A Very Harry Potter Party

Here are some pictures from Sophie's 9th birthday party:

As soon as the girls arrived at the Gryffindor Common Room (no muggles allowed!) they had to put on their school robes, complete with Gryffindor badges, and be united with their wand. Blindfolded, they had a few seconds to feel their wand, then after we took the blindfold off, they had to try to pick it out of a lineup. When they guessed correctly, it was their true wand.

Next we held a Tri(Twelve)-Wizard Tournament: Every young witch who was willing entered her name in the tournament and had a chance to draw a jelly bean, blindfolded, from a bowl full of Bertie Bott's every Flavor Beans. If they could correctly identify three flavors, they won a box of their own. With flavors in there like vomit, earthworm, earwax, and rotton egg, I was impressed that they were so willing!

Reactions to booger and soap flavors: Off to Honeydukes Sweet shop to use the galleons, sickles and knuts in their bags to purchase candy such as Fizzing Whizzbees, Acid Pops, Droobles Best Blowing Gum, Cockroach Clusters, Cauldron Cakes, etc.
Next they were off to "The Three Broomsticks" for pizza, butterbeer (root beer), cake, and ice cream
Sophie made this snitch cake all by herself!

The cake I made for her - A History of Magic open textbook with Harry's scarf, glasses, wand, quill and snitch (made mostly out of Tootsie Rolls and Now and Laters, heated, colored and molded)

After gifts, the girls headed out back to practice catching the snitch (a bouncy ball)

But my favorite part of the night was after the party, when Claire found Janelle's box of Bertie Bott's and without even flinching, ate everything that was left, including (but not limited to) black pepper, dirt, sardine, and soap. Janelle tried to stop her, but she wasn't about to let anyone pry them out of her grasp!
I can't believe she's nine years old!

Janelle for President!

I've been enjoying Janelle's writing lately. Yesterday she brought this home from school after her unit on American Presidents:

Translation: "If I were President I would give people freedom. I would make the world better. If I were president I would help people. I would make good rules. I would buy a bunch of candy and have a parade and throw candy. I would tell everyone to go to bed at 8 in the night. Make it so it were Valentines Day every day except all the other holidays. I would buy a dog and some fish. I would have a snack any time I wanted. I would have a yummy dinner every night. I would never have tomatoes in my dinner."

Easter Eggs

I wanted to do something for the kids in primary to help them focus on the Resurrection this Easter, so I came up with this idea. Everything in the egg is representative of the Savior and the Resurrection.

The linen with which the egg is tied is symbolic of the linen used to wrap Christ's body after the crucifixion. The egg represents the tomb he was buried in. The rock is symbolic of the stone that was rolled away from the opening to the tomb. The white blossom is representative of both the purity of the Savior and the renewal of life. The picture and the scripture are self-explanatory.

Happy Easter! And may you remember why we celebrate this beautiful time of year :)

More than you ever cared to know...

I already reached my quota of tag games for the year, but since I like to read other people's and I think it's a good journaling idea, I'll indulge my sweet sis-in-law Shauna :)

10 years ago I was: A newlywed in Corvallis

5 things on my to do list today: 1)Survive subbing in a middle school Lang. Arts class 2) Take Sophia to Activity Days 3) Get groceries 4) Mow lawn 5) Hug my girls, read to them and send them to bed.

Things I would do if I became a billionaire: Pay off all of my families' mortgages, Give huge amounts to charities, get all of our "permanent" furniture, invest in stock market and real estate, retire early and travel

3 of my bad habits: Chocolate indulging, waiting till everyone's starving to start thinking about dinner, selfishness

5 places I've lived:1) Corvallis, Oregon 2) Utah 3) Sana'a, Yemen 4) Philomath, Oregon 5) Monmouth, Oregon

5 jobs I've had:1) Hostess at Mexican Restaurant 2) Cahsier/Maintenance worker at Bowling Alley/Pool Hall on OSU campus 3) Hewlett Packard process operator and printing pen tester 4) Substitute teacher 5) Mommy

Something most people don't know about me: I was baptized in the Red Sea, and I have never made Jello in my life

House Leprechaun

My niece and nephew, Maddy and Johnny, wanted to trap a leprechaun this St. Patrick's Day, so they designed "House Leprechaun" to entice one of them into their trap.

Obviously thinking you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, Maddy put this sign next to the door:

Leprechauns are suckers for Polly Pockets in their undies (Well, can you blame them? I mean she's laying there on a pile of ten dollar bills. What's a leprechaun supposed to do?)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Casadyas and Refride Beans

This freewrite of Janelle's totally made me laugh :) Click on the picture to enlarge and see if you can discern any of it.

