The After Party, Party

After Cole's party, family stopped by later for a little presents, cake and ice cream!

Cole got to be sung to again...

while Zach and MaryJane were playing their own little Star Wars game.   

I had to sneak a pic with my new 6 year old!

And Saturday night we took Cole out to his favorite restaurant to eat shrimp.  He loves shrimp!  His favorite restaurant is Benihana but we thought we would try Teppanyaki to compare.  The verdict: Although Teppanyaki was good, Benihana is better.  And there is not much difference in price.  It seemed to cost the same.  

Cole had quite the weekend of celebration filled with lots of his favorites!

Cole's Star Wars Party!

I don't know the best way to post this because it is all picture overload AND a really long post! I'm AMAZED that I was able to get ANY pictures in focus or anything while hosting this party!  I was filming AND snapping pictures simultaneously.   It was quite the job! 

Cole's birthday started with our traditional room decor...

Presents from us, an awesome package Fed Exed from Aunt Jill and Cole's breakfast of choice, pancakes.  

Sadie decided she would dress herself "all birthday for the birthday boy!" I'm ashamed to admit as a hairstylist, that her hair didn't get combed til 4 o'clock that day!

 I'm finding that Kevin is my secret weapon for ideas!  I have to give him credit for giving me many ideas for this party!  This invitation is one of them.  His idea, my creation.  The invitation read:  Attention Jedi Warriors!  MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU AS YOU JOURNEY TO A GALAXY FAR AWAY FOR Cole's 6th birthday! (location info) R.S.V.P the Jedi Master!

The Cake:

OH the cake!  

I toyed with the idea of making it but when I remembered that a friend told me that Albertson's would make any cake as long as I had a picture of it,  I couldn't resist!  I called the baker at my local Albertson's and described what I wanted.  She said she would be happy to do it!  I took in a sketch along with some notes a few days before and brought home this amazing DELICIOUS cake for a whopping $17.99!!  Total score!  It was soooo yummy!  Chocolate cake and butter cream icing!  I'm still dreaming over it!  

Back row: David, Jonah, Sasha, Cole, Annabelle, Daniel, Peter  Front row: Ben, Sadie, and Jonny.

As the kids arrived, they colored Star Wars pictures I had printed off the internet.  

Then we gave each of the kids an empty plastic bag to go on a "treasure hunt" for plastic gold coins in the back yard.  This is another brilliant idea of Kevin's.  He told them that "In a galaxy far away a Galactic ship filled of gold exploded and your mission as Jedi knights and Princesses is to retrieve it"  and the kids had to find the gold so they could buy things at the store!  They loved hunting for the gold!  

The store was a huge hit!  I wish I made the time to make little price tags for how many coins each item cost but, they're kids and no one noticed.  

Cole clearly having a great time at his party!  I think this picture of him laughing is when he asked if he could buy Sasha.  Silly boy.

The kids cashed in their coins for these little toys which were their party favors.  Water balloons, straws, bouncy balls, punch balloons, plastic swords etc...  Another great idea by Kev.

Cole just BEGGED Kevin to dress up as General Grievous (a bad robot guy in episode 3) and fight all his friends.  I didn't know how we could possibly pull that costume off.  He's a robot!  But my creative husband used black and white duck tape and printed a face mask off the Internet and created General Grievous.  

Kevin was so excited!  He staged his whole "performance" before hand.  Hiding on the roof of the garage, me cuing up Star Wars music, the kids having no idea where he was, and then making his appearance standing up there screaming to scare them all.  Which it did a bit.  But they warmed up quickly and was ready to fight.  I told the girls before hand what was going to happen and they chose to sit in the playhouse and watch.  They giggled the whole time.   

Poor little MaryJane (in the pic) only got hit in the head once from a light saber.  I was busy!  Filming AND taking pictures!

Then after cake and ice cream, they fought Darth Vader.

And defeated him. 

The pinata broke on Cole's first hit.  The only hit.  But we duck taped it to let the kids get more fun out of it.  

And now, since the party...

Cole dresses up everyday as General Grievous any chance he gets and roams the neighborhood!  Kevin proudly made Cole his own costume.  

It was such a fun party and I loved every minute of it!  I get so blue when they are over!  I felt that way after Sadie's party.  I'm weird.  But it's always fun to celebrate! Especially when it is for someone so special!  Love you Cole!

Class Trip!

