Your Fortune, Madam...

Yesterday was Chinese New Year. Coby learned about this holiday in school. In fact, he specifically chose it for a class project. So, we did a lot of reading and learning over the past month! He wanted to celebrate here at home with a traditional (somewhat...) dinner last night. So, I put him to the task of finding a recipe online that he wanted to eat. He decided on this SWEET AND SOUR PORK recipe. I forgot to take pictures while we cooked, but it turned out really yummy (and I only deep fried once! It took a lot to deep fry at all). He also made up fortunes for us to open during dinner. We were going to make the cookies, but time got away from us. Anyway, here are his fortunes (I did not edit or change any of these...but he did do them on the computer so the spelling is okay!):

*You will like star wars one day.

*You will buy a 72 inch plaza TV.

* You will kiss a boy/girl.

* You will get an Xbox 360.

* You will get 1,000 dollars in each month.

* You will become married to a boy/girl

* You will like science one day.

* I will like stuff I don't like now.

Ella's 6th Birthday (is finally OVER!)

For some reason my kids' birthday's always feel like marathons! Anyway, here are some pics from her birthday dinner at Kyoto's and her birthday party last night.

Celebrating Ella's Birthday!

The One With All The Cakes!

Here are her previous birthdays! Enjoy!

(She looks thrilled to be three, doesn't she?)

Not sure what happened here. Got a pic of her cake, but not with her. So here is a shot from her celebration at preschool!

More Ella pics!

Here are some more pics of Ella! Enjoy!

October 2004 - 22 Months

November 2004

November 2004

December 2004

January 2004 - 2 Years Old!

May 2005

June 2005

September 2005 - about 2 1/2 Years Old

December 2005

December 2005 - Almost 3!

Photo Shoot

Ella and I had a girls night on Saturday and went to get her birthday pics done. This one was my favorite so I did some fun editing to it. What do you think?

One of my favorites

I came across this pic of Ella while I was scanning and remember loving it! How cute is the shadow?!? Like something out of Whoville...

She is about 8 months in this picture!

Enjoy!

Looking Back..

Ella's 6th birthday is next week! I can't believe it! I thought it would be fun to share some old pictures with you (because I'm scanning them in slowly....) throughout this week and next to celebrate her birthday. All of these are from her 1st year....

January

January

May

June

July

July

September

September

December

A Plug

Okay so it's no secret that I love to cook. I'm always on the lookout for that great new recipe as well as any great new tools that may come my way. Case in point, I LOVE Pampered Chef. In fact, I think that may even be an understatement. I was just at a party a few weeks ago and saw it. As soon as I turned the page it jumped out at me. Look at it in all it's beauty.....

And then look what it does to ground beef:

With no splatters! Or meat all over the stove top! Nice little pieces all evenly browned in their wonderfulness... and all for the unbeatable price of: (ready for this??): $9.50! What is it called? It's the Mix 'N Chop. Run, do not walk, to your nearest friend having that show!

How am I doing?

I only have a minute but wanted to update my "Back To School" to-do list that I wrote for myself on the first day of school. Some of you may remember that. Here it is with updates:

* Finish the corn hole game for aunt and uncle DONE!

* Paint verse on wall for grandmom DONE!

* Paint stuff Ella wants on her bedroom wall (this will be FUN!) VERY VERY CLOSE!

* Go through kids closets (again? still? one never knows....) DONE!
* Re-pot bathroom plant DONE!

* Clean out and unpack (from when the house was on the market) the new part of the basement DONE! Carpet comes next week!

* Paint cabinets to be ready to finish above mentioned "new part" DONE!

* Go through boxes of framed pictures and figure out what to do with them! Not even started

* Scan in all pictures from before we had a digital camera (LARGE undertaking!) Slowly working on this...

* Outside gardens - split hosta and other perennials and create new garden in front and side DONE!

* Clean all windows inside and out. Include mini blinds and curtains egh...avoiding?

I'd like to add some stuff to the list but have to think about what would be priority for me. I've got lots of volunteer stuff coming up with school and church and don't want to throw un-realistic goals on myself. I will mention that the Living Room fireplace wall has got to be wallpapered with that paint-able wallpaper and then painted. I'm also indulging in a new camera (Nikon D80) and would love to take a class to learn more about before the summer.