The Fairy Party

Alyssa chose to have a Tinker Bell birthday party. I thought maybe she would just want girls at her party, but she has some boys that she just loves so much and has to have them there too. Thanks to Aunt Jamie, who gave us a great idea for fairy wings and Aunt Christy for whipping up a Peter Pan hat prototype, we were in business. I borrowed some green butcher paper from school for the Peter Pan hats. They are a simple paper hat with some feathers tucked into the brim. The wings are made from tissue paper, gathered in the middle and tied with a pipe cleaner. The kids seemed to love them. From the pictures you'll see how great the kids looked.

We also had a treasure hunt. We found clues in Nana's doghouse and by the mermaid's pond. The treasure was a box painted gold. It was full of gift bags full of fun treasure.

We also ate fairy sandwiches, fairy wands (pretzels dipped in chocolate and rolled in sprinkles), fruit kabobs, potato chips, and cupcakes.

We had a fun Tinker Bell shaped pinata. I think a great time was had by all.

We also had a great family party. Alyssa picked lasagna, garlic bread, and jello for our family dinner. She wanted chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. She also wanted pink writing on her cake. She seemed thrilled with her cake. I was thankful that she picked a simple cake.

Alyssa got some fun stuff from everyone. Thanks to all our wonderful family who came and celebrated with us. We have been blessed with wonderful family and friends. We are lucky people.

Alyssa is six!

Alyssa turned 6 on November 20th. She is told me the night before that she wanted a donut with a candle in it for breakfast. She loves donuts! She takes after her Grandma Carla in that! She could eat one every day. So I got the donuts and she was thrilled. I also gave her a new shirt to wear to school. She was the happiest little birthday girl there ever was!

Curtis

Let me tell you a little about this cute little boy. He is usually the easiest kid in the world to parent. He is kind, thoughtful, sensitive, intelligent... The list truly could go on and on with all of his positive attributes.

One thing he isn't though is organized. If any of you have seen this child's bedroom, you could testify to this. Another problem is mornings. You would think that this child has never had a working mother, and that getting ready in the morning is a new thing.

Yesterday was particularly awful. It was well past our time to leave and he didn't have his shoes on, hadn't fed or watered Rory, hadn't combed his hair, or brushed his teeth. He was reading in his bedroom. When I called for us to get into the car and discovered that nothing had been done, I was upset. I was very calm though and we had a discussion in the car on the way to school. Now, this discussion has happened many times in the past, sometimes loudly, sometimes patiently. He always says, "Yes Mom, I will try and be better." I truly despaired of anything changing.

Fast forward to this morning: when I called he got right up. I asked him to lay out his clothes and he said it was already done. I looked over at the couch and sure enough there they were. He told me he'd laid them out last night so he could get ready on time. I still didn't think anything of it, although it was nice to not have to say it fifty times. Next he quickly ate breakfast, brushed his teeth, and got dressed. All with out me asking. I complimented him and he told me that he'd thought a lot about what I'd said and made a list last night of all he had to do and he was checking them off as he did them. Here' proof :

Here is the list. It is also more proof of what a truly wonderful kid he is.

Here's another reason I love this kid: For the culminating project for his class' study of Egypt they made death masks. Curtis' teacher told me his was the best. If you can't tell, it is a dog. When they brought the masks home he had made himself a tail and had drawn paw prints on the palms of his hands. I asked if everyone else had made tails, etc to go with their masks. He told me that he was the only one. I asked if anyone had laughed at him. He told me that some did, but he didn't care, because he was having fun. I am so glad he isn't like his mother. He didn't care what the other kids thought, because he was having fun.

Sweet!

Before going to bed I always check on the kids.

I find myself standing and watching them for awhile, thinking how sweet they look. Last night I thought they were particularly cute. What do you think?

Poker Run

About a month ago, Mike took both kids to the Poker Run. The poker run is where people take 4 wheel drive vehicles and drive from point to point gathering playing cards and then at the end, those with the best poker hand win prizes.

I was really excited because they were going out Friday evening and would be coming back Sunday morning. I was thrilled to have some alone time. Christy and I also planned to do some things together.

Late Friday night, just as I was going to go to bed, the phone rang and it was Mike telling me they were coming home because there

had been a little mishap. They got home and Mike explained that about 10:30, a guy was driving up a hill and hadn't secured his tailgate or his spare tire. It came rolling down the hill

and hit the truck with some force. I was really upset, but Mike said he was glad it had hit the tent instead of the tent. He said that it had hit with such force that had it hit the tent it would have seriously hurt or killed one of the kids.

The next morning when I got up, Alyssa was sitting on the couch and I hugged her and told her that I was glad she was home safe. She looked at me and said, "Mommy, we were protected and blessed." I got tears in my eyes and agreed with her. I am so glad my family was protected and that I had them home safe, rather than having a "free" weekend.

Old Fashioned

We had pack meeting a couple of weeks ago. The boys had a great time. Sister Duhrmeir did a great job! She told the boys that they were going to bob for apples and asked if any of the boys knew what that was. My son piped up with, "Yea bobbing for apples is an old fashioned game." I looked at Mike and he looked at me and we both were thinking, "Where in the world did he get that?" It was really funny!

When Sister Duhrmeir asked who wanted to go first Curtis readily volunteered. He worked and worked at getting that apple. After awhile, he got it and in the process got thoroughly drenched.

Then they went outside to find ghosts in the trees (suckers wrapped in kleenex) tied up in the trees. The boys had a great time and Curtis talked about it the whole way home. Alyssa also had a great time. I wouldn't let her bob for apples, since she was just getting over a cold.

That disppointed her, but when she got to find ghosts, that cheered her up.

The cousins

Margo and Clay brought Tyler and Joel to Trunk or Treat on Halloween. Joel was Buzz Lightyear and was thrilled about it. Right before he would start to run, he would punch buttons on his arm, just like Buzz. It was soooo funny! Tyler on the other hand was not exactly thrilled to be a mouse. As you can see. Curtis and Alyssa were thrilled to have them there.