Party #1

With spring comes the birthdays of the young'uns here in our household. I think about ideas for months in advance, start planning, and get excited about finding bargains for the parties. This year I was really focused on Jordis' party since Xander decided he didn't want one. And then a few weeks before his birthday he got up one day and announced he'd changed his mind. With limited time to prepare we told him he could have a set number of friends over for a Mario Kart Wii tournament. And this is how it went down......

Since I was working on a budget with two birthdays in the same week, I decided to fore go ordering the Mario Kart Wii party pack online, and went with a theme of primary colors mixed with the black and white racing checks. I made the place mats by just cutting up some fabric I found at JoAnn's (with my 40% off coupon) and the turtle shells were sections of an egg carton that I cut up and painted.

I used my Cricut and existing scrapbook paper to make a banner that hung over the dessert buffet.

The kids had an array of homemade Mario Kart themed desserts to munch on......sugar cookies with royal icing and fondant, chocolate cupcakes with butter cream frosting, brownies with royal icing and M&M's in the primary colors of the party theme.

My plan was to just have cupcakes, but Xander said he HAD to have a cake. So this is the cake that I slaved over lovingly made for him and he ended up eating a cupcake anyway.

I couldn't justify any sugary drinks with all the junk food we were having, so I jazzed up some water bottles and no one seemed to mind.

All the participants received a certificate and a trophy, with a little something extra for our tournament winner.

And goodie boxes on the way out.

The birthday boy had a great time and even had some love for his little sister.

Easter

Jason worked all night so he was in bed for the Easter morning festivities. We cared a lot more when they were smaller but now we prefer sleep over revelry, so I told him he could miss it if I didn't have to get up at 6:30 when he came home from work. It was a good trade-off and the kids didn't seem to mind.

They showed him what the Easter bunny brought and we bought them life jackets to wear on our boat once it's built, so Jason still got to watch them get excited about something.

As has been the case all spring, it was rainy on Easter, so no outdoor pictures of the kids this year. In fact, I couldn't get a good picture of them together to save my life. When one was ready the other wouldn't cooperate.

Jordis cute and ready with signature head tilt. Xander not ready.

Xander finally cooperative, Jordis not so much.

Xander still photogenic, Jordis decides to be present.

Like Xan's tennis shoes? He hates dress shoes and I figured it wasn't worth the money to buy him any to wear for two hours before he outgrows them. Trying to pick my battles.

After church we picked up Jason and went to my mom and step-dad's house. The kids had an Easter egg hunt before lunch.

Then the boys played Wii while the girls cleaned up the kitchen.


It was my mom's birthday weekend as well, so she opened presents and then we had dessert and played some Go Fish.


We left and paid a visit to Jason's parents as well. They got the kids each a great collection of books, so they were excited and also had something to entertain them in the car on the way home. It was a nice relaxing day with family.

Mardi Gras

We had fun celebrating Mardi Gras this year, although I didn't take too many photos. Jason had to work at dinnertime on Fat Tuesday, so we had our little celebration the day before.

Of course the house was decorated, and for dinner I made chicken sauce piquante. I also made king cake. Typically I make it from scratch, but I was sick and decided to take a shortcut involving crescent dough. It was a little flat, but it actually tasted better than my time-consuming recipe, so I might start doing that from now on. I figure if I lived in Louisiana I'd be buying my king cake from the grocery store like everyone else, so I'm still adding a little homemade touch to it by making my own with store-bought assistance. The kids were super excited to eat some since we don't give them dessert very often.

We have a GIANT bag of Mardi Gras beads I collected on my two trips to Mardi Gras in 1997 and 2001. They are mostly the green, gold and purple ones that the locals don't care about very much because they're not as intricate as some of the other ones. So they were pretty easy to come by, either because I caught them, or found them on the ground or Jason's family just handed them off to me.

I thought it would be fun for Xander to take some in for his classmates, so we counted out enough and he took them to school. Looking cute in his purple shirt, Xander informed me as we were waiting for the bus that if you bring in something about your culture you have to be prepared to talk about it. So I quickly wrote out a few things for him to share. I volunteer for his teacher on Tuesdays so she invited me in for his presentation. He did such a great job, and his friends seemed geuninely interested in what he had to say. They asked relevant questions as well.