Cole's class took a field trip to the Zoo and luckily I was able to go!  I've been on one other field trip with him but unfortunately I forgot my camera.  It was such a fun and easy day!  I only had three kids to chaperon and they are all great buddies!  

Cole being silly sitting in the Lion drinking fountain, which thankfully is broken and has been for sometime.  

Peter, Cole, David and Zebra.

The weather was PERFECT!  Not hot or cold, perfect!  So nice to do the Zoo minus a stroller and littles!   Thanks Mom for helping me out so I could go!

Six!

Today is Cole's 6th Birthday!

Can't believe how fast he is growing up! 

We love you Cole!

I'm so excited for your party! 

Super Cross 2009!

Six years ago Kevin took me to my first Super Cross Event here is Salt Lake just after we were married.  And here we are again, welcoming it's return to our city 6 years later taking Cole to his first Super Cross! 

I don't know who was more excited, Us or Cole.  Motto has been a passion of Kevin's since he was little.  It was so fun for him to share this with Cole.  And I felt so lucky to tag along to witness it all.  For the first 30 minutes Cole hardly said a word!  It was so funny!  He was just taking it all in!  Mesmerized!  (see video below)  
Once we ate our free hot dog, drink and popcorn (which came with our tickets),  Cole finally opened up and showed all his excitement!  He was really good at paying attention!  He loved it!

And he LOVED the binoculars!  Talk about entertaining! 

The lucky little boy even scored himself a motto T-shirt which he was so proud to bust it out of his jacket to show all of Kevin's friends.  He BEGGED to sleep in it when we got home at 11:00 p.m. and was just bouncing off the walls!  He insisted that he wasn't tired.  

It was such a great time and the race was so thrilling to watch with it's 6 lead changes!  To our surprise Cole lasted through the whole thing and beyond!  He loved Chad Reed's Gold Bike!  Now all we need to do is get Cole his own bike!  Just kidding Mom and Dad ;)

This video shows Cole's serious side.  Just make sure to turn down your volume down a little.  Those bikes can be loud.

The coolest thing ever!

The Madsen Cargo Bike

So I'm in my mini van (yes, I'm a proud owner) dropping off Cole and his friend at school today when a mom pulls up on anothermini van, a bike, with 3 kids (with helmets) sitting in this bucket on the back of her bike.  She lifts out her kindergartner and off he runs into school.  And I thought to myself, "HOW COOL IS THAT?"  Honestly, I'd love to just pile in the kids and take off.  Well, maybe not take off but haul away with my kids in tow to the park for a picnic.  Now that is what I call a good workout!!  Have you seen one of these before?  Today was my first time!  The bucket can hold either 2 adults or 4 kids and has a 600 pound hauling complicity.  It even has seat belts.  I'd have to really trust the driver to take a ride in the back of that thing!  It even has a cute rain cover.  

I had to run home and research this bike.  And lucky for me, I do get a little benefit for posting this.  If you click on that little linky on my side bar, It helps me become eligible to win one.  Probably not likely but worth the shot.  I was going to blog about it anyway.  So help me out a little.  Give the linky a little clicky! :)

Update:  I don't know what happened to the link.  Maybe it will show up again later.

BIG Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!

My friend Marilee gave me this recipe a few years ago and I had forgotten how good they are!  She sent me home with a few the other day and now I'm finding myself craving these yummy cookies all the time!  So I HAD to make some to satisfy the craving!  Luckily I gave most of them away.  They are the perfect little Thank You/Thinking of you gift!  And soooo yummy, you must try them!

Big Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

CREAM TOGETHER

1/2 cup Margarine

1/2 cup Butter

1 cup Brown Sugar

1 cup White Sugar

In a separate bowl mix:

2 eggs

2 tsp Vanilla

Tip: Mixing Vanilla and Eggs together in a separate bowl will bring 

out the Vanilla flavor more in the cookie.

Add Eggs and Vanilla to the Sugar/Butter mix.

In a separate bowl mix:

2 cups Oats

2 1/2 cups Flour

1 tsp Salt

2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Bag of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1/2 Bag of Milk Chocolate Chips

Mix all together

Use 1/4 cup of cookie dough for one cookie

Bake @ 350

13-14 min.

Let cool on pan for 2-3 min.

Makes about 24 cookies

Thanks Mar for always sharing your yummy recipes!  I can't wait to try these.

Grocery Savings!!

WOW!!!  My cousin Jodi just posted Albertson's preview sale that starts tomorrow!! I CAN'T WAIT!  BIG SAVINGS!!  Go check it out for your self! Here is the link. 

