Today Is Your Birthday....

Mister Smith celebrated another birthday!  We played it pretty low key as we were still recovering from Thanksgiving.  He already enjoyed his birthday present a few weeks ago in the form of tickets to a Notre Dame football game.

After sleeping in, we went to see the movie, Tangled, which Paige now considers her favorite princess movie.  We all agreed it was pretty cute.

Dave and I also went out for dinner.  Dave picked one of our favorite restaurants--Heaven on Seven.  This time we did something totally new and ordered the seven-course chef's choice meal.  This basically means that you don't pick your food, the chef does it for you.  Our server, recommended that we share one, seven-course meal, which was good advice because between the two of us we couldn't even finish this!

For the foodies, here is what we had:

The first course was an andouille sausage, polenta, mustard, and carmelized onion appetizer.  This was my favorite.  Each element was good on it's own but when you put it all together in one bite; it just exploded with the perfect flavor.  Loved it!

Our second course, was soup and bread.  We got one of their famous cornbread muffins and samples of gumbo and turtle soup.

Courses three through seven were all smaller portion entrees (this was a ton of food.)  We had blackened tilapia over a crabcake, a voodoo chicken enchilada, worchestershire beef tenderloin tip with horseradish mashed potatoes, a bowl of red beans and rice, and finally orzo jambalaya.  We couldn't even eat the jambalaya.  We were so full we just had it packaged to take home.

The final course was dessert.  Yes, you get dessert, so it's really an eight-course meal.  We were very full by this point, but somehow you can always make room for key lime pie!

Everything was delicious and it was a very fun way to eat, because you never know what is coming next.  Okay, now here is the best part...the total price for this experience was $35!  Yep, $35 for two people and all that food.  What a steal!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love cooking, I love family, and I love Thanksgiving!  This year we had dinner at our  house and had Dave's cousin Rob, his lovely wife Mary, and their 5 children come over.  Dave's colleague from India, Naveen, also joined us for his first ever American Thanksgiving dinner.  Rob and Mary have four girls (and 1 boy,) add them to our two girls and it makes for some real fun girl time.

I can't speak for everyone, but I had a great time.  The dinner was good and the company even better.

During the last minute rush to get everything finished in the kitchen, the girls went to work making turkey placecards out of oranges, marshmallows and turkeys.  They did a great job and even organized where everyone would be sitting. 

This year our turkey finished a little earlier than expected but fortunately, I was able to keep it warm and it made it to the table with everything else, no problem.

After dinner, the girls played a few games including a rousing round of Twister.  The guys watched a football game and we all enjoyed dessert: pumpkin bars, cherry pie and coconut cream pie.

As the evening wound down, there was definitely a sense of happiness and gratitude as I looked back on the day and the year: grateful for the many blessings we enjoy, for the Lord's merciful hand in our lives, for my own little family, and for our extended family.  It has been a great pleasure to be close to Rob and Mary and have the opportunity to get to know them better.

Following the party and a little clean-up after everyone had gone home, I went out with a few friends for some late night shopping.  We went to the outlet mall which opened at 9pm.  I found some good deals and earned some sore feet by the time I got home at 2:30am, but it was fun!!  And good ol' Dave finished the dishes while I was gone.

In Thanksgiving

Gratitude is the most humbling of virtues,

It helps me see the abundance in my life.

It helps me to recognize the blessings

and feel the love.

My Favorite Girls

This week was parent-teacher conference.  I went to Paige's but not to Ashley's.  I was planning to see Ashley's teachers but she has straight As and I got emails from two different teachers telling me that due to limited conference time, if you don't have concerns or questions it is better to leave conference appts. for parents of students who have issues---basically we were uninvited to P/T conference.  Whatever!

Ashley is such a good girl and student, I'm not too worried.  This week we had lunch with Dave's new boss and his family.  Dave's boss has 3 girls, two are the same age as our girls.  Of course, you never know how something like this is going to go.  Not only are you meeting strangers for the first time, but you are at a restaurant and have your kids with you.  Before we left, we just told the girls to remember their manners and be friendly.  Well, Ashley didn't disappoint.  She is a such a socializer/talker.  She immediately sat down and struck up a conversation with one of the girls who is her same age.  I just watched her and smiled as she kept the conversation going, was very friendly, and even ended up tickling and entertaining the 4 year old.  It reminded me of Dave's mom who is also very good in social situations.  Funny thing is that all the kids got along famously and the wives were very talkative, but the two people who actually know each other and work together were the most quiet and reserved.  I think it probably has something to do with two guys having been outnumbered by the females for most of their lives!

