The Fairy Tea Party

We went to Tahoe last month, and I had brought along my Family Fun magazine to read in the car. Livi was looking through it one day when we were up there and she saw something in there that I hadn't come across yet. She called me over and said, "Mom...there's something in here that I really want, and I hope you say 'yes'!" I was thinking it must be some toy or craft or something, but it was an article about this fairy tea party that some little girls had. The pictures showed white toule hanging down from the ceiling, with pretty flowers attached to it, that came down and surrounded a table that was set with a pretty tablecloth and yummy food and tea. And the girls were dressed up and had their hair done up with fancy headbands, and when she saw this, she just "had to have it!"

The look on her face as she was absorbing all this while looking at the pictures was SO cute. She had that page bookmarked and constantly referred back to it. When we got home, she carried it around all the time and slept with the magazine in her bed open to that page, and wanted to know when we were going to do our own tea party.

So we talked about it a lot, and I thought it would be really fun to actually indulge her, so I told her we'd put it on the calendar so we could plan for it and get everything together that we needed to make it as special as she was hoping it would be. She just wanted our family to be there, and I was ordered to dress up fancy, too. She had in mind exactly what she wanted to wear, and how she wanted her hair done. Jason painted her nails in the colors she wanted, and applied sparkly powder to her her arms and neck. And of course, her new earrings would be a perfect addition to the attire.

She really wanted the toule to be part of the decorations, so we made a trip to the craft store and got 4 yards of toule (fortunately it was WAY cheaper than I had thought it was going into this). All week long she made decorations out of paper and markers and glitter and hung them up all over the walls in the playroom (her old room, baby's new room). We bought some silk flowers and attached them to the toule and hung it from the ceiling. It didn't quite drape down and around us or our table, because that would have been way more toule (and $) than I wanted to have/spend for this occasion, but it did look fun & pretty hanging above our table, and Livi was satisfied with it. :-)

We got out our small table and the plan was for us to kneel by it while we had our tea, so we got out a tablecloth and set the table with teacups and saucers and a small vase of the silk flowers and cloth napkins for everyone.

We prepared the food - chocolate dipped strawberries, sugar cookie star wands, cheese & crackers and grapes, and of course, the tea.

It was so cute to see her excitement during the several days that we were preparing for this day. She was so thrilled that we were actually doing it and making it look sort of like what she saw in the magazine. Fun memories were made that day, for sure.

Here are some pictures from the tea party. :-)

Pierced Ears

Olivia has been wanting to get her ears pierced for a little while now, but last week, she was really ready and kept asking if we could go and do it. We talked it over a lot and told her it would hurt, but just for a little bit, and that she'd have to keep the earrings in for a long time until the holes formed, and that we'd have to take good care of them, etc. She was determined and excited, and especially motivated by the "fairy tea party" we were planning for on the weekend....she wanted to be all dolled up for it. (another post on that coming soon)

So I took her to Claire's in the mall and we looked at all the earring options and she found the ones she wanted (diamonds of course! - the April birthstone, even though she was born in August, but they were the prettiest, I thought, too.) We walked around the mall for a little while until another gal showed up for work at Claire's so they could do both ears at the same time. We kept talking it over and she really wanted to get it done. It was the cutest thing to see her so excited for it. And the outfit she wore that day, wow, she's got an interesting sense of style, but she wore her favorite things and it just added to the experience so much. She's been ULTRA girly lately, it cracks me up.

So we went back to the store. She climbed up on the chair and held on to her babydoll tightly, a tad nervous, super shy, but very excited and determined. The did both ears at the same time and it was over so fast. She didn't even cry, but her face did get all red and she winced a little bit. She got a lollipop afterward and it was so cute to see her look in the mirror and see her pretty pierced ears. I think part of my heart was pierced at the same time! This was one of those experiences that she might remember forever and eventually tell her children about when she has to make the decision to let her daughter (Lord willing) pierce her ears. It's only the beginning of these types of situations, and this was a fun one. Hopefully she'll just keep it at that, no other piercings, tatoos, etc. till she's on her own. :-)

She's been so proud of her earrings and her ears are doing really well. No yukky crusties or anything, we're just taking good care of them and she's sure to remind me when I forget. :-)

the wince

Tahoe 2010

We had such an enjoyable trip away in Tahoe for our 3rd annual trek to the snow with the Mathison and the Thomas families!

Unfortunately the Friday morning we were supposed to leave, I woke up with the stomach flu....but we decided to go anyways after resting it off for a little while and getting a bit later start than we planned. It was a long trip, but the roads were clear and the traffic wasn't too bad, and I didn't get sick along the way. :-) I felt bad bringing my sickness along with me, but we also hated to miss the trip, so I hope no one else has gotten it this week!

The 8 kids all did amazing and had such fun together. The highlight was, of course, playing out in the snow, and the dads built an amazing sled run right outside the house. It was almost like their own bobsled course, including a tunnel at the end. Here's a video of Carson going down:

Olivia and Breck

Carson and Micah

Olivia and Reese

Another favored indoor activity for Olivia and Reese was paper crafts, as well as playing with their Binky Bunnies (the stuffed bunnies I made them for their 4th birthdays). They were so cute together.

