Jenna is 10

I can't believe my baby is 10. Time has gone by way too fast. I'll blink again and she'll be 20. Jenna turned 10 on January 20th. For her birthday she had a Harry Potter themed sleepover. So we had 8 10 year old girls at our house for a sleepover. Yikes! They got moustaches and Harry Potter glasses and Bertie Botts every flavor beans. We did some crafts and watched Harry Potter. I attempted to make a castle cake that didn't quite look like a castle. The girls ate it anyway. 

crafts at Jenna's party

 Jenna had a great birthday however I don't think we will have that many girls over in the future. It was crowded. Erik went to the neighbors house. I think he needed to escape.

The castle cake: Marissa, Jenna, Ashley, Grace, Abigail, and Paige (Saatvika, Leah, Lauren are not in the picture)

Geocaching

 I've done a lot of girl scout activities. As the leader for both troops I've been involved with and organized many activities. Last weekend we did a geocaching through the snow activity with the Girl Scouts. It was my favorite of any GS activity. The girls loved it too. There were many troops competing and we won! This is a picture of my team searching for our cache in the woods. This was such a fun time!  Maybe we can do this as a family now!

Grandpa and Jenna celebrate with a much yummier chocolate cake made by Grandma

 My friend Jen invited me over for a tea party with her china! We watched Downton Abbey and ate goodies and drank tea. I thought it was fantastic! And so pretty. Unfortunately DA is on Sunday nights. My student's labs are due on Sunday night and they ALWAYS wait until the last minute. I had 3 students call me during Downton Abbey. Really??? Do you have to wait until the very last minute to do your lab and bug your teacher during my very important TV show?

Fancy tea!

 We have played several games together as a family but Transamerica has become our favorite. Matthew can play too which is a big hit. He loves the little tracks and makes his own game while the four of us play. Hopefully he will be able to play the game for real soon. Although it does say 8 and up (technically Sarah has been playing since she was 6).

Transamerica and hot cocoa

 We met my parents at Bob Evans in Mansfield to celebrate Jenna's birthday. Yes - she had 3 cakes!! It was fun to see them and on the way home Jenna wished we could see my family more. The good thing is that we have lots of trips planned soon to visit them!

Birthday celebration with my family

In other news:

• All the books I'm reading now are interesting. Sometimes our book club books are less than stellar or I'm reading something from the library that is meh. Now I like everything. I'm reading: City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennet, Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (book 2 in Discovery of Witches), Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan, and Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney. Yet for some reason I can't get my work done? 
• I'm two weeks behind on my course development (see bullet 1) but I'm muddling through. Next session I'm going to be teaching onsite. This will be interesting since I haven't taught onsite in a year and a half.
• 82 on quiddler today

I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny, but we can have lots of good fun that is funny.

"Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!" How cute is that??? Sarah had her birthday party with friends last Saturday. There were 13 6 year old girls at our house. Yikes! We had a Dr. Seuss theme and decorated with the cat in the hat plates and napkins. Sarah has really liked Dr. Seuss ever since our trip to Universal in October.

Lots of little girls!

 For the party we had hop on popcorn, blue jello with swedish fish in it, pink yink ink (pink lemonade) and cat in the hat kabobs (marshmallows and strawberries). We also had pizza but the little girls didn't eat it. They filled up on popcorn and cake.

The table

 We had a green eggs and ham egg hunt and played a fishing game. The girls also made their own truffala trees from the book the Lorax. It was a packed party and we all had a blast. I think Sarah had a great time!

Sarah next to her cake

A really cute cake!

Sarah decided to quit gymnastics and start Tae Kwon Do. It has been great for her especially since she is doing something different from Jenna. She really likes tae kwon do as well. She has also gotten into pokemon. I think she will be a little gamer. Matthew started gymnastics too. They both love their new classes. Matthew asks all the time if it is Tuesday for him to go to gymnastics.

Sarah is a white belt!

