Laisser les bons temps rouler!

For those of you unfamiliar with 'cajun speak', that means, 'Let the Good Times Roll!' The last month or so I was really busy planning a New Orleans fundraiser for our church's mission trip to New Orleans in July. I'm looking forward to going in July to help victims(still) of Hurricane Katrina.

I think the fundraiser was a success, especially for a small church with only about 200 members. We raised close to $2000 for the trip. This will help with some of the transportation costs and fees for our stay at the church where will be staying.

I found this fantastic 7 member jazz band to play free for us and got lots of food donated for the dinner as well as a few raffle prizes. I was really overwhelmed by the generosity of our community and our church.


"The Dixie Nuts" With the dimmed lights, our fellowship hall really did have some atmosphere, you can't really tell in the picture.

Silly Claire!

Sayonara!

Here is a picture of Olivia and Claire with our exchange student, A, who stayed with us at the end of March. She was only here a week, but we had a great time. This picture was taken at the Sayonara (goodbye) party the night before the group left. She understood English pretty well and she was really trying to learn English. When we watched t.v. or we were driving around town, she would whip out her electronic translator and type away to learn new English words.

We had a really busy week with her and it was sad to see her go, she already emailed us the day after she got back home to Japan!

Happy Easter (belated)!

A "Snow" Day!

At Olivia's school, the Kindergarten classes had a "snow" day. The kids bundled up in jackets, mittens and hats and ran around the playground throwing "snow" (marshmallows) at each other. Needless to say, it wasn't terribly cold, so they all got pretty hot!

Special Projects

Here are booties for someone at church who is expecting a baby girl next month. I got the pattern from my friend Jessica. It was so quick, but the straps were tricky.

A couple of weeks ago, Olivia had a friend over and we all made snowpeople. Hers was quite colorful! We used different colors of Fimo clay and baked them.
Mine is the more 'traditional' one on the left.

An update, part 1

Thought I would post an update since it's been awhile. I've been recovering from the holidays, I think I overextended myself, taking on so many things. But I wanted it to be a great holiday this year. We decided to host not just one but 2 exchange students from Japan, I guess we'll call them M&M since both their names start with an M. Actually, we had one for 2 weeks, and only hosted the other one for a week while her original family went on a skiing trip. Their English was extremely limited so that was a bit disappointing, but overall, we had a great time and M1 (our 2 weeker) bawled when we had to put her on the bus.

After Christmas, we all went up north to visit the Bay area and Sacramento. We also did lots of shopping which the teenagers really enjoyed. Some of these pictures are from Christmas, a few are from dinner with my friend in San Jose.

Running off dinner.

With my friend Jessica who I met on a mommy board, this was taken in San Jose.

Brrr....viewing of Holiday lights at our local 'zoo'.

Picture of girls on Christmas day which was sent out in thank you letters.

Annual decorating of a gingerbread house (with our Japanese exchange student, M)

At Olivia's class holiday party.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday

Wishing you the best for your holidays. It's just impossible to post anything these days, we've been sooo busy. Maybe I will be able to post again in the new year.

Welcome to Ponyville!

We finally had Claire's party this past weekend at our neighborhood park. Thankfully, the weather held out. I got there a little early to stake out the spot and decorate a little.

She had a blast! It was a great turnout, only a few kids who got sick at the last minute. I had way too much food though! I found out a few days before that my friend's husband does balloon animals, so he ended up coming and making some balloon flowers and swords (which were the biggest hit). The kids played for a while on the playground, then munched on food.

I cut out cute sandwiches with cookie cutters in the shapes of stars, flowers and hearts. They were pb&j and turkey and cheese, pirate's booty (at Claire's request), sweet snack mix I made and haystacks (chocolate, butterscotch, chow mein noodles); for adults I had spiral sandwiches which I found at Sam's, bagels and flavored cream cheese, cheese & salami tray with crackers, hummus (which no one touched) with pita chips and crackers. After eating, I planned pony races for the kids. I found 2 stick ponies at TRU on sale and had the kids race around 'barrels', jump over 'water' and cross a finish line where they were given ribbons with a medal. After that, they played 'pony, pony, horse' which is just like duck, duck, goose. After everyone had a chance to play, it was cake time. After cake, the kids played on the playground again and some colored some My little pony coloring sheets I brought, then we had Claire open her gifts. She was so excited about EVERYTHING she opened, even the panties she got from Grandma and Grandpa!

