Lórien's 13th Birthday Breakfast & Birthday Dinner

We missed Lórien SO much for the week she was in Disneyland, but she had a blast & I'm proud of her for doing it without having mom or dad with her.  She is brave & talented & amazing.  She learned SO much at the Disney workshops, both on her cello & in her acting/singing abilities.

Winter Break was the week after her Disney trip & her birthday fell right in the middle of it.

For her birthday breakfast she wanted scrambled eggs, bananas, toaster strudels, & ding dongs.

Look how cute she is in her Doctor Who pajamas.

I still can't believe my little Lo is 13 years old.  Another teenager in the house.  It's crazy.  She's so grown up (& almost as tall as me now.)

After breakfast, she opened her presents from family.

Opa & Oma gave her a new STURDY music stand
& a Doctor Who wallet.

Grandma Kinsfather gave her $10.

Mimi & Baba gave her a phone case & some Doctor
Who earphones.

All the kids gave her a new waterbottle.

Nancy gave her some new clothes, shoes, nail polish, & 2 Doctor
Who books.

Uncle Justin & Auntie Cari also sent her a River Song (doctor who) Funko Pop doll & a beautiful Doctor Who necklace.

I was cracking up at all of her new Doctor Who gifts.  It's all SO funny to me.

For her birthday - day activity since there was no school - Cadence, Lórien, & I watched 2 PG-13 movies (since she's 13 now) that I felt were appropriate for her:

Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them

& Doctor Strange

The whole week we had a PG-13 movie marathon.  It was kind of hilarious.  We watched Pirates of the Caribbean, Spiderman, Phantom of the Opera, & The Hobbit.  Some she liked, others she thought were boring.  She loved the Hobbit since she just finished reading the book.  

Oh & becoming a 13 year old now allows her to finish books 4-7 of the Harry Potter series.  So now she's reading non-stop.

For her birthday dinner she had me make pepperjack chicken enchiladas, caesar salad, & raspberries. It was DELICIOUS.

Happy 13th birthday Lo!  I love the young woman you are becoming.  You make my heart sing.

Here is something I wrote about Lo on Facebook:

Happy Birthday to my newest TEENAGER! Lórien is 13 years old TODAY. I can't believe I have 2 teenagers in my house now! Here are 10 of the million reasons I love my Ló.

#1: She’s my mini-me. She’s happy, musical, loves drama & plays, plans amazing parties, cooks, bakes, cleans, makes costumes . . . yep, she’s me & I LOVE IT.

#2: The name Lórien (aka Lothlórien) literally means perfection, beauty & joy in Elvish. “There lies the woods of Lórien. The peace & healing of Lórien makes your heart lighter, your weariness falling away with every step you take. No blemish of sickness or deformity can be seen in anything that grows upon the earth. On the land of Lórien there is no stain. The air here is sweet with the fragrance of flowers, every breath a joy. The deeper you walk, the more enchanting the scene. Lights flicker among the branches, calling your spirit onward & upward. Enter, be at peace, welcome home.” JRR Tolkien

#3: She’s a DRAMA QUEEN. Who knew I’d have a kid that would enjoy drama as much as her mom & her dad? Trek & I are loving ALL the plays she’s doing & she GOOD at them. Watching her is such fun.

#4: She is kind, a friend to everyone. She aims to make everyone happy. She does her best to be aware of those around her & their needs & does everything she can to be a sunshine in their life. She lights the way wherever she goes.

#5: She is the MASTER of movie quotes. Having a bad day? She’s got a quote to crack you up. Being silly? She’s got a bazillion quotes for that. Can’t remember who said something from your favorite movie? She knows. Need an ice breaker? She’s got you covered. We can hardly sit through a meal without her cracking us up with some movie quote. (Just this morning at birthday breakfast we were trying to figure out some sort of math equation at the table [because we’re weird] & Ló breaks into “1+2 . . . +2+1 . . .” [from Clue] & we all busted up laughing.)