FYI: 5 red stars means that it is a GREAT deal!! 

 (If you have the coupons from the paper, the price is shown on the far left.)

Thanks Jodi for the tip!  And Happy Shopping!

M is for Matthew!

Well just hours after my little niece returned home:(, I was back at it again!  Sewing!  My newest little nephew and family came in town for a quick spring break trip.  Though it was short, it was GREAT to see them! (as always)

(SO happy that my Cricut cut this letter M!)

For awhile now, I've been racking my brain for a "boy" handmade baby gift.  I was inspired by Balance Everything to make him little linen pants and a matching onzie with his initial on it.  Some say the polka dots are a little girly, but unless it had Flowers, Pinks and Purples, AND Ruffles, it's not girly to me!

I used my trusty old easy peazy Bloomer Pants pattern (that I've used to make many ruffled pants for my girls) and changed it up a bit. 

 The pattern is Britches and Bloomers by Jackie Clark.

And for my first time ever tried this easy pattern for these cute booties!  

And there you have it, my baby boy gift!

p.s. It was great to meet you Matthew!  Your just precious!

FINALLY...a Play Date!

Well, after days and days of Cole begging me to set up a play date with Sasha, it finally happened!  It only lasted an hour, because she had to run to a family thing, but they had a lot of fun!  Running, hiding, chasing, just plain playing right up to the very moment they drove away.  Cole raced their car on his bike on the side walk to the end of the street.

She is such a cute little girl with so much personality!  Her cute little bob was pulled into a pony tail.  She and Cole got along really well.  She wasn't shy one bit.  It was great to see her keep up with Cole!  One of my favorites was when he was trying to hide from her, he ran and hid under MaryJane's crib and within seconds, Sasha climbed under there with him!  

Moments after she left he was asking to know when he could play with her again!  Oh boy!  I've got to seriously distract him!  

Easter Weekend 2009!

Nana and Grandpa thought it would be fun to take the grandkids to the Kangaroo Zoo on Saturday for their Easter gift.  The Easter Bunny even made an appearance!

Sadie surprised me and was all over the place!  She LOVED it!  Thanks Nana and Grandpa for the fun afternoon!

Our fun filled day ended with dying Easter eggs!

I think my kids are just SO SICK of me taking their picture all the time, It seams I can never get them to look at the camera anymore.  Such a Chore! 

I made the girls dress this year!  My first dresses really. (other than the pillowcase dress)  The sleeves were MUCH easier than I anticipated!  All in all, a really easy pattern!  I used Simplicity 4647 A for the bodice, changed out the zipper for matching fabric buttons and then my neighbor (who is a FABULOUS seamstress) taught me how to make the bottom which is called a circle skirt. (or half circle skirt which I did.  It required less fabric)  The fabric is made by Michael Miller.  Sandi Henderson's Farmers Market Party Petal Pink.  My inspiration came from the Shabby Baby dresses.  So cute, but more than I wanted to spend.  The dresses both cost me a total of $24 to make!  Can't beat that!

On Easter we had our annual feast and egg hunt at my SIL parents home.  Perfect for Easter!  Thanks Butlers!

Cousins!  

MaryJane decided not to participate in this photo because she was too busy doing this....

most of the evening!!!!  GLUED to my hip!  

Nearly Impossible to take good photos with a baby on the hip!

But here is proof that she did have an enjoyable Easter!  These were taken earlier in our backyard during our mini hunt for their baskets after church.  And yes, I have food stuffed in those puffy checks.  Hey, at least it was a hard boiled egg and not chocolate!  Had to seize the photo op!

Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend as well!

4 Kids?

This is my 23 month old niece Olivia.  Isn't she cute?  I LOVE her curly hair!  My brother and his wife just had their second baby girl at 30 weeks weighing 3.5 pounds.  Thankfully she is well, and breathing on her own like a champ!  Seeing how they live in California with no family near by and a lot on their plate, we are so happy to have Olivia here to stay with us for a couple of weeks!  Weekdays with us and weekends with Nana and Grandpa.

She is as sweet as these pictures look!  So lovable, friendly, happy and  adaptable to this new environment!  Not to mention, she is potty trained and very obedient!  She loves playing with my kids!  She calls Cole big brother in Korean.  It's so cute.  I love to hear her combine both Korean and English words together.  She is so smart.  How are we ever going to let her go home?  We are so happy to have her sweet little spirit in our home!