Pancakes and Pajamas

With Samantha's 12th birthday on the horizon, I started to think of ideas of how she could celebrate with friends ... while still in the middle of a global pandemic.  Our "bubble" (that has now become a daily phrase this year -- along with things like "social distancing," "wearing a mask," "maintaining 6 feet of distance," etc.) is relatively small and we would only be able to invite a couple of friends that we consider to be in the same "bubble."

I reached out to three mothers ahead of time to see if they were "ok" with letting their girls come over to celebrate with us.  The girls were all in school together -- albeit, wearing masks and social distancing -- and I was pretty sure that we were comfortable from both sides letting them spend some much-needed and much-missed time together.  We planned the party with a "pancakes and pajamas" theme and I promised Samantha that I would keep it 'toned down' and casual.  (She did ask me to plan at least one craft and allowed me to decorate a small poster for behind the cake table).

There were six girls in total -- three of Samantha's closest friends, the neighbor next door, Samantha and Sophia.  It was really the perfect group size.

Ahead of time, I picked out pajamas for each of the girls and had them set out on the table when they arrived.  They fit perfectly (!!!!) and one of the girls was astounded to find out that they "got to keep them!"  Ha!  

They made the perfect party favor and also made for a nice group picture of everyone that Samantha now has framed in her bedroom to forever commemorate this special event.

I opted for a light pink and gold theme; I thought that the gold was so classy for a 12-year old and I was able to use some decorations from parties in the past.  These balloons were a special find and they lasted for weeks afterwards before we finally (carefully) popped them and let the confetti out.

Six girls fit perfectly at the table ...

And what party of mine would be complete without flowers!  I cannot believe that this tiny peanut is 12 years old already!  I have such vivid memories, all these years later, of bringing her home from the hospital weighing less than 6 lbs with a tiny head of dark fuzz cuddled up next to me.

We ordered pizza and breadsticks and the girls stuffed themselves silly and laughed the whole time. 

 

After dinner, we headed into the living room so that Sam could open her birthday presents.  Her friends know her SO WELL and she smiled and gushed over every single item.

Then, it was time for cake!  Over the years, decorating cakes has become a hobby for me.  I use it as a creative outlet for myself and love the whole process from start to finish.  I've been asked before if I would consider doing it for more than just a hobby but right now I prefer to just do it for family and friends.  

For her cake, I used white cake and buttercream frosting.  I stacked the layers and added a basecoat of frosting.  Once that was set, I set to work making it look like a stack of pancakes.  Most of the girls were convinced that I actually just used pancakes to make it!  I made a pat of butter out of marshmallow fondant, a real strawberry and real blueberries and a dollop of frosting for whip cream.  Oh!  And the "maple syrup" was dark corn syrup drizzled over the top.

The craft that we chose was homemade soap-making.  I bought a few molds, some glycerin, some colors/dyes and some scents.  The girls had the best time choosing their colors and scents and it did not take very long for the soaps to set up.  The girls were able to put them in bags to take home later within an hour after pouring.

That night, I fixed a few snacks and the girls chose a movie to watch in the basement.  I didn't hear a single peep out of them after 11 pm ...

The next morning (Opening Day for hunters!), Steve headed out into the woods to hunt and I set to work preparing the big breakfast.  

Obviously pancakes were on the menu, but I also served a parfait bar, eggs, chocolate chip muffins and lots of bacon.  I even fixed virgin mimosas.  And do you know what makes mimosas even better?  Drinking them out of gold-plated bottles with gold straws!

Happy birthday to my favorite 12-year old girl!

Fall Fun

 It was unseasonably warm this week for October in MI ... a few days hit 70 degrees!  The kids were excited to get outside to play every day when they arrived home from (their half days of) school.  And, I was thrilled to be able to use one of the days to take our annual pictures for our Christmas card.

In my more "novice" years, I often found myself waiting until closer to the holiday season before I thought about and even considered taking a picture for our card.  Waiting that long, especially because I liked having 'outside pictures,' meant that I was risking the weather and (usually) grumpy kids that were anxious to 'just get the photo shoot over.'  

Now, I plan a little more in advance and this year, the timing couldn't have been better.  

This is the picture that I used for the Christmas card this year:

And in between snapping photos on the outskirts of the woods, Jimmy took time out to play.  Just look at the strength in his arms!  He is turning more and more into his (busy) brother every day.

This summer,  Steve and Jack built a platform in our backyard and secured a "zip-line" to it.  Jack jumped on and cruised into the focus of my lens as I was snapping this picture.

I can't believe how tall she is getting; or how grown-up she looks.  She'll be 12 next month and I am still trying to wrap my head around how fast the years have flown by.

I think that we have roughly 16 pumpkins in front of our house right now.  The kids love to bring a few home from the orchard every time we go and they secured a few more from a farmer that Steve works with!  At one point, one of our neighbors pulled up at the end of the driveway and jokingly asked if our pumpkin patch was open for people to purchase.  Ha!

Pumpkins, squash and gourds!  True signs of Fall.

Our neighbors had a cute little set up in their backyard and I couldn't resist grabbing a picture of the kids again on the bale of straw.

Standing next to Steve, I noticed just how tall Sophia is getting.  Both of the girls have always stayed in the 80th percentile for height ... 

Lots of leaves have fallen in the woods and the kids begged me to let them play with them.  I couldn't resist!

Yesssss!  Is is really Fall in Michigan if you don't take the time to play in and throw leaves up in the air?!

Just two sister girls.

