Today was S's birthday party with her friends. Her birthday was a few weeks ago but trying to get ice time for a skating party required us to wait a bit. And the party was a success (at least I think it was!). The kids had a blast skating - it was nice to have the ice all to ourselves. There were some first time skaters out there who did a really good job! It looked like all the kids were having fun. I didn't skate (my skating days are past, at least I think so) but I had a good time watching the kids and not being on the ice allowed me to get the party room set up.
After skating the kids were hungry! I had fruit, veggies, chips, pretzels, and cheetos for them. If we had pizza I think they would have eaten that too! And the cupcakes were a hit. Some of the kids liked them so much they had seconds, which was fine with me. Less to tempt me at home! The kids were pretty good about cleaning up and my friends pitched in and helped. I'm very grateful to them for the help!
S had a good time opening up her presents. I know it's always hard for kids to sit still and watch another child get lots of toys, but all in all, the kids were good. When presents were done I blew some bubbles for them and then read a story. Before I knew it our time was up and the party was over.
I am glad that birthday month is done! It's hard having two birthdays in the same month, just 12 days apart. For a few years I was able to combine both parties into one but J is getting too old to do that anymore although he was a great help at S's party. He took time to play hockey with the younger kids when they were on the ice and helped pass out things at the party. I know a few of the boys really liked it that a big kid was taking the time to pay attention to them.
Now we're back home and I'm exhausted. I thought about having a glass of wine but I'm afraid it would put me to sleep. I opted for some bubbly lemonade instead. We realized we needed to feed the kids supper since they probably would get hungry so C volunteered to go up to the golden arches place and pick up some food for them. I'm going to pass because their food often doesn't agree with me. I'll make myself a nice healthy sandwich or have a nap for supper. :-)
We were suppose to get some snow during the day today but it has decided to hold off until tonight. It actually won't bother me if we do get a little snow since it will cover up all the nasty brown snow on the roadsides. The melting continues which is making a mess of things - lots of mud, sloppy roads, and dirty cars. C took my car to the car wash this morning. He said it took three rounds of washing with the spray gun thing to get it clean. It was pretty damn dirty. It will get dirty again but at least I'm not afraid to touch my car for the moment.
C is back with supper for kids so I think I'll go try to steal some fries and then find something to keep me awake until bedtime. It was a good day but I am ready for bed!
Showing posts with label party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label party. Show all posts
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Friday, 27 March 2015
Pre-Party Prep
I am glad that the kids will be in bed shortly. It has been a long, busy day for me and I'm ready for some kid-free time to get started on my Snow Queen clue that I got today.
The day started off with the kids getting on the bus (yay!) to go to school. It felt good for things to be getting back to normal. Once they were gone, I started baking the cupcakes for tomorrow. 48 cupcakes are sitting in containers, frosted and decorated, ready for tomorrow. While they were baking I went to work on making the pink ice skate candies for the goody bags. I found that the pink candy (which is vanilla flavoured and not really chocolate) didn't flow as well as the chocolate did, so it was a little tougher to get them started. But once I got going I had them all made in a few hours. Next time I decide to make candy like that I will get more than one candy mold!
In between cupcakes and candy I started stuffing goody bags. I got as many done as I could until I ran out of stuff. I ended up running out and getting more of everything to make sure I had enough bags for 22 kids plus I picked up some toddler-friendly things for the two toddlers that could possibly be coming. Actually, one is definitely coming and the other is a maybe. But I wanted to be ready. I still have a few parents who never RSVP'd, but I still have bags ready for their kids. Any extras will go to S and J.
While out getting the bag stuff I also went to the grocery store and got all the food for tomorrow. Because the party falls between lunch and supper I'm only planning on having things like fruit, veggies, chips, and cupcakes. I stocked up on juice boxes and water. The food portion of the party is only an hour and that will go quickly, I expect. And with an hour of skating before hand the kids will most likely be ready to sit and eat.
By the time the kids got home from school I was ready for a nap but there was to be no nap for me. My friend asked if I could watch her daughter L for a bit this afternoon and I said yes. So, S, L, and our neighbour S were all here for a while this afternoon. They had fun playing with the dollhouse and the trains. L's favourite toys these days are the LaLaLoopsy dolls and she had a good time playing with those.
