Par-tay!

For Rylee's 12 year old birthday, she talked me into having a sleep-over. The girls came home with Rylee, right after school and the party started. I was running a little behind getting everything done, so I employed the girls to help me decorate. Here's the festive decor we got.

I wouldn't have thought to tape streamers from balloon to balloon. :o)
They LOVED the streamers on the ceiling fan. When you turned it on it looked "SO COOL!".

Part of my decorating tardiness had to do with these; Exibit #1. I made sleep masks for each girl out of soft flannel, batting and pelon (stiff fabric).

Exibit #2 for my deorating tardiness. I made these towel turbines for each of the girls. After getting out of the shower, you put them on your wet hair, twist, and then loop the elastic over the big button. I had the girls sew on the buttons... hope those buttons stay on. For some it was a first time button sewing experience.

The results.

From left to right; Melissa, Erin, Rylee and Lessa. Rylee's friend Shaye came a little later after her piano lessons.

I was willing to bake another kind of cake, but Rylee wanted to take her turn with the giant cupcake, cake. Look at all of those candles!

In the favor bags we included; lip gloss, fingernail polish, a treat and the sleep masks and towel turbines.

What was your wish Rylee? ...or should I say who was your wish?! :o)

For dinner, the girls made individual pizzas. These look kind of rough, but they tasted good.

Yummmm!

Gift time.

Late, before they settled down for the night, the girls painted their fingernails and toenails.

Caught in the act.

Looking fabulous girls!

Shaye

The girls also watched "Journey to the Center of the Earth" in 3-D and rocked out to the game, "Rock Band". In fact, they would have been satisfied to play "Rock Band" all night and all the next day, if I would have let them. They just couldn't get enough of it.

I hope they all had fun. It was nice to have them over. They are sweet girls. I'm glad Rylee has such good friends to hang out with and be associated with. I look forward to many more fun times.

FYI- Doing a 12 year old party, is a piece of cake, compared to a younger-aged party. They could mostly entertain themselves and just go with the flow. I highly recommend it.

Award of Excellence

Taylee entered a drawing into "Reflections", a nation-wide art contest, through school. The theme was "WOW!". Children had to interpret what this meant to them, in their chosen art medium; visual arts, photography or language arts. Since the ages ranged from pre-school to 5th grade they focused a lot on the interpretation and explanation of the theme.

Taylee won the "Award of Excellence" in her category (Visual Arts, 3rd-5th grade).
Here's her entry. Notice all the detail. You can't tell in this picture, but there are 3, 3-D elements in the drawing; the present the boy is opening, the hamster cage and one of the WOW pictures on the wall.

She got a medal, a certificate and a ribbon. Her entry will now move onto the "Regionals". Don't know how far this will go, but we're so proud of her and think she has a bright future as a budding artist.

Here are all the young artists. Out of 80 school entries, these were the 16 chosen to receive an "Honorable Mention" or "Award of "Excellence". The youngest artist was in pre-school and actually won the "Award of Excellence" in his category! (Taylee is in the back, middle section.)

Way to go Taylee! We're so proud of you!

Deck the Halls & Let it Snow

As promised, here are the pictures of the last gift I received from the "Deck the Halls" swap. It's a metal strip that has cute tile snowman magnets. My idea is to hang it on the wall and let my kids post their latest creations. -That will be nice because our stainless steel refrigerator doesn't allow magnets to stick to it.

Thanks again swap buddy!

Cousins = Party, right?

Cousins coming over equals party, right? That's what my kids think.

Friday, we had some Waite cousins come over, while their parents were at the BSU Bronco game. I don't know all the details or how it all came about, but Rylee and Taylee started scheming about having a party. The theme of the party was the North Pole, a.k.a. "Winter Wonderland". The girls did such a good job and had LOTS of fun activities and games planned.

Welcome to. . .

The North Pole a.k.a. "Winter Wonderland".
Brrrrr... it's cold in here!
Each kid took a turn sitting in "Santa's chair". I'm not sure that Santa came, but his chair was there.

One of the first activities planned was watching "Polar Express". Well atleast intermittently, between other activities.

