chocolate banana face

This is one of Madeline's favorite breakfasts for something quick. She calls it a chocolate banana face. =)

E-I-E-I-OOPS

This is Madeline's sheep costume in progress. The school play this year is E-I-E-I-OOPS and each child got to choose which barn animal they wanted to be. I'm gluing cotton balls all over this white hooded jacket, I have pink/black felt ears I made to glue to the hood and she'll have her nose painted black. Should be cute.

Birthdays

Today I booked Madeline's 7th birthday party, yes I know her birthday is not until June but I always start early as they take a lot of planning. And now that I have Matthew's the next month after hers I have to start even earlier. Here is a run down of the parties so far (this is minus the last one- the Halloween party- and Matthew's Ice Cream party since those were on the blog back when they ocurred).


Madeline's first birthday was a Rainbow Care Bear party. She loved Care Bears and we had a Care Bear smash cake, Care Bear hat, I made a back drop of a rainbow and clouds for guests to have their picture taken with and we had every color of Kool-Aide. For the guests we had mini cakes on popsicle sticks in rainbow flavors and rainbow ice cream. The invitations had a picture of Madeline sitting on the beach with all of her Care Bears.

Second birthday was a Ladybug Picnic at the park. She wore her ladybug outfit and I made individual cakes in little flower pots, each had a sliced strawberry on top decorated with mini M&Ms to look like ladybugs. The invitations of course had ladybugs on them and the kids loved playing at the park.

Birthday #3 was my favorite, it was a Picasso party. Madeline wore a beret and each child got a canvas to paint during the party. The cake was in the shape of an artist palette and the invitations were palette shaped with real paint brushes stuck through them- very cute! I had a friend applique the artist palette on Madeline's shirt. The room was decorated with print outs of real masterpieces from Picasso to Monet. We also had huge inflatable crayons for the kids to play with and each child took a turn wearing the beret to have their picture made with their canvas masterpiece. This was a fun party! For take home goodie bags we did paint cans filled with some arts/craft supplies.

the cake...

4th birthday was a 'Pretend' Sleepover, pretend because no one really spent the night but everyone arrived in their pajamas. The cake above was made to look like little girls in their sleeping bags/bed. The invitations were very cute, my grandmother sewed little mini sleeping bags that each invitation inserted into! She even embroidered a little flower on each. Then we put a full size mattress on the living room floor and made it all up with pillows for the kids to play on and Madeline opened gifts there too. We had an inflatable moon bounce out back for the kids to play on too. Goodie bags had slumber party stuff like nail polish, toothpaste, toothbrush, bath gel, play jewelry. Fun fun fun.

The 5th birthday was a Pizza Chef party. At this one we all made little individual pizzas with toppings and baked them in the oven for the kids to eat. Each child had an apron and a chef hat to wear. We made the kitchen look like a pizzeria- I ordered the paper placemats with activities on them like you get at a pizza place and instead of cake we got some chocolate dessert pizzas from the local pizza parlor and put candles in that. The invitations were on red/white checkerboard with a chef hat on it. A lot of the moms loved this one.

Crocodile Lake Feb 2010

We had to postpone Pop's 92 birthday from Jan to Feb due to weather on the original weekend. Here we are for a great gathering to celebrate Pop's 92 years.

Madeline and her cousin Claire had such a good time playing on the bunk beds. They made a bunk bed fort.

They were in deep discussion about something here while enjoying the valentine cookies.

We had such a good time sitting around the fire and listening to Pop tell about his childhood and growing up.

Madeline loves her Aunt Nancy!

These magnets were a lot of fun at first, later I found him with a mouthful of them so they had to be moved to the top out of reach. =)

visiting, catching up and snacking. Aunt Melanie puts out a good snack spread.

Love this picture of Claire!

Both kids were asleep very quickly after we left, but they woke up at the gas station. Madeline wanted some Cheetos so of course Matthew would need some too. Here they are with their bags, Matthew looks so big eating his own snack!

It's that time of year again

Valentine's Day is fast approaching. Here is Madeline getting her class valentines ready to hand out. I love that kids still make and decorate bags to have on their desks and hand out valentines.

Portrait

I finally decided on which picture to use as the large one from the kids Fall session. This is 16x20 and looks really good in the stairwell by the front door. Jeff helped pick it!