Once the play date was over, we headed out for supper because I was just too tired to cook. The restaurant we went to was packed - it was the first time we actually had to wait for a table. I expect we'll encounter that more often in April once the local Burger Love month starts. For the month of April, different restaurants come up with fancy burgers that aren't on their normal menu. They encourage people to try a bunch of the burgers and vote for their favourite one. Last year there were like 30+ burgers. I don't know how many there will be this year, but there's no way to try all of them. Well, you possibly could but it sure wouldn't be healthy. When the webpage for Burger Love goes up, I'll share the link.
The weather today was nice. It looked like the ice in the harbour is beginning to break up and there was a lot of melting going on today. Thankfully the garage is staying dry thanks to the sandbags C put there a while back. He also cleared a lot of the ice away from the side door, so hopefully that will minimize the water that comes in. Tomorrow is suppose to bring 2 cm of snow during the day and another 2 cm at night. In the grand scheme of snow, that is nothing. Hopefully it will be the last snow we see until next winter!
The day started off with the kids getting on the bus (yay!) to go to school. It felt good for things to be getting back to normal. Once they were gone, I started baking the cupcakes for tomorrow. 48 cupcakes are sitting in containers, frosted and decorated, ready for tomorrow. While they were baking I went to work on making the pink ice skate candies for the goody bags. I found that the pink candy (which is vanilla flavoured and not really chocolate) didn't flow as well as the chocolate did, so it was a little tougher to get them started. But once I got going I had them all made in a few hours. Next time I decide to make candy like that I will get more than one candy mold!
In between cupcakes and candy I started stuffing goody bags. I got as many done as I could until I ran out of stuff. I ended up running out and getting more of everything to make sure I had enough bags for 22 kids plus I picked up some toddler-friendly things for the two toddlers that could possibly be coming. Actually, one is definitely coming and the other is a maybe. But I wanted to be ready. I still have a few parents who never RSVP'd, but I still have bags ready for their kids. Any extras will go to S and J.
While out getting the bag stuff I also went to the grocery store and got all the food for tomorrow. Because the party falls between lunch and supper I'm only planning on having things like fruit, veggies, chips, and cupcakes. I stocked up on juice boxes and water. The food portion of the party is only an hour and that will go quickly, I expect. And with an hour of skating before hand the kids will most likely be ready to sit and eat.
By the time the kids got home from school I was ready for a nap but there was to be no nap for me. My friend asked if I could watch her daughter L for a bit this afternoon and I said yes. So, S, L, and our neighbour S were all here for a while this afternoon. They had fun playing with the dollhouse and the trains. L's favourite toys these days are the LaLaLoopsy dolls and she had a good time playing with those.
Once the play date was over, we headed out for supper because I was just too tired to cook. The restaurant we went to was packed - it was the first time we actually had to wait for a table. I expect we'll encounter that more often in April once the local Burger Love month starts. For the month of April, different restaurants come up with fancy burgers that aren't on their normal menu. They encourage people to try a bunch of the burgers and vote for their favourite one. Last year there were like 30+ burgers. I don't know how many there will be this year, but there's no way to try all of them. Well, you possibly could but it sure wouldn't be healthy. When the webpage for Burger Love goes up, I'll share the link.
The weather today was nice. It looked like the ice in the harbour is beginning to break up and there was a lot of melting going on today. Thankfully the garage is staying dry thanks to the sandbags C put there a while back. He also cleared a lot of the ice away from the side door, so hopefully that will minimize the water that comes in. Tomorrow is suppose to bring 2 cm of snow during the day and another 2 cm at night. In the grand scheme of snow, that is nothing. Hopefully it will be the last snow we see until next winter!
Monday, 23 March 2015
Monday, Monday...
Today the kids were suppose to be back in school after their March Break, but they announced yesterday that school was closed today. At first I questioned this because honestly, looking out the window it wasn't that bad out. But when I dragged the kids with me to the grocery store I realized that they did make the right call. The road to the store seemed fine at first, but as soon as you got to an open area that didn't have any windbreaks, it was covered with snow. At one point it went down to one lane without any warning. And from what friends were saying, the bridge into downtown was bad too with the white-outs.
What I am questioning is why school is closed tomorrow. Yes, it's closed again tomorrow. I am seriously beginning to question the decisions of the school board.Yes, some of the rural areas still have blocked roads, but do we need to close the schools across the entire island for that? Couldn't they open the schools in areas where the roads are better? Even the kids are getting tired of being home.
How do I know this? When we asked each of them to do some writing, they both did it happily. Okay, maybe just S was happy about it, but J started getting into it. We asked him to write down all the things that we did that annoyed him. He said making him go to bed before 9:30, not letting him play video games whenever he wanted, and not letting him have a dog were his things. We then asked him to write down what he could improve and he said being nicer to his sister, remembering to turn off the lights (this one drives me crazy!), and being better about cleaning up. S was busy writing a book about her school day. I will have to scan in the pictures and share it. It is really cute.
