Taylor's Birthday Party

Taylor's birthday is the End of February. In the Maritimes, this means we have NO idea what the weather will be like. It's not really all that nice, but it might not be all that snowy either. I so wish one of my kids had a summer birthday LOL!.

we have this awesome amazing hill right behind our house. I always thought, what an AWESOME birthday party that would be! A Coasting party! But, unfortunately, there's never a guarentee of snow. Especially in the past few years, when there's barely any snow anyway. So we have never planned a party with the coasting.

This year I was so wise, having learned from the difficulties with planning Holly's party, to Get on it earlier! LOL No more wasting of time! Plan early!
So We did!




Taylor came to me with this sketched plan (Oh she is so going to be a scrapbooker) of what her invitations should look like, and she stamped them and filled them out herself.

We decided the date based on a weather forecast. What an idiot I am. The weather reports never stay the same! But This weather report called for 2 days of snow around Valentine's day, right before the weekend. So we planned the coasting for Sunday, Feb 18th.

And anyone around here, knows what it DID on Valentine's day.

yup. It rained. A lot. lol

So there we are, the ENTIRE class plus quite a few friends, invited here for coasting. And it rained.

THere were a few flurries before the weekend. Sunday morning came, and we were like OH Thank goodness, there is just enough snow out there! I could see some grass at the top of the hill, but it was ok. If there is too much snow, it is too hard to coast. I have seriously taken the snow scooper out and made them coasting paths'. Sheesh as if we dont shovel enough in the driveway....but with justa little snow, it's perfect coasting, as it turns quickly to ice and flies them down that hill so fast they fly into the neighbor's yard.

As Sunday morning went on, it warmed up a lot. I was seeing more and more and more grass. PANIC time! What would we DO with everyone if there was not enough snow!???

By 2 pm (party time!) I was just about freakin...but there WAS still enough snow YAY!



We set up my BRAND NEW craft table out on the field, and put the BBQ out there as well. I wanted a little fireplace out there, to warm up and have marshmallows, but the darned TOWN said no. People mind the smoke. UMMMMM I know 3 houses just right here that heat on wood smoke, but no Chimeree in the back yard cause the neighbors mind the smoke. WHATEVA. Wouldnt you know it, 5 minutes into the party some children *yes mine* hit the craft table with a sled. No, no one was hurt, but the table was injured. *sigh*
We had hotdogs on the BBQ, and we had hot chocolate in the crock pot on the table with the condiments. YUMMY.

Many many people came. Lots of boys and girls, which made Taylor thrilled cause we had always had parties that she couldnt invite the boys to (princess party, sleepovers) so she had everyone she wanted this year :) It's nice when they all stayed outside too!





They coasted and coasted and coasted! And coasted! It really was so fun! they flew into other yards and hit trees and did all sorts of dangerous things! LOL Apparently there's a helmet law now? I wonder how long before we will just have to dress the kids in protective gear to go outside? In case they fall? the kids at our school can't play tag because they might Run and this would cause injury...yup no running on the Play Ground. *sigh* I digress.






And they coasted! LOL They loved to Share the sleds and get as many people on one as they could LOL It was fun to see who went with who and what they did when they went down (ie. Holly and Mason Always tried to dump the sled over) lOL!






And they coasted! LOL It was really a lot of fun! When anyone got tired they came down for a drink of hot chocolate. At some point Scott started giving out the hot dogs (gross). That was nice for warming up. It was pretty wet out actually, there were lots of wet kids running around! A lot of them even played hockey on Holly's ice.

Preschoolers
Grades P and One

Grades 2 and more.
Then we finally got them organised into some sort of races. We divided them all up by Preschoolers, Grades Primary and One, and Grades 2+. They raced about 6 races before the prizes were gone and there was risk of injury, so sleds were parked and we did the "cake".

Rather than a cake, Taylor asked for Cupcakes. SO we made 48 little cupcakes, frosted them, and gave them out. They were far easier than cake and icecream on plates out there. Good idea :)

The Crowd sings Happy Birthday :)
Enjoying their cupcakes.


