school pictures

my cutie pie took school pictures. her preschool takes lots of pictures and lets us choose which one(s) we want. of course we couldn't decide so we ended up with lots of them. ha. i bet that is exactly what they want you to do. we are such suckers. but really they are so cute and just in time for christmas.

condor exhibit

the husbands were having their lan party this weekend so to escape the gaming madness jen and i took the kids to the zoo. it was a great day. their favorite part was the condor rescue zone. it is a kids interactive learning center dedicated to saving the condors. the kids can play with a backpack filled with explorer supplies such as flashlights, walkie talkies, and binoculars. they get learn about the california condors while role playing. there is also a play animal hospital where they can dress up as a vet and perform play operations on a condor to remove toxic things that it has eaten. they love it there. it is a super fun play space that we always enjoy.

connor was cracking me up wearing a backpack that was almost as large as he is. they all loved playing with the walkie talkies. so cute. it was a nice end to the holiday weekend.

happy thanksgiving

we hosted thanksgiving this year. it has been quite a while since we have had it at our house. i was worried i would forget something. with all the parties we have had the last couple of months i didn't have my usual time to prepare. i usually start a month ahead of time but this time i only had a week to get everything done.

everything was great. miles and i didn't cook as many of the dishes we usually do. we only had to cook the turkey, green beans, cranberry sauce, mushroom gravy, regular gravy, and put out shrimp cocktail for appetizers. we also made a spiced cranberry syrup for a champagne cocktail. everything else was delegated to my family. it was so nice to not have to make the stuffing and mashed potatoes. i got a 23 pound fresh turkey from whole foods and brined it starting wednesday morning. everyone said it was so moist and delicious. next year i think i need to get it in the oven sooner. we put it in at 11:30 and it was one of the last things done at 3:00. we ended up eating around 3:30.

for thanksgiving i like to make one long table for the adults and then set up the kids tables next to it. i like the look of the one big table. it looks so elegant. we had thirteen adults and six kids. for my center pieces i found these adorable and delicious crab apples that i arranged in a shallow bowls. i also did a traditional arrangement of while roses for the middle of the table. i used my brown linen runners and had little brown candle holders filled with battery powered tea lights. i love the new battery powered candles. i can safely have candles around the little kids. i even bought a large set that came with a remote control. it is so cool.

i loved having everyone over for thanksgiving. it is such a nice holiday. a whole day to focus on everything we are grateful for. there is so much. things have been really good for us lately and i am feeling super blessed.

dahlia is five

my sweet little girl turned five yesterday. i just can't believe how fast this time has gone by. my little baby is growing up. her birthday was on thanksgiving again this year just like when she was born. the whole family was over and she was excited to have everyone here on her special day.

she is so sweet. i adore her. she is very mature for her age. she still loves to be girly and i hope this does not change. she loves to dress up and wear fancy shoes. she asks to wear my makeup and i let her put on lip gloss. she is way too young for makeup. she keeps asking me when i will buy her some high heels. i tell her when she is much older.

she loves her gymnastic class and is always practicing cart wheels and hand stands at home. she also has become quite good at hula hooping. i should take lessons from her. she can do it for a long period of time.

she has been doing really well in preschool. she is really ready for kindergarten but i am glad that she had this time to just play at a school.

even though she is girly she loves to play outside. she will go outside by herself and dig in the dirt. she is always asking to plant things and insists on buying flowers when we shop at trader joes. i have a hard time saying no to this. i love flowers too.

she also loves to play with her baby dolls apple and orange and a little stuffed dog named plum. she is not the best eater in the world. she only likes white flat eggs (fried egg whites), white rice, strawberries, and raw mini carrots. picky picky. hopefully that will change soon.

i am so blessed to have such a beautiful little girl. happy birthday angel. i love you very much.

mermaid party

dahlia wanted an ariel party for her fifth birthday this year. i went with more of a mermaid under the sea theme. i had so much fun looking for ideas for this party. i love throwing a girl party because everything gets to be cute.

decorating for the party was so much fun. i wanted the dining room to look like we are under water so i bought some tulle and draped it from the edge of the ceiling to the center chandelier. the tulle was in two different shades of blue and was supposed to be similar to the god ray effect of sun shining through water. i thought it turned out so beautiful. it will be a shame to take it down in three days before thanksgiving. i also hung small iridescent glass bulbs from the chandelier to look like bubbles in the water. for center pieces i used sea shells and balloons tied to an ariel paper weight.

we served sandwiches from corner bakery. they were delicious. we had a nice selection of salads including potato, pasta, and green salad. we also had our usual veggies and dip and a cheese and grape plate. all the food looked so pretty and tasted so good.

for dessert my sister jen made this amazing cake that looked like a sand castle. the cake was covered with crushed graham crackers and chocolate sea shells. she even made the chocolate shells herself. it was quite stunning and we displayed it as a centerpiece throughout the party. we also had some beautiful cookies that my other sister susan made and some jello in clear cups with a gummy fish in the center.

we rented a bounce house for the kids and also had a fun craft where they could make jellyfish out of paper bowls and ribbon or decorate cardboard fish with glitter glue and paint. they were so cute. for favors dahlia and i decorated white bags with sea inspired stamps and filled them with golfish crackers, a wooden fish craft, stickers, bubbles, and some swedish fish.

dahlia had so much fun at her party. it was a great day. happy birthday to my little doll.

treehouse update

i bet you thought we forgot about our treehouse project. nope. we are just slow. miles only works on it if he has some spare time on the weekends and things have been pretty busy around here. he did have this weekend free so he managed to finish the deck. he was bolting everything down. it looks great. now he just has to do the railing.

the kids couldn't wait so they climbed right up there with miles and had a picnic while he worked. they packed a little lunchbox with milks, granola bars, and candy. dahlia even brought her little baby doll up there. it will be so fun when they can really play up there.