We are back

We got back from Disney on Thursday afternoon. We ran out to the Angel's concert. Friday was her and her friends pool party. Today the Little Man had soccer, we went out to lunch, stopped by a friends house, decorated the tree, and did some Christmas shopping.  So sometime this week I will be blogging but not tonight. Tonight I am editing pictures in the hopes to get my Christmas cards soon (ha ha). Tomorrow I am taking the Angel to the American Girl store with a friend and her daughter and my mom. I am getting her a doll for her birthday. Yes, I have given in. I realized my kids really aren't as spoiled as I always fear they are. So for once, I am just going to get what she asks for without thinking about the how I shouldn't and the why not.

Last night

Last night a friend and I made dinner for my husband. It is his birthday on Tuesday.  She loves to cook (like me), so we asked him his favorite dish and went with it. 

It wasn't actually that easy.  At first he responded with "what's yours?".  Then he picked mine. I had said lobster.  There really wasn't much of a chance that I was making lobster.  All week he pondered his favorite dish. On Wednesday night he decided to google the menu of Calhoun Corners.  It is a fancy restaurant in Clemson.  He said he had his favorite dish there. So be picked steak with a mushroom and prosciutto cognac sauce and banana cream pie.

So we had a starting point. We came up with the rest of the menu and went to work on figuring out how to make the sauce. 

The menu was:
Appetizers
Pumpkin dip with gingersnap crackers
Shrimp cocktail
Salad
Autumn Salad with lemon poppy seed dressing
Main Dish
NY Strip Steaks w/ mushroom and prosciutto brandy sauce
Roasted potatoes
Steamed Broccoli and Cauliflower
Dessert
Banana Creme Pie
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake with Caramel sauce

I will include recipes for the meal later on this week. Suffice it to say, dinner was delicious!

A fortune cookie

Last week my sweet hubby took the kids out to dinner because I was hosting a Pampered Chef party. I needed some extra time to clean up plus the peace and quiet. When they got home two hours later, I was a little disappointed to learn they had eaten Chinese food.  I love Chinese and I'm on a diet, so the thought of enjoying some Sesame Chicken made me salivate.

Well the Drama Queen brought home her fortune cookie to eat.  When we cracked it open, the fortune said, "You are going to have a great birthday party this year".

We are going to be in Disney World this year for her birthday.  And we have a small birthday breakfast party planned for her with Minnie, Mickey, Pluto, our family and some friends.  She has no idea we are going to Disney or any of the details so it really is going to be a great birthday. I am getting so excited planning it all out.

Kate's 2nd birthday

Kate celebrated her 2nd birthday at gymboree.  We haven't been there in almost 3 years when Tyler and Rebecca took their last classes and our membership ran out.  It was such a cute party. The kids had a blast playing and doing the activities.  Jason really seemed to like it.  It made me ponder a membership for him...maybe next year.

Best Birthday Ever (from Moms perspective)

We took the kids to what I considered to be the best birthday party ever! One of my favorite domestic goddesses planned it.

We got to the party and the kids climbed aboard a bus filled with gymnastics stuff to do.  They were on it for an HOUR while us parents got to relax and enjoy each others company.  After the bus, there was a clown to play with the kids.  She also painted their faces, tattoed them up, and gave them ballon swords.  Before they had a chance to get into too much trouble with the swords in walked a robot (from Yo Gabba Gabba)! The kids were in heaven.  They had cupcakes and it was time to go to sleep.  They were so tired out. It was wonderful!!!

A week of many birthdays....

So last week was full of birthday's and birthday parties. 

Paige and Erica both celebrate their birthdays a day apart which called for a nice dinner at Bonefish with all the girls.  I am so lucky to have this great group of girlfriends to celebrate my life with. We all have so much fun together and have great conversations.  It is always a fun night whenever/wherever we go.  Our super creative friend Carrie sewed some gifts for them which were so great. They were just perfect. And the food, drinks and dessert at Bonefish was all sooo good. If you've never been before, you should definitely go there.

