Just the Beginning

Landon lost his first tooth - just the beginning.

He was SO excited when he first realized it was loose and couldn't wait for it to come out. He's been watching his brothers lose teeth and was determined that he'd pull it out himself. And, he did - in the car. He even took it to "Show and Tell" at school - the very last one of the year - and was a bit disappointed when his classmates guessed right away what he'd brought (they hide their item in their backpack and give clues). I'm sure the gap in his mouth kinda' gave it away.

One more step closer to NOT being my "baby" anymore. Landon and the "Tooth Fairy" are soon to be good friends.

Cameron's LEGO Birthday

Cameron has never had a friend party, so I felt it was about time. He loves LEGOs, so this party pretty much just planned itself. Well, not really - I DID put a lot of thought and effort into it. I made the LEGO invitations and found the LEGO font online for name tags.Here was the set-up before the crowd arrived: (Front yard - LEGO pinata and big "Legos")In the backyard - more big "Legos" and a "Pin-the-Parts-on-the-Lego-Dude" game.A "Lego" table and favor bags with each of their names on them to keep all of their small parts in one place. I planned a treasure hunt with clues for each team - red, blue, and yellow. Around the yard I had placed 8 bowls with a colored lego piece for them to find and collect. Once they collected all 8 of their team's pieces, they had to put the pieces together for the final clue to the treasure. This worked out very well, the kids had a blast, even though we were fighting against some pretty ominous, dark coulds. Given how much fun the boys had with this activity, I think I would have done more than 8 clues, but with the storm coming in, it was just the right amount for us.

The treasures were hidden in the pile of big Legos - Lego Minifigures that we found for $1.00. The boys thought they were super cool as each one is random and you don't know what you'll get.

I had worked for several days on this LEGO pinata. And, I'll tell ya' I was a little bit worried after the first day that it would resemble a potato more than a LEGO brick. But, as it turned out, it resembled a six-eyed Sponge Bob with a unibrow. But, I think the kids got the idea.Again, we were racing against the clouds and had to hurry the pinata along. Being a homemade pinata it didn't have the structural integrity of the professional ones and broke open pretty easily by the 4th kid. Leon was working the rope and keeping it out of their reach which was probably the only reason it survived as long as it did. Oh well, it needed to be put out of its misery anyway.

After the pinata we had to bring the rest of the party inside as the weather quickly turned CRAZY. We did the "Pin-the-parts-on-the-Lego-dude" which the boys thought was funny.

We brought all of the big Lego blocks inside and had a tower building competition between two teams. It would have been more challenging outside, but they had fun anyway. We had them first build the "tallest" tower they could (had to stand on its own for 5 seconds), then a bridge, then a pyramid. I think they had more fun knocking them down as they did building them.

Okay, so the cake is pretty typical, but what else would you do for a Lego party?

Leon borrowed this spinner from work and we thought it would be fun for them to spin for their party favors. We found a Lego party pack of mini kits for $1.60 per kit - a VERY good deal. We had also purchased some smaller prizes like bouncy balls and squirt guns and I had gone through my house and gathered up all of those small, useless toys that I was happy to get rid of and made a "Prize Box." If they spun the "Bonus" then they got to pick a prize from the box and spin again until they got one of the Legos. I'd have to say this was one of their favorite activities. They could have sat and spun the wheel for two hours if that was all there was to do. Oh, I forgot to mention that when the kids were first showing up, we had them guess how many Lego candies were in the jar. The one with the closest guess got to take the whole thing home. That was a crowd pleaser, too.

What a crazy bunch! Happy Lego Birthday, Cameron!

Hope of America?

If this is the "Hope of America" I think we should be a bit worried.

This year it was required that all 5th Graders participate in the Hope of America program. Jayden was a bit disappointed that his school was yellow this year. We've always felt sorry for the yellow kids since they get to be the "border" of the flag and not actually the flag. But, I guess everyone needs a turn at being in the background. It was a great program, as usual. It was especially enjoyable since I was all by myself and didn't have to hear "I'm bored. When is this going to be over?" a million times.