Phoebe Jo Dorrough Roberson

Wednesday is Mother's birthday. She would have been 63 this year. There is a lot that Mother tried to instill in me for the better. Most I'm still working on but some of it 'took'. Here are a few:
1. The house can be a mess as long as the kitchen and bathrooms are clean. (Jeff would say that I'm still learing this one.)
2. Your children are your top priority.
3. Don't worry until there is something to worry about.
4. Believe in the power of prayer.
5. Don't Lie. (Many a time I had to go stand in the shower or out on the front porch before Mother would agree to tell someone on the phone that I was in the shower or not at home.)
6. If at first you don't succeed try try again.


Below are some pictures that I got from Nan. These are all that I have that are on a computer, I didn't have a digital camera before she died so all of my photos are the regular printed out kind.

This is Mother on the front steps of Aunt Arland and Uncle Eddie's house in Leeds. They lived right across the street from each other.

This is her Leeds High School graduation portrait, 1965. She was Miss Leeds High School according to the trophy I found. =)

This was on a Mother's Day at Dee's kitchen table in Lexington. We had probably been to church that morning and then went back to Dee's for lunch as was the custom.

Portrait from my wedding day at Leeds Presbyterian, that's Mother, Nan, me and Dee.

This is the last picture taken of Mother that I know of. This was at Aunt Anne and Uncle Scotty's house the month before she died for Dee's 90th birthday party.

Important things my mother taught me:

-How to wash my hair using fingertips and not fingernails

-For makeup less is always more

-Spray perfume on the inside of the wrists, rub together and then rub wrist onto your neck

-Hairspray can fix any kind of bad hair day

-Always blot your lipstick

-If your dish is too runny use flour to thicken it up

-Company always goes first when dinner is ready

-When eating at a friends house always tell them you enjoyed the meal and thank them for having you over/inviting you

-Always peek into your children's rooms to check on them before you go to bed, and even during the night if needed

-Pretty is as Pretty does

-Never put bras or swimsuits in the dryer

-How to do a good fondue

-Family game night after dinner is great, especially Uno and Sorry

-Remember to put a note in your child's lunch

-If one of your children ever spills red Shasta on the light carpet try to get it up before your husband finds it. =)

Golden Tooth

You probably remember from an earlier post about my grandfather saying that when you are little if your tooth comes out and you can keep your tongue out of the hole until the new tooth comes in it will be gold. Madeline is VERY serious about this and has tried and tried to keep her tongue from the holes to no avail. Today when we were visiting Dee Madeline saw gold in her mouth as she was talking and went in for a closer look. When Dee opened her mouth to show Madeline her back teeth Madeline was so excited to see gold teeth! She yelled 'Dee! You have golden teeth! How did you keep your tongue out of the holes- tell me tell me because I have been trying so hard to do that!!!' Ha ha ha

Jo Jo

I learned about Jo Jo from Aunt Betty. Below is Madeline demonstrating how Jo Jo works. You use your fingers to 'walk' up to their feet or hands and Jo Jo climbs up on them and 'walks' up to their neck to tickle them. Matthew is still not too sure about Jo Jo. Some days Jo Jo is hilarious and a lot of fun and some days Jo Jo is scary. But what is really funny is when Matthew is feeling devious and tries to put Jo Jo on someone himself. Too cute!

Madeline was modeling Jo Jo here because Matthew would have no part of it, today Jo Jo is not fun. Here he is doing his 'CHEESE' instead.

On any given day at our house you will find....

Madeline performing...

Matthew learning to turn the lights off, and on, and off, and on....

Madeline dressing up.......

and Matthew carrying around one or two penguins. Sissy got a penguin for her to replace the one Matthew took up with (the original penguin that Matthew loves so was Madeline's to start with and she let him keep it) but any chance he gets he will get them both and love on them. =)

Who would have ever guessed Shark Boy and Lava Girl on tv would be this engrossing...

Silly Kiddos

Matthew loves to ride on and play with his Mr. Peanut scooter, but he loves most of all to run, push and ram it into the base of the cabinets over and over. Must be a boy thing.

Sassafrass wanted to help load the dishwasher, and yes she is wearing a swimsuit. Don't ask. I'm learning to choose my battles- for the most part.