Ocean Dinner

 

Mara had an ocean themed dinner for us!  She decorated our basement with homemade jelly fish, seaweed, a blowup seahorse an ocean themed window, ocean screen-saver on our computer, and ocean sounds.

 

She made clams with vanilla wafers, peanut butter, and a marshmallow for a pearl.

She made stuffed shells for our main course.  Very Yummy.

A killer whale out of a cucumber ...

Some sides were:  goldfish crackers, oyster crackers, and life savers.

 You can't really see, but Cody wore his Sponge Bob pajamas for the dinner.  We also had a refreshing blue Gatorade sherbet float to drink.

Photography Party

For one of Mara's recent parties for the family, she created these candle photos.  The theme of her party was photography.  She used these photo lights as center pieces for our dinner table.  She printed photos on vellum paper and then used popsicle sticks that she painted to make a 3-sided photo holder.  Inside each photo holder she placed a battery operated tea light to make the photos glow.  We loved them.

 

She made a fancy dinner:  chicken marsala, lemon butter asparagus, rice pilaf, and for dessert a mocha parfait.  It was delicious.  (We had dinner after Cody went to bed so it was slightly more relaxing.)  Then we all did a photo scavenger hunt and had fun sharing the photos.

 



Mara's Mystery Party and Brunch

Mara's most recent party was a Mystery Party for the family.  She contrived a whole story of a party gone awry when someone at the cake for the party.  She made clues all around the house.  She used cards from the game Guess Who as characters for her story.  She wrote bios that she read to us that included clues to follow to determine Who Ate the Cake!  She even had a sound track to listen to with clues on it.

So, when our family came home from an outing (we thought we were coming to some kind of party), Mara informed us all that we had a mystery to solve.

It was so much fun!  She did a great job with her story and plans.  And her party included decorations (crime tape around the table where the cake disappeared) and yummy food to eat.

I am so thankful for these family memories that Mara is making for us.

This last weekend she also made a Spring Brunch for us - making us homemade bagels, oatmeal muffins and Summer Berry Smoothies (with our Tealightful Tea, Summer Berries).

Mara's Candy

Mara made delicious candy for us on Halloween!  Homemade candy corn and ghost meringues!  She used several different extracts to flavor the meringues - mint, vanilla, coconut, almond, and more. 

Cody at 2 Years Old!

He started the morning with Mara's raspberry sorbet - one of his favorites!

 Sweet Cody at two!  My little baby is growing up.  I am going to have to soak up as much baby snuggles as I can get for as long as I can.  I love as the kids grow up, but I miss some of the special parts that they grow out of.  If only there was some way to capture and hold on to some.  You can take pictures of a sleeping little one, but how do you hold on to that sweet smell of your baby, the way they squeeze you tight, the soft voice that says, "I lub you mommy!", the excitement in their whole body when they are happy, the high squeal of delight, the warm little body sitting on your lap, the hand twirling your hair, the determination to do something all by themselves, the little songs they sing when the words aren't quite right - I could go on.

I've always thought it would be fun to have a day with little Kyle, Mara, or Lila again.  Silly me!

One of my favorite "Cody things" is when he wants to be picked up, he reaches his arms up and says, "Oh baby!"  I guess that must have started way back when he wanted up and I said, "Oh baby!"  I love it!  I hope it lasts a while longer!

Mara made him a basketball cake.

He liked the cake!

His favorite present was a guitar.  Now he can play guitar like Kyle.

 Linked with: Works for Me Wednesday, Raising Homemakers,  Miscellany Monday, The Better Mom, Beauty in His Grip, On Your Heart Tuesdays, Mommy Link-up!, Women Living Well, Hip Homeschool Hop, Flock Together Tuesday, Thankful Thursday, and Gratituesday.

Homestyle Camping

Our plans were to go camping at a state park in Vermont, but plans needed to be changed after we planned a big trip to Kansas and Colorado.  We just couldn't fit it all in the schedule.  So, we decided to just half camp at home.  We were too busy to even set up the tent in the backyard.  The kids did "camp out" downstairs in a homemade indoor tent.

Anyway, we enjoyed our favorite parts of camping:  the campfire, the marshmellows, the stories under the stars, the campfire dinner, early morning breakfast outside with the Coleman stove, hot chocolate, hot tang, pancakes and bacon, and family together time.

Bake Sale for Clean Water

A sweet wrap-up for our Clean Water Scattered Gifts.  Mara did a bake sale at our local homeschool curriculum sale.  She really put her heart into her baking.  And we raised enough money to give to Water of Life through Compassion so that some family can have a filter to clean their water.

She made cherry limeade cupcakes, chocolate coconut cupcakes, cinnamon chip scones, two kinds of donuts, mini smores, oreo brownies, and lemonade.  She had a lot of fun!

Fiesta Party by Mara

Homemade doughnuts

Homemade tortillas

Homemade chimis

Mara is getting better and better at her party planning and her delicious cooking!  Aren't we lucky!  She blogs about her party plans and recipes at Nutmeg's Notes.  She's a little behind on her blogging as she is trying to finish her school and be on summer vacation.  But check out her blog and check back over the summer!  Her food is delicious!

Also linked with Weekly Wrap-up and Hip Homeschool Hop,Works for Me Wednesday, Raising Homemakers, Wordless Wednesday, What We're Learning, and Friday Favorite Things.