Enough Germs Already and more Celebrating!

Well.... I'm thoroughly fed up with this winter.  The weather has been great, unusually warm, no snow, lots of sunshine.... but some how all the viruses have been hanging around.  I'm ready for something to kill off all these germs.... I think that would be summer.   All of last week when the kids were off from school Gabriella was sick.  She had a fever, terrible runny nose, cough, lethargy, etc.  By Friday the fever was gone, but her cold symptoms still remain... I think she is on the mend.  Unfortunately now Nicholas and I have the darn bug.  I spent most of yesterday laying around and came home from work early today.  I kept Nick home from school for part of the day too.  Enough already!  I feel like I was just sick.... or was that Gabby, or Steve, or Nicholas.... it keeps going around and around....

Any way... here are some photos right before the germ infiltration.... Self timer at its finest.....

 Nicholas being a goof ball.....

 The kids can not get enough of these dance games for the Wii.  Everyone can play, 4 players jumping around the living room....even Gabby got a star this week....  It is pretty funny to watch.

 Here we are on Sunday for Amanda's Birthday dinner.... Benihana!!  Look at all the sous chefs!

 Look at the forced smiles.... Our reservation was at 5:30 and we didn't begin to sit down until 6:30.  The kids were STARVING... or was it DYING... none of us were happy.....

 Except Gabby... she is usually a happy little girl.... and she had plenty of snacks to eat while we waited for our chef to arrive and begin cooking our meal.  I was doling out apple slices and crackers... but that wasn't cutting it for the older kids.

 After dinner.... there was a Japanese rendition of  Happy Birthday  accompanied by a beating drum and ice cream....

 The birthday girl.... and her fancy ice cream.....

 Happy and content now that he was stuffed....

 Gabby loved the chocolate ice cream....

 And.... this is where the photos die down.... I don't think I took any photos last week.  Here is the one photo I took as requested by Amanda.  She wanted to show off her swirl, frosted donut with a sour gummy worm on top.  This is what you are bribed with receive after a well-behaved trip to the grocery store.  It actually went better than I had anticipated..... 3 kids at the grocery store.... with a snow storm on the way..... they were great.  Amanda manned the cart, Nicholas took charge of Gabby, I raced down the aisles, and the kids bagged the groceries.  It was great team work.  Not to mention the store was deserted because of the impending snow storm the forecasters were predicting.

Oh yeah.... one more little thing.... well really a big thing for Nicholas.  He was so excited that he lost another tooth.  Can you see in the picture that his front tooth is missing?  He couldn't wait to put it under his pillow so the tooth fairy would leave some money.   Well..... about three days ago Amanda was on Nicholas' i-pod and you could see what he had recently Googled.  Do you want to know what my son is Googling?  How to catch a tooth fairy...... No Results Found... Amanda and I were cracking up.  When I asked Nicholas why he wanted to catch a tooth fairy, he said he wanted to get some more teeth so he would get more money from the fairy.  My son was going to try and extort money from a fairy!

Until later.... I'm going to lie down again.

The Birthday Girl!!!

So yesterday was the big day... we celebrated Amanda's 10th birthday.  How crazy is that!!  It doesn't seem like she should be that old.

It seemed like it was taking forever for the party to start.  Amanda was awake just after 6 a.m. in anticipation of the big event.  I had made sure that she was going to be busy all morning with tennis while I was at work.  I was hoping that the day would fly by for her.... because she is always asking, "When is everyone coming?  Is it almost time yet?"  She decided to invite one of her best friends over to pass the time as I made last minute preparations.  Here they are.....

Before everyone arrived I got a few photos of the treats.  I talked Amanda out of the 3 tier birthday cake with a gigantic photo of her face on top and we settled for this compromise.  It was 6 small layers with lots and lots of frosting covered in chocolate.....Because as Amanda told me, "You only turn 10 once!"  It had to be special!

Some of the Cookies....

Finally... the guests began to arrive....first up... some of the cousins... 

Justin and Crystal.... and then my picture taking gradually diminished... I think I got busy with food and forgot about photos of the other guests....

After dinner it was time to sing Happy Birthday and make wishes.... Check out the cool candles the kids and I found!

We even sang Happy Birthday to Aunt Mo Mo because it was her actual Birthday yesterday.  Cam helped her blow out her candle.

