Friday Facts

Ready for my factual friday?

Here are the facts of the week:

Fact:  My siblings and I achieved the element of surprise when we threw a 40th anniversary party for my parents.

Fact:  We took the kids to see Santa.   Only one child was a bit bummed when we left.  Santa wasn't so sure about the gift that was requested.

Fact:  Santa, choir (Sassy), basketball (Sassy), church, basketball (Action), shopping, football (yes, that was a Steeler victory I'm talking about) and basketball (Action's game).  These were the evening events this week (including tonight) at our house this week.

Fact:  I have a bad nagging cold with a very annoying cough.  It is also making me sort of crabby (sorry honey!)

Fact:  Finally all of the Christmas decorations are up.

Fact:  I was not very consistent in my working out this week.  I blame my cold.

Fact:  Smiley had an eye appointment yesterday.  Man that girl has come a LONG way since last spring.  Remember her eye crossing?  How about her 20/40 vision (which was typical for her age) or her broken glasses.... more than once (I think in 4 months I used the warranty 2 times, not to mention the numerous times we went back for minor and major adjustments).
Do you remember her surgery last August.  The fear of the unknown for me, wondering if we had made the right choice.  Fearing that a mistake could be made.

Well, yesterday she flew through her eye exam, doing things she hadn't done before.  You see before she couldn't see in 3D.  Yesterday though, no problem.  Before her eyes were crossed.  Not yesterday, not.at.ALL.  And before her vision was 20/40.  Yesterday she tested at 20/25.  Wow!  What a difference a few months make!

Fact:  Sassy had an enormous amount of homework last night.  The most she has had in awhile.  I love that she can sit, focus and get it done.  That makes my job as a parent so much easier.

Fact:  Action has been outside sledding and snowboarding well past dark (come on people, it gets dark before 5).  He is loving the snow and the cold.

Fact:  I'm typing this right now, at the kitchen table, in my comfy clothes and slippers, with no noise except for the spinning of the washing machine.  But, that is all about to change.  The pitter patter of little feet will soon be present.  So I am off.   Enjoy your Friday!  Hoping to get the perfect Christmas card picture tomorrow.  Wish me luck :)

The Tree

The tree has been decorated.

And now we can just sit back and enjoy the warm glow from the lights.

40 Years and sort of a long post :)

Thanksgiving, shopping, 60th surprise birthday party, basketball practices and games, church, and a surprise 40th anniversary party for my parents = a busy couple of weeks.

Thanksgiving was wonderful.

Shopping was uneventful.

The 6oth surprise birthday party was for my father-in-law and turned into a very late night 3am to be exact.

Action's basketball team won their first skills competition in basketball ~ must have to do with the coaching (yes, hubby is his coach ~ Ha!)

Sassy's basketball team lost their first game, but Sassy played some mighty good defense and ended up with 2 fouls and 1 illegal contact call.

The surprise 40th Anniversary party ~ well, that was for my parents!

40 years.

Remarkable.

Here's how it went down.....

Since myself and my 4 siblings are scattered about, we don't all get together very often at the same time.  So we definitely knew if we could all make it that would be a surprise in and of itself.

My sister rented out a room at a great restaurant and started sneaking pictures from my parents house so she could create a slide show of their 40 years together.

I got the evites sent out.  All of my Dad's brothers and his sister live quite a distance from my parents. 2 out of 3 said they were coming.  Both my mom's brother, who lives out of state and sister (who lives minutes from my parents) as well as her 2 kids and their family/significant replied they would also be in attendance.  Every thing was going perfectly.

I decided to make a replica of their wedding cake.  Keep in mind their wedding cake was small :)  Their actual wedding was small and intimate to begin with and made even smaller due to a December blizzard.

I made this "white wedding" (cupcakes) cake that I pinned on pinterest awhile ago as well as my favorite buttercream frosting ~ both I had also made for Smiley's 3rd birthday. They had a simple cake topper of a cross with intertwined rings which I recreated out of gum paste.

My friend E, who is simply fabulous came over on Friday to help me with the decorating.  Ok, fine... she did basically all of the decorating.  She's taken classes and is so good.  I can honestly say I don't do much, if any piping and would just have made a mess of the cake!

We had one picture to go by.  And it was a over flashed picture from the 70's (look for it at the end of this post).  A little difficult so we just went with what we saw.

The day of the party arrived.  A ice and snow storm had hit the area of my Uncle and one of my brothers and they were not able to make it.  Bummer.