And this boy ... his hair is SO thick.   He was really in need of a haircut (we do these all at home now) but I love how genuine his smile is.  He asked to take a picture over by the garden -- it is in the background -- since that is one of his 'happy places' right now.

He is getting so tall too.  He will be 7 1/2 next month and I feel like he is just a year or two away from being a full-fledged teenager.  Time just needs to slow down for me!

And one more picture on the zip-line!

Mid-Week Randoms

I'm pretty pleased with the garden this year.  We cut back on the number of plants -- limiting it to some tomatoes, cucumbers (both to eat and to pickle), a couple of jalapeno plants, one watermelon plant (Sophia was INSISTENT) and some herbs.  We also laid down untreated bark to keep the weeds under control.  It worked really well.

Jack was my main helper all summer.  He helped water, as we kept gallon jugs under each plant with a small hole in them.  Then, we would run the hose along the back of the plants (next to the garage) and fill the jugs.  A nice, slow drizzle for the plants -- directly on their roots -- helped to keep them hydrated without providing much water for any weeds.

I stapled dryer sheets on each of the cages to keep the deer away and was pretty successful.  The deer do not like the strong smell of soap because they assume that a human (predator) is near.  The smell lasted for a couple of weeks, even through the rain, and then I would simply remove them and replace with fresh ones.

Jack was also my key harvester.  He would collect the vegetables every day for me and offer a report on which ones were almost ripe!

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While we were gone on vacation, the kids' tennis shoes arrived for the new school year.  The best news: they all fit perfectly!

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Mia missed us while we were gone and Samantha was thrilled to be reunited with her!  We're not sure how much more time Mia will be with us (we hope that it is a long time from now!), but she is 12 years old now ...

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Jack's first kill -- a squirrel from our back yard.  Jack has been setting up a baiting pile of corn on a bucket and one day, he timed it well and got his first trophy.  That same say, he learned how to skin a squirrel and save its tail.

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Samantha had a friend over one afternoon (we are being selective of which friends are "in our bubble" so that we can stay safe during the continuing pandemic) and they asked me if they could make scrunchies.  I agreed as long as they included Sophia in the project. 

We dug through my (overflowing) tote of fabric and each of the girls chose one that they wanted to use.  I helped them cut and showed them how to stitch my hand.  Yes, I could have used the sewing machine, but knowing how to do a simple stitch by hand is a VALUABLE and IMPORTANT life skill.  

The finished products turned out pretty cute and are totally functional!

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We celebrated Sophia's HALF birthday in August.  It just seemed fitting this year to celebrate ... she turned 9 1/2 and will be "double digits" in February.  Plus, any excuse to make and decorate a cake is fine by me!

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Samantha has been getting lots of use out of her longboard this year!

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We craft whenever we can in this house.  And I have now allowed Jimmy to use sharpie markers ... with supervision.

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Sophia found a caterpillar on this beautiful Fall day and wanted me to take her picture with it.  I love so many things about this photo -- I love her smile.  I love how long and curly her hair is (just like mine; just not as dark).  And I love how comfortable she feels in a romper out in nature.

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Pepper -- our newest family member.  Nibbles, Samantha's first hamster passed away this summer.  The lifespan of a hamster is only 2-3 years and Nibbles was 2 1/2.  It was really hard on Samantha and she begged for another one right away.  

Steve called around to a few pet stores and surprisingly, it was difficult to find a store that had one available.  We wanted a girl and one that was friendly.  After several weeks, they made a random trip to a chain pet store and came home with "Pepper."  

Sam loves her dearly.

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Another valuable life skill: learning how to change the oil in a vehicle.  Jack isn't able to do it on his own yet (obviously), but he is a great helper.

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Picture Day at school and Jimmy was one handsome little boy!

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One of the big projects that the kids do in 2nd grade is their "Me Project."  They are given a template of a person to cut out and then it is up to them to add details to make it personalized to represent themselves.  Then, the projects hang up in the 2nd grade hallway all year long.

This was a great project for Jack (and my girls loved doing it too!) and I love all of the details that we ended up adding to it.

In the end, we used a real photo of Jack for the head; an MSU shirt (Jack is a big fan of Michigan State, so much so, that we used that as the theme for his 6th birthday); camo pants (because it is rare to find Jack WITHOUT camo on); orange shoes (Jack's favorite color is orange); a taco (Jack's favorite food); and a fishing pole (Jack's new and most favorite hobby).  Yup, he nailed it!

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Samantha learned how to knit this summer and she has been busy making washcloths ... and more recently, as pair of slippers.  I love that she has learned to do this activity and that it is something that she can take with her in the car, or work on at night while watching a movie.  

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It's football season!

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Jimmy's First Day of School - 2020

Just like we did last year, we made a Preschool Countdown so that Jimmy could visualize exactly how many days he had left before he could go back to his beloved school.  Like his older siblings, his school shutdown in March and he was missing both his teachers and his friends.  It also did not help matters that he had to wait almost 3 more weeks to start back into the classroom (the other kids went back to school on August 20th and his school did not open until the week after Labor Day).

All dressed and ready to go!  I'm pretty sure that he was up before the sun!

He's using the same backpack from the year before, as I feel that it really did not get much use.  He loves it so much and he *might* end up getting more use out of it next year for kindergarten.

Steve has been working from home -- out in the garage -- and was happy to jump in a picture with Jimmy; our last kid on his last "first day of preschool."

Jimmy is not required to wear a mask in the classroom because of his age.  In fact, none of the kids wear one (it was up to the parents to decide).  The teachers are required to wear a mask at all times though.  He looks so adorable wearing it and I wanted to document the true version of 2020 though for the future.