Now for Paige's P/T conference.  She also has all high marks and is above grade level, so no academic worries.  I did appreciate her teacher telling me that Paige is "a really good person."  I'd rather hear my child has a good character more than good grades.

Ashley and Paige are my favorite girls!

Soccer

We survived another soccer season,
although I am a little late getting the pictures up.  

This season was Paige's first season playing all-girls in "real" soccer games.  She played really well and in her mom's opinion, was one of the best players on the team :)  She scored the game winning goal in her first game.  However, little did we know that that game would be the highlight of the season.  Her poor little team didn't win one other game.  In fact, they didn't even come close, losing every game by big margins.  Paige did manage to score a few more goals and save a few as goalie.  Fortunately, at this age the girls don't care about the score of a game, they just have fun running around.   

On the otherhand, Ashley had a great team this season.  They had a number of ties but they did go undefeated this season.  Ashley is pretty much a full-time defender now.  She plays last man and has a very good understanding of the game (now her mom just needs to get out with her more and help her improve her kicking skills.)

She is still only playing recreationally.  We have been very torn about putting her on a competitive traveling team.  The problem is games are on Sunday and we just don't feel like we can commit to playing games on Sunday, so she will just keep playing for fun and exercise.  This winter she is going to play co-ed indoor once a week.  I am a little worried about the co-ed thing, but friends who have played assure me that it's fine.   

I did a pretty poor job of getting pictures of the girls playing this season.  Paige's pictures were taken by another parent who gave me a copy and as for Ashley it seemed like it was either raining, too cold to hold the camera or I was too busy talking to my friend, Cheryl (her daughter also plays.)

Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame...

Cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame,

wake up the echoes cheering her name,

send a volley cheer on high,

shake down the thunder from the sky,

what tho' the odds be great or small,

Old Notre Dame will win over all,

while her loyal sons are marching onward to VICTORY!

Ashley and Dave sat in the pouring rain at Notre Dame Stadium to watch the Irish play their best game of the season and beat the Utah Utes. 

Nothing beats game day on the Notre Dame campus!

The Lost Week

This past week, time pretty much stood still in our house.  Both Dave and I were sick the whole week.  Our biggest accomplishments were sleeping half the day away and sitting on the couch in a miserable stupor, sort of watching movie after movie.

If I feel bad about everything piling up at home, the hole Dave is in at work is worse, but all we can do is start tackling everything left undone.  We aren't 100% yet, but the fact that I was actually standing up to greet the girls when they came home from school versus them finding me laying under a blanket on the couch is a major improvement.

Ironically, both Dave and I were supposed to get our flu shots this week.  We both had to cancel, I guess we were one week too late.  So far the girls have not caught what we had, but they got their flu shots three weeks ago...mmm.

It has been a long week, but I am glad to be on the mend and grateful that we could "take a few sick days" to get better, I realize not everyone has that luxury.

My New Gadget

Look what I got!  I know that I am late to the iPhone game, but I am never on the cutting edge when it comes to technology.  Dave was going to buy me a Kindle for our anniversary, but after some consideration, we decided to go with an iPhone instead.  Thanks Dave!

Motherhood's Best Moments...

-During the 6th grade choir concert you see your daughter who is on stage scan the audience looking for you.  When she finally finds you and makes eye contact, she smiles and gives you a little nod of the head, letting you know that she is glad you are there.

-When you walk into 1st grade to volunteer, your six year old daughter runs up to give you a big hug and her little friends smile and say, "hi, Paige's mom."

-One daughter writes you a thank you note and sticks it in the mailbox.  The other daughter "casually" asks if you have checked the mail today and suggests that you check it again, even if it is after 7pm and freezing outside.

Halloween Festivities

Halloween is one of those holidays that just gives everyone a reason to party.  It can be a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.  This weekend was filled with class parties, parades, dances, parties with friends, and a church trunk-or-treat.

This year, Ashley was a sailor gal and Paige was a rock star.  Dave and I decided  not to dress up, but then I found a cute spider headband at Disney World and so I ended up going as the Black Widow.