My other brother, his wife and sons, my sister, her husband and son, as well as my family met about a block away from my parents house.  We gave all of the grandkids balloons, flowers and treats to carry up to the door and they piled into my vehicle.  My parents thought my husband and I were coming back to town for my father in laws 60th b-day party (which had actually taken place the weekend before) so they were expecting us to swing by.  When we pulled up all of the grandkids ran up to the door and yelled "Happy Anniversary"  when my mom opened the door.  To say the least my parents were surprised!

We hung out, decorated their house for Christmas and told them we had dinner reservations at 6:30.

Hubby and I left early ~ we had to get the cake there!  AND everyone else was showing up at 6 to surprise them.

We got all set up and word came that my parents had arrived.  We braced ourselves to surprise them.  And that they were!  My mom mentioned that there were probably more people there than had made it to their actual wedding due to the blizzard.  (I'm not sure I believe her though, but it was probably close).

She thought the cake was beautiful and less crooked than the one they had at their wedding reception and mentioned we got the colors just right!  I even made them cut the cake and exchange bites. :)

The slide show my sister had made was fabulous.

And the rest of the weekend was filled with laughter, family, memories and smiles ~ lots of smiles as we finally were able to get family pictures taken (another part of their surprise).  We had not had family pictures taken since I was a sophomore in college and they were for the church directory.

Ugly.... very ugly!  I can't wait to see the new ones!

Anyway, happy 40th to my parents!

Food, Family and a little puking.......

Wow!  I can't believe I haven't posted since last Monday!  Sorry about that friends :)

We had a good but busy Thanksgiving. We traveled to my parents house as well as to my Hubby's parents house.
There was lots of family, food, laughs and shopping ~ and it you want too much info ~ lots of puking.  BOO!


Sassy actually ended up getting sick on black friday.  The poor girl had a very long afternoon.  Luckily it seems the little bug that got her has avoided the rest of us :)

And we actually got a photo snapped of the family

~ it isn't perfect, but it's us non the less :)

         

                                

New Again

My Grandpa was an antique collector.

So much so that when he passed away, my family held a auction sale.  5 days one week.  1 more day a little while later.

I was a poor college student at the time, so I didn't have the opportunity to acquire much.  I did however, get this chair

(it already had one seat recover ~ the covering it had when I purchased it, left something to be desired).

No, it isn't an expensive piece of furniture, but I love that it is a folding chair and while it probably was never in his house, it reminds me of my Grandpa whenever I walk past it.

Anyway, I was ready to give it another face lift.

I decided to paint it.  However I didn't want to paint the metal folding brackets.  Not that we fold it often, or ever really, but I didn't want them to chip if they did and I thought they created some interest.  So first things first.  I took it all apart ~ and said a little prayer that I would remember where all of the screws went  so I could put it back together.

I wiped it down.

Sprayed it with a coat of Kiltz primer.

Then with a few coats of satin white spray paint.

Recovered the seat.

And miraculously put it back together!

However, once it was together ~ minus the seat, I felt like it was too bright.... too white.

So, I pulled out my sandpaper.

Roughed it up a bit, to give it some signs of wear and tear.

Then added a bit of stain for a little depth.

Voila ~ My old chair with a bit of a face lift:

I love it!

Smoothie Time

After a really hard workout (a 797 calorie burn actually)  I was needing a protein pick me up.

So, when we got home from the health club ~ it was a fruity smoothie for her 

and a protein smoothie for me.  

Mmmmm......

Pass or Fail?

By now I assume all of you know what Pinterest is, so I'm not going to go into all of that.

I pinned this recipe (pinned here and original here) awhile ago, we tried it, and here's what we thought.

Tuscan Pasta with Tomato ~ Basil Cream

Ingredients:

1 20oz package refrigerated four cheese ravioli
1 16oz jar sun dried tomato Alfredo sauce
2 Tbsp white wine
2 med. sized fresh tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/3 c grated Parmesan cheese
Optional ~ garnish with strips of fresh basil


Directions:


1 Prepare pasta according to package directions.

2. Pour Alfredo sauce into a medium saucepan.  Pour wine into sauce jar; cover tightly and shake well (gets all the yummy left over Alfredo sauce out of the jar), then pour into the saucepan.  Str in tomatoes and basil.  Cook over med-low heat until heated through.

3.  Toss sauce with pasta and top evenly with grated parmesan cheese.

Sounds easy right?

It is, but how does it taste?

Delicious!

Tons of flavor.  I will admit the 2 littlest of the house were not big fans ~ although they did eat it.  But Hubby, Sassy and I all enjoyed it and in the end, it really is about me :) Ha!

I will definitely be remaking this one!

In the words of my friend ~ this Pin is a Pass!

Oh, and yes, my family loves it when I whip out the camera as we sit down to eat :)