Mexican Fiesta!!!

Eric's 8th Birthday Party

Eric's Mexican fiesta was a huge success...lots of kids, lots of games, mariachi music and mostly, lots of fun! Eric had 10 friends over for his party, although we really weren't sure if it was going ot happen until Saturday morning. Leah had gotten a stomach virus earlier in the week, and it was really taking its toll on her, but she was well enough to spend the day with Heather's mom, away from all of the commotion during the party.

We decorated with red/white/green streamers, painted cacti on posterboard and hung on the wall, red/white/green balloons, lots of mexican blankets and sombreros, and played mariachi music (I found it at the library). The kids came in and went to work on some crafts...they decorated ponchos and maracas. I also had tissue paper flowers for them to make, but we didn't get to that because there wasn't enough time. There were actually lots of things we didn't get to do because of time, but that's always better than having too much time :) After the crafts, we played a Mexican card game to win Mexican jumping beans (found them online). Then it was time for the taco bar which was a huge hit for everyone! Since it was a beautiful day outside (55 degrees), I sent them all out to play a relay game called Mexican kickball, which is like an obstacle course done while kicking a soccer ball. I was very thankful for the nice weather so they could burn off some energy outside! We came in and did the Mexican hat dance in a circle with our sombreros, maracas, etc. We played pass the sombrero (like hot potato to music) and then did the pinata. Eric had a great time and said it was his best birthday ever, but he always says that!!! I don't know how long I can continue to plan these big parties with Bay and Leah growing up, I know that we'll probably have to alternate years for parties eventually, but although it is a lot of planning, it really is so much fun to celebrate their birthdays in such a big way.

We are so amazed that Eric is 8 years old, and keep thinking how much closer he is getting to adolescence...scary! But still so much a little boy right now :)

Here's a few more pictures from the party.

Before (you can see it in the background) and After

It's Finally Done!!!

Finally, after almost a year of planning, ordering fabric, waiting for time to do it, and then getting halfway through and waiting for more fabric, the horrid khaki striped couch is gone and a brownish chenille has taken it's place! I spent the week between Christmas and New Year's ripping the fabric off the original couch, laying out the pieces on my new fabric, cutting, and then realizing that I didn't have enough fabric! Yikes! So I went ahead and covered what I could, and, thankfully, the fabric was still available from where I got it a year ago at www.fashionfabricsclub.com. While recovering it, I added a little extra batting to the arms, which really added to the comfort level of the couch. The worst part was sewing the seat cushions with the piping, as you can see, they have a little section that makes an "L" at the front of each cushion, and this was really a bear! Needless to say, we all like our "new" couch and will be able to enjoy it's stain-hiding properties hopefully till the kids are much older and we buy new furniture.

I used 14 yards of fabric, at least 30 yards of piping, and lots of broken needles on my sewing machine due to the many layers I went through on the cushions! The whole project cost me about $200, $140 of which was for fabric, and the rest was for piping, trim and new accent pillow forms. Not too bad for a couch that originally cost us $500 when we bought it.

Although I really enjoy sewing, taking on a project this size is not something I will lightly go into now that I know what is involved. I learned a lot about piping that I did not know before, and making regular shaped box cushions is not so bad, but the size of the couch was daunting! Just glad it's all done! Next big project.....stripping and restaining the kitchen cabinets....Dennis thinks I'm crazy!!!

My new spice rack!!!!

Dennis just finished building my long-awaited spice rack today! For the past year I have had all of my spices crammed into a cabinet, and I really prefer to have them all out where I can quickly see, inventory and access them like this. This one is actually a little better than the one I previously had-it has 4 shelves at the top that are a little taller, accomodating my larger quart size jars for my bulk spices. The rest of the shelf has shorter shelves for my normal spice jars. As you can see, it is completely full, and will immediately be put to good use. He made it out of some old hickory my dad had, and I have not yet put any finish on it, but will eventually. The wood is really neat, it has lots of worm holes in it and gives it lots of character. I am so thankful God has blessed our family with a handy husband/dad like Dennis!

