Birthday party!

It was a new sort of birthday party this year--a sleepover.  The plan was three friends spending the night and playing video games and watching movies for entertainment.  That meant my role as party planner of games was greatly reduced.  I was okay with that, although I missed getting into a theme a little bit and did put up some signs and decorations at the last minute.

 The cake was the traditional chocolate cake with fornite emotes for the toppers of the cake.  In the picture the Fortnite sign on the cake looks like it belongs on his shirt.

 The night started with a pizza dinner.  It was fun to have the small number of boys.  They all got into sharing stories about a variety of things.  It was fun to hear them share!

 After dinner it was a few presents to open.  The loot llama with the confetti was certainly a favorite to open.

 Even more fun was whacking at the giant pinata llama in the basement.  All the boys got a chance to take a good whack at it.  Finally after a few turns, Timothy gave it a good hit and knocked the candy out.

 Then it was on to cake.  I had to be careful to place the candles so they would not burn the paper decorations.  12 candles is a lot of candles on a cake!!

One happy birthday boy enjoying his cake!  He and his friends had a blast hanging out the rest of the night and getting just a little sleep.  We are glad he has great friends and his birthday party was a success!

Thanksgivings

Our Thanksgiving celebrations began at home with our feast at home.  I kept it pretty simple this year, but the new cranberry recipe was not a hit.  (Well Troy liked it, but the rest of us were not so impressed.  The pumpkin marshmallow pie on the other hand was a big success.

 Since Troy travels before Thanksgiving, we set up the tree really early this year.  It took me a long time to get all the non-working lights off of the tree, but it was worth it.  It is always fun to pull out the ornaments and remember years past.

 Then it was on to the real Thanksgiving.  I wondered how it would be without my dad this year.  It was sad, we missed him, but we also remembered him with laughter and stories.  Everyone pitched in to create a delicious meal.  The same dishes as usual, but with a new pie and no pumpkin this year.  Krista made a French Silk and I think that may well become a tradition with the raves it got!!

 We had a fun day together.  The cousins played in various forms and there was the annual football game after dinner.  It was in the snow this year, but that did not stop the fun.  I even got in on the action!

And these twin cousins put on two skits that had been planning over face time.

It was a wonderful time of being family and making memories.  I am thankful for my family!!
 It was hard to say goodbye to my mom, but I am glad we could see her for a few days.

Next it was onto Susie's to celebrate with Tory's side.  There are "cousins" to play with there too.  And also the Girl and boy cousin photo to take.  Teresa is a little closer with her two buddies, but Timothy has some fun too.  We had another big dinner.  Watched some Christmas movies, played some games and had fun being with family.  It was certainly different without Tory's mom too and she was missed.  I am thankful for the chance to visit family and safe travels and making memories to cherish for years to come!

Nailed it!

The kids have been enjoying a baking show called Nailed It.  Some pretty bad cooks are brought on and they have to do two baking challenges.  The challenges are usually sort of hard and they are not given much time, so the final product is pretty funny.  Timothy and Teresa wanted to try their own Nailed It!

They each invited a friend over.  I gave them a recipe for a small batch of sugar cut out cookies and off they went.  Neither of the kids has baked on their own before and they don't even bake much with me.  But the only help I gave them was how to use an egg separator dish.  The actually did a pretty good job and both teams made some yummy cookies!  I was proud of their cooking abilities!