He ended his presentation by saying, "I love Louisiana because I like to watch Billy the Exterminator." He cracks me up.

Labor Day

Unlike most families, we don't really think of Labor Day as a 3-day weekend. Our weekend has been Sunday/Monday for the past few years, so there's not an extra day off for us. But my mom and step-dad invited us over for the holiday and I'm not one to pass up a family get together. We were going to go to their house for a cookout, but in the end they brought some fried chicken and a few sides over here and I had some watermelon, baked beans and made some chocolate covered strawberries. It was cool enough that we could use the fire pit after dinner.

We even made S'mores.

Xander decided to entertain us. He had his own repertoire, but we bribed him with $1 to sing Country Roads. He only knows the chorus, but he puts an excellent twist on it.

Touch-A-Truck

On Friday, my mom and I took the kids to the annual Touch-A-Truck event in the city where Jason works. I haven't attempted going in about three years, as last time I was there Xander decided to hop onto a bus and I had to leave one-year-old Jordis in our wagon next to a police officer while I ran to retrieve him. But they can both walk a good distance now and I had help from my mom, so I thought we'd try again. Okay, that's only partly true. Jason is on first shift now and I think he looks hot in his uniform, so Touch-A-Truck is really an excuse for me to go see him at work. There, I said it.

After seeing Dad we moved on to the fire truck. Jordis wouldn't get on it though because she didn't want anyone to help her on or off.

The big favorite was the pink limousine from the Sweet and Sassy store. Before getting in Jordis got a star on her cheek and glitter in her hair.


They also tried out a zamboni, snow plow, dump truck, tractor and trash truck.

After saying goodbye to Jason we went to spend some time at the park, then my mom treated us to some Rita's Italian Ice. It was so hard to choose a flavor. Luckily they let you taste them first.

Xander had cookies n' cream, Jordis had Swedish Fish, I had Florida Orange and my mom had strawberry and lemonade (they'll let you pick two flavors in one serving if you want). It was such a great way to cool off on a hot day.

Father's Day

Jordis' singing debut last week was on Father's Day, so I was really excited that Jason got to be there for it.

After coming home for lunch and relaxing for a little while Jason left for his weekly church softball game. He had been wanting some meatballs so I made those for dinner while he was gone, and also a chocolate cherry cake for dessert. After dinner we gave him presents.

A book written by a local police officer who was donating proceeds to the fallen officers fund.

And a handmade LSU hot/cold pack that I found on Etsy.

Our kids are so lucky to have such a great dad!

On to New Orleans

Back east we traveled on Monday to go to New Orleans for three days. Of course I can't remember now where we were when I took this picture, but I've always been fascinated with trees sticking out of the water there. Jason's brother and his family also went with us. We couldn't get side-by-side rooms, but we were at least in the same hotel. We stayed right on St. Charles Avenue in the Garden District, and we were able to get a room in the front so the kids could watch the streetcar. But the window was so high they had to stand on the coffee table to do it. We could also see the Superdome from our room. I had never been to this part of New Orleans, so I was excited to see this section of the city. After checking in and getting situated, we met Jeremy and Sarah in the lobby with the kids and headed across the street to wait for the streetcar. If you ride it all the way to the end it drops you off at the edge of the French Quarter, at Canal and Bourbon streets. We wanted to eat dinner at our favorite French Quarter restaurant, so it worked out perfectly. There was a private party upstairs so we couldn't have balcony seating, but the food tasted just as good in the main dining room. After dinner we meandered down Bourbon Street and went in a few gift shops. We then made our way over to Cafe du Monde to have beignets for dessert. The kids loved fried dough with powdered sugar goodness and were excited that we bought them hats. My favorite part of Cafe du Monde is people-watching and listening to the artists that sit at the edge of the cafe and play various types of music. This particular evening Tanya and Dorise were there playing electric violin and guitar. They also had a cellist. Unfortunately it looks like I was taking a video of my sister-in-law photographing her kids (sorry, Sarah!) but I was really trying to capture the music and the mood of the evening.

On the way out Jason gave Xander some money to tip the musicians, and I also bought one of their CD's.

Cafe du Monde is across the street from Jackson Square and Sarah took this gorgeous picture of it when we left at sunset.

I couldn't think of any better way to end our day.