i have the best

husband, and my kids have the best father.  ok, i know there are a lot of wonderful husbands and fathers out there and that makes me so happy.  but, i just need to brag a little about mine/ours right now.  you see he did the most thoughtful, special thing for us last weekend when he was out of town.

here's a little recap of what he did for us.  one afternoon he started leaving us texts.

the first text we received read , "john: first clue- who can do the chicken dance?".

uh, ok - we had no idea what he was talking about.  and since he was in the middle of golfing and i was in the middle of doing a million things at once (laundry, snacks, naps, helping christopher with his power point presentation) we just went about our business and didn't really give it a second thought.

the next text read, "ella: second clue - megan and amanda have something for you."

still, no clue what he was talking about.

well, christopher must have talked to him after that one and realized these were clues to a treasure hunt he had left for us in the house.

turns out, he left us all little gifts hidden around the house and these texts were our clues to find them.

so, we found john's gift behind the elmo toy, who does the chicken dance,  in his room.  a little soft soccer ball - so perfect for him and he has been playing with it non-stop ever since.

ella's gift was hidden behind a framed picture of her with her cousins (megan and amanda) in her room.  she got some cute tinker bell pencils.

the boys both got baseball card packs (which they were thrilled with), their clues were:
"andrew: third clue - mr. october is protecting your prize."  here he is reenacting the finding of his...

and christopher's text said, "ghengis khan buried your prize in his backyard."

this one took us awhile and we even had to text back a couple times for more clues because we couldn't find it.  well, it was taped to the back of mongolia on our world map in the hallway.  that was the hardest one to find.

and my sweet husband left me some individually wrapped junior mints, that i was so excited to see at the store the other day with a text that read, "alish, baby ella was sooo cute when she wore her headband."  they were hidden behind a framed picture of  ella with a headband on when she was a baby.

these are seriously delicious, the mint in the middle just oozes out into your mouth - if you love mints (like i do) you gotta try these.

it was such a fun surprise and we were absolutely thrilled with it.  here are the kids with their gifts...

i just love the man who planned all this for us sooo much, and am so proud of our loving marriage (that we have worked hard on) and our little family, and thank the Lord for him and these wonderful kids every day.  and wow, did he surprise us...man was i impressed.

simple, fun lunch

it's always hard to fold sheets, blankets, throws etc.. with little ones nearby.  they jump up to reach for them, wanting to play with them and no laundry ever ends up getting folded.  so, i usually wait until nap time to do this. well, yesterday i got sick of looking at the laundry basket there on the floor full of items to be folded and thought i would just fold everything up quickly before lunch.

of course the little one saw me and wanted to play with the throws i was folding.  so i offered to make him a fort, which for two year olds are simple as can be (when my older kids are around, and get involved in the fort making,  every sheet and pillow in the house get pulled from bedrooms and closets to make the biggest and most complicated forts with a "room" for each of them).

then i suggested he eat lunch in his little fort (i, of course joined him).  he had a mighty fine time...

we brought in some star wars friends to join him...

he got in some good book time too...

he loves looking at the boys sports cards and sports books and continuously asks, "mom, what's this guy's name called?"  about every card or page he's looking at.

it was a lovely little lunch with my little one.  and i truly believe these simple, special, quiet times are so good for them.  they look back on those times when they are older and treasure them.  when john told the family at dinner where he ate his lunch that day, ella recalled fondly when we would have "picnic" lunches in our playroom when she was little with her stuffed animals.

sometimes being stuck inside because of the heat outside isn't such a bad thing.  it forces you to take 'time out' (see stool below:) to create special times inside with your little ones...

she did it again

that thoughtful, sneaky little daughter of ours left chris and i another bedtime surprise a couple of weeks ago.  remember the last time she did this?

well, she surprised us again a few weeks ago.
this time our little gifts were hung above our bed...

this was mine.  she attached a bookmark she had made (nani had taught the kids to make these several months ago for a craft fair - still need to post on it)...

