Dear Poor Neglected Blog

Dear Poor Neglected Blog....

My son apparently reads you and tells me I have been neglectful.   I have been chastised by a ten year old.  I shall do better.  I promise.

Me

Love this guy......

I love this little man.....

Pretty Princess Has a Party!

Yes, it took a long time to get this second half of the post up, but never fear....here it is.  Pretty Princess got a friend birthday party this year (they only occur every other year in this family.)   When asked for ideas the usual suspects were there....Princess.....Fairy......Dress Up...... Honestly, the girls has had a fairy, princess, dressup birthday every year of her life, except the one year when it was Dora.  Wait...It may have been Princess Dora.  Anyway,  I just couldn't do it.   It's been done.  So I told her no...Let's come up with something new.  Let's think of what you like to do, favorite activities, favorite hobbies, etc......I started listing things:  Painting, Drawing,  Dancing, Cooking.....That's where it stopped.   She freaked at the idea of a cooking party.  The girls loves to be in the kitchen.   So, technically, I guess this post should be titled "Pretty Chef Has a Party." 

Chef Abrielle

So here is Chef Abrielle modeling her apron and toque.  We made aprons for all of the Soux Chefs out of dollar store kitchen towels and ribbon.   (idea from here:  http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/dish-towel-apron-667580)   We made the toque out of poster board and tissue paper.  When the guest arrived they passed the time decorating their toque until all of the soux chefs were present.

 

 

 

Chef and Soux Chefs at work

 First item of business....Make your own lunch.   We gave them each some pizza dough that they had to knead and shape.  They then had to create their own pizza.  They were awesome.  Who know you could be so creative with Pizza.   This is Abrielle's leaning tower of cheese....It was about 4 inches high!
  

While Jason and I got the pizzas in the oven and cleaned up the inevitable cheese storm on the floor, Carsten entertained the crowd with his awesome dance moves.   This was absolutely unplanned...he just did it.  I think it just loved having the total attention of nine girls.   The girls would shout out kitchen utensils or actions and Carsten portrayed them in his hip-hop style.   

We then played a couple of games while the pizzas cooked.  I didn't get any pictures as I was running the games and Jason was making sure that 18 pizzas of varying shapes, contents, and thicknesses cooked perfectly.   He did a fabulous job...even though he wouldn't wear a toque.

After games, the chefs returned to the kitchen to make fruit kabobs to go with their lunch.  

A few of the fabulous pizzas. 

Then....we ate!!!!

Not sure what that face is....Overwhelming anticipation perhaps?

I LOVE this girl!

....and....BLOW!

 

Lyssi likes her cupcakes....I mean,  Lyssi LOVE her cupcake frosting!

Present time....Carsten can not resist wrapping paper.  He hovered!

More hovering by the big brother...

An absolutely adorable card that one of her friends make for her...It had flowering weeds, twigs, leaves....so sweet!

Chef Abrielle and her Soux Chefs

Overall, the party was a HUGE success.  She loved it, the kids all had fun, it was NOT a princess party.   Happy Birthday to my Pretty Princess Chef!   I can't say how much I love this girl.  She is so smart.. she has become such a good reader and loves school.   She is so helpful...She does so much for me without even being asked.   She is such  good big sister...Getting Greyson to laugh or teaching Alyssa new things makes her so happy.   She is so artistic and full of sparkle and sass.   She aims to make the world a prettier place and does that just with her presence.    I love you Abrielle!!!

Pretty Princess Has a Birthday

Unbelievable enough, Abrielle turned 6. That just sounds old to say. 6. How is that so much older that 5? It doesn't make mathematical sense, but it is true. There is something infinitely more mature about 6 than 5.

Traditional Birthday Breakfast Cake

Birthday Lunch at School (Homemade Mac n Cheese, Grapes, and Chocolate Milk per request)

Birthday Kindergartener

See the wall behind her? That's the birthday wall. In her class, the sign goes up on your birthday and you get to write you name on the board for the day. Every other student has just written their name. Abrielle used every color available to not only write her full name, but to decorate and illustrate it as well. That's my girl. Always a little something extra to make things pretty.

Birthday cupcakes at school. Chocolate with pink and black frosting in sparkly silver cupcake wrappers...per request.

