playing we had presents and cupcakes.  Evangeline chose a Pillsbury box mix and frosting set which was Pink Lemonade flavor.  They were delicious, although I think the slightly sour taste threw off some of the little girls. But they looked amazing, right?

We had a fantastic day and we had to promise the kids we would return to Arnold's as a family and spend another, longer, day playing.

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Catch Up Wk: St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is kind of a big deal in our family.  Matt's heritage is Irish (Ahern means 'Lord of the Horses') and mine is Scottish and, clearly, we passed those genes down to our kids.

This year Ella made a Leprechaun Trap for school. She designed it and Daddy helped make it.  It turned out great!

I stayed up a bit late on Sunday night and sewed St. Patty's Day dresses for the two older girls to wear to school.  I used this tutorial by my cute pal Cheri.  It was easy and cute!

I'm not really into dying food green on SPD.  Dye in food makes me feel gross.  This is why I hate red velvet cake.  Ewww.  We usually have Beef Stew on SPD, but we had recently had it so we made my Cheesy Potato and Whatever Soup and our Irish Soda Bread.

While we ate dinner I pulled up Pandora and we listened to the SPD station.  Then I added my own favorites and taught the girls "The Wild Rover" and they clapped in all of the right parts while I sang with a wildly fake drunken voice.  We had a great day!

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YOU need to own this quilt!

My good friend, Jenny, makes THE most amazing quilts.  I have one and I cherish it.
Jenny has a friend whose husband is currently fighting terminal cancer.  She made this glorious quilt and is auctioning it off to benefit their family (including three young children). You can read more about them at Team Matt Johnson. 

The family will get 100% of the proceeds from the sale. Jenny will pay for the shipping of the quilt. It is 39" x 46" crib size.

The auction will close at midnight EST on April 5th.

CLICK HERE  
to visit Jenny's blog and leave your bid and a way to contact you in the comment section. 

A Must-Watch Video

You guys know my friend, Kirsti, who lives in Boston with her husband and five amazingly cool kids.  Recently her 6 year old daughter, Sydney, has been bullied at school.  Syd came home and decided to write a song about her feelings.

In true Kirsti fashion the entire family got in on the act to support her.  They formed a family band and learned an arrangement of the song, practicing for months, and then performed it at the school talent show.

They videoed it and put it on YouTube for family and friends to see.  You NEED to watch it because it's pretty darn cool.  Mute my blog music first.


( If you can't view the video CLICK HERE. )
How amazing and talented is that family? And how cool does Kirsti look playing bass?  Wicked cool.

I'm proud of little Sydney for discovering what every parent wants their kid to discover....that it doesn't matter what they say.  Believe in Yourself.

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Catch Up Wk: Fun with Gma and Gpa

Having my in-laws visit was a dream. They are the bestest.  Grandpa had a very full beard since he is playing Alfred P. Doolittle in a stage production of My Fair Lady.  I wondered if Bianca would mine.  She didn't.

We had such fun. We ate FroYo.  We swam in the hotel pool. The girls even had a sleepover in an adjoining room at the hotel.  The girls laughed and laughed at Grandpa's antics and loved reading time with Grandma.

 

The morning after they left Bianca woke up and said, "Where's Grandpa Grandpa?" (meaning Grandpa and Grandma).  When I said they had to go home she sobbed and sobbed while wailing "Grannnndpaaaa...Grannnndpaaaa!"  I felt exactly the same way.

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Catch Up Wk: Ella's Baptism

On Saturday, March 9th, we had Ella's LDS Baptism.  This is a huge milestone in the LDS faith.  Mormons are baptized by immersion (as Jesus was) and then given the Gift of the Holy Ghost by Priesthood authority.  They are also made an official member of the Church.  For more information on LDS baptism click here.

Weeks before Ella helped me design these programs for the baptismal service.  Ella had chose a light lavender color for her decorations.

We had cooked and prepped the entire day before with the help of my amazing in-laws.  I had special ordered these cute shield cookie cutters to make her CTR cookies.  I have made my same sugar cookie recipe quite a few times with the same results....not that day.  They were odd and crumbly and the frosting also was weird.  Who knows what happened.  But I had to let it go.  Sad, but I moved on.

Having the help of the family the day before made it possible for us to have a pretty peaceful morning, which I really needed. We arrived at the church and set up tables for the small lunch after the service. More lavender was put into the decor.  It turns out we had forgotten the 20 heart-shaped PB&J's we made for the kids and our lavender plates, but we carried on without.  I figured forgetting just two things was a pretty good record.