School being closed tomorrow is going to make life tricky for me. J's birthday is Wednesday and we don't have any presents for him yet. I had planned to go out Tuesday morning and get his presents. Now I'll need to either take him with me, which means he sees what he's getting, or hope that they have school on Wednesday and scramble to get them. Wednesday would work because he won't get his presents until he gets home from school (see, thinking positive!) but I don't like leaving things until the last minute.
I also need to get working on S's birthday party on Saturday. I have the things I need to make the cupcakes, which I will do on Friday. We'll head out tomorrow to get the things to put in the goodie bags, although I don't have a final count for how many kids are coming. Hopefully parents will be good and respond by Wednesday as I asked them too. We'll see.
I also now have the ice skate chocolate mold that I've been waiting for (weather held up the delivery). I had hoped they would make candies small enough to put on top of the cupcakes since she wants a skating themed party but they are too big. I will bag them up individually and include them in the goodie bags. That is, if I can get them made. I tried making chocolate candies for them first time today. I managed to make 4 of them and then called it quits (mainly because I had to start stewing chicken for dinner). I did learn a lot from my first attempt and I think the rest of them should go better. I will need to pick up more chocolate wafers to melt since it takes more than I expected. We'll get those tomorrow too. I'm going to need time to get them all made.
I may also take the kids over to the indoor play place tomorrow if it's open. Of course, since all the kids are off school tomorrow it might be crowded. My other idea is to take the kids to see Cinderella, although J isn't too crazy about that idea. One thing we definitely are going to do tomorrow is go to J's hockey game. It was suppose to be tonight but it got postponed due to the bad roads. S was also suppose to have her first session of spring soccer tonight but that too got postponed - it will start next week.
Since we didn't have any sporting activities tonight, I was actually able to make supper on a Monday, rather than throw something in the slow-cooker or just have leftovers (they will be for tomorrow). I have a simple, easy recipe for chicken enchiladas that C and J love. You know that J loves them when he has a second helping. Because I like to share tasty, easy recipes, here it is;
Easy Chicken Enchiladas:
3 cups of cooked chicken (see note below)
1 350g package of shredded cheese
1 small can of chopped chilies
1 can of enchilada sauce OR a jar of your favourite salsa (I use salsa verde)
8 tortillas
What I am questioning is why school is closed tomorrow. Yes, it's closed again tomorrow. I am seriously beginning to question the decisions of the school board.Yes, some of the rural areas still have blocked roads, but do we need to close the schools across the entire island for that? Couldn't they open the schools in areas where the roads are better? Even the kids are getting tired of being home.
How do I know this? When we asked each of them to do some writing, they both did it happily. Okay, maybe just S was happy about it, but J started getting into it. We asked him to write down all the things that we did that annoyed him. He said making him go to bed before 9:30, not letting him play video games whenever he wanted, and not letting him have a dog were his things. We then asked him to write down what he could improve and he said being nicer to his sister, remembering to turn off the lights (this one drives me crazy!), and being better about cleaning up. S was busy writing a book about her school day. I will have to scan in the pictures and share it. It is really cute.
School being closed tomorrow is going to make life tricky for me. J's birthday is Wednesday and we don't have any presents for him yet. I had planned to go out Tuesday morning and get his presents. Now I'll need to either take him with me, which means he sees what he's getting, or hope that they have school on Wednesday and scramble to get them. Wednesday would work because he won't get his presents until he gets home from school (see, thinking positive!) but I don't like leaving things until the last minute.
I also need to get working on S's birthday party on Saturday. I have the things I need to make the cupcakes, which I will do on Friday. We'll head out tomorrow to get the things to put in the goodie bags, although I don't have a final count for how many kids are coming. Hopefully parents will be good and respond by Wednesday as I asked them too. We'll see.
I also now have the ice skate chocolate mold that I've been waiting for (weather held up the delivery). I had hoped they would make candies small enough to put on top of the cupcakes since she wants a skating themed party but they are too big. I will bag them up individually and include them in the goodie bags. That is, if I can get them made. I tried making chocolate candies for them first time today. I managed to make 4 of them and then called it quits (mainly because I had to start stewing chicken for dinner). I did learn a lot from my first attempt and I think the rest of them should go better. I will need to pick up more chocolate wafers to melt since it takes more than I expected. We'll get those tomorrow too. I'm going to need time to get them all made.
