My 35th Birthday!

Last Thursday was my 35th birthday and I thought it would be fun to go downtown and have lunch at Todai in Pioneer Place.

Here I am practicing my chopstick skills!

This is the REAL reason why I love Todai. Don't get me wrong, the other food is great, but these tiny desserts are a real treat. They even had green tea icecream!

I was also served a mini birthay cake which I shared with everyone. It was just the right size considering how full we were already.

Me and my family on my birthday.

Crazy girls trying to immitate the sea creatures in the window display.

On Friday I had an 80's themed party. My pictures are posted on my Paper Caper's blog if you are interested. Here is the direct link to the 80's party post.

Dan's "Surprise" Party

I almost pulled it off...except I made the mistake of including the kids in the surprise party plans. How else could I explain all the fun things we were putting in our cart at the party supply store. I had no choice really...

Just days before the party, which was to be held a few days after Dan's actual birthday, we were all sitting in Dan's new hammock. Without thinking it through all the way, I told Zander that this is the new hammock we got Daddy for his birthday. To which he replied... "I thought we were having a surprise party!"

Well the cat was most definitely out of the bag now and instantly Dan and I just turned to each other and started laughing...well actually we were laughing so hard we had tears coming out of our eyes...then we looked at Zander and could tell it was hurting Zander's feelings, so we had to comfort him and let him know we weren't laughing at him.

Okay, so that brings us to the party. Our friend Scott came over to go "golfing" with Dan, but they actually went to the gym and met up with 3 of Dan's other friends to play basketball for 3 hours. When they were done playing, they got their goody bags which included Gatorade, a protein bar and a gym towel my mom personalized with their name and a basketball.

Then they all headed back to our house where more friends and family were waiting to eat dinner. I cooked up some chicken in the slow cooker and made rice and everyone else brought sides and salads.

Surprise! Here is Dan walking in wearing his old high school basketball jersey. I snuck it in the gym bag I dropped off with Scott the night before. (On a side note, I finished the painting in the hallway finally!!! This is the new lighter color.)

I made this poster to look like a high school poster and hung it up right as you walk in the door.
Then around the corner was this faux Blazer jersey...doctored up by Scott and Debbie.

Here's Dan with his Letterman's jacket on.

And here I am wearing Anne's high school cheer leading skirt. She and Dan went to the same high school, so it was perfect!

Many of our friends came dressed up in athletic gear too. (Scott and Debbie)

Here are the Parkers in their UofO gear.

Angel wore his high school jersey too...he and Dan were treating us all to a "gun" show!

Hanging out...
Watching the NBA finals.

And let's not forget the cake. This time I decided to serve Dan's favorite donuts instead of making a cake...he loved the idea!

Dig in!

Happy Birthday 35th Dan!

Our busy weekend...

Last weekend was super busy...I'm still catching my breath. Let's see, Friday night I signed Zander up for T-ball, drove him to his team pictures, then drove Natalie to Sarah's birthday party. We went to one of those paint your own pottery places and the girls got to pick out a figurine to paint.

The next day, Saturday I got up and had Zander to the opening day for Little League. It was wet and cold and not really knowing what I was doing the whole time, I was completely exhausted by noon when we left.

After we went home for lunch, I drove to Aaron's house for Alexis's birthday party. She turned four this year (on 04/04...her "golden" birthday!

The party was fun and relaxing, but I had to try really hard not to fall asleep...Eventually, it was time to go home.

As you can see, I wasn't the only tired one in the bunch.

Once we got home, we snacked a little more, then went over to our neighbors. They invited us over for dessert because they wanted us to teach them how to play Settlers of Catan, a fun and addicting game Dan and I like to teach to our friends.

The next day was Sunday. We went to church. After church we chatted with friends while the kids played in the "snow" made by the blossoming tree near the church.

After church we went out to Changs Mongolian Grill with the Mickles, then over to Walmart to get some T-ball equipment for Zander. By the time we got home, we had to feed the kids and turn around and go to Awanas...and later that evening work on Natalie's reading homework.

Whew...it was a crazy weekend for sure. Monday was equally crazy as it was the final yearbook deadline of the year. All the pages had to be turned in, so I (along with 4-5 other moms) and Natalie stayed after school in the computer lab until 7 pm. Then we went home, had dinner, did reading homework, got the kids in bed. Then at 9 pm I called the other advisor, we proofed the pages one last time and submitted them on-line...and by 11 pm we were done!

Now it's Thursday and I am just now catching up on things that need to get done around here. I've got most of the dishes done, but I'm way behind on the laundry...my least favorite chore.

