So, today is kind of unprecedented. Due to a series of unfortunate events (Jamesy being sick, my husband stuck in church meetings, my little girls with him), I find myself with like five straight hours of being home by myself (except for sick little James who is sleeping soundly) without interruption to do whatever I want! And since it's Sunday no housework allowed! This is sheer craziness. And bliss. This like never happens. So, for part of that time I am going to catch up on my blog. I already read my scriptures. Check. And made myself a quesadilla. Check. And have been reading… check. I just finished this book called, "The Family Romanov… Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia" by Candace Fleming.
Ok, I didn't realize until a couple chapters in that the target audience is pretty much teenagers… the inside flap says ages 12 and up… so it's kind of a watered down history, but it was still so so good and so interesting to me since my knowledge of Imperial Russia and the Bolshevik Revolution was pretty limited. We are going on a Baltic cruise this summer which will include a two day stop to St. Petersburg, so now I'm all jazzed. Man, kind of sad the entire Romanov family was violently murdered… but really, the parents were pretty idiotic and lousy stewards of their vast empire. I guess they had it coming, but you do feel bad for the kids.
Anyhow, we also watched American Sniper this weekend.
We were going to see it in the theater, but didn't get the chance to, and I'm glad we didn't because it was a pretty strong movie and I found myself covering my eyes too often. Yes, it was loaded with obscenities and disturbing violence, but I guess that's what war is, and, according to Ben, it portrayed pretty accurately the struggles that our soldiers have gone through and are continuing to go through these past ten or fifteen years… multiple deployments, PTSD, guilt complex, struggling on the home front, etc. After this guy survived so many dangerous situations and was just finally working through his own PTSD problems, he met such a tragic end… such bitter irony to be killed by one of his own after he saved so many.
I hate bitter irony.
Anyhow, let's catch up. Emily's 7th birthday was over a month ago. Do you recall Caroline's over the top birthday bash? Yeah, I couldn't do it again. Em was pretty bummed that we weren't inviting like the entire 1st grade, but I assured her that sometimes smaller is better. More intimate, more personal. Emily invited a handful of girls from school and they had a great time.
My sweet neighbor Desiree found out I was throwing a party and wanted to do a "candy buffet" for Emily. Isn't she sweet? She did this all on her own.
We played some "Minute to Win It" games I found online. They had one minute to move the Oreo from their forehead to their mouth without using their hands. Notice how everyone is breaking the rule except for Ellie up front? She was awesome. She won.
And they had a minute to dig coins out of the bottom of pantyhose. Too easy.
And one minute to transfer as many M&M's as possible from one plate to the next using a straw. Awesome.
And they had to keep two balloons afloat for one minute.
Spin the bottle to open the presents. My favorite quote from Caroline was when Em received a 10 euro bill she exclaimed, "Whoa! That must have been expensive!"
Scavenger hunt to find the goody bags was a hit.
Ok, that was fun, now please leave.
When the kids arrived they were all kind of shy and in their shell. By the time two hours was over they were swinging from the chandeliers and I was like, "Will you please go home now?" I guess that's the way it goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment