Graduation Party Review 2016 Edition (Part 2)

Today being Saturday, we spent 7 hours at graduation parties so you can have another review of them. We went to 4 and Ben and I came home stuffed. I barely want to move. Here is the run down.

Party 1: The Twins From Church
Their sister graduated two years ago, so we had an idea of what to expect. It was held at the same park with a pretty awesome playground, so the kids are pretty excited about it. Bad news was that it rained a pretty heavy rain earlier in the morning, so things were still a little wet. They had cook out foods: hot dogs, hamburgers, brats, potato salad, chips, watermelon, cupcakes. It was pretty delicious. I had a hamburger, and was kind of wishing I had gotten a brat, but we'll be having those on Monday. I had fun at it since I knew people, unlike all of the other parties we went to today.

Party 2: Hollywood
Seriously, the girls name is Hollywood. For the longest time I thought she was Holly Wood like the cat, but then when we got her invite I learned it was Hollywood. Hers was held at the good old American Legion in the backyard of our old apartments :) It was like coming home. She had a huge array of foods: sloppy joes; all types of pasta, noodle, spaghetti salads; crackers and cheese; fruit and veggy trays; other hors devours; cookies and bars, an ice cream machine. There was tons of food, and tons of people there, too! I couldn't believe it. After hers we stopped by the apartments to relive our glory days of being the managers of that place.

Party 3: The Dance Line/Choir/Theater Girl
While Ben was talking to her when we got there there was a photographer from the newspaper taking pictures of us talking to her, so maybe you can check out the Post Bulletin online and check us out. Hopefully, I look okay. She had walking tacos! And, nachos. She also had popcorn, cookies, cupcakes, and a candy bar. It was so good! We had to force Russell and Meghan to eat real food before they got any sugary stuff. It got pretty rainy while we were there, and were able to sneak out to the van right before a huge deluge of rain came down. It was fun, and I knew some of the teachers there.

Party 4: Robotics Kid #1
Our last stop was at on of Ben's robotics kid's homes. He did robotics all four years with Ben. They had food ordered in from a BBQ restaurant in town. Brisket, ribs, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, beans, bread, green beans, and coconut cake. It was pretty good, but I had to have Ben eat my green beans (too peppery). And, I didn't even have any of the cake, because I just couldn't fit anymore in. I was also very impressed because his mom passed away during the school year, so it was just his dad (and probably some aunts and uncles) who put the party together, and they did a pretty good job.

Thus ends round 2. Be prepared for round three next weekend. Now, I think I am going to fall alsepp in a food coma......

Graduation Party Review 2016 Edition (Part 1)

Today started off our graduation party season for the school year. We have 4 weekends of parties this year, so be prepared for a lots of party reviews. With no further ado:

Party #1: Bishop's Son
This will probably be one of my most favorites because I actually knew people there. That always makes it much better. They had smoked turkey and pulled pork sandwiches, with watermelon, potato salad, chips, and cake. They even had a special 'Spartan Punch' (the high school mascot) that was green (one of the school colors) and lemonade (that was represented the other school color: gold). It was all yummy. I should have eaten more. They also had a gum ball machine with TONS of gumballs and provided pennies for the kids to get the gumballs.

Party #2: Long-Time Friend's Daughter
This one was also fun because Ben has known them for 10 years, plus we watched their kids back when we were in the other ward. They had a float bar (which is something I had never seen done at a graduation party before), fruit and veggies, and lots of other treats like bars, cookies, tarts, cake balls, cupcakes, various popcorn flavors, etc. Russell and Meghan were especially happy that the water was on a table right where they could help themselves. I also should have helped myself to more at this party, but I have been trying to be better about treats

So far, two successes! Next Saturday there are four parties as of now, but Ben thinks he is going to get more invites during this week. I'm hoping to see some walking tacos at one at least. Stay tuned to find out!

Oh, Somebody Had a Birthday!!

Yesterday, Russell turned 4! I didn't know how we would be able to top it after last years car cakes and big digger toys, but I think he was pretty happy (and still is) with his 4th birthday.

Ever since last year, he has thought all birthday cakes ares supposed to be cars, but I showed him a cool construction site cake and he agreed that he could have a construction machine birthday cake. It turned out great and easy! He only asked to just look at the machines and insisted they wanted to watch tv with him every day since we bought them a week ago.

We went to our friend's house and had pizza with them because their baby turned 1 yesterday, too! They are Russell's favorite friends, so he had lots of fun with them. He started asking after breakfast if it was time to go to their house. Because of that we opened presents early in the day. We got him a big bike about a month ago, and he got the little machines from his cake. We wanted to make sure that he had something to open so we got him a couple things from Dollar Tree like a flashlight, some little cars, etc.

Meghan kept hoping one of the presents was for her.

I love being Russell's mom! He is such a sweet, cheerful boy! He loves singing and you can almost always find him singing one of the primary songs he has learned. Most days (and sometimes at all three meals of the day) he thanks me for making the food. He is mostly pleasant most of the days. He is a pretty good helper most of the time. He still loves his mommy and will just come up to me at different times throughout the day and give me a hug and a big smile. And, this week he asked me if I wanted to come and snuggle him on the couch while he was watching his shows.

While he is definitely Mommy's boy, he loves to putz around the yard with Ben. Shoveling snow with Ben is still one of his favorites winter activities. He loves to tinker with things, and I foresee a future of him helping Ben with various projects around the house. He usually starts asking if it is time for Daddy to come home about 9am, and as soon as he hears Ben's car backing into the driveway, he comes running from where ever he is in the house to the back door so that he can open it up for Ben to come inside.

We sure do love our Russell and are so thankful to have him in our family!