I think I've been to this program about 6 times now, but the light song impresses me every time. That and the old lady dancers - one the audience responds to the most, too. Hey, it's not every day that you see a 90-year old lady do the splits, now is it? Sorry, no video of THAT. I had to ration my battery.

Easter Update

We tried to get a serious, nice family picture. I'm not sure we succeeded.

A good picture of the family, but with one minor addition....

Ahh, maybe this one?

Thanks, Natalie, for taking these great Easter photos.

Easter

Easter is one of my most favorite times of the year. It means the weather is starting to get better, trees and flowers come alive, and some of the best candy of the year. The kids had Easter activities at school....We colored eggs as a family.....
Had our traditional egg hunt Easter morning.....

found the hidden Easter baskets.....

enjoyed Grandma's famous egg hunt....

and this year, a visit from the "Easter Jeff." (A tiny bit disturbing.)
Don't worry, he got what he deserved.

Landon's 6th Birthday Weekend

Despite the fact that Landon agreed not to have anymore birthdays so he wouldn't grow up, he still ended up turning 6 - nothing we could do about it. With his birthday being on Sunday, we had a full weekend of "Landon". They celebrated his birthday at school on Friday and he came home with a crown, a birthday bag, and a book of notes from his classmates. He was the "King of the Day" and sure felt like it.

On Saturday we celebrated by going to Pirate Island with the Lee family. Landon loves this place and never stopped smiling the whole time. We played a lot of games and ate a lot of pizza.
The kids had a crazy, good time. Then, on Sunday, his actual birthday, we had his cousins over for cake and presents.

Landon loves presents, can ya' tell?

Everyone loves Landon, or "Boots" as he's been called since a baby. Being the youngest Landon has the typical vibrant personality.

Landon still loves to snuggle with his mom.

Landon's favorite color is yellow, which makes it hard to see his artwork - boo!

Landon's favorite food is soup and requested Split Pea Soup for his birthday dinner. Say what?

Landon keeps us all smiling.

Happy Birthday, Boots!

Winning Good Food

I've entered a fair amount of giveaways over the years and hardly ever win. But a week or so ago I entered to win tickets to a Williams-Sonoma cooking event and was surprised when I WON! A few days later I got a gift card in the mail good towards 2 tickets, worth $150, to their next Cookbook Club cooking class. When you enter a giveaway, you just might win. The class was being taught at the Williams-Sonoma in Salt Lake City at Trolley Square, so it was a bit of a drive and some juggling of children, but it was worth it. There were 6 of us seated around the counter, watching the chef cook a few recipes from the featured cookbook.

(Warning to non-foodies - Here comes a long paragraph with a lot of food details.) We had Fattoush Salad with Romaine lettuce, rapini, Italian parsley, mint leaves, grape tomatoes, English cucumber, fried Naan bread (which was one of Leon's favorite ingredients of the night), sprinkled with Sumac - an interesting herb/spice, and topped with hard, grated Rocotta cheese. The dressing was made with olive oil, lemon, and more Sumac. For the main course we had Fennel-Roasted Whole Salmon, which was really good - even to a non-seafood lover like me. The fennel was cut in big chunks and was the perfect compliment to the salmon which was tender and juicy - melted in your mouth. The salmon was served with an aioli made with sun-dried garlic, grape sead oil, olive oil, and lemon zest. We also had a Spring Vegetable Ragout with peas, asparagus, and Fava beans cooked in butter and wine, served with pea shoots and a sauce made with olive oil and a chicken paste - so good. For dessert we had Strawberries Dressed Three Ways with pound cake, orange liqueur flavored cream, and a chocolate ganache - super yum. At the end of the night we also got a copy of the cookbook - a nice, big, hardbound book. In all it was an experience that taught and showed us new things. Leon was in 7th Heaven with all the interesting, good food and watching someone cook it. It was one of the most fun things we've ever done together and we might do something like it again in the future, but not one that costs $150. Having the evening cost us nothing made the experience even better for me.