Here's the "fireplace" (toybox). Notice the raging flames (they put a light inside the toybox for effect) and the stockings that were "hung with care". The movie is also being played here.

They played, "Put the Ornament on the Christmas Tree", kind of a like, "Pin the Tail on the Donkey".

Abree and Lizzy had a blast crawling in and out of the tunnel parts. We would play like they were in a garbage can or as Lizzy says it, "gar-bee can". Sometimes she would even tell me, "I'm Oscar"...as in Oscar the Grouch. Here's an action shot of the "snowball fight" (wadded up pieces of paper). I got some video of this, but am not techie enough to get it posted on here.. or maybe it's my computer not being nice again.Other activities included; musical icebergs, Fruit Loop necklace creations, letters to Santa, a Jingle Bell Hop (with lots of crazy dance moves) and of course, cookies for refreshment. The organizers (Rylee & Taylee) called themselves "Sugar Plum Fairies".

Rylee- Sugar Plum Fairy #1

Taylee- Sugar Plum Fairy #2











Treyson











Micaela











Lizzy











Abree- Sugar Plum Fairy wanna-be











Jackson

I think the "cold" has gone to their heads!

I was amazed at all the details put into planning this improv event. The girls did such a great job and everyone was entertained for hours. What a fun time.

"Deck the Halls" Swap

I had seen swaps on blogs before, but had never participated in one. Recently, I somehow stumbled upon the "Deck the Halls" swap on the, "Some of This and Some of That" blog. I felt a little intimidated at first, but thought I'd give it a try.

First, we were asked to fill out a questionnaire, giving a little background on ourselves; likes, favorites, mailing address, etc. Then the organizers, Mandee and Brandy, paired us up with our swap buddies. We were sent their filled-out questionnaire by email and then the fun began.

Here are the items I gave to my swap buddy:A cute snowman to "deck her halls" with.
Some "Blessing Mix". I love the combo of salty and sweet.
Like myself, she too loves and collects Nativity sets. I found this one in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and had to get it, because it was so darn cute and miniature.

I loved the way my fabulous witchy shoes turned out around Halloween time, so I played around with the pattern a bit and came up with a fabulous elfy shoe for Christmas (check out the curly toe).

Lastly, I made this rag swag. I had always wanted to do this. I think it turned out cute and actually started one for myself.

Here is what I received:

Yummy cinnamon oatmeal cookie mix (we've already baked them up, so I can say for sure they are YUMMY), some scented candles, a little nativity scene and a cute, miniature "Believe" (that has snowmen around it). Taylee asked me if I was going to make it a part of my snowman collection...but of course!

Thank you swap buddy. I love everything!

Thank you Mandee and Brandy. I'm hooked and would LOVE to swap again!

PS-There was one more thing that arrived, just recently. I need to take a picture of it and show it to you.

Gobble, gobble

First of all I have to say, that my computer has been acting like a turkey. I'm so glad it's decided to cooperate with me today. I wanted to post Thanksgiving, before it was Christmas.

We had Thanksgiving dinner over at Tim and Karen's house (again) this year. They are such gracious hosts and are so willing to share their home.

Thanks again Tim and Karen, you're awesome!
The grandkids and Grandpa Waite started the day by blowing multi-scented bubbles. I was told they smelled so good, that Katelyn had to actually try them. Yucky!

Here are some cute turkeys at the "kid table".

Josh and Tawnya digesting and getting ready for pie.

Brinton's dad and mom joined us for the day. It was fun to get to know them better. I'm glad they came.

Amber and Grandma Ison. (Grandma Ison is 93! She's still spritely and totally with it. I hope I'm like her when I grow up.)

Brinton's mom

Mom, cookin' up the left-over turkey parts for future turkey noodle soup.

Grandpa and Treyson checking out the Black Friday ads. This is truly a part of our family's tradition each year. We love to find those great deals!

Uncle Noel and Aunt Angela (and Nanette) showed up, just in time for pie.

Nanette and cousins hangin' and talkin'.

Yum...pie!

We had a very nice gathering. It was a relaxed day filled with family, food and fun.

Once again, I am thankful for my awesome family.