The Birthday Boy!

Eli had a fun birthday all day long. He got to open up some presents & cards from family after breakfast & then we were off to school. Here he is with the "cone-cakes" he requested for his class.




This is his friend Ethan who also was invited to Eli's party. It's nice to have a friend in his class that also lives only a block away!


Adrienne wanted to have lunch with Eli for his birthday. Personally I think she just likes being a big kid & hanging out with the first graders.


The cool thing about cone cakes is you don't have to mess with unwrapping your food. Easy & fun to eat!


The official birthday class photo (with Adrienne smack dab in the middle).

After school we had a few of the boys in the neighborhood come over for pizza & a pirate party. After dinner we went on a treasure hunt that ended with the appropriate pirate costuming for everyone.

Fierce, no?

Eli requested brownies instead of cake. Works for me. (It's a pirate flag.)

You should have heard all the squeals from these boys as Eli opened his gifts. I thought girls were noisy!



Here are some of the decorations. Adrienne helped me scour the house looking for "pirate-y" things to put on the table.



She even offered some of her jewelery. So sweet.



I put in the goblets that Tony & I used for our wedding toast. Can't you see a pirate captain drinking from one?

My Happy Birthday!

My birthday had a very good start to it thanks to a good friend bringing me Starbucks in the morning & another taking me out to lunch at Macaroni Grill. The kids were especially pleased with lunch because they could draw all over the table & draw they did!! I figured while we were out I'd pick up a few things for Eli's birthday party - pirate goodies of course. The kids & I got that all taken care of. Phew!

Right when we got home Adrienne asked me to carry her in the house & up to bed. Normally I'd say, "tough it out", but she had a such a tired look on her face. I should have known better. I was halfway up the garage steps when she suddenly threw up on me & the steps. I did the only thing I could think of & ran her outside & let her finish throwing up all over the driveway. She looked at me when she was done & said "maybe that's why my stomach was hurting". Kids are so smart!

I cleaned her up & put her to bed for her nap with a lovely barf bowl next to her for comfort. After naps both kids woke up feeling good. I was relieved. I figured she must have eaten something bad but at least now it was out of her system. Right? My husband came home & made plans to take us out to dinner for my birthday. We repeatedly asked Adrienne how she was feeling & got the green light.

As we were putting on socks & shoes Adrienne came to my room & looked at me funny. You know that look...the one that says I'm about to throw up all over your carpet & you'll never get the smell out. I grabbed her like a football under my arm & started to run with her to the bathroom. We almost made it. Almost. Two feet from the bathroom door suddenly my feet started slipping & sliding on the hardwood & I went thudding down on one knee in a painful attempt to not drop my "football".

We finally made it & after we finished up in the bathroom I looked out at the tracks I had made in the vomit on the floor & all I could do was laugh. There's not much else I could do at that moment, plus I'm sure we were a funny sight. Needless to say we did not go out to eat. I had a toaster strudel & a cup of decaf coffee for dinner & let my wonderful husband clean up the floor for me!
Fast - forward 24 hours as we made a second attempt to go out. As you can see by the photo we did finally make it & had a yummy dinner at O'Charlie's. I would have been happy with Taco Bell!



Thank you to everyone who made my day so special with phone calls & emails & singing "happy birthday". I may not have gotten a cake but I have wonderful family & friends who made my day just as sweet (with a lot less calories!).

Apples

We were given a lot of apples from our neighbor across the street & we decided to make some apple sauce & of course an apple pie. (Never mind that I haven't made a pie crust in about 10 years.)



I think they turned out tasty. A few days later a different neighbor gave us some more apples & Eli had an apple tasting in his classroom (where he found that yellow was his favorite). We were surrounded by so many apples that Eli wrote a poem about them.

Apples by Eli Ward

Green is too sour
Red is too sweet
I think yellow
is just too neat

Rainforest Cafe - Nashville

Since Tony won't be in town for Eli's birthday, we decided to celebrate a week early. The Rainforest Cafe was the restaurant of choice & coupons for $1.99 kids meals didn't hurt either.


Here we are with the costumed gorillas. Hint: the gorillas are in the back!



Eli got a bowl of clam chowder which he has decided is his new favorite soup.

Of course, you can't celebrate a birthday without having some ice cream with a cherry on top!

Yummy, yummy, yummy, I've got love in my tummy...

A neighbor, who also goes to our church, invited some moms from her small group & some neighbors over to make spring rolls. Adrienne & I went & got a refresher course on this delicious dish!

Here Adrienne is rolling some for us to eat for dinner.

Coming out of the fryer.

Yum! Need I say more?