On the weekend, Rebecca went to a pirate themed party. She said it was the best birthday ever. It was at the same place where she and Brett had their party. And now Tyler is thinking about a pirate party.  I need to start thinking about ideas.  Jason and Tyler went to a party at Monkey Joes.  Thankfully the hosts of this party booked a private jumping room.  Monkey Joes + weekend = mass chaos.  When I walked I was in fear and then I went in the private room. It was great!  Of course I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, the dads or the kids.  And we did have an adult casualty...(only in our group of friends would this happen).

Saturday night we went out for another friend Matt's birthday.  We had dinner at a local sportsbar and then went to the Buford Variety theater for the comedy show.  It was so good.  Everyone should go there at least once. I was laughing so much I was afraid to take a sip of my drink. I kept thinking I would end up spitting it out in a fit of laughter. I'm telling you this was such a fun night.  Ryan and I have decided that we need to go back there every couple of months since we enjoyed it so much. Anyone in?

Sunday night was the Super Bowl.  I was pleasantly surprised to watch the Saints win. I didn't see it coming but they definitely deserved it.  We went to Super Bowl party at our friends house. It was lots of people with babysitters upstairs watching the kids.  Rebecca liked the babysitter so much she didn't want to leave.  That night we also semi celebrated the host and hostess' birthday.  They both celebrated them over the last 2 weeks, so there was cake and a cookie cake (yummy).  It was a really nice night...and the week of birthdays ended on Monday.  Jason (and I) went to a mini birthday party/playgroup for a little girl in his playgroup.

Rebecca's 5th birthday party

We had a joint party for Rebecca's birthday with her friend Brett.  We had the party at INK in Gainesville and probably had about 50 kids there plus the parent(s).  It was a little crazy but we didn't have to leave anyone out so it was great. 

Rebecca had a great time.  There is so much to do at the place.  It seemed like all the kids were enjoying themselves.  I know Tyler really liked it as well.  I'm not sure about Jason because as soon as we got in there he took off running.  I have no clue who watched him the whole time but I think it was mostly Pop Pop Tom.

Feeding all those people was a little hectic. And I grossly underestimated the amount of juice we needed for all those kids.  Oh well...I don't think anyone died from having to serve their kids water from the fountain when we ran out of juice.  Rebecca's crown cake came out well. I wasn't really sure I would be able to pull it off but I am glad I tried it and didn't call Publix on Thursday like I was contemplating.

And the gifts, Rebecca's friends got her the most wonderful gifts. Lots of barbies, jewelry kits, oven stuff for her easy bake oven, a microphone, games, arts and crafts stuff and her favorite gift....a chef's apron with her name on it.  Our friend Judy made it for her (I mean sewed it) and then had it embroidered with Rebecca's name on it.  It is adorable.  She put it on immediately and wore it until bedtime.  When she got up this morning, she wore it all day until she had to leave for a friends house. 

Thank you everyone who came to the party. Check out the pictures on our shutterfly site.

Rebecca's Birthday

Monday was Rebecca's 5th birthday.  We celebrated at her school with cupcakes for her class. Her teachers gave her a hat to wear which she did almost all day. After school she had gymnastics.  Her whole sang Happy Birthday to her which was really cute.  Ryan and I told her she could pick what she wanted for dinner. I was completely expecting to be eating chicken nuggets at McDonald's but she wanted chinese chicken and soup.  This is code for sesame chicken and sizzling rice soup.  So we went out for a nice birthday dinner with both sets of grandparents, our family, and her cousin Libby.  Ryan bought her a cookie cake (another favorite) which we enjoyed at the restaurant.

She got lots of phone calls from the family members she didn't get to see and was excited to hear their voices on the anwering machine.

On Sunday we are bringing her to the American Girl doll store. She is going to get some outfits for her bitty twin. She is so excited.  I'll update you guys after that...