So for now I'm going to call it a night.

A week filled with friends and family

On Tuesday Dan and I hosted a dinner for his former boss and co-workers from Portland Advertising and Design. This is a really great group of guys...and some serious story tellers in this bunch.

Dan, Stan (former boss), Mo and Ben.

I've been camping with Mo and Ben (and Dan of course!) and they are super funny. Stan loves to talk and we would always yak on the phone when I called for Dan. Sometimes I would talk with Stan longer than with Dan! Anyway, it has been years since we have all seen each other and it was so great to catch up. I was still recovering from my cold, so Dan even made the dinner...well, most of it anyway! For the past (I'm guessing 6-7 years) Dan has designed and updated Mo's website for his door and window company. You can check it out here...and be sure to call Mo if you ever need windows. Mo will be flying to Egypt (where he was from originally) to get married in a week or so. As it turns out Ben is a very talented painter and has some of his paintings here. I think they're great, you should check them out.

Last night we had our friends Shawn and Katie over with their 3 kids. It was great catching up with them and having their kids over to play too. Sadly, I left my camera in the car and don't have any pictures.

Today was my nephew Brandon's first birthday party so in keeping with the Roush family first birthday tradition, my sister borrowed my lamb cake mold and made Brandon a lamb cake! I bought it at an antique store, but it's the same cake mold my mom used for our first birthdays and I think even my grandma used one for my dad and siblings.

"...and he saw that it was good!"

Brandon got lots of goodies for his birthday, so I'm sure he will have plenty of fun playing with everything.

...but really...who needs toys, when you've got grandpa?

Brandon couldn't get enough!

...and it looks like grandpa was having fun too!!!

Not long after we got home from Brandon's party, we were out the door again to a surprise 50th birthday party for our friend and neighbor, David.

His wife had him pick up his brother at the airport and David had no idea that we were all waiting for him when he arrived home.

The kids, especially Zander, were drawn to the live music (mandolin and guitar). These musicians were top notch and really set the mood.


A big ol' piece of cake (angel food I think) for the birthday boy! It was a fun party and Dan and I got to mingle and meet lots of great people.

Okay, this is totally off topic, but I'm noticing that my photos look a little grainy on my monitor...Do they look that way to anyone else? Last weekend, my display stopped working on my digital camera, so I can't see the photos until I upload them and for some reason, they seem a little lower res than I am used to. Let me know what you think.

Bears, bugs, ballet and birthdays...oh my!

This past week has been so crazy. Not just with birthday festivities...but with germ bugs. In one week we had conjunctivitis (pink eye), coughing/sore throats, throwing up and a bloody nose. It's no wonder that by the time Zander's birthday party rolled around, I was relieved that we were all put back together. I was going to recap the week in an effort to catch my blog up to date, but for the most part, last week we were sick!

Friday was Zander's special day to bring birthday treats to school. By then we starting to feel better.

Then after school I took Zander out for some mommy time. We went to the mall and I surprised him with a trip to Build a Bear. This was his first time at Build a bear! Here he is picking out his bear "skin."

Now he gets to add the stuffing.

After his bear was all stitched up, he needed a bath. Zander was very good about keeping him clean. Before we left the store, his bear had another 2 baths.

Zander picked out the clothes and cowboy hat and boots. I was digging deep in my purse, but didn't have enough for the whole outfit, so Zander had to make some choices. His bear, named Sheriff Woody, came home with jeans and a cowboy hat!

The best part was how much he appreciated everything and didn't fuss when we had to put some of the accessories back. He was so thankful all the way home. It was fun watching his excitement.

Saturday was a busy day too. In the afternoon we went to the Nutcracker in Canby. Unfortunately they didn't allow any cameras, so I don't have any pictures to share, but it was fun to see all the dancers perform in their beautiful costumes.

After we got home we had to eat a very quick dinner and zoom out again so Natalie could get to church and sing in the Childrens' Christmas Choir. (She is pictured in her new red dress from Aunt Toni). I stayed home because I was about to drop and still had to get read for Zander's party the following day. While we were at the ballet, Hayden, who stayed home with Dan, decided it would be a good idea to take bites out of the tops of all the cupcakes, so I had to run to the store and get more stuff to make more cupcakes. Dan took the kids so I could stay home and take care of all the party details.

Sweet Shoppe Party

We had a great time with Natalie and all her friends. Come see more party pictures at Paper Capers!


Natalie rushed through opening all her gifts, but was excited to play with them all once they were all unwrapped.