The night before Sam's birthday we rearranged the two kid bedrooms to have one bedroom and one playroom. Sam and Dancy were rockin' out on the new bunkbeds in their room:
"My bir'day is coming!"
February was a little frustrating for me. I tried a month before Sam's birthday to start talking about party, presents, inviting family, etc. Every time I brought it up to Shad I got no response. Until a week before Sam's birthday. So that's how much notice anyone had on being invited to celebrate Sam's birthday with us. All of Shad's family was able to come, and my mom and sister-in-law Amber. Logan and Brittny came later. Samson loves Logan, Shad's coworker, and is warming up to Brittny, Logan's wife.
The weather wasn't warm that weekend to play at the park (even though it had been earlier in the week), so we just hung out in the house. That was a lot of people in our small house, but somehow it worked! We didn't plan any activities, just let everyone enjoy spending time together. Samson loved having all his favorite people there for him.
Singing before opening presents
{Dancy, Ryan, Tommy, me, Samson}
We like to skip wrapping paper for birthdays and just go for towels or blankets.
Tommy got Samson a lightsaber for Christmas. Fighting against a sword was all right, but Tommy got Samson another lightsaber for his birthday and now they have REAL battles!
{Shad, Thora, Dan, Dancy, Ryan, Samson, Katie holding Lindsey}
Bronco shirt!
{Dancy, Ryan, Tommy, me, Samson, Thora}
Acting like a two-year-old in between opening presents. He also got Batman pjs, an orange football, SnapPea Crisps, Costco popcorn, two Lego sets, animal crackers, two car tracks, and more I can't think of.
Oh, the excitement of opening a Lego set! Samson wanted to build it right away and forget everything else. I persuaded him to wait on the Lego set and let him eat animal crackers instead.
Yay for snack presents!
Master Tommy
Testing out the car track from Logan and Brittny.
{Brittny, Amber, Tommy, Dancy, Thora}
Vern
Levi
Before everyone arrived, I had Tommy and Katie helping prep the potatoes to do baked potatoes in the crockpot. Katie has helped me with potatoes before, so she assured me that she knew what to do. When I came back 10 minutes later expecting that all the potatoes would be done, I found that Tommy had only done two. He told me that Katie instructed him to poke the fork in the potato all the way around to make an X. No wonder it was taking so long! The rest of the potatoes got prepped a lot faster.
I saw lactose free vanilla ice cream and decided to try it out on Sam. He still got a light rash, but for his birthday he got to enjoy blueberry pie with ice cream.
Sooo good!
Balloon volleyball broke out while Samson and Tommy had a lightsaber fight.
{Pris, Thora, Amber}
{Tommy and Samson}
Samson said, "Aghhh! You got me!"
Samson loves to "scew" things with his "scewer." "I can scew it!"
By the end of the day, this kid was wiped out! Some people stay up all night to party, but two-year-olds have to stay up all day to party.
Katie is our family hairdresser. She started getting fancy with Dancy's hair.
When I try to take picture of one kid because he's being cute playing with his baby...
they all want in.
{Dancy, Katie, Tommy, Samson, Thora}
This picture is awful, but I'm glad I have it because it shows that Samson and Thora have been working as a team to take the diaper trash out of their room every night...all the way out. Sam isn't satisfied with just putting it by the door. He tells me to put it outside in the trash can.
I told the kids one morning that I would take them to the library for storytime. We haven't been doing that lately. Katie was so excited that she dressed like a librarian and made a name tag.
Borscht should be a new expletive, I think. Especially when spilled on beige carpet. Luckily I was able to get it all out and we don't have pink speckles!
Several of our kids have been developing a love for skateboards. We bought one at a thrift store. Now we just need to learn to ride it. I don't know how!
{Samson}
March 2nd, the day before the Home Depot workshop day, I was suddenly violently sick. Lying in bed all day. Sending Shad to the dentist alone with 5 kids. A pretty incompetent and unorganized office that almost turned him away because they "didn't have his appointment." And gave him paperwork and then after he filled it out, while managing 5 kids and being pulled into the exam room for discussion, they told him he didn't have to fill out the paperwork. I also had picked up playing the organ for two funerals that weekend and had to cancel one. Saturday. Saturday Shad and I had planned that I would take Katie and Dancy to Home Depot early so they could get to a birthday party that started at the same time we normally go to HD. I barely managed that. Didn't even have the brain power to tell the grandparents across the table to mind their own business if my six-year-old is using a hammer and nails without my supervision. She's got this. Parent your own kid, not mine, thank you. She came with her own toolkit, so that should tell you something. Anyway, I had to help the girls rebuild their project twice because I was reading the directions wrong in my brain haze. So we got done late and got to the party late. Then I had just a few minutes to rest on the couch before going to the second funeral I was determined not to bail out on. I made it.
Sooo...the "Easter Bunny" was at Home Depot. That was the character for the month to take pictures with. Can we just stop and talk about how stupid that is? Santa is one thing, but a bunny suit?! I mean, at least this bunny doesn't look as creepy and demented as these ones, but still. Why insult the intelligence of your kids and tell them this is the Easter Bunny that comes to their house. What are they gonna do, tell the bunny what they want in their baskets? Ugh. The caption should say, "We just wanted the candy in the eggs. Don't give a crap about you!"
Mid-February had me running exhausted for a week: Mardi Gras, February 13; Valentine's Day, February 14; Chinese New Year's Eve and Day, February 15 & 16. It was an intense week. We celebrated all of them. And watched Olympics every night. Favorite sports were biathlon (Shad and I), snowboarding, bobsled, luge (Dancy), speed skating (Samson: "Go, go, go! You got it!"). It actually took some persuasion to get the kids to watch figure skating with me, but Thora started copying some moves. We learned that biathlon actually makes sense: it's a Norwegian military training activity that used to be a way to revere the gods! And it's called skiskyting (ski shooting), which means so much more than biathlon. We also learned what the stripes on the South Korean flag mean, and that the flag is called "Supreme Ultimate Flag."
