Playing catchup again

I always have good intentions of keeping my blog up to date but I never seem to find the time.  Here's the psat couple of months in our lives.

Jess's 7th Birthday

We got a bounce house for Jess's birthday party and invited about 20 kids from the neighborhood, church, and last year's kindergarten.  Jess wanted a Tangled theme.  When the kids were leaving, one neighborhood boy proclaimed it the "Best party ever!"  That definitely made it worth all the work!

The invites I made.  The white scratches are because this is the photo I used to show it on another site and I didn't want my address out there.  

Jess ready to go down the slide in the bounce house.

Blowing out the candles on the adult cake.  The kids had cupcakes to frost and decorate with sugar eyes I made to make them look like Pascal.

Pinata.  Mike scored it so it would break easier. Now that Jess is older, we need to stop doing that.  Only a couple kids got a turn before it burst.  

My Pascal blowers - aren't they cute?

Paintbox favors.  Rapunzel loved to paint so I thought these were cute.  I took advantage of the back to school sales.

Sun cookies.  One of the symbols in the Tangled movie was the sun.

Jess with her Tangled braid.  We'd taken pics of each kid wearing the crown and braid.

September 2012

Jason and Jordan at Plymouth North High School's Homecoming

Jess has Bieber fever!

Jess and her schultuete.  I read about this German tradition on line and thought it'd be cute to do.  Traditionally they're filled with school supplies.  I filled the kids' with candy although Jess did get some new pencils.

Jason and his schultuete

Jess ready to go to first grade

First time taking the bus to school

Apple picking

My cats have shoe fetishes.  No shoe is safe from being slept, scratched or nibbled on.

Jess and Auntie Jen after riding Codzilla.  The ride was Jess's birthday present from Auntie Jen.  She had a blast!

Jess's favorite food is mac and cheese so when we came across this sculpture in Boston, we couldn't pass up the photo op.

Annual cardiology checkup.  Her ekg was fine but the echo machine broke down so we have to go back in the spring.  We asked if there are any restrictions - roller coasters, etc and Dr. Rhodes said no restrictions at all.  Yeah!

Jess and I went to the PawSox with our church.  It was Jess's first baseball game.  PawSox lost but we had a good time.

Camel ride at the Marshfield Fair.  We took Jason and his girlfriend, Jordan, to the fair for his birthday.  I got them the ride bracelets which is SO much cheaper than paying for rides individually.

We went to see the Golden Dragon Acrobats at the South Shore Music Circus.  They are amazing!

Birthday, July 4 and the beach

Jason and Jess at Long Beach. 

Jason's birthday.  What does every 14 year old boy want?  A rotating waffle iron, of course!

Using his waffle iron

4th of July

Fun at Long Beach

The Cruise

In July we went on a cruise to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.  We had a blast.  Lots of eating, walking around town, and relaxing. We had to unplug since cellphones and internet are ridiculously expensive onboard.  That was amazingly freeing.  We visited a Titanic exhibit, Jason and I went to a towel folding demo, I went to a cooking demo. The shows were awesome.  All in all, a very good time.

                                             The family with the Captain.

                                                Jess and her favorite soup - strawberry

                                                Our ship

                                             Sitting on the dock in Halifax

Sunset

                                                    The view from our porthole

                                                     Magician and assistant - that was an excellent show!

                                                      Jason and Jess at the Citadel

                                Jess in her cubbyhole.  She'd pull the curtains and have her own space.

Jason coming down the waterslide

S'mores on a stick

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Last Day of Dance

Every Saturday, with a couple of exceptions, during the school year we drive into Chinatown so Jess can go to her class at the Boston Chinese Dance School.  It makes for a long day - we leave an hour and a half early to give us a buffer on getting stuck in traffic, we park at a garage, walk 10 minutes to class, walk up 3 flights (that's the killer for me especially when its humid and hot out) and then I sit in the hallway while Jess goes in and watches the older girls until its time for her class.  We took the train once last year; we will never do that again.  We ended up getting bussed part of the way because of problems on the red line and had to run to make it to class on time.  After dance, we walk back to the parking lot, start the drive home and eat somewhere on the way.  The long days are worth it when I see her shows because she loves doing them.  Last summer we stopped in mid-June because Jason had to go to confirmation camp the last weekend.  This year there was no confirmation camp so she did the annual Chinatown street festival today.  Practice over the past few weeks has been running 90 minutes or longer rather than the normal 60 minutes.  Today was the festival.   The speakers went on a little long at the festival and the girls were very hot but they did a great job.  Jess had a blast.  It was a good way to end our dance year.  The school is year round but Jess likes taking a break in the summer; we'd be missing half the sessions when we go away (cruise, NY, picking Jason up at camp); and the thought of walking in the heat, climbing 3 flights of stairs and sitting in an unairconditioned hallway makes my lungs hurt. 

Baby Shower Gift

I have been waiting for someone to have a baby shower since I saw this craft in Woman's World Magazine. The neighborhood threw a shower for a neighbor last weekend.  Jess and I weren't able to go because we already had plans to go to the Dragon Boat Festival in Cambridge but I made the bear on a motorcycle diaper cake and dropped it off at a friend's to bring to the shower.  I love the way it turned out!!!

 

Jason's Confirmation
Jason was confirmed on Pentecost Sunday.  It was a beautiful day.  I had asked Jason if he needed to bring his speech but he said no, that Pastor had it.  Wrong!  He did a good job of adlibbing.  My honest child started his speech with "I don't like getting up early on Sundays...."  Tell it like it is, dear.  He went on to say that he did get up because he works the soundboard at church as a way of working for Jesus because it makes the service sound better.  After the service, Pastor confirmed with him that he will be continuing to do the soundboard even though he doesn't have to go to Sunday school any longer.   After the church service, we had a luncheon at our house.  It was wonderful to spend time with friends and family, especially those we don't get to see often.

                                              Jason's confirmation class

                                                        My cake for our party

                                                   Jess with red on for Pentecost Sunday

                                      A rare sight - Jason in khakis, dress shirt, and tie.  He was going to wear cargo shorts and a short sleeve button shirt but he has an 8th grade dinner dance that he has to dress up for so the clothes are doing double duty (actually triple duty since he'll be wearing them for his graduation as well)

                                       Our church decorated for Pentecost Sunday with a guest oboeist

                                           The children processing in

                                               Jason doing a reading

                                                   Jason doing his speech

                                        Jess with cousins Maya and Bobby

                                                   Jess with cousins Peter and Maya

                                              Jess and Bobby

                                                  Jess and Cousin John, Baby Cousin John, and Aunt Edie

                                           Jason with Cousin Matthew

                                          Jason with the Cross he received from Thrivent