Sushi Night!

Monday night we had our friends the "H" family over for Family Home Evening and a night of Sushi. We had a short FHE and then for the activity I taught them how to roll sushi. We had quite a spread, avacado, crab, green onions, sweet omelet, cream cheese, shrimp and fried shrimp and smoked salmon. We had a blast makeing our own sushi combinations. Each of the bigger kids made their own roll to eat and the grown ups make some for ourselves and the little kids. The kids were so proud of their creations, it was so cute. After dinner and a quick clean up I brought out dessert, "Candy Sushi"! I made rice crispie treats and rolled them up with twizzlers and gummy bears and covered them with fruit roll-ups. I also made candy Nigiri with swedish fish and sour strips. The candy was a huge hit with all the kids, and me too! It was a super fun night together. I had a great time.

Puddle Jumping.

It has been pretty dreary and rainy the last couple of days. Today, after Wes's nap, it had cleared up a bit so I let the kids go puddle jumping. We have a fantastic huge puddle in our cul-de-sac that forms every time it rains. Every kid loves jumping in puddles, most moms don't' love the mess it makes. I decided to lessen the mess by putting on their swim suits. It worked out really well. The kids had a great time, and I enjoyed watching them and chatting with our friend Maggie. Oh, to be a kid again!

Mimi and Pop's house

We went up to visit Mimi and Pop this week and we had a very nice time. We drove out Monday and Pop took us out to dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant. Tuesday we spent at the house visiting with Uncle Mike, Uncle Tom, Cousin Julie and her son and Aunt Donna. The kids had fun watching tv, hanging on their great grandparents, riding their bikes and making a nuisance of themselves. Mom and I had a nice time just chatting with them. Mimi has grown a very impressive garden over the past few years so I spent some time video and photographing it. I am going to surprise mimi with a photo book of her beautiful flowers. We left around 11 on Wednesday to drive home. We had a very nice visit.

Wish's

A block or two from my Mimi and Pops house, just around the corner really, is a little independant Drug Store named "Wish's" It has been there at least as long as I have been alive. When I was a kid, everytime we visited Mimi and Pop the various grandkids would walk over to Wish's and buy some 5c-10c-15c-or 25c candy. This was a true kids tradition for us. Sometimes an Uncle would give us each a dollar and send us off (probably to have some quiet in the house!) You could get a good sized bag of candy for a dollar or two. I have been going since I was too little to go by myself. The grownups would make the older cousins walk us there. Even as adults, my sisters and I have always walked (never driven!) to Wish's and got ourselves some candy. Now that I have kids I wanted to share that experience with them. Earlier this week Mom and I went up to Louisville with the kids to visit Mimi and Pop. During Wesley's naptime, Ella and I went out and walked to wishes and got some candy. Ella really enjoyed picking out her candy. She got 9! pieces of candy for $1.63. She was very proud of her haul. I got some candy for myself, and Wes too. I don't know how much longer we have with Mimi and Pop, or how many more times we will get up there to visit, but I am so very glad that I had a chance to share this special thing with Ella this week.

Happy Fathers day!

For Jon's fathers day gift Ella chose one of Jon's favorite snacks, Cocoa roasted Almonds. I made him a Card, with a heart made out of nuts that said "We are NUTS about you dad!" I was trying to be clever and funny. I told Ella about our "Joke" and she thought it was great. Today Ella was so so so excited to give Jon his gift. She proudly walked into the room with the package, and said "Happy Father's day Dad, We think you are NUTS!" Jon and I could not keep a straight face. Ella was all like, "What? What does the card say again?" It was one of the best slip ups she has had.
So Jon, we love you and we think you are NUTS!

Ella is a big girl!

Ella has asked several times over the last 6-8 months if she could get earings. We finally agreed to it in January while we were in Utah but she decided at the last min that she didn't want the "needle" in her ear after all. She mostly forgot about it for a few months but recently she has been asking again so today after going to see Rio in the $1 movies with Mom and Dad we went accross the parking lot at the mall and went to get her ears pierced. She chose some "diamond" earrings. (Cubic Zirconium) and was really brave. She cried for a few seconds after they did the piercing, but gave up when they offered her a lolly pop. She now is in LOVE with her "Princess ears" and is very excited to show them off to her friends. I also told her that she could pick out some fun new earrings after the 6 week healing process, so she is also looking forward to that. I think she looks adorable! And I am excited that she loves them. Now to get through the next 6 weeks with no infections.

I took a video of the piercing process, but Blogger isn't letting me upload it right now. I will try again later, for now, here are some before and after pictures.