The Zoo Mobile

The Zoo Mobile rolled by the local library. The girls and I went a learned a thing or two about a few strange creatures.

My cuties, waiting for the show to start.

A red tailed hawk.

A centipede from the Rain Forest. Seriously, I am beginning to LOVE Minnesota winters. Can you believe she put those creatures that close to her face. Bluck, I am itchy just thinking about it. Aren't you?

A budding photographer.

So, do you know-is this an opossum or a possum?

Petting the snake. Now, home for a de-germing bath!

Happy Birthday to Ella

We celebrated Ella's birthday a little early this year. Since we would be traveling on her actual birthday (Feb. 26th), I wanted to do the  friend party beforehand. So, we invited 12 little girls over to the house for a Hello Kitty birthday party.

For the most part, I try to give the girls a lot of creative control with their parties. Ella went back and forth between a Barbie Party and a Hello Kitty party. I even let her (as I have in the past) decide on her guest list. She pulled friends from preschool and church. I limit the number and she goes from the there.

I think she had a blast. She made out like a bandit! Our friends are so generous. Having family so far away, I really depend on friends when it comes to birthday parties!

Here's Ella with a few of the balloons!

 Ahem....McKenna did her own hair. It changed a few times throughout the party.

We painted kitty faces...

We painted wooden magnets. Here's Ella's polka dotted flower magnet.

The set up....here the girls are decorating their goody bags. We had shapes, stickers and die-cuts from the Cricut machine to use on the goody bags.

The friends who came...

 Look at that cute kitty face!

So cute! Meow!

We made kitty masks using paper plates, shredded paper and pipe cleaners.

 The girls decorated their own cupcakes. Ella picked purple and pink frosting. I also made Kitty Cream (red jello, whisked with whip cream). Of course, kitties love to eat fish...so we munched on Goldfish crackers as well.

The first toys she played with.

The mess afterwards....

She opened a few gifts from AL. Cioci Sara sent her felicitiy's riding dress. Ella INSISTS that it is a reading dress, however.

 Mom, the gift you sent....I haven't uploaded the pics yet. Sorry!

Arthur and I enjoyed helping Ella enjoy her 5th birthday party. It's hard to wrap my brain around her age! She will start kindergarten next year. Wow. Next birthday party--I will definately have a 3rd set of arms to help me get all of the pictures that I want. I wasn't able to get a group shot, or a picture of each guest with Ella. Oh well, these things happen, I guess.

Incase you missed it...

click here, especially if you are from Alabama.

You could have missed this post, also!  Or, this one.

Toothless Wonder

Today, McKenna lost her very first tooth. The night before Thanksgiving she was eating some pizza and discovered that it was loose. She called a ton of you. Remember? Well, today at school it fell out? Her teacher sent me these photos. Today was a special day at school. It was their 100th Day Celebration. Do you notice the 100 straws in the picture? The class had a celebration and some parents visited to help with stations focused on the number 100. Here's the email from her teacher:

Jessica,



She was very excited! We laughed that mom and dad didn't know I was part dentist part teacher! McKenna commented that I was part hair stylist too!!! (McKenna mentioned this because one day her pony tail was messed up and Mrs. Izzy fixed it for her.)


All week she has told me that she wanted to wait until the 100th day of school! She was very determined after we did the 100th day straw and money count that the tooth needed to come out! I tried to capture the 100th day straw count in one of the photos knowing this was an important piece of the tooth coming out! She is so cute because every place we go she smiles this huge smile to see if a teacher or a student will notice!!!! I can't wait to see her greet you and Ella! (Ella and I volunteered at the 100th Day Celebration today in McKenna's class.)


Glad that I could be part of such a special memory for her!


Jenny

A Princess Ball

Daddy took the girls to a "real" ball. They wore their Belle Holiday dresses from Aunt Leigh and put on lots of sparkles. They really danced, really met a few princesses and really rode in a carriage. Hopefully, Arthur will email the pictures he took and I can add them to this post.

Fifties day at school for McKenna

I suppose that I could have taken the time to move Arthur's slipper and the throw pillow before I took the picture. Yikes!

We Love Miss Katie

We had to be away for weekend (for work) so Miss Katie came to the rescue. She stayed with the girls and brought them to their various activities: library, YMCA, bday parties, church, choir, etc... She is awesome. We love her very much. I especially like that she hands out consequences as needed (much like myself). I felt totally at ease know that she was caring for the girls.

Matter of fact, she'd SO awesome that she snook these pics onto the camera as a surprise for me (knowing that I blog).

Miss Katie, apron and all!

Ella, balling the cookie dough.

McKenna, pulling them out of the oven.

Ella, transferring them to the cooling rack.

Final product!

Ella, er, I mean--Cinderella!

Making a mask.

Mmm...mmm...Monday

Leah's Yummy Hummus

1 can chick peas (garbanzo beans)
or 1 3/4 cups cooked beans
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup tahini paste
1/4 cup water
1-2 cloves garlic minces
2-3 T lemon juice
Dash cayanne pepper
Salt to taste (especially if not using canned beans)

Add all ingredients to food processor and process until smooth and uniform consistency. Store in refrigerator no more than a week. Unsure how it freezes. Serve with crackers, tortillas, cut veggies, on sandwiches, salads.

Happy Love Day

Last year for Valentine's day, this is what we did. This year was a bit more low key.

There were pink and red and hearts....

...little Valentine's Day gifts...

...and, my favorite, heart shaped pancakes!

McKenna's response, "Wow, Mom. I like this even more than the Wisconsin Dells."

Ella's response, "Not me mom."

Girls' Painting Night!

Recently we were able to enjoy an evening with just the girls! We had our friends the D's over to eat tacos and paint canvas.

Dress Up

My girls LOVE playing dress up. While we were down in AL this past October, they played in some of Haley's old dance recital costumes. Ella, especially, had a blast! Little did we know--Hayden enjoys dress up too! By the way, I got permission from Hayden's mom to post these photos!