Happy Easter

The Gish family, visiting from Idaho.

It was so nice to spend Easter services at church with our long-time friends. My sister Toni and her husband Chucky also surprised us by attending Easter service with us. It was a great and very moving service.

After church we hosted Easter lunch with my family. Mom and dad were both sick, as was John and Brandon, but everyone else was able to make it...even my preggo sister Andrea.

Here's Aaron and his crew. The girls were so cute with their curls, and you can see Becca's missing bottom tooth

Here is the Ernst family in our new Easter attire.

Becca and Alexis brought thier cute bunny, Cocoa and all the kids took turns holding him.




My parents bought the ham and potatoes (for potato salad) and I turned it into lunch!

Our pretty Easter table

That's it for now. I have more photos, but my hard drive is so full, I can't import them into iphoto...to be continued!

St. Patty's Day

Early in the morning, before leaving for school the kids put out their shoes for the Leprechaun (they remembered him from his visit last year!) I didn't think they would remember and didn't have my "supplies" so after picking up Zander from Pre-school, I stopped by the store and used my stealth shopping skills to buy their treats without them noticing! The kids checked their shoes promptly after coming home from school...and at least once an hour after that. Finally the Leprechaun showed up and the kids were so excited. They got Andes mints and Sunkist fruit jellies and mini gold slinkies (I couldn't find those chocolate gold coins to save my life, so I thought the slinkies would be a good substitute.)

I made the usual green eggs and ham for breakfast. For Lunch, the kid ate sandwiches with green Jello, green apple fruit roll ups and had green snap peas an a mint Oreo for dessert. Then for dinner I made corned beef and cabbage with baby red potatoes and green buttermilk biscuits.

Moroccan Valentine's Dinner

Before Christmas I went out to dinner with my girlfriends and we decided it would be fun to all go out to dinner for Valentine's day. We talked about the Meltintg Pot fondue restaurant, but then we changed our minds when we saw the Marrakesh was in the Entertainment book!

Dan and I; Scott and Debbie

Emma and Dan

What can be more fun than sitting on pillow stools, eating with your hands, with belly dancers and funny waiters to entertain?

We had a great time. The kids stayed over with Grandma and we got to go back in time to a world before kids where you could have grown-up conversations, stay out late, go to the store on a whim (and in a timely manner too) with out car seats, 5-point harnesses and an arsenal of diapers. Ahhh...it was nice while it lasted!

Dan got me roses and a sugar free truffle!!! I made him this.

Happy New Year!

"Mom, can we stay up til Midnight?"

Sure...or at least they thought it was midnight! Around 10 pm we gathered around the coo-coo clock (which was set for 12!!!) and waited for the coo-coo to ring in the New Year!

We invited Ryan and Sarah over for New Years (and they brought their parents along) to spend the night. They toasted in the new year with sparkling cider.

Popped open poppers.

...and wore funny party hats...Happy New Year!!!

Thanksgiving Details

The Kid's Table

On Monday I got a wild hair and decided to make some fun kid's place mats. I had seen similar ones at Pottery Barn, but never could justify ordering them...On Tuesday as I was cutting them out, I realized I was crazy...then by Wednesday I was wishing I just ordered them from Pottery Barn. They turned out better than I anticipated...you can see a more detailed photo on my Paper Capers craft blog.

The Grown-up's Table
No cute place mats here, but lots of fun pumpkins.

The Thanksgiving Spread
Our Dinner
Warm Jalapeno-Artichoke Dip served with Whole Grain Mini Bread Rounds
Rolls with my yummy homemade Pumpkin Spread
Veggies and Dip
Green Salad
Green Bean Casserole
Andrea's homemade Cranberry Sauce
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Turkey Gravy
Mom's homemade Stuffing with Cranberries and Apples
I tried Pioneer Woman's recipe for Sweet Potatoes (*highly recommended!)
Andrea's amazing Turkey
and what Roush holiday would be complete without Aaron and Tami's Pink Stuff!
Andrea also made a Pumpkin Pie and a Lemon Meringue Pie, but we were too stuffed to eat dessert.