She also taught us how to make the peanut sauce that goes with it. Salty, sweet, spicy & savory all in one sauce. All in all, the rolls reminded me a lot of the lumpia that Sarah & I made in the past. As a bonus my neighbor took us to an Asian food mart that I would have never found on my own & I found out that the owner's daughter was good friends with Eli last year in school. (cue: It's a small world...) You just never know who you'll run into in this town.

Random photos

This is Eli's "Giant Squid". He has written books about the awesome power of this giant squid & now he filled our driveway with the IMAX version.

The good thing about the large canvas of the driveway is that it washes off in the rain & he can start over again. However, we had no rain here for the last month & the driveway got very full

After Bible study we went to the park with some of the other moms & decided to take a hike. As you can see, Adrienne found a fast friend.

Saturday Silliness

We had another fun Saturday. We started out at Lowe's & the kids made a fire engine. (Next month they can make glow in the dark skeletons & a stand-up pumpkin.) Then we went to our local library for a Read to Succeed party. They had free food, music, story times, a jumpy house, book giveaways etc. Lots of fun stuff!

Adrienne got to meet Max the bunny (from Ruby & Max).

Then she got her face painted to look like "a kitty with a red nose".

After naps we went to the fair with some friends of ours. It was about an hour away but I didn't have to drive so it was all good. The kids got to ride on lots of rides. More than they would have if I had taken them by myself.

Adrienne liked the train. She fit right in with her kitty face.

Adrienne & Eli on the bikes.

Eli rode the dragon roller coaster with his friends. No need for Mommy this time. Phew!

The kids even got to learn how to call a turkey.

It was a very different sound than the "gobble gobble" you hear on cartoons.

We had to take a photo of the ginormous fruits - the 492 pound pumpkin & the 189 pound watermelon!

And what trip to the fair would not be complete without being chased by big foot? Run Away!

Deputy Ward

Well, it's official. We now have a gun toting, badge wearing deputy in the house.

He finished his first week on Patrol & did very well with all the training. It came in very handy I'm sure on the first call of the first day when they had to move cows out of the road. That's Tennessee for you! The second was a narcotics bust which was probably a little more exciting.

He came home with 2 garbage bags full of stuff he's required to wear or have with him daily . It covered our bed & then some.

Needless to say we had several more talks about gun safety with the kids. Do you know the rules?
1. Don't touch it!
2. Run away from it.
3. Tell an adult where you found it.
Now obviously the kids can't run away from Daddy every time they see him so we really emphasize #1 in the house.
P.s. I read all the manuals & practiced loading & firing so I could know what's what - so don't mess with me! :)

Saturday Adventures

Saturday was a busy day for the kids. We went to the river & walked on the green way & looked at all the art on display at the craft fair. The kids got to make their own necklaces & marble paintings which they enjoyed a bunch.



Here they are taking a break by the river.

Adrienne looking for fish.

Then we went to the Stones River Battlefield where we decided to do the Junior Ranger Program. They had to wander around different parts of the battlefield & answer questions about what they saw. They also got to find out how a cannon works.

Here they are being sworn in as Junior Rangers.

They got certificates & a badge. Now they're official.

This is overlooking the National Cemetery at Stones River.
The short square markers are unknown soldiers.

These are the graves of the Union soldiers that died here in Murfreesboro. There is a separate cemetery for the Confederate soldiers.

The new pets

Let me preface this by saying that our neighbor is in high school & was doing a science project all month catching bugs that would be euthanized & mounted on a display. My kids wanted to help her & caught a lot of bugs these past few weeks.
I forgot to tell them not to name the bugs & a few recieved names & a place in our home now. Let me introduce you....

This is Brownie. This photo is almost life size.

This is Stripey. He is huge. He's about four inches & he can fly from our house to our neighbors house across the street with out stopping to hop at all!

This is Grassy. Adrienne's first catch. Grassy is much smaller than the other two & behaves very well. The kids have been taking turns feeding them all fresh grass & tasty lamb's ears leaves. Yum!

Time for Woodshop!

We went to Lowe's for a kids workshop & they got to make pirate ships. Both kids did 99% of the work themselves with me only starting a few nails that were cantankerous! I was very surprised at how adept Adrienne was with the hammer. She already put flowers & my little pony stickers all over her Lowe's flag to make it a "girls pirate ship". Go figure.









When they were done they received a certificate with a pirate patch that they can sew on to their aprons. It was pretty fun & Eli is already talking about the fire engine they plan on building next time. Oh, & did I mention it was free? Which is a good thing since the price of gas went up $1.15 in two days!!!!!!!!!!!