Potluck and parties

Last weekend we had a potluck birthday party for a good friend of mine, Allison's, birthday. We invited several families over and everyone brought a vegan dish. I made a chocolate cake. Most families were vegetarians and all agreed the food was amazing. There were about 11 kids, 3 babies, and 7 couples--lots of people eating and playing in one house. The kids kept themselves busy between the playroom and the girls room. They also put on a show starring Ellen as little red riding hood and Daniel as the big bad wolf. Some of the other kids had parts like woodcutter, sound effects, grandmother, and narrator. Four of the girls spent the night at our house for a sleep over.
Playing dress up.

The food table at the beginning of the night.

The little red riding hood show was done totally by the kids. Daniel was just told what to do! He was a great wolf pretending to be grandmother:)

Pillow fight. Daniel on the bottom.
Getting ready for bed. Two 3 year olds, two 5 year olds, a 6 year old and an 8 year old.

So last night the girls spent the night at their (sisters Bryanna, Rose, and Sylvia) house. It was the first time Arianna has ever stayed away over night. I was nervous. I have had thoughts over the years that I couldn't wait till the days they were old enough to spend the night with friends and give us the night off. But when the time came I really missed them. It felt very different in the house. We enjoyed it though. We used a gift card to go see a movie, had dinner alone, and then woke up to a quiet house. I went to get them this morning around 10:30. They had a wonderful time and didn't even want to come home. I appreciate having them home even more now:) At least that's the way I feel today.


These next pictures are from the girls' taking pictures of themselves. I love uploading pictures when they've had the camera. It's fun to see things from their perspective.



This last shot is of our papermaking project. We got a kit from Mimi for Christmas. We mixed up old paper in the blender with some water, added some dried flowers, poured the pulp over a screen then basically just let it dry. We ironed them out a little to speed up the drying process so this is the girls seeing the paper for the first time. After letting the paper dry we used it for Arianna's birthday invitations. She'll be turning 5 on February 9.