Roman's Thanksgiving Play

Roman's Kindergarten play.  It was the same as the one Quinton did, and still just as cute!  Roman was an ear of corn.  Their little costumes were really adorable!  Roman was one of the narrators, so he is sitting in the front (he is the one with the paper in front of his face).

After the show, I got a few good shots of Roman.  That is his teacher with him.

Winnie the Pooh Baby Shower

Antonio's former work colleague and his wife were expecting a baby in December, so I was thrilled to throw them a baby shower.  They are both huge Winnie-the-Pooh fans and so I decided to do a Pooh themed shower.

Some pictures of the baking preparations.  Pecan pies that would be a party favor. I put them in boxes with tags that had Pooh on it and said "A little yummy for your tummy."

Chocolate dipped pretzels that would be "Tigger Tails."

Candy vegetables that would go on the cupcakes to become Rabbit's Garden.

The baby shower was at Brian and Kim's house instead of ours because they felt Kim's mother would be more comfortable at their house instead of going elsewhere.

Here are some shots of the table before everyone dug in.  On this side are ham and cheese croissant sandwiches (Kanga's Strengthening Sandwiches), Sugar Cookies in the shape of Beehives (Pooh's Honey Spot), Chocolate Covered pretzels (Tigger's Tails), Lime Water (Eeyore's Soggy Place)

Rabbit's Garden and Owl's Aged Cheese.

Brian and Kim - the expectant parents!

Kim particularly loves Eeyore, and I had seen on her blog that she would dress up her Eeyore in the clothes that her family would send her for the baby.  I thought it would be perfect to put Eeyore under her own "Shower" since it is a baby shower after all!

As part of the decoration and also as part of the gift for them, I made this blocks with different classic Pooh scenes on each side.  I also made some Thank You cards with Eeyore on them and one of this sayings.  That way everyone wrote their address on an envelope and made it easy for Brian and Kim to send thank you cards.

Kim in the chair of honor getting ready to open the presents!

Antonio took pictures of the present opening.  He took so many, you could seriously do a flip book and see the entire event!  And of course, he took several of me.  Here is one where my eyes are open!

Miscellaneous

Quinton has always liked to make signs.  He posts them up everywhere.  His latest is not just making signs, but he has started creating forms for us to fill out and lists for himself.  Every time we eat something, he would make a form and then we had to fill it out.  I wasn't as accommodating as Antonio, hence all the forms are filled out by him, not me!

Breakfast of Champions!  (blue cheese and wheat thins)

Domenic's grass-head craft from school.

So Roman has a pair of sunglasses without any lenses.  He really loves them, and has been begging me to let him wear them to school.  I finally let him, and he was so happy!  This is after school, with his pajama shorts inside out (a very common phenomenon for him), and my boots (on the wrong feet).  Have you ever seen anything so adorable????  Of course, he may kill me for posting this picture later, but it just captures Roman right now so perfectly!

There are many words to describe our household.  Calm is definitely not one of them!

In one of my favorite baking cookbooks, I came across this recipe for Conchas (seashells in Spanish).  I have only ever purchased these from Panaderias, so I was very excited to find a recipe that gave directions for the shortbread topping that didn't require a special shell mold.  They actually turned out really great -they tasted exactly like the bakery ones!

Fall Happenings

Antonio turned 46 this year.  As usual, he didn't ask for anything, but I got us tickets to the play "All Childish Things" which is about a group of Star Wars geeks and their antics to get a load of Star Wars memorabilia (think The Big Bang Theory about Star Wars).  It was very good and the perfect play to go to for his birthday.

I made his favorite cake: white cake with strawberry filling.

              

Quinton passed on the cake and stuck with ice cream.

46 and better than ever!

Roman got an Outstanding Student Award at school and even got to be on the morning announcements (they are video broadcast to all the classrooms).  Here he is showing off his medal.

Domenic fell asleep outside our bedroom... pantless.  Why are little bums so stinkin' cute?

The kids posing with their Jack-o-Lanterns.  I say "their" jack-o-lanterns, but really I did all the work.  Carving pumpkins is never like I imagine it will be.  I like to imagine us all sitting around the kitchen table, laughing and talking while we carve away our designs.  Instead it is kids screaming they want to start, and then 3 minutes in getting bored because it is a lot of work to clean out and carve a pumpkin.  So instead, I put on Halloween music and carved them all myself from designs the kids picked out from on-line. My hand was feeling pretty crampy by the end of the night!

Domenic with "his" pumpkin.

Quinton trying to mimic the face of the pumpkin.

Silly faces! (Roman is not in these pictures because he had fallen asleep)

Quinton's Birthday and Baptism

 So our Quinton is eight!  He is definitely a typical eight year old - loves minecraft, bathroom humor, crazy antics, and being "good at everything" (the confidence of youth!)

 He asked for spaghetti and garlic bread for his birthday dinner.  I have to say, I am lucky that my family's
birthday requests are usually very easy to fulfill!

 Birthday pose for the camera!

 Opening his presents - this one is a scooter.

 The latest Elephant and Piggie books.

A kid-friendly camera.  You can guess which gift he was most excited about!

Quinton said he wanted donuts instead of cake, so that was another easy request!

 Grandma and Grandpa were out of town for his birthday, so they came by the next night to celebrate.  They got him a plant terrarium that grows carnivorous plants.  We haven't done it yet because it requires being kept in the fridge for 6 weeks and I haven't been able to commit that much fridge space yet.  Maybe after the holidays.

 Quinton was baptized a week after his birthday.  It was a nice low-key affair.  Antonio baptized and confirmed Quinton.