A Surprise for Shawna!

(Mathbook cake for Shawna, 7-10-09)
Last night we threw a surprise birthday party for Shawna. I think we actually got her! The look on her face when she opened the door was a good one. Everyone yelling "surprise" actually made me jump ~ it was so loud!

Branden & Katie had some neat ideas for the party ~ which I really loved. Rod & I made a math victorian cake ~ see photo.

(Shawna, when she came in 7-10-09)
We actually brought our camera to take pictures & B brought their photo printer and Kevin & Kirsten printed the pictures on the spot. Someone is going to take the photos and scrapbook the party ~ neat idea. Rod got family shots of everyone that came.


We all brought a chocolate dessert, so we all ate a LOT of chocolate! Many of us brought an old memory to scrap too. I chatted too much. Brought the scrapbook paper home & will make a couple of pages & take down the next time I see them. I guess I could just send them to work with Rod. LOL.

It was a fantastic party! Got to catch up with old friends and get acquainted with new ones! We were asked to make a Math cake. So we made a math book. It really did look like a book, somehow that surprised me! I made fun stuff out of gumpaste ~ an eraser, a protractor and a ruler. Rod made the pencil.


(Kirsten & Kevin ~ Scrapbooker & Photo Printer extraordinaries :D)
What was funny, is that many of us saw Shawna last weekend for the fourth of July ~ and we all had to NOT talk about our plans or do the "see you next friday" thing. That was an exercise in will!

Happy Birthday Shawna!!!

What a GREAT Weekend :D

(Rod & Jaden, July 3, 2009)
We had such a nice, long weekend! It's been awhile since Rod's had more than two days off. The last week was so crazy busy (and this week should be pretty busy too!) that it was nice to have some down time. This week we All Stars games begin.

Friday, Rod & Dad worked on the van. We need to get some tires & have a realignment done. Later, we went out to the reservation and bought some fireworks. Then we went to Mom & Dad's for a BBQ & fireworks. Best chicken ever! Rod & the kids did fireworks, while Mom, Dad & I watched. It was great fun. Rod's really good about being safe with the kids.

Josiah burnt his foot on a morning glory. That was our only incident. While it was going off, a spark landed on the inside of his shoe. Icepacks insued (or is it ensued?). After we got home, I put burn relief spray on it ~ and we sent him to bed. He's worn flip flops yesterday & today, to make sure it gets some healing time in before baseball. (Nelson Kids at home, 7/3/09)

For the 4th, we spent time with the Powells, the Bussards and the Jurys ~ and other friends. I've lived here, my whole life. I had NO idea that there was a beach out on the Tulalip reservation! What a nice place, amazing view! We all had a great time! B let all of the kids blow off fireworks ~ and they loved it ~ right on the beach!

(Kids on the Beach, Fourth of July, 2009) We had to get off of the beach because the threat level was definitely higher as we got towards dark. I was frustrated by the kids next door who were throwing M80's off the dock by hand... I guess demonstrating to our kids WHAT NOT TO DO!

We were sandwiched in between I think the two heaviest arseneled houses in the cove... We sat up on the dock, under blankets watching everyone else light off fireworks. It was crazy loud ~ crazy tons of fireworks. I don't think i've seen a better show (maybe Skagit Speedway's show ranks higher.) In honor of Shawna, the evening ended with an Iphone version of Neil Diamond's ~ I'm Coming to America. Classic!

Today, Sunday, was homework day. The kids had down day, playing outside in the sprinkler, doing chores, arguing with the neighbor boy (some days they get along great, others not) and playing video games. (Our Xbox 360 came back in the mail on Friday!). It was so good though, after being so busy to be forced to be at home. Rod did homework. He's trying to get as much done as he can. (Kids on the beach, 4th, 2009)

What we didn't realize for Summer Qtr. is that there's just as much homework as Spring or Winter Qtr. but much less time to do it in. Today he got a mess of homework done, so hopefully, it'll be less stressful this week homework wise - his first homework deadline is the 13th. I'm praying he meets it with time to spare! Positively thinking, here...

(Tex, Julia & Me, ponycamp, 2009) One of my favorite digital scrapbooking sites has a free class ~ which I signed up for. So here's out first assignment. Those of my facebook friends have already seen the picture ~ but I liked it, so I used it for this quick assignment. Love Jessica Sprague!