Skateland Party

Lizzie and Evie were invited to a party at the local skate rink.  They've been before and were kind of familiar with it, but were excited to take advantage of the 'skate-mates' that were provided at the party.

Boy, they had fun, though!

I decided to don some skates and get out there with the kids so I could get a few pictures while they skated.  Not only that, but I was the only parent out there; made me a little self-conscious.  They all - not just my girls - improved so much during the evening and are really excited to go back again soon!

Evie got some speed going; she can do a lap of the edge in 23 seconds!

Woohoo!  Skate on!

Activity Days with Evelyn

Last night was Evelyn's second time going to Activity Days, which is a bi-monthly activity held by our church for girls aged 8-9.  (There is also another older group for 10-11 year olds, and then they start going to Young Women for 12-18.)  Evelyn already loves to go!  I was recently asked to help the woman in charge of Evie's age group, so I get to go along with her for a while!

Last night a brother in our ward - my Activity Days partner's husband - taught the girls about Japan, since he served his mission there.  He had a lot of pictures to show them.  Japan is a beautiful place!

We also did a little geography and math lesson, showing where Japan is in relation to Wisconsin (the mitten shape) and how old America's government is in comparison to oldest dated things in Japan. 

We learned a couple of words in Japanese symbols - like this 'ki', pronounced kee, symbol means 'tree'.

This second symbol ***I'm waiting for confirmation on what it means; I want to be recording correctly.***

He brought some sushi - nothing too adventurous, just some rice with carrots, cucumber and avocado.  It was funny that the couple of the girls who 'tried' it were already familiar with it.  Most of the rest - my daughter included - heard 'sushi' and said 'no thanks'.  Bummer.

They were all too willing, though, to try the treats!  These are 'pocky' sticks, which is basically a cookie/cracker stick dipped in something.  He had three options here: chocolate, chocolate and nuts, and a strawberry yogurt.  It reminded me of chocolate covered pretzels.

I have three pictures of the next one because they're so darn cute!  They're little pandas in various activities, like archery, running, and playing soccer.  Inside these little cookies was a chocolate or vanilla cream.

Bro. H also talked about how everything is so lit up and fluorescent in Japan.  He brought glow sticks to demonstrate that.  The girls all had a blast with them!

Evie put two - a purple and a green - together and swung it around and wanted to know what it looked like.  On a slow shutter, it actually looks kind of cool!

Valentine's Fondue

This is our favorite Valentine's tradition!!  We love inviting friends over, send the kids away, potluck some sides, and fry up some meat while visiting.  This time around we tried something new and different!  The kids and I cleaned out the playroom and hid all the toys behind a curtain at one end.  Then we brought the table and chairs in, hung some Christmas lights and decorated.  It was still a little dark, so I brought in a lamp, but it ended up being fair lighting - sort of ambient.  Also, since we had one more couple than we usually have, we borrowed an extra oil fondue pot from Aaron's parents.

We took the kids over to play with their 2nd cousins for the evening and I barely made it back in time to get the party started!  We had Aaron's long-time friend Jared and his wife Elizabeth - we've actually done several things with them in the past few months; we love getting together! - my book club buddy Patti and her husband, and a new couple in our ward.  They each brought something yummy to add to dinner and we really loved spending the evening with these three awesome couples!

 

In the dining room which we emptied of the table and chairs, we set up a little photobooth and took pictures of the couples that came.

Dallin and Nikki

Jared and Elizabeth

Dale and Patti

Aaron and Melinda

The kids were so excited the next morning when we still had the table and chairs in their playroom and they got to eat breakfast there!

Boys' Valentine's Playdate

On Valentine's Day, the boys got to get together with the playgroup from our ward and another ward and have a giant playdate.  We brought a snack to share - chips and con queso for the adults, red grapes for the children - and valentines to exchange.  They decorated valentine mailbox bags, made a fruit loop necklace, ate snacks, and listened to stories.  Then the kids all lined up their bags and took turns dropping their valentines into each other's bags.

There was also a little room on the side with a photo booth setup and I took a couple pictures of the boys, then got another mom to take a picture of me with my little sweethearts.  In retrospect, they might have been better behaved if I'd chosen to take pictures at the beginning instead of at the end when they were soaring on a sugar high, but I'm glad I got pictures anyway!

Birthday Party for Evie!

Since we had so much planned around Evie's birthday, we agreed upon a pre-birthday party - almost a week before her actual birthday.  She invited 4 friends over for a pajama, pizza and wii party.

We laid out butcher paper for table cloth and invited the attendees to decorate it for the birthday girl.  Daddy and the boys joined us for the first little while, helping color, playing a few games and getting dinner, then Daddy took the boys to bed and himself to the basement to avoid the excessive girly time.

We had two pizzas - Aaron didn't think 8 kids could polish them off, but he barely got his three slices!  The girls would have eaten more but for all the pineapple.  MY kids will eat pizza with only pineapple on it forever, but evidently the other girls would all have been fine with plain pepperoni - and my other pizza was pepperoni-pineapple.  It was, nonetheless, a successful dinner.

After dinner, the girls got to decorate cupcakes.  Those six girls ate all dozen cupcakes - plus all the frosting and sprinkles they could fit on them.

Silly girls making silly faces!

Evie got a candle in her cupcake and we sang "Happy Birthday" before she made a wish and blew it out.

The girls took turns playing Mario Kart and really seemed to have fun!

I didn't take pictures of pedicures because I was the one painting all the girls' piggies, but they all loved to get their toes pretty.  After that, we played a couple rounds of Twister.  Things escalated when the girls started using the Twister mat as a parachute, until I remembered our own parachute in the playroom.

The parachute got used a couple times to hide under, then they took turns sitting on top of it while the others lifted and tossed them around.  It might not be what it was intended for, but they all seemed to really love this activity!

Evie opened a bunch of awesome presents.  From Mom and Dad she got pierced earrings - and the ability to choose when to get her ears pierced.  She set the date for the next week and we have pictures of that, too!

She got a Frozen story book, a notebook and pen, some bling jewelry with the letter E, glitzy sunglasses in a case, glow-in-the-dark friendship bracelet kit, and a spare Rainbow Loom kit - she has been so excited to learn what rainbow loom things she can make with two looms!

It was super fun to dress in pjs and have a fairly relaxed birthday party.  Evie loved everything she did and was so happy to have some friends over to celebrate with her!