For the goody bags, I found horse puzzles at the $ store, crazy straws, play doh from halloween, snack bags of oreo, teddy grahams and goldfish, my little pony stickers from the $ store. I got different things for siblings, infants and older kids. It was great having it at the park, but just as much work as having it at home just because you have to plan everything out and transport everything. The park is around the corner from our house though and it gives space for the kids to run around.

Halloween festivities

First I had Claire's school carnival to go to which happened to fall on her birthday. I got to eat lunch with her beforehand. It was interesting to see what her class is like during the day. Wow, her teachers work hard!
Classic bean bag toss game.

One of the booths was 'bobbing for donuts'. They have it every year, it is a hit!

Claire and I.

Next was Olivia's class party. They had 4 centers: craft (bat hat), bingo (which I helped with), cookie decorating, and musical spot. Claire got to come and it was my hubby's day off so he got to come and help too.

The 3rd party was on Saturday and it was my moms group which was held at the park. The kids dressed in costumes, had a few activities and at the end a costume parade.

Pumpkin bowling....not very ladylike!

The 4th and final party was at our church. It was tons of fun. They had lots of activities for the kids, dinner and trunk or treating.
Our little 'angel'!

The car next to us was decorated in the Pirates of the Caribbean theme, they went all out. They had a strobe light, fog machine and the soundtrack playing.

This is our trunk, it looked cool at dark when the trunk or treating began. The Christmas tree lit up and we had green lights going around the trunk. It is 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'.

I wish I had taken pictures of some of the other trunks. Some other themes included: High School Musical, camping and the kids got to fish for candy, sports theme, harvest theme. It was fun to see the creativity everyone used.

My baby is 3!

Happy Belated Birthday Claire! She turned 3 on October 24th. We have had a busy week and month so sorry for not blogging!

Here she is in the hospital when she was born:

On her birthday at school. She attends a Montessori school and it is tradition to walk the earth (globe) around the sun (candle) to mark their birthdays. It was so neat to see this. I also had lunch with Claire and brought sugar cookies in the shape of the number 3 to share with her class. At Disneyland a couple of weeks ago:

Introducing....

Mermaid Claire and Blue Princess Olivia!!

Leftover Hot Pocket

That's what I call it anyway. I had leftover ham and broccoli so I decided to make 'hot pockets'. I had a sheet of puff pastry in the freezer so I thawed it out. I rolled it out to make it a little thinner and I cut it into 6 rectangles. I put cut up ham and broccoli on one side of each rectangle and then sprinkled shredded cheese on each. I folded them each over and pinched the ends. I then brushed a beaten egg yolk on top to give them color. Baked them at 400 for about 17 minutes or until they are browned on top. Voila...fast, easy leftover dinner!

Claire says she wants to be a 'Cheeto' for Halloween

She really means Cheetah! I found a set of cute ears and tail at Target and she already has a plain black turtleneck and pants. I think she makes a cute Cheetah! If it is still warm, I might try to borrow a black leotard from someone.

Olivia is going to be an angel, I don't have a picture of her yet.

Fun with more BIO friends...

One of my friends I met from my internet mommy board was passing through our town and they stopped by for a playdate (on their way to Disneyland). Now Claire keeps asking for Olivia and Noah to come over.

Final destination: Dallas/Fort Worth

One day, I drove the girls, their cousin and their grandparents out to the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center southwest of Fort Worth. It was one of the most fun days of our trip. Many of the wild animals come right up to the car, some even tried to stick their heads in the window. We saw lots of deer, zebras, ostriches, giraffes, rhinoceros, just to name a few. Midway through the drive there is a petting zoo which consisted of different types of goats. There was also a cafe there where we ate lunch. I recommending bringing a lunch to eat at the picnic tables if you want something healthy.

One day we met friends at the flight museum at Love Field. The girls weren't so interested in the Apollo capsule, but there was a kid friendly play area they enjoyed. There was also a part of a Southwest Airplane they could climb up and sit in seats.

The girls are meeting my friend's horse, Paschale. They enjoyed being out in the country for the day and learning about horses.

More pictures of BIO friends. I met up with DJ, Kristie and their kids up north of Dallas where we went swimming and had lunch. The kids all had a blast!

The girls keeping an eye on Preston, he was a very active boy, I think he might become a football player.

Interesting weather pictures.

Crossing the Continental Divide.

Home Sweet Home.