ABOVE: White cupcakes with blue raspberry frosting and white sprinkles. Framed photos from Ella's baptism portrait session.  Three small bowls with lavender and white candies.  Homemade artisan bread and pita chips for our two homemade dips; Roasted red pepper dip and cold spinach dip.

ABOVE: Water bottles covered with patterned duct tape.  Veggie tray with greek yogurt ranch to dip. Fruit platter.  Fresh flowers from our farmer's market in lavender and white in a mason jar.  More framed photos of Ella.

Ella had only invited two small families from our Ward (congregation) because of her anxiety.  The baptismal service was lovely.

There were opening prayers and songs. Then Ella's Grandpa gave a short talk on Baptism.  It was sweet and thoughtful and he spoke of her decision to follow Jesus Christ and how that path would stretch out in front of her for her entire life.

Then came the baptismal ordinance.  I took her into the changing room and took off her tights, shoes and hair bow.  She began to get nervous. I put my arms around her and said, "Mommy and Daddy will be right there with you. You never have to be afraid."  She said okay and we opened the door to the font.  There was her Daddy to meet her and take her into the waters of baptism.  After a short prayer he immersed her in the water.  She came up from the water smiling and beaming. 

We went back into the changing room where we changed into her dry white dress, I brushed her hair and put the bow back in.  We headed back into the room where her close friends were waiting. 

Then it was my turn.  I gave a short talk on the Holy Ghost.  I shared with her the wonderful companion he could be for the rest of her life, communicating the truthfulness of doctrine, God's love and giving her guidance.

The I said, "Ella. God made you for greatness.  You will accomplish great things in this life. You might change the world with your goodness.  You might be famous. You might become the president of the United States.  When people hear your name they might break into applause.  But no matter what path you take or which decisions you make, Daddy and I will never be more proud of you than when you choose to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, like you have today."  And yes, I sobbed through this part.

She was then given the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by those holding Priesthood authority.

A member of our Bishopric (church presidency) welcomed her to the Ward and the Primary president (the leader of our youth organization) welcomed her and gave her beautiful keepsakes of her special day.  A closing song and prayer ended the service and then we had a lovely lunch with our close friends and family.

It was a wonderful and sacred event.  We then forced our children to stare directly into the sun for a family photo.  Yeah...not our best idea.  Note the lavender/purple color coordination. Yep, I went for it.

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Catch Up Wk: Ella's 8th Birthday Party

I planned to ease the Black Period this year by planning both of the girls' birthday parties away from our house...something we never do.  It was the best decision ever.

Ella's party was held on Saturday, Feb. 23 at Busy Bees Pottery in Audubon.  If you live in my area I highly recommend it.  It was very inexpensive ($120 for 8 guests, the party room, a party attendant, AND their pottery pieces) and it was so much fun for the kids.

Ella had her two sisters there and then invited 5 friends from school and church.  This made a total of 8 kids...our family's cap of birthday party guests.  It was perfect. 

( L to R: Samantha, Adri, Abby, Olivia, Ella, Lucinda, Evangeline )

Each little girl chose a piece of pottery to paint and started in on the creation process.

After painting we tidied up the table and had cupcakes, mini ice cream cups and juice.  Ella chose a black, white and aqua (her favorite color) theme. 

Although the cupcake looked amazing they did not taste amazing.  I was pretty angry at America's Test Kitchen...they never let you down!  I should have used a mix...lame.  But they weren't awful or anything and the kids gobbled them up with no complaint.

Presents were opened and fun was had by all.

Ella got to put her hand print on the party wall.  She was so excited to leave her mark!

It was a really great day and my favorite part was NOT having to clean up!  Although, I kind of did anyway.  

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The PLAYLIST is BAAACK!

I know!
I am SO excited too!

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This & That: the Catch Up edition

People...
I made it though my Black Period of 2013.
It ended yesterday when Evangeline's party was completed.

This means that this week on the blog will be CATCH-UP WEEK
with details from Ella's birthday, Ella's party, Ella's baptism, the In-Law's visit, Eva's Birthday, Eva's party, St. Patty's day and whatever else happened over the past two months.

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I ordered this dress for Easter.
So excited!

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Eva had a career day at school
where she had to dress as
a Community Helper.
She chose "Rock Star".
Ugh.

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I saw the movie Anna Karenina.
It was pretty good, but the film makers took too many
artistic licenses with a story-line not many people are familiar with.
Also, Keira Knightly is definitely too thin.

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I put on a size 14 jeans at Old Navy yesterday.
They fit!!!

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Evangeline threw up three times today
including once at church.

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So far, 2013 has been the year of amazing books.
Out of the 7 I have read for the A to Z Challenge
only 1 has been less than stellar.
Check out my ratings HERE.
You won't be sorry.

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Things are looking up!

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