 

and this was my beautiful treasure i found inside...

here is chris'...

he also got a bookmark.  here's what he found inside his envelope...

our sweet daughter did this on a day she was home sick from school.  let me repeat that...home...sick... from school...  - and on that day she finds it in herself to think and do this for us. - wow-  it just melts my heart, these little wonderful surprises she leaves us.

ella is so incredibly thoughtful and creative, i just love how she comes up with so many different crafty things on her own (i have so many i need to post!) and how she and her friends sit and cut and create fun things when they come over.  which reminds me of last weekend...her friend elise was over and christopher had a friend over, the boys went swimming and the girls decided not to join them (the pool is getting a little chilly, even if it still has been record heat!).  when the boys were drying off sitting out back, here come the girls with these special drinks they had made for them: chocolate milk with whip cream and chocolate syrup drizzled on top.  it was so sweet and thoughtful and totally their idea just wanting to do something nice for them.  i was so impressed by their thoughtfulness.

how did we get so lucky to have such an amazingly thoughtful and creative daughter?  she sure is special, and oh how we love her so.

abc...

defghijk.....you know how the rest of the song goes, so does john john.  but when he sings it, he ends it with x...y...zeek.  andrew has a friend named zeek, and so it is what john hears at the end of the song.  it makes me smile every time, and i love it too much to correct it.

i am enjoying this little guy, so much.  i can't believe he is already 2 1/2, he's looking so much bigger and older to me every day.  i just love his spunky personality and chattiness.  and i love having him to myself all day while the kids are in school.

he is truly a blessing and a constant reminder to me of my dad, since he is named after him (and my brothers) and carries on his enthusiasm and zest for life.

a dinner party was had

last night at our house to celebrate the birthday of someone very special.  she is referred to around here as, grandma.

the scene was set, with the help of a very crafty six year old girl...

the menu consisted of:
appetizer
tempura shrip and birds nests with soy dipping sauce
thai coconut soup - thanks cathy


main course
lettuce wraps with jasmine rice and asian marinated skirt steak
stir fry vegetables (broccoli and snap peas)
asian salad - thanks nani

(by the time I dished up just this tiny piece of broccoli was left in the wok...so glad everyone enjoyed it especially my little 2 year old who asked for seconds of it right away!)


dessert
the annual cake was purchased...

remember it from last year?


these numbers from target clearance were a fun addition to the party...

it says (since you can't see around as the writing continues around the cup):
hi, i'm...
the guy who beat beans in fantasy football
and my secret talent is...
beating kevin


here's the correlating one:

it says:
hi i'm...
gonna win fantasy football
and my secret talent is...
losing to christopher (not sure if christopher added this part since i thought this was kev's cup??)


these cracked me up when i saw them.  the 'uncles' and our kids really know how to be silly together, which makes me so happy.


sweet ella took it a little more seriously...

even if she did her 'j' backwards and forgot the 'p' at the end to spell jump roping for her special talent.

it was a wonderful evening...happy birthday, grandma - we love you!

bedtime thoughts/comments...

when andrew was getting ready for bed he said, 'mom, when do you think i should have a girlfriend?'.

then he added, 'when i get married i want my wife to be nice and sweet and holy'...sounds good to me, i thought to myself.

then he added, 'and i don't want her to think she's all pretty and walk around like this (and does this silly walk imitating a girl who thinks she's great) and think she's the best'...don't think i'll have to worry about him too much - he pretty much covered all the important characteristics of a future wife!  (i'm writing this down so i'll have proof later that he said this! (just in case i need to bring it up when he's a teenager)

so, ella chimed in with, 'i want my husband to be kind and loving and thoughtful....and holy'...it was all so very sweet and so true.

the above picture of andrew is from his first reconciliation last year.  since i never did a post on that special evening here are a couple more pics from it...

andrew with his best friend paul (there couldn't be a nicer kid)

andrew and tessa - have been great friends since kindergarten...will she play a role in the topic of this post later in life??we shall see, only time will tell!