Revolutionary

There are only a handful of things in the history of the world that I would consider truly revolutionary. Christianity. The Scientific Revolution (mid 1500's). The Revolutionary War (1775-1783). The French Revolution (1789) The Industrial Revolution (early 1800's). Maybe even the Beatles. But honestly, a Victoria's Secret bra??? I think they may be using that term a tad loosely.

The newest bra, the biofit, promises to fit "your shape, your cup size". If I wanted that, I'd go au naturale. I've always felt if women were meant to have biological integrity, the push up would've never made it out of 8th grade gym class (where it never did us a bit of good anyway, since we did them the girly way). The whole point of a bra, I feel, is visual deception about YOUR shape and YOUR cup size. I don't want MY shape or MY cup size. I want Angelina Jolie's. My theory of a good bra, at least for someone minimally endowed, is this:

This is a pomello. A larger, sweeter version of a grapefruit. Because Todd first discovered them in Thailand, he calls them by their Thai name pronounced "somo". With almost a full inch of rind, the outside gives an enhanced perception of the real fruit inside. Should I take offense to the fact that Todd refers to my favorite "revolutionary" bra as a somo bra? Nevermind. I'm okay with biological dishonesty.

Brooke and the Twins

Each of my kids has a special baby doll that is their favorite. Sophie has a little girl Lucy (who can eat, drink, pee and poo!). Janelle has a little boy named Sheldon. Unfortunately, Sheldon is probably going to get teased in the locker room after gym class for not having the right plumbing, but Janelle doesn't want to worry him about it just yet. Claire has a baby girl that she likes to push around in her little shopping cart or stroller, who she once threw out of the toy stroller so she could sit there herself, hoping I would get the hint and take her on a walk. And Brooke has the twins. They were sired by either a penguin, dalmation, panda bear, skunk, or Oreo cookie, but she'll go to her grave swearing to the father that they really are both his. Here is our conversation about her babies:

Mom: Who do you have there?

Brooke: My baby dolls.

M: What are their names?

B: Michelle and Claire. I got the name Claire from my baby sister, and Michelle I got from when Sophie told me her friend's name. I liked those two names. The one with the purple dress on is Michelle. The one with the leotard and skirt on is Claire.

M: What's special about those two babies?

B: They're twins.

M: How do babies get to be twins?

B: They are born on the same day. Some can be stuck together, some can look exactly the same, and some can look a little the same. Mine are a little different and a little the same.

M: Your cousin Andy and sister Claire were almost born on the same day. Could they have been twins?

B: No

M: Why not?

B: They can't if they have a different mom. But they can if they have the same mom and were born on the same day.

M: Do they have to have the same dad too?

B: Yes.

M: Who is Claire and Michelle's dad?

B: I don't know. They don't really have a dad. In the games they have a dad, but I play that he's on a big huge journey.

M: What do you imagine their dad looks like?

B: Probably same color of hair as my real dad, but not acting weird like my real dad. He's medium tall. He has brown eyes. His skin is in between color. Darkish lightish. He has straight hair, and he dresses not crazy and not too fancy, in the middle. His name is Justin.

M: Do your babies ever fight?

B: No. They're always smiling. And they always have lipstick on and for some reason they always get eyeshadow on too. They're always happy and they never cry.

M: What about when you drop them on their heads. Do they cry then?

B: No. Watch.

M: Do you want twins in real life when you grow up?

B: Yes.

M: Do you want your twins to be just like you and Janelle?

B: No. I want my twins to be just like my babies so they're never crying and I never have to listen to it.

M: Do you think you're going to be a good mom.

B: Yes.

M: How will you know how to be a mom?

B: I will be watching you.

Reactions on coming home

Getting out to have a fun weekend with friends is a memorable treat, and while it's always well worth it, it doesn't come without a price to pay on the homefront when I get home.

My reactions (in order) when I walked in the front door this afternoon:

1. "DID EVERYONE SURVIVE THE TORNADO!!!!!!"
2. (sigh of relief...the family appears to be alive)
3. Wonder why the baby is naked - and question whether that is chocolate on her toes or something worse
4. Sniff around to figure out what that smell is
5. Futilly fend off husband's advances (the only reason I even try anymore is because I still can't find a pair of jeans that fit over both my butt and his hand).
6. Greet the children.
7. Count the children. ("Three.....Don't we have four?")
8. Ask why one is missing. (at a friend's house)
9. "HEY! Who ate all my Thin Mints?" (it was the twins - I almost died of "not surprised")
10. Mobilize the troops to restore what used to be my home, wistfully recalling the ignorance of 7 minutes ago.