2016

Happy New Year!

A new year, and a few resolutions ...

Get back into blogging.
Spend less time on my phone.
Be more organized and get rid of clutter.

I feel like I should be able to handle these.

And how was the end of 2015?

We are all sick and quarantined and spent New Year's Eve at home. I made party food (spinach artichoke dip and Mexican bean dip), and we watched football (Roll Tide!) and Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve. Baby G declared it bedtime after she watched Taylor Swift's new video premiere, but Bean Dip was determined to stay up to watch the NYC ball and the Nashville music note drop.

And he made it!

Here's to a year of reunions, adventures, peace, health, and happiness.

Yesterday, we attended a FRG pool party. A FRG member hosted it at her house, and we had a blast. The kids swam nearly the entire time, until their lips turned blue and their teeth chattered from the cold. Both of them went off the diving board, too, for the first time. Gwyn was the first. She came up to me and said, "I'm going to jump off that thing." And she did, with no fear, as you can see above. She yelled, "Cannonball!" and leaped off. With her floaties on, she popped right back up and was ready to do it again.
And Lem, he did it without much fanfare, but without much hesitation either. And no floaties for him. There was one boy at the party his age, and they played the whole time. Gwyn was the only girl that wasn't an infant, and she gravitated toward the big girls -- the hostess's teenage daughter and her friend who helped keep an eye on all the little ones in the water.
The food was great, and the day ended with snocones for the kids. A great way to kick off the summer.

On Saturday, we had a party with all the Fuhrmans. Dad grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, and it was a beautiful day. All the cousins played -- they loved the hammock and the sandbox. Lem got a game of poker going. Uncle Jack got into it and he and Lem played for a while. Lem wanted to play for money, but wisely, they stuck to just poker chips.

Before everyone came, we got a little fishing in.

Bean Dip's birthday party was this weekend, and I am pretty sure it was a success. My mom was here, and Katherine and Collins came as well. We also had the neighbors, Alex and Mary and the kids, and Ivy came as well.

We kept it simple this year. We did pizza for the meal and I just bought mini cupcakes for the cake part. My cherry cake for his actual birthday was enough baking this week. I also had fresh fruit and veggies and hummus as well, something healthy to balance out the delicious pizza. My mom was a great help in that she did all the food prep while I tore around the house cleaning up.

We had the pool and the slip'n'slide and games set up in the backyard.  BD and Ivy picked up right where they left off and and ran around playing all afternoon. G and Cameron spent (quite literally) hours in the pool. They came out only for the science experiment, food, and presents. And the occasional cupcake. They swam until 7 p.m.

We did the silly putty experiment for all the kids. I also just had that as the "goody bag" for the kids. They got to take home the results of their experiment. Basically, we mixed glue, water, and borax to make a wonderful goop like silly putty. The sound of the kids saying "wow!" all together when the mixture came together was priceless. It was fun, a little messy, and a lot of fun.

After that, we ate, opened presents and had cake. This year, I got all the birthday stuff wrapped up fairly quickly, and then I could relax! We spent the rest of the evening hanging out. BD put together all his new Legos, finally quitting at almost 10 p.m. when he couldn't function any more. Win had to help him with his last one. It was a great party, and I know BD was really happy.

Silly Putty Recipe: http://pagingfunmums.com/2014/06/13/frozen-silly-putty/

On the Weekend ...

We had a great (but busy!) visit at home this past weekend. We went up Thursday night in order to have a little more time with both families.

Friday afternoon we went to Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis. It is a great outdoor museum, that is free, and is a great little outing. Friday night, however, was the big event -- Game 6 of the NLCS. We watched with all of Win's family and a few friends at Llewelyn's Pub in Webster Groves. The kids only lasted the first 3 innings, so I had to take them home, but almost everyone else stayed to watch the shutout win. Next up, the World Series against the Red Sox!

Saturday, we headed to the Farm. My parents were having a bonfire party that night, one of the reasons we went home this weekend. It was a perfect night for it -- cool, clear, and a full moon. It was a lot of fun catching up with people, including my friend Kelley from high school and her family. The kids had a blast with their cousins and aunts. We stayed up way too late and ate and drank way too much, but it was so much fun.

A quick drive back to Tennessee on Sunday, and then back to the grind on Monday. Surprisingly, everyone seems happy to be back on a normal schedule after Fall Break.

For G's birthday party, I made a special treat for myself, my mom, and Johnna: Sangria.

I'd never made it before, so I researched it online, consulted with my friend Michelle and my mom, and eventually decided to wing it.

It was delicious.

I didn't take a picture, but it was beautiful in a glass pitcher, and here is the basic recipe:

White Sangria

1 green apple, sliced
strawberries, halved
clementines, peeled and sliced
peaches, peeled and sliced

one small (mini-bar sized) bottle of Grand Marnier
one bottle of Moscato

All the recipes called for adding sugar to the fruit mixture. Michelle warned that using Moscato might make it too sweet. I already had the moscato and didn't want to go back to post, so I just omitted the sugar. Mom chopped up the fruit and poured the Grand Marnier over it, and we let that sit in the fridge until right before we were ready to drink it, and then we poured the sparkling wine in.

It was fruity and refreshing and didn't taste alcoholic at all. (I guess that is the point!). I had club soda to add to it, as well as ice, and it disappeared quickly. Next time I will double the liquor and wine.

A Pre-K Valentine's Day Party

Our big celebration for Valentine's Day was attending Bean Dip's party at school. I was there to help out, and Baby G got to tag along.

Monday night was spent assembling Valentines for the entire class, and trying not to eat all the candy. Bean Dip wrote his name on every single one and barely complained.

We arrived in time to help with centers, the part of the day when the students could do various activities at different centers around the room. Because it was V-Day, some of those centers included candy. Mine was a worksheet that involved counting and coloring a graph, and once they were done, the students each got four Hershey's Kisses. Bean Dip started his centers with me, then ran around doing the other ones with Baby G, both of them, and the rest of the class, juiced up on sugar.

I really enjoyed it. I got to meet quite a few of BD's classmates individually, and finally put faces to names. I got to meet Ivy (and her mom, again), the one girl Bean Dip has been talking and talking about. A boy named Samuel took a liking to G and led her around the classroom, introducing her as his cousin. It was really a lot of fun, but man it was exhausting.

The day ended with snack time. Snack was ice cream sundaes with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, and a cookie on the side. And fruit punch to wash it down.

Samuel had brought in balloons and decided G and BD should have them.

And on the way home, and I asked BD where Mrs. R was, his teacher. She was there when we arrived, but I'd noticed she'd disappeared and left two aides in charge of the chaos.

"Oh, she went home. She had a headache."

Holy Saturday

We had a birthday party on Saturday. Bean Dip and Baby G were both invited. It was at the Fun Factory in Enterprise, and the kids had so much fun. Alex turned three. His cake was camouflaged and had a helicopter on it. As you can see, the room has helicopters, too.


And then we came home to wake up Win and dye Easter eggs. Bean Dip made a huge mess with the dye, but he had a blast. Baby G kept yelling, "Egg!" and ended up eating on that had cracked. She is a huge fan of boiled eggs.