Tahoe 2010
Next year there will be another little boy in the picture. :-) I'm already looking forward to it.

Wilder Ranch take 2

My mom came out for a visit a couple weeks ago, and sadly I have no pictures of us together! But we had a great time with her here. The kids loved playing with her and it was so nice to have her take them across the street to the park in the afternoons to ride their bikes and play so I could rest/nap. We had great weather for the most part, so we got to spend lots of time outside. We went for a walk on West Cliff one day, a hike in Wilder Ranch another day, and the last day we went to Capitola beach for some pizza and a little time on the sand & water.
It was great to have her here, fun to daydream together about things for this baby - the nursery, finding some great deals on cute clothes at our local consignment store, and just for her to see my pregnant belly. :-)

Here are a couple shots from our hike at Wilder Ranch, this time on the side along the coast, where the water was gorgeous and the sunshine felt so good:

26 weeks

Carson's got his arm down some critter's hole.

Valentines Day 2010

I signed up to bring cookies to both of the kids' class parties this year, so we had a great time making up a bunch of Valentine's cookies:

Here's getting ready for our annual chocolate fondue dessert for Valentine's Day:

Dreamy Cream Scones

On Facebook this morning, a friend of mine posted that she was pulling something yummy out of her oven and she linked to this recipe: Dreamy Cream Scones. I had to try them right away. And dreamy they were. I love scones, but sometimes it's hard to find really good ones. These were awesome. Maybe it helped that I put some chopped up chocolate chips and some cranberries and raisins (since I was out of currants), but the texture and everything about them was very dreamy. We managed to eat the whole batch today. :-) This one's a keeper.

Wilder Ranch

We took advantage of the sunshine today and got out for a nice hike in Wilder Ranch. The views were incredible, and the kids did pretty good, except for on our way back when Livi tripped and fell in some mud. As much as she likes hiking, she was pretty miserable the rest of the way to the car. Carson had fun climbing trees and flinging mud and hiding in the big dry ravines created by the rain alongside the trail. And on our way down, we saw a bobcat! He was catching something, looked like a small rabbit or a mole or some other small critter. He was pretty close to us, and looked right at us several times. It was kind of creepy, but also fun to see in the wild! I'm just so glad we didn't come upon any mountain lions.

24 weeks!

It's a....

BOY!!!

We had our ultrasound last week and saw some great glimpses of our little boy!!! Praise God that everything looks to be growing wonderfully, and we are thrilled to be having another boy. Carson was happy when the technician announced that it was a boy, Livi was a little dissappointed...she was really hoping to have a little sister. But I know she'll love this little boy so much. And we love that we'll have a Livi sandwich...boy/girl/boy.
We got some great pictures from the ultrasound, but we don't have a scanner, so these are pictures of the pictures, which turned out very blury.
This whole pregnancy thing is just such an amazing time and I feel SO blessed to be carrying another little Hughsie.

21 weeks

The "Salon"

Livi has been wanting to get her hair cut at the "salon" for a while now, so last week when Jason was off work, we had a little girls afternoon and went to Supercuts for her first real hair cut (I'd cut it a couple times before, but it wasn't quite the same experience w/o the fun chair and the apron, etc.) She was so happy and sat so still and was really enjoying it. We just had her take off a couple inches and frame her face a little bit. It turned out pretty cute, although I was wishing I'd told her to subtly layer the back because it ended up looking a little too straight and bluntly cut, but oh well. It was fun. Afterward we went out for a little icecream treat.

This has provided hours of entertainment...

Christmas 2009

We had a nice, quiet, relaxing Christmas this year. As much as I was so sad that we were not in Colorado this year, we did enjoy our time at home just with each other. We got our tree at Johnson's Farm the week after Thanksgiving, which is always a fun thing to do. I just love the feel of it up there, and the kids love trying to find just the right tree to cut down.

Christmas Eve

The thing Livi was most hoping to get for Christmas was new footie jammies....they are her favorite thing in the world, so she was very pleased to get a new set from Grandma and Bumpa. Now, hopefully, there will be no more tantrums when her other pair is in the wash. :-)

We got Carson a set of clamps, springs, some rope, carabiners and some pullies, and boy has he had fun rigging up all kinds of things. Great idea daddy. He knows his son well. :-)

Livi really wanted bacon for breakfast. :-) (She didn't eat all that)
And please don't even look at those so-called cinnamon rolls there on that blue plate....cooking while pregnant has not treated me well, neither for Thanksgiving nor for Christmas. It's hard to cook (or do most things) with half a brain. Usually those are the highlight of our morning breakfast, but this year...not so much. I hope some of my brain comes back after this baby is born!! Please don't tell me I'm going to be like this forever! I barely even got any decent pictures of Christmas this year, but hopefully it was one the kids will just remember in their hearts. :-)
I love the Christmas season, all the lights and treats and traditions and excitement, but especially the pondering of what it really means, Emmanuel, God With Us!!