My 40th Birthday!

This year I turned the big 40!  I got to celebrate my birthday twice, once with a birthday cake for breakfast on November 3rd.

Then, Billy threw me a murder mystery party the weekend after!!!!  As if it couldn't get any better, Erin Elise flew all the way up to come celebrate with me!!!!!!

The twins loved having her here!

 

She even made sure I had a fancy cake with enough candles to catch the house on fire. lol.

It was set in Sherlock Holmes' London. We had a few people that had signed up to come cancel at the last minute, so we brough in some of the younger generation to play a part too!  A few of us had to switch roles, since we were lacking men, so I was actually 'arland the train conductor (hence the hat and tie.)

Everyone played their part so well, it was amazing!!!  In this company's mystery not only is there a murderer, but also a victim!!

I had a ball, and Billy even got some Chick-fil-a for our food spread.  It was just perfect!

That's the end of my description of the party, but I am going to reveal the murderer below, so spoilers if you are planning to play Murder on Baker St. stop reading!

****spoilers ahead****

I got to be the murderer!!!!!!  = )  Poor Michaela was the victim...  she did a great job though!

Oh, and here's a cute bonus picture of Juliet who made up some sparkling grape juice with a cucumber garnish. ; )

later days

edit: backdated for continuity.

Crafts, Projects and Everything Else

The kids attended an Encanto party and have had the fever for sure.  It's died down a bit, but they still break out costume pieces every now and again. Here Emily is representing 9 characters!

My mom has been sending art to the kids.  When Grace colored the picture, Juliet wanted to give her bunny ears.  I told them it kind of looked like Juliet was holding the picture and Grace was giving herself bunny ears, so they wanted to pose that way too. = )

Grae wanted a rainbow of scrunchies in her hair.  We had to use a bamboo skewer, and some anchor hair ties, but we got it to stand without her having to hold it!

In the mornings, when I turn around, I'm sometimes surprised to see Emily already "awake." It's just her mask most mornings though. = )

Grace and Juliet sewed some slime ranch characters.  Juliet sewed the baby.

And Grace sewed the mommy.

Grace bought some balloons from one thrift store or another and made a kitty head. 

Speaking of kitty heads, we found a kitty head cookie cutter for 50 cents!!! I was so excited, because Alice wanted one for a project (and I wasn't willing to spend the $7 on amazon.)

Homemade ice cream sandwiches.  You have to bake a cake, thaw the ice cream and refreeze it, cut it and then freeze it all together.

I had an inspiration to embroider and sew some gifts for an upcoming birthday party, but when I went to turn on my old computer (which had been Billy's old computer) it would not start. = (  I fought it for a day, and then asked Billy to look at it.  When he made no progress, it went to Sarah.  She's my final stop and when she said she couldn't get it working, I had to give it up.  

The reason the computer was so important was because of how old the software is.  When I tried installing it and running it on Billy's old computer it gave me all sorts of errors. = (

Sarah was able to locate an update for me, and after a couple of hours of uninstalling and reinstalling the software and updates, I was finally met with success!!  

I didn't turn anything off until I finished all of the embroidery I wanted to do, just in case something broke upon restart.  Beautiful, beautiful pieces ready to assemble and sew.

I was so happy to complete this project.  = )

A Few days later, I was looking at some of the strap that I had cut to shorten the shoulder bags, and was struck with inspiration to transform them into cord organizers!  They came out super cute, and I even sent one to Erin Elise when I finished hand sewing the buttons. 

Grace lost her front tooth on St. Patick's Day!

Grace, Juliet and Emily have all shown quite an interest in sewing, so I let them use my machine whenever I'm not in the midst of a project.

I've also started braiding some old clothes into the beginnings of a rag rug.  It's going to take a long time to collect enough rags at our current rate, but I am liking how it looks so far. = )

When Russia attacked Ukraine the only thing I "panic bought" was cocoa.  Giant ones, just in case, I really don't want to be out of chocolate. 

Grace and Juliet spent one evening making BFF necklaces for each other and smaller ones for their dolls.  It was very sweet. = )

I think that catches up my poor neglected blog, at least for the time being.

later days

Lots of Snow and a Few Other Happenings

 Snow in the morning of 2-6. 

Snow in the morning of 2-5, after Emily stood the truck on the existing layer of snow the day before.  This was enough of a weather event that many of the schools in the area had a snow day.  Even the kids' designate district, who is 100% virtual still, had one! lol

Took down Billy's birthday banner, to make room for our Lunar New Year Banner.  It's the year of the ox.  I offered the letters up to people, so they could make up their own holidays:

Happy Brady Diddy Hat
or
A Paddy Had By Dry Pith
or
Thy Dab Dad A Dry Hippy

But for some reason, no one took me up on it?  So into the recycling they went.

Erin Elise sent me this adorable deal to adorn my tea cup!  The kids made up a tale about it as soon as they noticed.  Anything to avoid schoolwork....

As a Valentine's "gift" we got the kids new tablets.  It was quite the endeavor to replace them all at once.  Alice is still reconciling the change, but the other four were really excited.  I cleaned up their old ones and sold or gave them away.  = )  

They've all really enjoyed video chatting with their friends on their new tablets!

It is Paczki Season!  I bought two boxes from carl's when I saw them. Chocolate/cream and Powdered Sugar/Strawberry.  Both were really tasty!

Each time it snows, it seems that they build a new hill.  They've also added to this one several times, but there are multiple hills all over the yard.

Snow on 1-26

Juliet got a letter from her friend, Kennedy, she was super excited!

Grace's friend Zoey also moved into a new home.  We went out to deliver her a valentine and drop off a house warming gift.  They live a little further away now, so she will be in a new district.  Grace was very sad. = (  We will still try to get them together, once it is safe!

later days

We Spend Cold Days Indoors, Mostly

Bernie Sanders memes are a thing ever since the inauguration, and they are hitting all my fandoms.  People are so talented and so funny.

Emily and Grace dressed up as "wildlings:"

School is still virtual for the district that the kids would attend, but even if it weren't, this, somehow, would not be a snow day!? = 0

In a book about Jamestown Colony, the narrator was talking about making berry ink.  Since the science experiment was in an alternate book, Alice, Emily (and William too!) made berry ink as our "science" time today.  I don't know what type of berries they were, but they squished up nicely since they've been out in freezing temperatures for a couple of months now!

Spider boy!

Mermaid Bobble Head Juliet:

I finally put the seam binding on another pair of oven mitts for a friend's housewarming gift!

And more snow!

Erin Elise and I decided to make each other "mystery decals" for one another.  These are the ones I made her, because I couldn't decide what she would like best.  Her cup is shiny purple. = )

And, while I had my machine out, I also made some labels for some of my dry stores.

One of my friends posted these containers, for free! = 0, on her page, and I went to pick them up after my grocery pick up on Sunday.  I was so excited to use them, I even hand washed and dried them so that I could use them the same day! = )

We've been doing what we can to stay warm.  We've really been enjoying our homeschool curriculum.  It's hard to believe that we are just a couple of weeks away from our 2nd round of exams!

later days