After the party Taylor opened her presents inside. I couldnt figure out how to do it outside! But Maybe if I did it again I would just have 2 sleds, take the presents on one, open them, take them away and rebag, and put them on the other sled to take back inside. It would work better that way :)

It was a great success. I would totally do this again! Maybe Annually :)

Saturday Night Album Class

At Shelley's house! Always such a good time, started off with Daquiris and continues with some good snacks and such :) We planned to make some Star Albums!




First we went through magazines and picked out photos that we thought were interesting and caught our eyes. Although i could not imagine why we would be doing this, I did what I was told LOL! We then glued these onto bristol board and made collages. This indicates in a way, what you are interested in, where your head is at,for a particular time. It was interesting to see what caught everyone's eye, and also interesting to imagine what I would be putting on thsi board in another year or so. I plan to have the kids do these sometime soon. Need to collect up some old magazines :)




After we did the boards I got to take over and do the album. I was SO excited to get these things going :):) I love the Star albums they are so much fun! I had quickly made up my sample, with no photos, for ideas on what people could do with the pages.








My Album has one set of pages as yet undecorated LOL. The cover also has to be done. But without some photos to put in it, it seems a little pointless to decorate the cover. LOL I think Valentine's photos will go into it.

Trip to PEI in February

Yes again we went to PEI but this time, we took all three kids out of school for the day, and spend a Friday night over. Scott did some work while we were there.

We left Truro bright and early, and it was gorgeous and sunny and cold! On the pass, we ran into SNOW! Apparently there it was not very good during the day! It really lasted about 20-30 minutes for us (not even maybe) but it sure looked bad!
but once past, it was bright and sunny again. Lovely view from the bridge.

There is this place on the way to Summerside where we often stop for photos. I got awesome photos there year before last. We stopped for a little run around for kids and dogs while over.
It was SO so cold! LOL the kids only had their sweaters on so didnt last long outside. I had a coat on and still didnt last long.
The kids are packed so cozy into the back of the CRV.
Lucky they dont fight too too often back there. LOL

Scott stopped in Summerside to work and we went to the mall. we picked up a few things for the trip, like pop and some supplies for the stampin class I was to do that night. I lost my hand cream and found ti again which the kids thought hilarious because Momma doesnt often lose thing.

After the mall we picked Scott up and went to Charlottetown and to the hotel. After a stop at Michael's and Walmart. At the hotel I took the kids swimming while Scott did other calls in town.



They really enjoyed the pool which isnt all that deep and is cold cold! LOL I didnt get in.

So when Scott came back I went to my class, and enjoyed some stampin and chattin. It was a good time :)

Arent they so cute when they are sleeping. I was surprised they slept together so well, usually they refuse to. Of course the two little ones were sleeping when they were put into bed so that helps.

Went for an early, fast swim the next morning before we raced out of town so that Holly could get to her hockey game at noon!

The Valentine Rundown: Our Valentine Party

After school was a typical Wednesday confusion. LOL With Scott away we had to call in Scott's mother as a back up. lol
I picked up Holly from school and brought her home where a cake was baking for supper. Got Holly ready for hockey while Nanny came over to babysit and Katelyn got home on the bus. Went off to skating, while Nanny took Annika and Katelyn out to pick up Taylor from school. Then they went back to our house to wait. Holly and I skated, then we went and picked up Pizza! With Scott and Grampy away, we had our OWN party at home!

First we ate the Pizza and Garlic Fingers. The kids werent all that hungry, having just had sooo much CANDY lol but lots of pizza was eaten.
Then we had a cake Annika and I baked before school ended.

The girls decorated it with some cinnamon hearts, but didnt each much, again, the candy. LOL That's ok I loved it.
Then gifts OH yes gifts. I dont always do gifts but made it special this year with Daddy away :)
Nanny gave the girls the Cinderella 3 movie. It's been watch over and over and over LOL. They each got some socks and some little Valentine's day treats.
I got them each a Webkinz that Annika helped me pick out. Taylor got the Golden retriever, almost as good as a real one.
Holly got the BullFrog, completing her Frog Family. She has a Lilkinz frog, a Frog, and a treefrog.
And Annika got the cute little Hippo! ilove the soft colour!

After dinner and treats it was almost bed time. Valentine's day is done!

Oh I did get a treat from Daddy, before he left he gave me the black Vest I wore on Valentine's day, and some scrapping Things.