Here is the yummy cranberry sauce.

Sweet Potatoes (photo from Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Andrea made a really good turkey...mmmm!

The Roush Family Thanksgiving
When we all get together, there are 10 adults to squeeze around the table. Sadly, we don't own a very large dining table (and there is always about 3 different pairs of mismatched chairs), but it makes for a very cozy get together.
Mom and Dad (with his broken arm!)

Alyssa and Dan

Chucky, Tami and Aaron
John and Andrea
and their baby, Brandon's first Thanksgiving:
mmm...celery!

Toni and Chucky...oh, I mean Dan and Chucky. (Toni couldn't make it because she had to be to work at 3:45 am for the Black Friday Sales)

Happy Thanksgiving!

As I was driving home from Sharon's house I caught Mt. Hood looking mighty spectacular.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Mine was crazy busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way. The only way for holidays not to be hectic is to eliminate spending time with one family or another, but then we feel like something is missing.

Wednesday night we went out with Greg and Christina to Claim Jumpers. I ordered the macadamia nut crusted halibut and it was to die for...so good with the coconut sauce and rice...and the monster eclair we all split for dessert was also amazing...a feast for the tastebuds, for sure!

Everyone was able to fit around Sharon's new table.

This afternoon, my sister Andrea came over to cook the turkey and help me out in the kitchen while I was eating Thanksgiving lunch with Dan's mom and his siblings.

By the time dinner was ready, the kids were already in their dress up clothes.

I left early to get everything set up for my family to come over for dinner. It was great to spend time with everyone who could make it today/tonight and I would love to elaborate, but I have plans to get up early for Black Friday sales! I'll post more details tomorrow.

Halloween Festivities

As you know, I like to have fun with the holidays...I tucked this little surprise inside Natalie's lunch box today. It's a jack-o-lantern pin I got from Hallmark. I surprised the boys with theirs at lunch time too. (the other stuff in the package is fall leaf confetti.)

The kids feasted on jack-o-lantern sandwiches. Hayden couldn't believe his eyes...can this really be candy on my sandwich?

For the past month I have been saving Starbucks Frappuccino bottles so I could make these bottles of Halloween treats to pass out to teachers, friends and neighbors.

After Natalie came home from school, we got ready for some trick-or-treating fun! The local stores were passing out candy, so we got a head start before heading out the movies. We went to see Ratatouille, then went trick-or-treating in a local neighborhood (since our road doesn't get much foot traffic.)

Here 's the Disney gang: Cinderella, Sheriff Woody and Mickey Mouse!

On the way out the door, Natalie showed Dan the "fancy" jewelry I let her borrow. She told him "mom did a lot of finishing touches." I thought it was such a cute/funny thing to come out of her mouth.
I was so glad Hayden had a nice long nap today and actually didn't mind wearing the gloves and hood. A few days ago he would have nothing to do with them. I guess it can be challenging to use "cartoon hands!"

I was so excited to find this costume on sale at the Disney store for Zander. For the past year he has been wearing his old Woody costume which has been too small from the get go. It rides up in places where cowboys don't like it to and the sleeves and legs were way too short. Last year's Woody costume was all one piece. This year he got a much nicer costume with boots, a bandanna scarf, a holster for his gun, a sheriff's badge, a belt buckle a vest...and a hat. It's a size 7, so he should get many more dress up days out of it.


The kids had fun trick or treating in the shopping center. Our Papa Murphy's pizza was giving out mini tubs of cookie dough and McDonald's was giving out bags of cookies.

We got our picture taken at Damascus Chamber of Commerce.


While out trick or treating, we ran into our neighbor Clare. The other picture was taken at Ryan and Sarah's house.
Natalie and Zander fell asleep on the way home. I got them in bed and brushed their teeth while they were still sleeping...and they didn't even wake up!