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!

Catching up with the kids

On Wednesday, Natalie was invited to a Japanese themed birthday sleepover at our neighbors.

Natalie thought I was weird for putting chop sticks in her hair, but I could tell she was relieved when she opened the door at the party and all the other girls had chop sticks in their hair as well. I was surprised to learn after the party that Natalie was teaching her friends how to hold and use the chopsticks. I guess she did really well in a game where you have to pick up Kix with chopsticks, so they all wanted to know her tricks!

Here are all the neighbor girls (minus one who arrived after we took the picture)

Here is Zander at his Preschool spring program. His class was singing that monkey song that goes "five little monkeys swinging from a tree...teasing Mr. alligator, can't catch me..."

His class all dressed up in monkey hats and tails and looked so cute! Here you can see Zander doing the hand motions for "along came Mr. Alligator quite as can be...SNAP!"

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.

Natalie's Valentine's Party 2008

At the first grade party, all the kids got to decorate Valentines' cookies.

Here is Natalie's cookie.

I was in charge of a craft...we made Valentine bear pins...
like this:
There were white and red bears too.

All the kids brought loads of Valentines (and candy) and stuffed the heart pockets full.

Natalie loved looking though all her Valentines.

Here's a shot of my littlest Valentine eating breakfast.

For dinner, since Dan was working late at the college, I got a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's. The kids really wanted to dig in, so they helped blow on the pizza to cool it off faster.

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.

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Today was Natalie's 7th Birthday... a very busy day for me. I volunteered for a couple hours in Natalie's class, then I decided to join her for lunch in the cafeteria...she was pretty excited to have me stay with her. When I left, I had to pick up Zander from pre-school. Then I decided to go to the store to pick up a cake for this evening, but when I got to the bakery section, there were only 2 or 3 cakes to choose from, none of which really wowed me...so we tried another store which had more selection, but nothing that I wanted to buy. I decided to leave without a cake and go home and make one myself. But first I had to stop back at Natalie's class to deliver her birthday treats. When I got there all the class was at P.E. so with Zander's help, I passed out the cinnamon rolls. Natalie was surprised to see us and the balloon we brought, but really just wanted to eat her cinnamon roll!
After she got home from school and I finished cleaning the kitchen, Natalie and I made her birthday cake.

It was a yellow cake with chocolate mousse filling and pink 7- minute frosting on top with sprinkles...perfect! Dan stopped by the florist on his way home to pick up some nice flowers for the lucky birthday girl!
At 5:00 our family started arriving for the birthday dinner...Natalie requested stuffed pasta shells. After dinner, Natalie got to open her gifts. In the photo she is holding up a dress my mom made for her new American Girl doll (which she will be opening at her party on Saturday with her friends). The doll's dress is made from the same fabric as my wedding dress!

After presents, we had cake...I wonder what she wished for?

...my little girl...is not so little anymore. Every birthday is bittersweet for me, but it seems like turning 7 is a bit harder for me to accept. In my head, my vision of motherhood usually includes little ones running around, but now it seems Natalie has gone from little girl to a big kid. Her early childhood is slipping away so fast and no matter how hard I try to hold on to my little girl, she keeps growing up. She can read, is learning to write, has her own sense of what clothes she wants to wear and loves to act crazy most of the time. I am thankful that she still loves to spend time with us and I am reminded that I need to be better at spending spontaneous time with her, having fun doing the everyday "stuff" that seems so mundane.

This Sunday we stayed with Natalie for Kid's church and it really hit me when the children's pastor said we only have influence on them for a few more years, then they become more influenced by their friends. I just pray that we can teach her how to make good choices.

Natalie is a great "little" girl and I love how enthusiastic she is about life. This weekend we will be having her Sweet Shoppe birthday party, so stay tuned for more birthday fun!