Catching up

 

It seems to be feast or famine with my blog!

Here are some fun things that happened this month. . .

Elle’s SURPRISE birthday party!

This was Elle’s 2nd birthday party with friends.   I invited 10 of her friends to celebrate at Ben and Jerry’s down the street.

It was really hard convincing her to go there before dinner.

“But I’m going to have my favorite dinner! I don’t want to spoil my appetite!”

Finally, I convinced her to go anyway.

Chris came home early so he could greet the birthday guests and take a flip video of the whole thing.

My friend helped everyone with the surprise bit and was ready with her camera too. . .

When Elle walked in, everyone jumped out from behind the counter, garbage cans and tables and yelled “SURPRISE!!”  Elle just kind of looked around trying to process what was going on.  I finally just told her—this is a surprise birthday party for YOU!

Much fun was had by all.  And they only had one scoop, so plenty of room left for dinner

 

Elle got to eat some of her favorite things:

Macaroni and cheese, Brussels  sprouts and squash.

She wanted a ‘Spy’ theme, so I found a cute idea online about doing a variation on the game clue.

Elle was “Agent E” and she had to try to figure out who stole what from what room. (Little Puppy stole Dad’s iPad from the bedroom)  I had clues and obstacles all around like-

Dodging dangerous snakes, and  avoiding contact with the floor

 

She also had to disable bombs in her room with a bomb disabler (balloons and a pin)  I think I had just as much fun planning the whole thing than she did doing it!

You can’t really tell, but the cake is shaped like a question mark:

 

I can’t believe she’s 10!

 

And here’s a  Sunday dress and hair I did a ways back:

 

 

And here’s a display I made for our Gift-A-Book program at school.  Chris covered the poster board with red paper and  brown border last year then he drew the tree this year.

I cut out all the leaves and copied all the images from online and artistically placed them on the tree and ground.  People can choose books from the ‘leaf pile’ to donate. (They actually just donate money and the librarian orders the book for them.  When the book comes in the student gets his/her name on a nameplate inside the book and they get to be the first one to check it out! I had to say that a million times at a school activity where I was pitching the whole thing.)

And for FHE, we carved pumpkins.  The Primary was in charge of the Halloween party this year(yesterday), so I told Chris I was going to use his pumpkin as a centerpiece for one of the tables.  (no pressure)

I knew he’d step up to it-

 

That’s it for now!

I’m a Mormon

 

Mormons are taking over Seattle!

No, not really,  it just seems that way.  The church has launched a campaign in a few areas of the country and now here in Seattle.  There are ads on billboards, taxis, buses,  TV, Hulu, YouTube, etc.  that say “I’m a Mormon” and Mormon.org

Why? 

Not to convert the entire city

not to promote the Mormons who are running for office

Because we want to educate people about who we are, clear up misconceptions, and  show we are normal, everyday people.  (they made reference to this in conference)

All of us in Washington have been asked to make our own profiles on Mormon.org.   Not videos of us, just profiles.  click “Our People” on the website. 

Beware- you might get sucked in like I do and end up watching all the 2 min. videos about cool Mormons!

If you click on “Meet Mormons”  under "Our People,”and type “Issaquah, Washington,” you can see some people from our ward.

You can also find me!  Do you know how stressful it was to write that?!  Especially knowing anyone in the world could read it.  Scary!!  Most likely though, only my faithful bloggers will find me

Interview with a Birthday Girl

 

 

Me: So, Elle, tell us a little about yourself
Elle: Well, I’m a  lonely (only) child, I’m in 5th grade, I like bananas, it’s my birthday, and I’m a Mormon.
Me: What are some of your hobbies?
Elle: I like literature because I like write and read books.
Me: what are some of your favorite genres?
Elle: Mystery is my favorite.  I like adventure-fantasy too.
Me: What’s your favorite book?
Elle The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. It’s been my favorite since I was little.  I like the beautiful pictures.
Me: You say you like to write books, also.  Are you currently working on anything?
Elle: Yes, I’m writing a story called “How to Catch a Kiss.”
Me: A kiss?
Elle (laughs) The ‘Kiss’ is a little nicknack my Grandma gave me.  It looks like a tan-colored Hershey’s Kiss.
Me: Oh!  OK.  Any other hobbies?
Elle: I like to play soccer.  My favorite positions are  mid-field and defense.  I also like to play piano.                         
Me:  What else do you like to do?
Elle: I like school, but not homework.
Me: What do you like about school?
Elle: I like to learn different things like the life-cycle of a salmon and how to un-square square numbers.  When I come home from school I’ll say, “Mom, guess what I learned today?!”
Me: That’s great!  Not every kid says they like school!
Elle: Ya.
Me: I’d like to find out some of your favorites.
Elle: OK

color: turquoise (but I can’t spell it)
breakfast: waffles or coffee cake
lunch: ham and cheese
dinner: macaroni and cheese
subject in school: social studies, science and literature
season: fall because there are so many holidays- My birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Columbus day. . .and who doesn’t like having birthday cake, candy and turkey? And who doesn’t like celebrating that the earth isn’t flat?
candy: Butterfingers and milky way
(primary) song: If the Savior Stood Beside Me
Me: thank you for talking with me today.  I hope you have a Happy Birthday!
Elle: Thank you, it’s been my pleasure :)

 

Nine years old:

 

Ten year old!

Elle got her first birthday gift this morning—new duvet (that she picked out herself), sheets, pillow cases and curtains!

 

and:

 

Yea!!

Hair

 

It’s been forever since I’ve blogged about Elle’s hair! (or anything at all, for that matter). 

Here’s a brief recap  of “HAIR”

First of all, Elle had to wear her soccer jersey to school one Friday to show support for the soccer league or something.  Knowing Chris would  cringe sending our little girl out in the world dressed like that, I decided to make her hair as girly as possible. (I tried to make her wear dangly earrings and a bracelet too, but nothing doing)

Then one day I decided to fix her hair all cute for soccer practice.  (As a consequence, she wasn’t’ ready when her coach picked her up )

 

Isn’t she cute in her little soccer outfit?!

Here’s what her hair looked like that night:

 

 

Elle finally let me do this style again (in fact, it was her idea!)

 

 

It seems like all the forceful fashion has finally paid off.   Elle picked this cute outfit out all by herself at the store:

 

And now, for the hair you’ve all been waiting for.  After weeks of growing, I will now reveal “the beard”

 

to:

 

 

To the relief of everyone here, it goes off tomorrow!

(Chris is tired of ice cream and soup getting stuck in his ‘stash and Elle and I are tired of being kissed with a brillo pad)