 

Paige at her school costume parade



Ashley with her friends

Pumpkins, pumpkins, punkins

This year we didn't have to muck through an over-priced pumpkin patch or dig through giant bins at the grocery store for our pumpkins.  This year, we had our very own pumpkin patch in our backyard.  Way back in May, Paige helped me plant the seeds.  And now after months of growing and vines climbing into the neighbor's yards, we have our own pumpkins. 

We ended up with about 10 pumpkins.  They were small to medium in size but just perfect for us.  Most of the pumpkins ended up as decorations or jack-o-lanterns, but a few have made their way (in puree form) into the freezer for bread or soup.

We barely squeezed in carving pumpkins, because we were so busy going from one place to the next, but we managed.  The girls even did all the carving this year by themselves.

Happy Birthday Paige!

After getting back from Orlando, we hit the ground running.  Our schedule was filled with school parties, parades, Halloween parties, soccer games, and of course, the best of all Paige's 7th Birthday!



Following our celebration in Disney, we just had a family party at home.  Paige requested pancakes for a special meal, so Dave and I took her to IHOP for a free scary face pancake that they were giving to all kids. 

In between soccer games on Saturday, Paige opened her presents.  She got a Slurpee gift card and silly bandz picked out by her dad.  She also got a new coat and a 3 Webkinz gift pack.  Her Grandpa and Grandma Smith sent her a new outfit and she also got a card with money from Great-Grandpa and Grandma Church to go with the charm bracelet she got at Disney from her Aunt Debby.  She was pretty spoiled and very happy.

And even though it was Halloween weekend and we were on sweets-overload already, you can't have a birthday without cake.  At Paige's request, I made a chocolate-covered strawberry cake.  It was pretty yummy.



Oh and just to make sure that we didn't have one second of free time this weekend, Paige was selected to be the student of the week.  This means that we had to make a poster for her to take to school on Monday:

The Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom, the Happiest Place on Earth, the Place Where Dreams Come True....

We spent a full 12 hours at the Magic Kingdom.  The girls and I were at the park when it opened and honestly rode all the rides including a 90 minute lunch break by 4pm.  This is about the time we would leave the park and head back to the hotel, but on this day we stayed BECAUSE Dave was finally finished with work and came over to meet us at 4pm. 


Always start in Fantasyland with Dumbo!



My favorite picture of Paige, driving on the Speedway

 

The girls in Minnie's house



Buzz Lightyear---a favorite!

 Once Dave got there, we started all over again and took our second and third turns on the rides.

I really can't say much more, who doesn't love the Magic Kingdom?  We rode Splash Mountain three times!  Paige officially joined the rest of the family as a coaster lover.  She even put her arms up on Thunder Mountain, but Space Mountain might have been her favorite. 

We had a great day and a wonderful trip.  The girls were awesome.  We had a lot of fun, but we also had a lot of late nights and early mornings with tons of walking in between.  Ashley was especially helpful and responsible which made it possible for me to tour the parks with the girls on my own.  We are blessed with lots of good memories. 

Needless to say, the next day we were a little sad to leave:

Animal Kingdom

We had a very good time at the Animal Kingdom.  It definitely surpassed our expectations.  The crowds were very low at the park and so we were able to walk on a number of attractions and ride everything at least twice.

I thought my favorite at this park was going to be Expedition Everest because I am a little obsessed with Mount Everest and this is a roller coaster ride that goes backwards, but surprisingly I have to give my favorite vote to Dinosaur.  The whole showmanship of Dinosaur was just top-notch.  I mean how often do you have a life-size dinosaur roar right in your face, so close that you can feel it's breath blow your hair back?  The first time we rode Dinosaur it was a little scary for Paige, but Ashley and I convinced her to go again and the second time, knowing what to expect, she loved it.


Waiting to ride Dinosaur!




All smiles after ride number two on Expedition Everest

 We saw two shows at the Animal Kingdom: Finding Nemo and It's a Bug's Life.  I can't recommend It's a Bug's Life enough.  This was by far the best show we saw in all of Disney.  Ashley loved, loved it!



Up close to the wildlife on the Motor Safari




Soaling wet afte Kalihari Rapids




live stage show of Finding Nemo




Goofy