creating-smiles, the logo!

She did it again!  Julie, my step-sister, has created my boss's logo.  I think it's the best dentist logo I've ever seen.  It even has a sparkel like I put on our Christmas cards!  I can't wait to put it on our website, business cards, new patient paperwork, advertisements, etc.  Dr. Brayer picked the colors and made a lot of revisions to it to make it exactly what she wanted.  Thanks for working with us Julie!!!

the Super Heros Birthday Party story

I should have dressed up as Emma Frost, that would have been more appropriate.  It was sooo cold!  Oh my goodness.   

We had asked the guests to wear super hero costumes or Tshirts if they had them.  Almost everybody did! 

Although you couldn't tell b/c we were all bundled up.

I had a couple of signs that lead to shelter #4.

I had capes for the guests to assemble.  I was going to do masks, but hired a face painter instead.

See Malia's pink and purple cape in the middle of this picture?

it matched her purple and pink outfit!

Here's the photo I took right before leaving the house real quick. Note, no jackets here? It wasn't windy or even that cold at our house, and they were in such a fun happy mood!

But it was freezy freezy freeze at the park.  Andre and Barbie came early (and stayed late) and helped us the whole party.  We had a lot of cute guests! 

We had a balloon artist who made some spiderman guys, batman guys, a Rosco dog, and flowers etc.

Isaac wasn't happy with the cold.  He had a yucky nose too.  The box of Kleenex we had was a big hit. 

Dylan invited one friend from school b/c he had gone to his birthday party, also at a park. 

Finn's grandma brought him, like Dylan's grandma and grandpa had taken him to Finn's party.  Look how fun she is, fighting with the Hulk hands :).

Hi Baby Blue Eyes Shaylyn!  She ended up using her pink cape for a blanket. 

Dylan only opened this present at the party.  It's from Uncle Andre!  We heard that Little Peyton could ride one of these on a ramp, so thought maybe Dylan could have fun on one.  Correct!  He loves that thing!

Isaac wanted to be held the whole time.  I was planning on getting some awesome photos of the kids in their costumes and running around with their capes, but it was too hard with Isaac.  He's heavy!  I think he was feeling a little sick, a lot cold, and a lot jealous when I would help somebody assemble a cape. 

Here are some of the capes, ready to have their symbols, initials, and decorations!  I used sticky back velcro b/c glue gets soaked right up by this felt, and I wanted them to be worn right then and there.  Hot glue guns, even on low temp weren't an option because there's no electricity at the pavilion. 

Finn participated!

It would have been perfect if the sun had been warmer.  Reguardless, the kids stayed and played a long time, even after cake time!

It's a good opportunity for us to hang out with our friends who have moved a little further away.  We are all grown up now with kids! 

Here's another cape, N for Noah.

Corrie had to work, of course, b/c it was Valentine's Day weekend and she works at a spa. 

I wasn't kidding about Isaac wanting me to hold him the whole time.  I guess it's his party and he can cry if he wants to.  Thanks for listening to him so my arms could get a break for a little bit, Don.  Still, a lot of these pictures are from other friends.

I made German Chocolate Krinkle Cookies and put frosting in the middle then put big star sprinkles around them with bubble/cartoon word toppers. 

This captures it well, Kirsten was saying, "One is escaping, escaping, escaping!"  A kid was running off, and she's a good older sister (of twins). 

My mom, Barbie, and I got our faces painted.  I don't think any of the kids did though.  The face painter left pretty early b/c it was cold I think. 

We had a pot of hot water and some food storage hot chocolate, marshmallows, and straws which was much more used than the juice boxes.  Smart last minute thinking!

We didn't want to put our guests through watching the boys open presents, so I was going to wait 'til after nap time.  They started before though, and boy did they make out!  More presents than Christmas!  Wow!   Steven lined them all up here and took a photo. 

This is the mess a few minutes before.  They were soooo excited about the super hero look and find book.  I think that was the most perfect gift for Isaac.  Thank you Raphael and Edison!

Then we hung the shaddow box like shelf that Darren made for the boys.  I LOVE it!  It's perfect!  If you need ANYTHING made from wood, tell me, and I'll give you Darren's info.  He made the table and chairs we use every day, our entertainment center, my mom's bench on her front porch, and this shelf! 

It goes perfectly with the poster Dylan got from Uncle Andre for Christmas. 

Cold weather wasn't going to stop these super heros!

I love them, aren't they so cute?!

CPR training

This was Dylan's first encounter with learning about CPR. His school had called me to go get him b/c there had been a pink eye break out and his eye started to turn pink. I couldn't get him into the doctor 'til after my meeting, so I brought him along. He sat through the whole thing, looking hid scholastic book cataloges and asking questions about the scenarios. He watched the videos, then didn't think twice about participating when the teacher told us to get in pairs.

He took some pictures too.  We're a good team.

My Sun Oven from, you guessed it, my dad! Thanks Dad!

My dad eats mostly whole foods.  Sometimes he puts them in a blender.  He can make smoothies that way, and if he leaves them in long enough, it'll heat up with the friction and will become soup.  I don't think he cooks much though.  He's the healthiest most will-powerful man I know.  He wishes that his kids could be as healthy as he, I'm sure.  For Christmas, he got us this crazy sun oven.  It uses only solar power.  It has reflectors for cooler or more overcast days.  Basically, it cooks much like a slow cooker.  It's kind of funny, b/c not only do I need to adapt to cooking in this thing, I need to adapt to cooking in general :). 

So my first recipie was a frozen bag that read something like "just put in a pan and bake."  Steven said he would order a pizza. 

My dad got me a thermometer, and sure enough, it gets hot in there!  It's a lot like my "sun catcher" science experiment from when I lived in Oklahoma and was home schooled.  We entered a science fair, and I charted the temperatures of different containers of water inside a box similarly shaped with saran wrap over the front.  My dad didn't seem to remember it, but I do - that was a lot of charting and work!

Do you see the steam?!  Time to add the frozen shreaded cheese!

It melted after a little bit, then we ate it all up!  Yummy!

A month later, I decided to cook again, and used the sun oven.  I was feeling ambitious on a Wednesday, and made this recipie from scratch (from the back of the ziti box except for a substitution for yucky ricotta cheese and the whole thing of curry powder remnants from what I didn't scoop out when Isaac dumped the whole thing in one pot).  Usually we don't get a hot dinner b/c I'm on the road with my boys driving our friends to Hebrew School.  Instead, after loading up my kids, I grabbed one of the pots with oven mits and put it in the car.  It smelled sooooo good on that cold day! 

After dropping Brent off, we had a little picnic in the park.  It was still hot, they had to blow on it.  The day was still to cold for us, so we took a picture, then loaded back up in the car for the rest of it and ate from our car seats. 

I had left the other pot still in the sun oven, still in the sun for when Steven came home from work and it was still warm although the shade had taken over the back yard.  No electricity, and a hot home made meal on a Wednesday!  I was proud of myself.  Tell me, would you make the trip to the back yard for that?  I'm still wondering if I should take the time to cook.  I haven't seen gathering healthy ingredients to be as cost effective as people say it is.  Dylan kept telling me how much he liked it, and Isaac ate a lot.