A Secret Revealed

Kaleb and Noé set off to school on their birthday with rice krispies treats in hand to share with their classmates.  When they returned from school the house had been decorated Hogwarts' style and we prepared for their requested dinner- bbq chicken breast "burgers" with veggies & dip and crunchy cheetos.  The Elders joined us too.

Dinner was followed up with ice cream and these yummy chocolate cakes made by Rubeus Hagrid.  He makes good cake, but his spelling is horrible!

Make a wish...

 ...blow out the candles!

 

Time for gift opening (with their favorite party guests).

They were curious about these scrolls.

 

They were ecstatic when they opened them up and they revealed that they would have a special term at Hogwarts (see letter contents in the post ELEVEN).

 

They also got some practice wands like Harry's and Hermione's.

 

And 4 more books to add to our Harry Potter collection (we're up to 12 now, plus the prequel).

Elders Maryott and Rangel were great party revelers with us.

 

Daddy loves you!

(the benefactor of the feast)

 

Mommy loves you!

(the party planning specialist)

ELEVEN

Eleven years ago I became a mother!  Yep, today is Kaleb and Noé's 11th birthday and I just can't believe how quickly the time has flown!  Double their life to 22 and they could both be married by then.  After all, Len was a month shy of his 22nd birthday and I was 3 months shy of mine when we got married.  I have always daydreamed that Kaleb and Noé would marry each other's best friends, then the 4 of them could all be besties.  Wouldn't that be awesome?

 

It happened in the wizarding world.  Ron and Ginny Weasley married their best friends- Hermione Granger and Harry Potter.  Speaking of the wizarding world, Kaleb and Noé received letters on official Hogwarts letterhead today.  This is what they said:

 

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

DRACO DORMIENS NUNQUAM TITILLANDUS

 

HEADMISTRESS: MINERVA MCGONAGALL

(Order of Merlin - First Class, Grand Sorceress, Animagus)

Dear Kaleb and Noé,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to attend a special term of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to be held on March 9th, 2013. In light of the great mutual love between yourself and your parents, we will not be able to accept you for full term enrollment in our boarding school program. We do, however, look forward to you visiting our Florida campus before your 18th birthday.

Yours sincerely,

Filius Flitwick

Deputy Headmaster

 

*They are SO excited!  They get to go to Hogwarts Saturday!!

Red Beauty

I love barns!  I might have mentioned that on here before, tee hee.  My dad shared this photo with me today.  I love it!  Oh, I wish that was in my back yard!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

I won a gift voucher from my super-talented friend, Rita to use in her darling store Three Little Turkeys (check it out).  I used the voucher towards the purchase of these adorable letters "this is REIL fun" and frame.  Thanks Rita!  I love them!!!

Dukes of Hazzard

It's that time of year again, the Kub Kar Rally.

This year Kaleb created "General Lee" from the Dukes of Hazzard.  I love it!  I think he did a great job too, especially since he made most of it all by himself.

After the races with his official license and ribbon.  He didn't win, but most of his races he came in 2nd (which is an improvement over last year mainly coming in 3rd).

His collection keeps growing:  Element, Kwak, and General Lee.

Red Stripe

Kaleb is currently a red stripe in Taekwondo.  Next belt up is RED and he must do a competition to earn it.  He's nervous about this, but I know he can do hard things.  I'm nervous that the semester will pass without a competition he can do.  They're usually on Sundays and the one that is on a Saturday is when Leonard will be in Utah- ugh!  Maybe it will take him an extra semester, but I know he'll master it!

 

Tow Mater Teeth

Gavin got this silly lollipop from his friend, Daniel's birthday party.  I love it!

Snippets from a Snow Day

It wasn't a "real" snow day in the sense that the big kids were at school and Len was at work, but the little ones and I watched through the windows all of the snow dumping falling on us.

Do you see that the bottoms of the tree branches are touching the tops of the snow banks?

Everything looks so pretty flocked in snow, but our laundry umbrella is officially broken from this season's weather.

Can you understand why I was worried we might get buried alive?  Our whole backyard is filled with snow.  I am suffering from cabin fever and hope spring comes soon before I really go crazy, ha ha!

 

*I totally stole borrowed this title from A Mile In Her Shoes.  Check out her darling blog!

The Nondate

Hiram's not penciled in for our parent-child dates yet.  But don't think he's neglected- he gets to go grocery shopping with mommy AND daddy all the time!  Here he is with dad SITTING in the empty cart at the beginning of our trek.

Here is with mom REFUSING to sit in the cart any longer, but that's okay the cart's full up anyway!!

February Date

It was my turn to take Noé on a date and I thought she needed to have her first manicure (and I really wanted one too!).

The nail tech painted pretty little lines and dots on her thumbs, so when she put them together they looked like a butterfly!

Noé chose "All That Razz" while I went with "Chicago Champagne Toast."  I love the names of nail polish!

And I love my girl more!

First Haircut

I desperately needed to get to the hairdresser's and I decided it was time to bring this little guy with me.

Isn't he precious?  I love his soft strawberry blonde locks.

 

I love his natural layers and little curls.

 

In his snazzy cape.  I was more impressed than he was though, ha!

Let the games begin!

Corina was a champ trimming up this squirming monkey.  It took both Len and I to hold him down for each and every cut.

But it was worth it.

He rocks the spiky look too!

100 Days Smarter

Gavin got to celebrate the 100th day of school by having a pajama party with his class.  He got to bring his favorite stuffy and he came home with this fun medal, "Hooray! I am 100 days smarter!"