Magical Tea Party

 I had planned Olivia's 4th Birthday Party for a few weeks and had everything lined up to have it when Marcus got back from all his travels.  Olivia is REALLY into Fancy Nancy right now.  Every week we get a new Fancy Nancy book from the library and we read it to her every night.  There was one of those books that was all about a tea party and Olivia requested a Fancy Tea Party for her Birthday Party!

 It took me two days of prep to get everything ready.  The bad timing part was that I was super sick and felt awful but I didn't want her to miss out on her party and she was so excited for it.  So I sanitized like crazy while preparing the food (sanitized myself, not the food!).   We had 10 kids over, mostly girls with a couple of boys that she plays with.
Everyone came in their fancy clothes and the boys had on button up shirts and ties.  They all looked so CUTE!

 I  baked and prepared a ton of food.  Some of which was these tea sandwiches.  The swirls I got from the Fancy Nancy Tea Party Extravaganza book.  You roll white bread with a rolling pin, smear with a red jam and roll up into a log.  Then cut it into discs.  They looked so pretty and dainty!

 We had classical music playing.  Marcus and I served everyone.  We explained to them all how to eat fancy, with your pinky raised.  Everyone was a Monsieur or Mademoiselle.  Marcus and I were dressed up to!

 For the rest of the food I had a fruit tray, pigs in a blanket, crudités platter and chocolate croissants.  Bianca does not like bread so it was cracking us up that she had a pile of croissants beside her.  She ripped them open, sucked out the chocolate and left the bread beside her plate.

 Group shot before we opened presents.  All these kids are such good friends of Olivia.  We are so lucky to have so many families where we live!  Olivia is never short of friends to play with and we feel so blessed.
Clockwise starting with the cutie in yellow... Payton, Olivia, Ellie, Taya, Bianca, Adellyn, Gabby, Kate, Otto, Va, Bella and Lucy!

 Bianca was sitting on the couch where we put the presents and was "inspecting" everything that Olivia opened.  She is so funny and tricksy!

 The happy birthday girl with all her loot!

 I made cupcakes and frosted them and used pink sprinkles Olivia picked out.  My baby girl is 4 YEARS OLD!

 She was so cute while we were singing to her.  She just kept giggling uncontrollably!

 After cupcakes all the kids just played until it was time to be picked up.  We had so much fun with all the princesses and princes that came to help celebrate Olivia's big day!

Also on a funny note.... Olivia got a lot of fun things for her Craft Time while Bianca naps.  Olivia can't say her F's in a word, she says them like P's.  So last night we took the girls out for Pho and the whole time we were in the restaurant Olivia kept asking her Daddy

"Daddy, can we please PLEASE play with my CRAPT's when we get home??"
"I really wanna play with my CRAPTS!"

I was dying!  First she was just calling it CRAPS but then when I tried to correct her

"Olivia you say it like CrafT's"

Then she just was really emphasizing the T along with the P.
I still bust up laughing when I think about it!

Sicko's.

Olivia had an ear infection and was sick within the first 24 hours of Marcus getting back.  I also came down with a fever at the same time.  Bianca has been teething and it has been just a mess of snot, coughing and crying around this joint.

Olivia woke up after only a few hours of sleep one night because of her ears (we had her on antibiotics the next day) so she came out and cuddled with me.  I was watching Willow and she watched part of it with me.  Probably not totally age appropriate for her but I LOVE that movie and I was way to into it to stop and switch to something different.  I blame it on my raging fever at the time too.

Marcus took this picture of us and I didn't really know why he was snapping it until I looked at it the next day.  I realized we both had been sitting there in the same position with our heads braced by our fists.  Like Mother, like Daughter!

Traveling Man

Marcus just got back from a 6 week immersion program at Seoul International University in Korea.  It was an amazing opportunity and an honor to be selected to go.  He was able to learn so much and has really been able to improve his speaking abilities!  We are so proud of him!

He was gone for Halloween and Thanksgiving which was kinda hard on me but at least he is home for Christmas and I am SURE that it won't be the last time we will be apart for a holiday.  We have so many great friends here and a  couple of us families just combined and did Thanksgiving altogether and had a really nice time.