Time for presents, cards, and lots of fun stuff.....

1/2 of the Herdoiza clan... Thats a nice shot of the guys!  Unfortunately the rest of the crew was sick and at home with Kaye.  We hope everyone is better soon.

I guess everyone was posing for photos on the stairs.  Here are Gabby and Ty.  This is Ty's photo-ready-face.  When you tell him to smile for a picture... this is how he responds.  Too funny! 

More presents... Amanda really wanted this tye-dye sunglasses case...  AWESOME!

Just really loved this photo of my nephew.......  A silly little monkey.....

Now this is why the cake was so special.... Amanda had everyone gather around while we cut cake and served ice cream.  Check out the big reveal!  The cake was so special.... because it was a RAINBOW!  Not some boring chocolate layer cake......

Amanda in her rainbow-cake-frosting-overload glory!

The kids finished out the night playing the new games on the Wi and X-box.  Overall I think Amanda had a really great birthday party!

Today I'm taking it easy.... hanging around the house... going to a movie with the kids.... and hopefully going out to dinner tonight.  There has been a lot of excitement around this house the last couple of days and there is more in store this week because the kids have mid-winter break.  I'm off to relax.  Until later.....

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone felt the love today.  Amanda was feeling the love at 7 a.m. as she came bounding out of bed announcing how glorious it was..... Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!  She was bubbling with excitement.  Then she was off to wake Nick and Gabby.  This was crazy coming from the girl who I have to keep prodding to get out of bed in the morning.  I guess everyday needs to be Valentine's Day.  Anyway, here are a few pictures:

Amanda spent a good portion of Saturday afternoon decorating her Valentine Box.  It was covered in tissue paper, glitter, rhinestones, and plenty of hearts. 

Deep in the creative process.... I can't believe I didn't take a close up of the box in all of it's glitter glory!

While Amanda was glittering away, Nick was choosing to work on his own project.  It didn't involve glitter and hearts... he was building a jet for Sensai Woo... made with drinking straws, plenty of scotch tape, and a ripped Kroger plastic bag.... now that was using his imagination!

Nicholas found the jet much cooler than a Valentine box.  Here is a close up of Sensai Woo ready for take off.

This was totally random.  It was 1/2 hour before bedtime and Nick was driving me crazy.  He had so much energy at 8:30.... I sent him into the basement to run around, shoot Nerf darts, and be rambunctious with Gabby.  15 minutes later he came up with the new fire marshall in town.  Gabby was cracking up with her hat and hatchet.

So that brings us to this morning.... Here is a shot of the kids before school with all their Valentine treats.  Amanda was so excited to wear her new headband.  She passed out candy and Oreo pops.  Nick passed out Ninjaga Lego Valentines and suckers. Gabriella gave out Valentine play-doh.

I came home from work today to find these beautiful flowers from my Valentine.  (I'm such a lucky girl after all these years.)  I passed out my treats of chocolate, cookies, and books when everyone got home from school.

The kids couldn't wait to show off all their cards and treats when they got home from school.  We went through all the Valentines and they were just as excited the second and third times.  They seemed to like their new books, and what's not to like about cookies and chocolate??? 

One of the coolest Valentines came from Gabby's stash.  I have never seen this card before, but the kids are already requesting that I find them for next year's class.  I'll have to do a search on-line.  It was a crazy little square foil package.  I had to hit it with my fist and it slowly blew up.  Well... that was neat... a small square little package.... then all of a sudden BANG!!! It flew out of my hands.... the kids and I were surprised.... and when we found the little foil square.....

It had morphed into this cool balloon!  We loved it.  The kids wanted to do it again but of course we couldn't.  Now I'm on the hunt for this fist-popping-surprise-balloon-blowing-up Valentine.  What will they think up next??

Hope your day was filled with 100% LOVE.  Until later.............

 

My Super Smart Son!!!

So every Friday the kids bring home "Friday Folders" that have assignments, quizzes, tests, and other school related info. in them.  As the parent I look through the folder, and then we have to sign them, and return them on Monday.  Well..... I just wanted to share this little gem with you.... it was in Nicholas's Friday folder and after making me laugh.... I knew this was blog material.  (This is why I have to blog... so I don't forget these memories!)