I may also take the kids over to the indoor play place tomorrow if it's open. Of course, since all the kids are off school tomorrow it might be crowded. My other idea is to take the kids to see Cinderella, although J isn't too crazy about that idea. One thing we definitely are going to do tomorrow is go to J's hockey game. It was suppose to be tonight but it got postponed due to the bad roads. S was also suppose to have her first session of spring soccer tonight but that too got postponed - it will start next week.
Since we didn't have any sporting activities tonight, I was actually able to make supper on a Monday, rather than throw something in the slow-cooker or just have leftovers (they will be for tomorrow). I have a simple, easy recipe for chicken enchiladas that C and J love. You know that J loves them when he has a second helping. Because I like to share tasty, easy recipes, here it is;
Easy Chicken Enchiladas:
3 cups of cooked chicken (see note below)
1 350g package of shredded cheese
1 small can of chopped chilies
1 can of enchilada sauce OR a jar of your favourite salsa (I use salsa verde)
8 tortillas
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with a non-stick spray.
- Combine cooked chicken, most of the shredded cheese, and the chopped chilies.
- Divide chicken mixture between tortillas, rolling each one up and placing it seam side down in the baking dish.
- Cover with enchilada sauce or salsa. Top with remaining shredded cheese.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is melted.
- Serve with shredded lettuce, sour cream, as well as your favourite sides.
A note about the cooked chicken:
You can buy precooked chicken for this. The rotisserie chickens most grocery stores carry these days are excellent for this recipe. But if you want to, you can stew your own chicken for this recipe, which is what I do if I have the time. I use bone-in chicken thighs, some carrot, celery, onion, salt, pepper, and whatever spices I feel like throwing in at the time. I stew it until it's cooked (usually 45 mins to an hour), then pull the meat off the bones and shred it. I usually end up with more than 3 cups of chicken, which is fine with me. I like my enchiladas stuffed. :-)
Saturday, 14 March 2015
Birthday Fun, part 2
Tonight we had J's birthday party. His birthday isn't until later in the month but the local hockey team was playing tonight and he wanted to have his birthday party there. It was a little stressful keeping track of seven 9 and 10 year olds, but it was fun.
It was a pretty cool package they put together for birthdays - tickets to the game, pizza and pop, and J got a team practice jersey signed by the player of his choice. The team mascot also stopped by our section and waved to the kids and they announced he was celebrating his birthday tonight. We also treated the kids to popcorn, candy, and water. Thankfully the canteen (and washrooms) were close to where we were sitting!
Since this was one of the last home games of the season, there were a lot of people there. We saw so many people we know. It's one of the things that I really like about living where we live. J saw teammates and classmates. And of course all the kids were happy the home team won.
After the game, the boys we were driving home hung around outside the team locker room door. The players were really nice to the kids as they came out. J and his friends got a bunch of autographs. I think they were all a little starstruck by seeing the players up close. I told J to take care of the jersey he got because some of these players will be in the NHL one day.
We got all the kids safely delivered to their parents after the game and now both my kids are tucked into bed. I hope they sleep in late tomorrow since neither of them got into bed until 10:30. And as we're expecting a blizzard with 30 to 50 cm of snow tomorrow, we're not doing much tomorrow. I believe C and the kids have planned a MineCraft marathon which will give me plenty of time to catch up on the knitting I didn't get to do today.
I'm a tired mom, but I'm really glad that all the plans for tonight worked out. The kids had fun, and it was a lot of fun for us to see J hanging out with his friends and having a good time. One party down, one more to go. But at least I have two weeks to get ready for that one!
Friday, 13 February 2015
Going back to Kindergarten
Today S had a Valentine's Day party in kindergarten. I was asked to bring juice boxes for the kids, which was easy enough to do. I went into the classroom today to help with the party. It was kind of strange being back in a kindergarten classroom again after so long.
Long ago, I used to teach kindergarten. My first few years were spent teaching in a private kindergarten and then I moved to teaching in the public school for a few years. For the most part, I enjoyed teaching and working with the kids. What caused the most headaches for me was the administration. They often made a teacher's job much harder than it already is. Anyone who sticks it out teaching for more than a few years deserves a medal. Actually, teachers who make it through their first year of teaching deserve a medal too. And my medal I mean a really huge pay raise because teachers don't get paid anywhere near enough for the jobs they do.