Mount Vernon Field Trip

We just spent a day at Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate in Virginia. Although it was predicted to be a 0% chance of rain, it rained the whole time we were there. Nevertheless, we had a great time and really enjoyed the mansion, gardens and educational center. Eric just finished studying about George Washington right before Christmas, and so this was a great finish to the unit. Since it was raining, we spent more time indoors than out, and the kids especially loved the new Museum and Educational Center. It definitely had some of the best museum exhibits I have ever seen, and held the kids' interest all the way through. There were battle scene re-enactments with toy soldiers, life-size replicas of George at different stages of his life, and also a Hands-on Histroy area where you see one of the things the kids got to do was to dress in colonial clothes. They thought that was really neat. Bay wanted to wear his clothes home :) We also discovered that the bike/pedestrian path from Alexandria to Mount Vernon that follows the GW Parkway is a future excursion for us this spring, it had beautiful views of the Potomac and we saw lots of bald eagles in the trees along the water!

Eric, Bay and Leah in colonial dress

Homeschool Science Fair

Eric just participated in our local homeschool science fair. His project was on "Intrusive and Extrusive Igneous Rocks". This was a great experience for him, and I think he learned a lot, not only about his project (we all learned something from his project!) but also from the process of preparing his presentation, practicing it several times, and then being flexible at the fair to be able to answer the judges questions as well as questions from his peers. He also got lots of great ideas for next year. He got to set up next to his friend, Liam, who was also doing a presentation on Rocks and Minerals, so they enjoyed learning from each other's projects. Everyone got a certificate and a book of encouraging comments from those who looked at the project, and a judging sheet which showed ways they did well as well as ways to improve. If you ever have the opportunity to participate in a science fair with your child, I encourage you to do it, even if science is not your strong point! It really was lots of fun and not very difficult once we decided on a topic.

Leah and her new stroller!

Well, Christmas is over and we have had one of our most relaxing and enjoyable Christmas holidays yet as a family! Dennis' office closes for the week between Christmas and New Year's, so it has been really nice to have him around and both of us have had a chance to get lots of little projects done and do some fun things together as a family. Not to mention the chance to sleep in almost every day last week! (The kids actually slept in most days as well...which is very unusual!)

Christmas Eve morning, we had our own little impromptu Nativity play with the kids. It was very fun... Mommy and Daddy were Mary and Joseph, Eric and Bay doubled as shepherds and wise men, and of course Leah was the angel, who appeared to the shepherds and said, "Baby Jesus", which means of course, "come see the baby who has been born!" It is fun now that they are all old enough to do something like this together, and I am sure it will get better each year! Christmas Eve morning, my brother, Andy, flew in to town, and that afternoon, we all went to the Christams Eve service at church together, including Dennis' mom. Our church has 5 services on Cmas Eve, and I accompanied 2 of them on the piano. We then all came home and let the kids open a present and then my brother read to them before bed. Christmas morning everyone came over to our house for the activities. Leah had a great surprise for her under the tree, a doll stroller...and she was very excited to see it! Dennis was already upstairs, I was still down, and as Leah climbed the stairs and saw her stroller under the tree, she called out, "Daddy! Daddy!" in her cute little voice! She was so excited that she then proceeded to call out to me, still downstairs, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" It was a perfect moment of sheer joy that we will not forget :)

Anyways, after all the gifts were opened and everyone played with the kids for awhile, everyone left for the afternoon and we had a nice quiet afternoon before Christmas dinner together that evening.

Later on that week, our family and my parents and brother took a trip into D.C. We visited the Air & Space Museum, took the metro out to Bethesda for Dennis' celebratory graduation dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, visited the new WWII memorial (which is a beautiful memorial, and perfectly situtated on the mall) and then strolled through the National Christmas tree exhibits. It was a great day, the kids had a ball and everyone was completely wiped out from all of the walking by the time we got home late that night!

There are more pictures of everything if you follow our webshots link to the Christmas 2006 pictures.

A couple of the things we got accomplished the following week were:

I re-upholstered our living room couch, a project in the makings for about a year now! I originally was going to sew a slipcover, but my mom convinced me that re-upholstering would be much easier (not that it was at all easy!) I actually am 90% done with the project, currently waiting for 4 more yards of fabric to come in the mail as I calculated incorrectly and could not cover the back pillows. A separate post will follow later with details for those who are interested in my laborious project!

Dennis built a mantel shelf for over our gas stove! We actually realized we would like to have someplace to hang the stockings and so we quickly drew up plans for the mantel and he built it with time to spare on Christmas Eve! We are easily using up that black walnut from my dad's tree that fell 15 years ago!

Dennis made the next addition to our dining table, a bench for the kids to sit on instead of chairs! The bench is identical to the table, but in smaller scale. Eventually we will have chairs to match as well, but the bench is great for the kids and also for squeezing in a bunch of people when we have a crowd!

All in all we all agreed it was a great week, and as I write this, I am up early getting ready to start Eric back to school and routine again.