Anyway, holidays.
Shad and I fell in love with New Orleans four years ago when we spent a day in the city before cruising out to Mexico. We've shared that fondness with our kids, and when I read the Marie-Grace & Cecile story arc of the American Girl collection, that sealed the deal. We had to start a tradition of celebrating the holiday. In my mind, that meant we'd have Gumbo and Beignets, but that morning we woke up and the kids reminded me that in the books they celebrated by attending costume balls. So we dressed up and had a dance party after dinner. Aaaaaand I was still mentally exhausted from Thora's potty training that I didn't look at my beignet recipe before evening when I was going to cook them for dessert...and saw that the dough takes 3 hours. Rain check, kids. I don't feel confident enough in the gumbo recipe I used (it didn't have rice!) to share it, so I won't.
My plan: Gumbo and Beignets
What happened: Gumbo and a costume-dance party
{Tommy, Dancy, Katie, Thora, me, Samson}
{Tommy, Dancy, Katie, Thora, me, Samson}
These two are precious. Katie and Tommy ballroom dancing.
No pictures from Valentine's Day. Normally we make homemade Valentines starting in January, and I tried that and decided it just wasn't worth the headache when no one wanted to do it or clean up afterwards. Sorry to anyone who had been looking forward to that mail this year. We also started a tradition last year to have heart-shaped cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I don't remember what we did instead, but we had a substitute option and we going to have the cinnamon rolls later in the day. That didn't happen. The cans are still in my fridge. But I did succeed in cooking Borscht & pierogis (frozen from Costco) for dinner. Borscht because I've been wanting to try it forever...and because it's red for Valentine's Day. It was delicious! Such wonderful flavor, but Shad couldn't get over the color. Recipe found here.
My plan: Homemade Valentines, heart-shaped cinnamon rolls, Borscht, pierogis
What happened: Borscht and pierogis
Next day, I woke up and began planning my Chinese New Year snacks. I love CNY! I taught English in China for 6 months and was there for all of Spring Festival, the month long celebration with CNY in the middle. My celebrating isn't exactly traditional because I didn't have anyone teaching me how they celebrate. I just kinda figured things out a little as it progressed. But to me, CNY is the day of the year that I get to bring China back into my life for a day and relive it. If only for a day. And it's such a wonderful day!
The Chinese market I found was close to the Olympic Training Center. I had just been down that way the previous morning for a hearing test for Tommy (everything normal, just another piece of bureaucracy I had to go through to get him approved for speech therapy to work on his R's. That was the third appointment, I think, and not the last.). Anyway, I decided that since I was by the training center again for the Chinese market, that this time we would take a field trip.
Snowcapped Pike's Peak
We were joined on our tour by another homeschool family and enjoyed their company. After the tour, the kids discovered that a four-man bobsled can fit seven kids. At least, I think it was a four-man. I honestly don't remember. But it was used by Team USA in one of the Olympics.
{Katie, Thora, Dancy, Samson, those two aren't mine, Tommy}
"Take picture of me, Mom!"
Nothing creepier than seeing your kids' eyes whited out...
{Tommy, Dancy, Katie, Thora, Samson}
Dancy and Sam
They really wanted a picture on this side of the globe, not on the front with the USA and Olympic rings. Check out them poses!
{Tommy, Katie, Dancy, Thora, Samson}
My sisters probably share the same memories I have of this sculpture. I love letting my kids pose for pictures!
{Thora, Tommy, Katie, Dancy}
Tommy wanted a picture with this plaque.
Almost, Katie, almost!
Just chillin'.
{Thora, Dancy, Samson}
Then we hit the Chinese market and came home with our haul. Not that these are traditional snacks, but they're part of my tradition because these were what I enjoyed eating in China...mostly when we were freezing cold in our apartment wearing 10 layers of clothes and cuddled under comforters in front of a space heater during the crazy winter with highs of 30 degrees with no indoor heat because the climate of that region is similar to Cuba. Good times! Marshmallows with jelly filling to be roasted later. Ah, sweet memories of teaching the Chinese to add that to their barbeque parties! Oh, and that's squid jerky in the middle. Good for the long days of rough traveling.
"Please, Mom, I want some more jello shot!"
Dinner: homemade egg rolls, yakisoba (yes, that's Japanese, but I wanted to eat it anyway), dumplings (frozen from Costco). (Recipes found here.)
And hot and sour soup. With my Asian spoons that I *finally* got for Christmas. I've only been wanting them for 10 years. And Shad says we should've gotten them forever ago. *eye roll*
Kids are always determined to use chopsticks any time I do. Samson made it work with his dumpling.
This girl is awesome. She wore her red shirt (that I bought at Walmart that time she was throwing up during the tire change) and put gold stars on it to create the Chinese flag. I love her!
We got to share our holiday with Shad's Dungeons & Dragons group that meets at our house every Thursday. CNY is best spent with friends and family, especially when I'm determined to have allllll my Chinese food I want to eat. We ate good food, snacks, and had fun taking *virgin* jello shots.
I took one of the cases of jello shots to my church volleyball group that I meet up with on Thursday nights. I thought it'd be fun to say that the losing team gets to take a shot (we usually have 5 or 6 games), but only a couple people tried one with me. So I ended up being the only one taking shots.
And then CNY day we had a pizza-game night with the Schroeders and saw fluffy low clouds over the city. No dragon and lion parades, but this'll do.
The Schroeders enjoyed the jello shots with us while we played Lords of Waterdeep.