#6: She is not embarrassed that I’m her mom. She still holds my hand & hugs me around her friends & has somehow convinced her friends that I’m the coolest mom ever. (I’m not. But I love that she thinks I am). She drags me to school events, her plays, & other things & proudly announces that I’m HER mom.

#7: She has the most beautiful freckles EVER. I always wanted freckles, she got them for me. And now every day I get to watch them dance over her cheeks & nose every time she smiles (which is most of the time.) She is beautiful.

#8: She IS the piano guys. She’s been playing piano for 8 years & cello for 3 & she plays both beautifully. I could sit & listen to her play cello all day long. It makes my heart happy. And did I mention she can sing? She’s a triple threat.  

;-)

#9: She’s about as geek-tastic as you can get & I love her for it. With a name straight from The Lord of the Rings, she’s my partner in crime when it comes to anything Star Wars, LOTR, Harry Potter, Marvel, or Doctor Who related. Comic Con . . . . here we come.

#10: She is mine. She is my light, my life, & one of my reasons for living. I love her SO SO SO much.

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Auntie Marc invited us down to play at the boardwalk in Santa Cruz the weekend of the 17th.  Lorien was in Disneyland with the orchestra & her musical theater class.  We miss having her with us, but we all had fun together too.

The day was GORGEOUS.  Only in CA can you have bright blue skies & beautiful sandy beaches in the middle of February.

Auntie bought tickets for the kiddos to ride any ride they wanted to.  They were in heaven.

Being a Saturday, the boardwalk was PACKED.  It was wall to wall people.  But for some reason crowds don't bother me.  I love it.  Such a beautiful day.

The kids' favorite ride were the bumper cars.  They were all pretty good at it too. . . which SCARES me.

And as always, we all got dippin dots to enjoy while we rode rides.  Auntie spoils us.

Bladen & Cadence are my brave riders.  They'll ride any ride they can get on.  Craiger is more cautious, but this time he threw caution to the wind & rode the ride that shot them straight up into the air & then dropped them.  The smile on his face as he was dropping is priceless.  He had a BLAST.  I think he'll be trying bigger rides from now on.

It was a wonderful day.  Thank you Auntie for treating us to such a memorable experience.  We're sure going to miss you when we leave.

3 Holidays in 3 Days

What is with February this month?  Three holidays in three days?  Plus 4 birthday parties?  Holy moly!

We had Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday on February 13th

Valentine's Day on February 14th

& Chinese New Year on February 15th.

Here's how we celebrated.

For Mardi Gras, I made homemade Jumbalaya.  It was a first for me & I LOVED IT.  The kids, not so much.  Bladen & Cadence liked it, but it wasn't a hit with the others.

We made some Mardi Gras punch out of Sprite (green), pineapple juice (yellow), & grape soda (purple).  The kids loved it.

Everybody loved their Mardi Gras beads.

The highlight of every Mardi Gras is the KING CAKE.  Last year, Lórien got the baby in her slice of cake, so she helped me make the cake this year.  She did a great job.

I also attempted to make homemade beignets as well.  They weren't very fluffy.  I think I did something wrong.  ha ha ha.  But they were still fun to try.

Cadence found the baby in her slice of cake this year, so she will be making the King Cake next year.

Then, of course, February 14th was Valentine's Day.

I still can't believe I didn't take pictures of the kids with their mailboxes.  I could kick myself for it.  Craiger made a robot mailbox, Bladen made an AWESOME shark box, & Taya made a unicorn box.  For some reason I only took a picture of Craiger's robot box.  But all 3 were adorable.

For dinner, I made heart shaped jello jigglers, heart shaped garlic bread, & heart shaped pasta with pink alfredo sauce.

My friend Nancy sent everyone a Valentine's Day surprise.  She sent all the kids clothes & shoes.

And Trek a box of chocolates.

And I got spoiled with a heart shaped pendant with green diamonds.  Isn't it beautiful?

And February 15th was Chinese New Year.  I made orange chicken, rice, & stir fried veggies.  We had some Chinese soda & fortune cookies for dessert.

It was a very busy 3 days, but the kids loved it.