Marcus had to hit the ground running when he got back because he has had a unit test this week over all new material plus cumulative testing to see how much they improved by going to Korea, as well as Olivia's birthday party on Tuesday and ALL three of his ladies bogged down with fevers and or teething. He is super jet lagged and exhausted but I doing all he can to help us.  I woke up to all my dishes done this morning!  He has to get up at 3:30 to get ready for his day and formations and took the time to clean the kitchen for me.  I love that man.  The way to a man's heart is through his stomach... The way to a woman's heart is through cleaning her kitchen!

SO GLAD to have my Marcus back!!

Makes my heart happy.

 When Helen was here we spent a magical day at the beach.  It was warm and sunny.  The waves were on the calmer side.  We ate a bucket of fried chicken.  It was perfect.  Helen was kind enough to send me a CD of the pictures she took with her awesome camera.

 When there are really special times that make you happy to bursting we call them making "your heart happy".  We haven't been able to see much of Marcus lately (something I will explain more of in a later post) and looking at these pictures of Daddy playing with his girls makes my heart happy.

 Being at the beach also makes my heart happy.  There is something so cleansing, so calming about watching waves crash upon the shore.

 Seeing my babies play in the sand, build their castles and dig their moats.  When they fly high in the air holding onto their Daddy's hands.

 Sometimes I have to pinch myself at how lucky we are to live here.  This is such a special little corner of the world.

It has been so much fun to have visitors and be able to show them all the beautiful things that we love about living here.

Puzzle Time

Auntie Helen brought each of the girls a little present when she came to visit.  Olivia's present was the Fancy Nancy puzzle.  Girlfriend LOVE her PUZZLES!  It has 100 pieces and Helen was sure it would be a little past what Olivia could do on her own.  We were shocked when she hunkered down and busted that puzzle out.  Picking up pieces and putting them where they go on the very first try without prompting.  She asks to do it over and over again.  Sometimes I help her and sometimes she just does it by herself.

This little lady is also in LOVE with Fancy Nancy things.  They are such fun books of this very fancy little girl and they have all kinds of fabulous words in them.... like iridescent, voilà, magnificent...Our library here has quite a few so we have been borrowing them each week.  Olivia always asks the librarian "Is it okay if I please may borrow these books?".  Then Bianca gives the librarian her books and says some intelligible words that mean the same thing.  Big sister is all about the fancy right now and I am loving it!

Friends

 We always manage to stay pretty busy around these parts.  I love having my house full of people and having friends over to play.  At least once a week I have a bunch of kids over for a big play date morning.  It normally starts with me watching one kid when my friend has an appointment or something and then I send out texts to a few of my other friends or Mom's who I think could use a break and invite their kids over.

 The kids have a blast and we have some kind of fun lunch altogether.  My kids get tired out and have a really relaxing afternoon after everyone leaves and I have an uplifted attitude after helping out some friends.

 Friendships are nurtured during these times....Olivia's bracelet from her home boy...

I love it that my kids love being home as much as they like it when we go out for adventures.  I can normally get some kind of deep cleaning done on something when everyone is playing.   I feel better, the kids feel better, the day goes by fast.  I always want our kids to love being at home and having kids come and play!

Halloween

We had a ton of fun over Halloween weekend.  The Friday before we went to our Ward's Trunk or Treat.      It was a ton of fun and we invited our friends to come with us.  Va (short for Vaisi...I am not sure if that spelling is right..)  is Olivia's little buddy.  We hit up the park with them quite a bit and Maria has a little baby girl that Olivia ADORES.  Whenever they come over, the first thing Olivia asks for is to hold Nanasi.  Va also made both my girls some bracelets and he calls them his "home girls" so Olivia calls him his "home boy".
Anyway, we had a ton of fun with them at the Trunk or Treat.  Olivia was dressed as Belle and Bianca was Princess Tiana.
On actual Halloween my neighbor and I took our kids out to trick or treat together.  We had so much fun and our kids love each other.  It was such a wonderful Halloween!