11-11-11 Pretty cool date!

Today was Veteran's Day and no work for this mama! My boys and I enjoyed a beautiful day in sunny Santa Monica getting some things for the house. We had a great time and a wonderful lunch. Only had my cell phone for photos, but did capture a few bits of our lovely day.

Boeing's Third Birthday

A lot has happened around here these days, but most importantly was when our little piece of perfect turned three. Who needs a time machine when you have kids; eriously, where did the time go? Although I have been planning his party in my head (and on Pinterest) for several months, I could not get motivated to start doing stuff until I returned to work(s) (teaching middle school and college). However, the day went off almost perfect (not counting the downpoor while setting up in the morning) because of all the help I got from family. It could not have been done without them. We had about sixty guest (fourty adults and twenty kids) and a celebratory County Fair theme. This was Boeing's first real birthday party and he did not have a real oppinion about what he wanted, so I picked!!! He had a great time with all of his friends; the abundant amount of sugar did not hurt either.

Auntie Amy freehanded this cute welcome on her vintage chalkboard.

Games


GrampE made a fun StrongMan (the kids loved this one)!

Auntie Cole made caramel apples.....mmm



The photo doesn't show how much beer and wine we had; gotta make sure nothing runs out!

Lights strung over the midway looked extra great when the sun went down!

Someone had a good time!

At Boe's request, we also had Kettle Corn!!

Face painting by Auntie Amy. Boe had a snake painted and chased everyone with it!

We served fried chicken, potato salad and watermelon.

Dessert!




Favors

What's Cooking

Boeing and I did a lot of cooking this summer. His interest in food clearly comes from my side of the family (Kent says it is an Olympic event for us). I can sit him on the kitchen counter while I gather the items and go about following our new recipe. This summer we tried grahan crackers from scratch, as well as granola bars. Boeing is loving granola bars lately (and oatmeal daily for breakfast), so I wanted to show him they don't just magically appear in a box from the store. They were quite delicious!
Graham Crackers



Granola Bars




Zucchini from Papa's garden; we made olive oil pie crist and put some eggs and cheese with the zucchini. It made for a nice dinner and breakfast the next day.

Anytime I pull out the parmesean cheese, Boe wants some in his dump truck. Silly!

Boe loved it! He is really a good eater, always eating his veggies off the plate first.

We were given some fresh peaches, so we HAD to make peach pie!



I had recently read on a cooking blog about putting an egg onto the bread of any bready type food for some added protein. Thought we would try it in leu of meat in our quesidilla. It was very good. The fresh garden tomatoes on top didn't hurt either!

My Birthday

Although Kent had to work on my birthday, the day did not go uncelebrated. Before Kent left for a day trip, we met Auntie Amy and Uncle Bubba at Portos Cuban food for breakfast. Later, GrandmE and GrampE took Boeing and I out to an old favorite for chips, salsa, and margaritas (and some dinner too).

Boeing was a bit upset that he did not get presents on someone else's birthday. Luckily I had a little something to make his day special too!

Kidspace Museum

Although it was a warm one, our day was filled with fun. Boeing especially loved the many outdoor water activities and said that the ant hole was his favorite. Mommy's favorite was watching Daddy try to lead Boe through the ant hole - priceless!!




Boe entering the ant hole...

...Daddy entering the ant hole! What a great dad; gotta love it!


Trying on some of the safety equiptment - love how the goggles pushed his cheeks down!

Simulating a land slide (or erosion). Again, Boeing loved the water that could be turned on for this display to flood the hillside.


OMG did Mommy break a sweat. I mentioned that it was hot, right? Dang hot!