Happy Pi Day - 3.14

You know I love a good holiday.  Happy Pi Day from the Potter house!

3.14

We always make either shepherd's pie or chicken pot pie on pi day.

Bladen won the most digits of pi award this year.  He memorized 50 digits of pi & recited it to us at dinner time.  He memorized it for school & was able to get his own pi from his math teacher.  He was VERY excited about that.

For dessert, we ate everyone's favorite pie . . . key lime pie!

Happy Pi Day Everyone.

 

Craiger's 11th Birthday Party - Harry Potter

Happy 11th birthday to this cutie pie.  I can't believe Craiger is already 11 years old.

For his birthday breakfast he chose breakfast burritos, bacon, bananas, & cupcakes.

My friend Nancy sent him all sorts of Gryffindor things.  He was in Harry Potter heaven.

Opa & Oma sent him a super cool Pikachu switch controller.  He LOVES it.

Mimi & Baba sent him some earphones & a wireless mouse.

Trek & I (& the kids) got Craiger a binder for his pokemon cards & a trainer set to teach him how to play the pokemon card game.  He's been collecting for a very long time, but still didn't know how to play the game.  Now he can officially learn.

For his special birthday dinner he requested cheesy potato soup with German brötchen.

I've been SO excited about his 11th birthday party because that is always the Harry Potter birthday party.  It's always extra fun & special & the kids get really excited.

We had 5 friends come over to celebrate with Craiger & we let them walk through Platform 9 3/4, get a wand from Ollivander, go to potions class, then watch HP 1 while enjoying HP snacks from the trolley.

Craiger asked me to dress up like Professor McGonagall which is always fun.

Trek was in charge of handing out the wands.

Potions class was the favorite.  I think all kids love to watch things explode.

They all enjoyed watching the movie together.  I brought the trolley of chocolate frogs & other goodies to them when Harry & Ron sat together on the train in the movie.  They all played with the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans & gave them (& 1 kid threw up eating a vomit bean), then they finished the movie & made their way back downstairs for lunch & cake.

I opted to make all sorts of fun HP cakes for Craiger, but all he wanted was a plain ice cream cake.  Sounds good to me.  I can buy that at the store & save hours of time (even though I do love decorating cakes).  He LOVED his cake.

After cake we opened presents & then let the kids play quidditch in the back yard.  It was a great party.  Craiger was happy, I was happy . . . it was the most magical birthday yet.

Happy birthday sweet boy.

 

Lorien's Orchestra Concert - Spring 2022

I always love hearing my kids share their musical talents.  The High School spring orchestra concert was beautiful.  I love that Lorien still enjoys playing cello.

Perpetual Fiddle Motion

Hava Nagila (notice Lorien's cello solo)

Themes From The Moldau

Swan Lake

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Lorien has the best friends in orchestra with her.  I love these kids.

 

Happy 17th Birthday Lorien

Lorien celebrated her 17th birthday in February.  Her birthday always falls over a holiday weekend so she usually gets to enjoy her day without having to be in school.

For her birthday breakfast she wanted toaster strudels, scrambled eggs, bacon, banana, & birthday cupcake.

I still can't believe she's 17.  I'm starting to feel the "last year" syndrome with her.  Only one more birthday here at home before she moves out & becomes an adult.  They grow up way to fast.

Our friend Nancy sent her all sorts of fun gifts.  She especially loves her new baking pan set.  These will help her a LOT in culinary school.  She's so excited to become a chef.

Opa & Oma got her some culinary shoes for the kitchen.  They look great with her culinary uniform.

Trek & I got her some $$ to go shopping with her best friend at the mall. The kids got her a German CTR ring & a manicure kit.  She loved it all.

For her birthday dinner she wanted homemade chicken alfredo with breadsticks & a caesar salad.  Her favorite.

And then we had some key lime pie for dessert, another one of her favorites.

Because all of her friends were out of town during her birthday (ski trips) we haven't had a chance to have a "party" yet, but eventually we want to have a bunch of friends over for a fun movie night to celebrate Lorien.

Happiest of birthdays my sweet girl.  I love you so much.

 

February Happenings

February flew by this year.  It always does because it's always a busy month full of birthdays.  But it's always a fun one.

Trek & I love the little diner in our village.  They make the best burgers & the yummiest chocolate lava cake in the world.  I LIVE for that cake.  It's SO good.  It was nice to get out on a date with Trek this month.

As always, I enjoy painting here & there when I have a minute to myself.  I painted a few things this month.

Chinese New Year was in February.  We had fun teaching the kids how to eat with chopsticks while we enjoyed rice, sweet & sour chicken, stir fry, & moon pies.

I've been teaching the kids in Primary (ages 3-11) all the books of the Old Testament in order this year for church.  I'm amazed at how well these children learn these difficult names.  I made a fun jenga style game to help them learn it & they LOVE it.  Some of my youngest kids were able to built the tower 39 book names tall all by themselves.  I was impressed.

Mardi Gras also hit in the middle of February & you all know I love a good holiday.  Creole green beans, red beans & rice with spicy sausage, & of course king cake for dessert.  It's one of my favorite holidays.

Canyon was SO excited to get the baby in his piece of cake this year.  He gets to make the cake next year.

Cadence sent me some pictures from college this month too.  She attended a formal dance there & was able to buy a new dress.  She looked beautiful & had a great time with her roomates.

And Taya had a fun project for her science class where she had to build an iron atom.  She spent hours bending the wire & glueing the pieces onto it.  She did a great job.

 It was a great month.  February is always one big party at our house.