In other news:

• The Buckeyes are National Champions in college football. Yipee!The game was fantastic and all of Columbus is on a high now. I was so excited we won!
• The kids have been back in school all week. I'm glad to be back in a routine. It was nice for the break and them to be home a few more days, but I really needed to get to the Y and do my workout classes. I miss it when I can't work out!
• On that note, I am not making any New Years resolutions to eat healthy or go on any cleanses. I've discovered from doing these cleanses the past two years that I can starve myself for two weeks and lose a few pounds. Or I can eat whatever I want and look like this. I'm getting close to 40 and starting to care less...
• I'm reading A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness I'm liking the book and ordered the second and third from the library. 
• I also ordered Joseph Delaney's book: The Last Apprentice from the library. There is a movie coming out called the Seventh Son based on this book. Not that I would actually go to a movie, but I thought I'd read it anyway.
• Our book club is reading City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. We have just started reading so we haven't gotten into it much yet.
• I started a new Bible study called Breathe by Priscilla Shirer. It is about the Sabbath and taking rest. We all need this study and I think it will be great. 
• 82 points on quiddler today

My three week break

We had a fabulous Christmas and New Years. I haven't posted in awhile since I had the flu which knocked me out for three weeks. Everyone said the flu was bad this year, they weren't kidding! So I have a lot to post about!

Don't look so happy Matthew

For Christmas my parents, Missy, Dave and Amanda came to stay with us. We all went to Christmas Eve service at our church where Jenna was one of two kids asked to read a Bible verse. She was a little nervous standing in front of everyone at first but she is a jokester at heart and soon had everyone laughing.

Christmas morning was magical for the kids. I love seeing how excited they get. We gave them 3 presents this year (since Jesus got 3 presents) and stocking presents. It cut down on the excess and they seemed to like it. Sarah got her Elsa doll, Jenna got her friendship bracelet kit, and Matthew got a ton of train tracks!

We had planned on making a gingerbread house like we normally do every year, however the gingerbread house I bought was all in pieces when I opened the box. So this year we made a train. Each kid could decorate their own train which actually prevented some arguments. I think we will go with this in future years.

Our gingerbread train

 Sarah turned 7 on Dec.23. Her only birthday present request was poo pourri. This I blame on Amanda for showing her videos like this that Sarah loved. So she got her poo pourri for her birthday. I made her a lemon cake (her request) and we had popcorn shrimp for dinner (her favorite food).

Happy Birthday Sarah

Her gift: Poo pourri

 On Dec. 28th Dave, Becca and Charlotte came to visit. We had a great time with them except that Dave had the flu and sat on the couch for two days. He was sick pretty much the entire time he was here. Which was a bummer and just means we need to take a trip out to Sacramento to see them. Preferably when it is cold here!

Becca and Charlotte jumping at Buckeye Bounce

 We took Becca and Charlotte to Buckeye Bounce, the Anthony Thomas chocolate factory tour, and the mall. Charlotte really seemed to like bouncing. Sarah said her favorite memory of everyone being here was taking a bath with Charlotte. I guess that was more fun than bouncing and chocolate.

Charlotte playing at the mall

 Then Joel and Megan came to visit on the 31st and stayed until the 3rd. For the time we were all together we maximized our gaming. I think Erik was in heaven.
Megan had this great dark lords T-shirt with Darth Vader, Sauron and Voldemort. Very cool. We also had to show off our matching Marauder's map t-shirts. 

The coolest dark lords shirt

 While we were eating dinner one night, Erik mentioned that white corn is better than yellow corn. Of course this led to a debate resulting in a corn taste test. Everyone was blind folded and had to try both types of corn. From this taste test we determined that white corn is in fact, the winner.

Our corn taste test

The Marauders map t-shirts

Jenna reading scripture on Christmas Eve

Another closeup

It has been a great couple of weeks and now I'm ready to be back in a routine. Christmas time for us is always a wonderful break where we can spend time with family and relax. It certainly was that for me!