Obviously this was a math worksheet.  Nick tends to do well in math and is often given extra worksheets to challenge himself.

Wow!  Mystery numbers.... I'm impressed that he came up with the correct solution.  I was double checking the work in my head.  It is less than 200, the ones digit is 2 more than the hundreds digit.....okay......the tens digit  is less than the ones digit.....ok..... Wow....the mystery number was 113.  My favorite part of the worksheet is where Nicholas has to explain how he figured out the answer.  How did my bright boy do it??

How did you figure it out?  Can you see his written explanation (misspelled word and all....which I love)

Because I used my xelint brain.  And that helped me figure out the problem. 

Thank goodness my son has an EXCELLENT  BRAIN!  I'm sure that was precisely the answer the teacher was looking for!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Until later.....

Just DO IT!

Well.... sometimes....like Nike says....you just have to do it......and so with that said.... I'm BACK!  In the 2 1/2 months since I've blogged last a lot has happened.  So much has happened that I'm beginning to forget.  I was obviously busy since there was no time to blog.  What was I up to?  Well that great unknown  has spurred me to blog once again.  Here is a little recap of December... just before the Christmas holiday. (I am going to do a lot of recapping since there has been a blogging void for Jan. also.  Be on the look out....)

I uploaded about 180 photos onto my computer the other day.  Here are some that I found... The kids pulling out ornaments to decorate the Christmas tree.... over Thanksgiving weekend.

 Gabby had fun participating this year.  The tree was bottom heavy with ornaments....everything placed about 2 feet from the ground.

 The kids put together this sleigh holding Santa and a load of presents.  I just love Michael's and all their craft supplies.

The kids have been continuing to take piano lessons.  The entire month of December was filled with Christmas carols.  I bought 2 books of easy piano songs and they had mastered them in no time.  You could find Nicholas playing tunes early in the morning and after school.  Amanda's favorite was "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."

 We had friends over for our monthly poker game.  The guys were getting into it with a little bit of Wii tennis.  (As if they don't play enough tennis in REAL  LIFE.  Its always a competition at this house.)

 I forgot I took this ridiculous photo.  Debbie is explaining the perfect technique for getting rid of hiccups.  You need to drink from a glass upside down.  Her technique was flawless and Amy was really analyzing her form.  I just found the whole ordeal Hilarious!  I can't remember if it actually cured the hiccups, but it made for some great pictures.

Such a sweet shot of the girls hanging out on the stairs....

We made an Advent wreath this year at church.

Here Amanda is blowing out the candle on the first Sunday of Advent.  (I actually think it was the first Wed. of Advent, but does it really matter?)

We celebrated Nicholas' 7th Birthday in December.  He had a Super Mario Brothers themed party.  Of course I have to show you all the video game cookies.

I was pretty impressed with my efforts.  There was no way I could make Mario or Luigi.... but fire power and gigantic mushroom power.... I could definitely do that!

Here are a few photos from the party.  Cam and Nick.... they always have a fun time together.

The Herdoizas.... Amanda was jealous of the huge Happy Birthday banner....Why hadn't I bought one for her party last year?....like I said....the competition in this household. 

Just another great photo of the cousins together.....

Dad and Justin hanging out... probably talking about connectors or finances or sports....whatever those two like to talk about....

 Mo and Emms.... I couldn't get my sweet niece to tear herself away from the cookies....anyway... Mo looks great...and Emmersyn looks happy....

 What do you think a 7 year old wishes for????

 Lots of Legos..... I bet.  Nicholas can't seem to get enough of Ninjago Legos or any Legos for that matter.

 Nicholas also got an I-pod from us for his Birthday.  I wrapped it in three different boxes and was hoping he would believe that we bought him boring tennis shoes.... but he didn't fall for the joke.  He loves his I-pod and he's an Angry Birds expert.

 That's a good shot of Mom and Dad.

 Tyler looks like one happy guy!

 The final photo is a picture of Steve's Cousin's son, Philip.  He is an exchange student from Germany who is staying with a host family in Ohio.  We were able to meet him one weekend when his host family was in the Detroit area.  He was very nice, spoke English well, and seemed a pretty typical 15 year old boy.

Well that's it for.... the first 2 1/2 weeks of December.  I hope to be back soon with Christmas, our crazy Florida trip, and some happenings from January.  Until later.....