Mardi Gras 2021

Mardi Gras landed the same week as Chinese New Year & Valentine's Day.  It was a whole week of fun celebrations.

Our family tradition is making a king cake.  My kids LOVE king cake & it's always a fun project to make with me.  Each year whomever makes the cake hides the little baby in one slice & the person who gets the baby gets to make the cake the next year.  Cadence got the baby in her slice last year so she made the cake this year.

And what would Mardi Gras be without Cajun food?  This year we did dirty rice with creole green beans.  I made them quite spicy so we had tears falling down our faces as we ate them, but they were delicious.

Cadence was so cute making the cake this year.  She did it all by herself with no help.  She's really become quite the baker.  I was proud of her.

And of course, I wound up with the baby.  I guess I get to make the cake next year.  Maybe I'll recruit some helpers to help me so I don't have to do it alone.

 

Valentines Day 2021

Happy Valentine's Day from the Potter house!

For breakfast I made heart shaped cinnamon rolls.

The kids were pretty bummed that they wouldn't be in school for Valentine's Day so we spent a week decorating boxes around the house to use as Valentine mailboxes.  Then we each made Valentines for each other & put them in the mailboxes.  I also snuck in some yummy treats for the kids.

Canyon used his box to paint random pictures all over it.

Craiger of course put together a pretty out of this world SPACE mailbox.

Bladen impressed me with his Minecraft TNT skills.

And Taya painted an adorable Among Us character for her mailbox.

Lorien painted a Minecraft chest for her box.

After we exchanged valentines, we ate a pink/red themed dinner of heart shaped pizzas, watermelon, heart shaped jello, 

a beautiful savory charcuterie board of reds & pinks

and a gorgeous sweet charcuterie board for dessert.

I'm still learning the art & skill of charcuterie boards, but I was really happy at how 

beautiful both the boards turned out.

And they were DELICIOUS.

Later that night, we got a surprise knock on our door.  Two of Lorien's friends stopped by dressed up in ties & put on a Valentine show for my girls.  They had a strobe light & disco ball going while they lip synched & danced a full choreographed number to "I Would Walk a Hundred Miles."  They also gave the girls a box of chocolates to enjoy.

And THAT my friends is how you teach your kids to do Valentine's RIGHT.

What sweet boys.  My girls loved it.  This simple act made them feel like a million bucks.  It let them know that they were thought of on Valentine's Day.  Goodness I love those 2 boys.  A big thank you to them for totally making our night!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

February Happenings

We had a lot of FUN as a family in February.

The biggest news of the month was that we officially have a COUGAR in our house.

Cadence found out that she's been accepted to BYU Provo & she has decided to attend.  She's had several college acceptances so far, but BYU Provo was her first choice so she is VERY excited to start her Computer Science career by going to school there.

The sun finally started to peek out of the clouds here in Germany after nearly 2 months of straight rain, clouds, fog, & darkness.  It's been glorious.

Now that Trek fixed up my new bike with an electric motor, we've been doing some longer rides together.  I love it because I barely have to do any work, my bike just takes me to the top of the mountain with minimal effort.  

However, our first biking adventure after winter craziness wasn't as great as we thought it would be.  Sure, the sun was shining, but it was only 19 degrees outside.  We bundled up & went anyway, & 8 miles into the ride, we could no longer feel our faces, fingers, or toes.  My lips were frozen to my braces, I had tears running down my face which were freezing into ice as they fell as the wind blew directly into my face, & we were miserable.  Going away from the wind was great. . . riding INTO the wind was awful.  We both thought we were going to lose some of our fingers by the time we turned around & pedaled the 8 miles back home.

We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking hot chocolate & trying to warm up our core temperature inside our beds with extra blankets, pillows, & heating pads.

Note to self: sun doesn't always mean HOT.

Craiger & Canyon both passed off some fun piano songs this month that they wanted to share with you.

Hip Hip Hooray for SCHOOL STARTING again!

Yes, it's February, but we've been in a COVID lockdown since the beginning of November & haven't been back to school since December.  For 9 long weeks the kids have been doing virtual school.  Six kids in one house is not ideal for virtual school.  We made it work, but it was tough.  We are stronger now because we survived it.

Boy were we happy to get them all back with their friends in their classrooms.  They are definitely happier now & I love the freedom to CLEAN MY HOUSE.

As the sun comes out more & more, Trek has been inviting the kids on his bike rides as well.  Bladen is becoming quite the biker.

And the HIGHLIGHT of the month for me was the fact that

TONY IS BACK!!!

Tony is our Italian friend that drives the gelato truck around our neighborhood.  Words can't even describe how happy I am to have gelato in my life again after this long winter.  It was just the pick me up I needed.  YUM!

 

Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year from the Potter house.

I love celebrated every holiday I possibly can.  I think it's fun to celebrate life & all the small things as well as the big things.

For Chinese New Year this year we made my dad's famous stir fry with veggies, chicken, & homemade sweet & sour sauce.  We enjoyed hot fruit tea in our Chinese New Year teacups, lychee fruit, & moon pies for dessert.

We all love Chinese food.  Someone said something & Cadence started cracking up.  She is such a funny kid.  I'm going to miss these silly moments when she goes off to college this summer.  I just love her so much.

Happy Chinese New Year & enjoy the YEAR OF THE OX!

 

Cadence's 18th Birthday

Happy 18th Birthday to my sweet Cadence.  My baby is an adult!!  How does this even happen?  I'm not old enough to have an adult child!

Given the lockdown situation we were in, we didn't get to do a whole lot for her birthday, but she actually liked the quiet family time this year.  She's been so busy with school, applications, & other "adult" things that she said she just wanted one day of NOTHING.  We granted that wish for her.

We may have taken it easy all day, but you know me. . . there were still plenty of decorations involved.

For her birthday breakfast she asked for French crepes, bacon, oranges, & a ding dong.

Isn't she the cutest 18 year old you've ever seen?  I think so.

She had lots of fun presents to open to celebrate her special day.  

She got some money from her aunties which was really special & will help her at college.  And I was able to give her a book I made with letters, videos, & pictures from her family, extended family, & friends from all over the world.  It was SO special to see how many people reached out with messages for her.  She will treasure those messages forever.

Craiger made her some homemade slime & bought her a Milka bar.

My friend Nancy, gave her her first "grown up"
piece of jewelry; a 1/4 carat diamond pendant.

Nancy also supplied her with enough clothes & 
shoes to last her a year!

Taya painted Cadence a beautiful card & bought
her a milka bar.

Opa & Oma gave her a beautiful dress &
a cute phone holder.

Mimi & Baba got her a mirror to take to college
so since she'll have to share a bathroom with 
roomates.

We spent most of the day relaxing, reading, & playing games.  We bought a set of "jackbox" games & played them as a family for nearly 4 hours.  We were having SO MUCH FUN.  It was so NICE spending that time together.  Cadence has always been one about togetherness & I think that gift was the greatest gift this year & she gave it to us rather than us giving it to her.  She also was able to call some of her best friends for a few hours to celebrate.  

For her birthday dinner, she requested Cajun Chicken Pasta, corn & strawberries.

And for her big birthday treat, I made her her favorite:

Triple fudge Reeses Peanut Butter cake.  YUM.

We let her cut it herself being the "grown up" that she is now.

It was a quiet, at home kind of birthday, but Cadence honestly wouldn't have had it any other way.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful GROWN UP girl.  I love you.