Hmmm....Wonder what's inside.
(Background = McDonald's...per request)


Yay!! A Secret Password Journal...per request, of course.
It can be programmed with a password of your choice and will only open to your voice saying it. Here that Carsten and Alyssa? You can scream "Polly Pocket" at that book all day and it WON'T OPEN. (So please stop screaming "Polly Pocket" at that book.) Abrielle is enjoying a little private space to draw and write and loves the secret compartment inside.

I'll post her birthday pics a little later. There are a lot of them.
Until then, here is a little snippet of Abrielle...

Age: 6
Colors: Pink, Purple, Black
Toys: Polly Pocket, Barbies, Razr Scooter
Food: Mac N Cheese, Chocolate Milk
Activities: Dancing...If there is music playing, some part of her
is bopping along. She can't help it.
Cupstacking (she's on the competitive team at school)
Friends: Everybody....Really, the girls is friends with everyone. Her besties, though, are Abby, Abby, Aubrey...and, of course, Alyssa.
(Note: Who would have thought that it a Kinder class of 18 there is an Abrielle, Abby L, Abby K, Abby ?, and Aubrey. No joke...That almost 1/3 of the class.)
Traits: This kiddo just wants the world to be pretty. If she could, she'd put ribbons, lace, and bows on everything. She is super competitive and can get pretty intense. She's my super helper and the best big sister ever...She loves helping take care of Greyson and Lyssi and is really responsible. She is also really independent and opinionated...but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Overheard...

Abrielle, "Mom, you know Greyson only eats the food you make to not hurt your feelings, right?"

I'm Back....With a Little Poetry

I know I haven't blogged forever. I have excuses. We moved to a new house that was a very blank slate and has consumed much (all) of our time with renovations and decorating. Add to that childbirth (c-section -- UG!!), unexpected stays in the NICU (for Greyson) and ER for(for me), starting school, going back to work, teaching seminary, laundry, meals, etc, etc, etc.......you get the idea. Blogging took a backseat. But I vow to be back and to keep up with everything going on and, at the least, record the birth of Greyson aka Doodle. (Not a manly nickname, I know...I'll come up with something else before he gets too big.)

Until my full return, however, I leave you with a poem by Carsten. Ahem....

rn! rn! rn! goes the Alarm.
vroom! vroom! vroom! goes the Vehicles.
Boom! goes a Building.
BOOSH! goes a gun.
"Roger that" goes a spy

And that is the CIA.

The Difference Between Boys and Girls -- School Edition

Mom: "What did you do at school today?"
Son: "Stuff--I can't remember."
Mom: "Really? Can you tell me just one thing you did?"
Son: "Ummmmm Nope."
Mom: "I'd really like to hear about something you did today."
Son: "Sure...the same stuff we do everything. Think about something else I told you before."



Mom: "What did you do at school today?"
Daughter: "I hung my backpack on a hook by Morgan 'cuz she was wearing a pink shirt today, too. Then we got to play for a little, then had circle time where T.I. got to be the window looker and tell us about the weather, but I don't think he should have got picked 'cuz he wasn't nice to me last Tuesday. Then we had a story and it was about a boy that lived where there was lots of snow and he used trees to make snow shoes so he could see his animals and his Grandma so next time we see Grandma and want to cut down her trees to make shoes. Then we got to have art and painted with our fingers. I used these two fingers because Miss Michelle said to not use our thumbs or pinkies but Jackson used these two fingers then Gwen said that wasn't nice fingers to use but I don't know why. They're just fingers. Then we had number time and we counted all the way to 50 but I can go more. Then at stations I did blocks and bears and did my whole sheet all by myself 'cuz I can do it. But it was too cold and muddy outside so we played inside and learned how to golf and I told them that my daddy had been before and they said their daddy had too, but I don't think that's right. Then Miss Michelle showed me how to told my hands and I hit the ball and got it in the hole and all of us cheered. Then it was lunch and Miss Michelle sprayed the tables and we had Macaroni and Cheese and milk and no one knew what the brown stuff was but Jackson said it was poo and other people said it was poo too so we all tried it and the boys still said it was poo but I said it wasn't 'cuz it didn't cuz it didn't taste anything like poo. Then it was nap time and I didn't go to sleep because I wasn't that tired because Monday had went to sleep and then I slept good last night because I was in my warm fuzzy jammies so I didn't take a nap today. But Morgan did because I think she doesn't have warm fuzzy jammies but I do. Then when we woke up and put our napping stuff away we had another story and talked about letters and then .......

You get the picture....