Wednesday, January 31, 2018

January Recap

The Christmas decorations were gone before the New Year started - for the first time ever.  We had a low-key Christmas, and a lower-key New Years.  We spent a lot of time clearing stuff out this month.  Clearing the clutter, minimizing, whatever you want to call it.  I went from 3 bins of Christmas decorations to 2 bins.  Cleaned out more clothes.  Went through a lot of stuff and just got rid of it.  Burned old documents, donated usable stuff to the Veterans, and have a box of stuff we will attempt to sell.

We had a lot of snow this year - and low, low temperatures.  Below zero and single digits for a couple of weeks.  I worked from home - no way was I getting out in that stuff.  I also got the flu - not as bad as last year, and not as bad as some others.  I was down for a week.  Jeff got it too, but his only lasted a few days.  Conor was spared the flu, but he sprained his ankle at the Y in the middle of the month.  It wasn't pretty.  It looked worse as it healed:


We celebrated Jack's birthday - the first since his passing.  Molly and I, along with our families, took food and dessert to Mom's house to be with her.  It was good to spend time together.

Jeff, Conor, and I started a Harry Potter marathon, complete with Butter Beer. However, we did not finish - we still have both of the 7th movies to watch. 



Of course Rylee's birthday was celebrated with a party as well. That's already posted. 

The very best part of the month was that Jeff got a job!  After nearly a year of part time contractor work, he started a full time job on January 29th.

2018 is off to a good start - the rest of the year is promising.  :)

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Rylee's Birthday

Miss Rylee turned 5 this year and she chose a My Little Pony Birthday cake.  I rarely work with fondant because it tastes bad and I don't like it.  However, I couldn't find a rainbow suitable for the cake.  So I found a marshmallow fondant that I could make and worked with it to make the rainbow.  It tasted good - well, like sugar.  Better than regular fondant.  It was the hardest part of the cake.


I took the cakes to the party local to assemble and the girls both helped me put the decorations on.  They didn't leave room for me to write her name, so that is why there are two spots that look different colors - I had to put the icing to fill in the holes from the ponies being put there.  


Lily put the decorations on the cupcakes - it was her idea to stand them up like that and they looked great.  I would have just placed them on - so maybe she'll have a knack for decorating.  


Rylee is a ham for the camera - she always poses and looks cute.  :)





We had pizza and a pinata and silly string... what else could a girl want for her 5 year old party?


She got lots of clothes and toys and candy.  


The pinata was a little hard for a 5 year old to break.  Conor was the one who finally broke it so the candy fell out.  


The girls gathered their candy and then the silly string fun began.


It turned into a "spray the birthday girl" theme and she had it trailing behind her.


Rylee put party hats on everyone - even Conor.  


Jaxon wore his for about 30 seconds, but I got a picture in that time.  :)


Pops and the girls gathered in Rylee's room to play with some of her toys.  They made their own scented markers to color with.  


And I got baby snuggles for an hour.  <3 p="">

I love this video.  I watch it often, it makes me smile and just a little bit tired (the yawn).


And a great time was had by all!  Happy birthday my sweet, energetic girl.  <3 p="">