Anyway, it was fun being back in a kindergarten classroom today. S's class has a good size classroom, with a tiered book/reading corner, a block area (because blocks!), a dramatic play area which is currently a restaurant, an art area, a computer area, as well as a big open area for circle time. Yup, they still do circle time. I think there will always be a circle time in kindergarten.
When I arrived the teacher was reading the kids a story about love because it is the day before Valentine's Day. Then the kids moved to their special seats to wait their turn for handing out their Valentines. I helped kids read names because names can be tricky when you have the handwriting of a 5 or 6 year old. Of course every child that needed help would come up to me and wave the card around while asking me whose name was on it. I guess they wanted to test my vision today!
I have a lot of respect for S's teacher. Her class is made up of 5 girls and 12 boys, and most of those boys are your typical active 5 and 6 year old boys. But she has great control over the class without being bossy or too strict. She kept saying how wound up the kids were but honestly, they were the calmest group of kindergartners I've ever seen at a Valentine's party. Anytime they started getting too out of control she would redirect them to something else that would help them to refocus and be calm again. Although she did admit to me that yesterday she threatened to take away their party because the whole class was being wild. I can't blame her for that - when I was teaching I would often use that tactic myself.
So I helped the kids pass out the Valentines and helped them pass out the treats they brought in (all peanut free, of course). More importantly, I got to see how S is in her class and how she acts with her classmates (she's less whiny at school). I also got to spend some time with her classmates, getting to know them. It was nice to be able to put faces and personalities with the names she talks about at home, especially CG, who she says is her boyfriend. Yup, that started on the first day of school. Apparently my daughter is the queen bee of the classroom - the teacher said that all the kids argue over who gets to sit next to her. I must teach her with great popularity comes great responsibility.
All in all it was fun to be back in, helping out a fellow teacher. I did let S's teacher know that if she needs an extra set of hands I'm around during the day and wouldn't mind coming in to help. She was very pleased to hear that, so I may be spending more time in kindergarten in the future. Who knew after all this time I'd possibly be going back to kindergarten? :-)
Long ago, I used to teach kindergarten. My first few years were spent teaching in a private kindergarten and then I moved to teaching in the public school for a few years. For the most part, I enjoyed teaching and working with the kids. What caused the most headaches for me was the administration. They often made a teacher's job much harder than it already is. Anyone who sticks it out teaching for more than a few years deserves a medal. Actually, teachers who make it through their first year of teaching deserve a medal too. And my medal I mean a really huge pay raise because teachers don't get paid anywhere near enough for the jobs they do.
Anyway, it was fun being back in a kindergarten classroom today. S's class has a good size classroom, with a tiered book/reading corner, a block area (because blocks!), a dramatic play area which is currently a restaurant, an art area, a computer area, as well as a big open area for circle time. Yup, they still do circle time. I think there will always be a circle time in kindergarten.
When I arrived the teacher was reading the kids a story about love because it is the day before Valentine's Day. Then the kids moved to their special seats to wait their turn for handing out their Valentines. I helped kids read names because names can be tricky when you have the handwriting of a 5 or 6 year old. Of course every child that needed help would come up to me and wave the card around while asking me whose name was on it. I guess they wanted to test my vision today!
I have a lot of respect for S's teacher. Her class is made up of 5 girls and 12 boys, and most of those boys are your typical active 5 and 6 year old boys. But she has great control over the class without being bossy or too strict. She kept saying how wound up the kids were but honestly, they were the calmest group of kindergartners I've ever seen at a Valentine's party. Anytime they started getting too out of control she would redirect them to something else that would help them to refocus and be calm again. Although she did admit to me that yesterday she threatened to take away their party because the whole class was being wild. I can't blame her for that - when I was teaching I would often use that tactic myself.
So I helped the kids pass out the Valentines and helped them pass out the treats they brought in (all peanut free, of course). More importantly, I got to see how S is in her class and how she acts with her classmates (she's less whiny at school). I also got to spend some time with her classmates, getting to know them. It was nice to be able to put faces and personalities with the names she talks about at home, especially CG, who she says is her boyfriend. Yup, that started on the first day of school. Apparently my daughter is the queen bee of the classroom - the teacher said that all the kids argue over who gets to sit next to her. I must teach her with great popularity comes great responsibility.
All in all it was fun to be back in, helping out a fellow teacher. I did let S's teacher know that if she needs an extra set of hands I'm around during the day and wouldn't mind coming in to help. She was very pleased to hear that, so I may be spending more time in kindergarten in the future. Who knew after all this time I'd possibly be going back to kindergarten? :-)
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