Back To School

For the kids, not me. And not quite. Another week and a half. But seeing as next weekend my mom and I will be cruising the Oregon coast, we did our party this weekend. And so following you will read the story and see the pictures. And Dad, there are food pictures, and there are kid pictures. And while I know you're only interested in one of the two of those categories (and I know it's not the food ones), you get to suffer through the category you don't like in order to get to the category you like :). Because I'm a mandemas. And what I say goes :). Also, this is somewhat of a song title post. So click here for a very short song. You will be rewarded. Especially you, Julie. Since I know you will recognize it :).

So as I was saying... We planned a little "Back To School" themed party for my family. Mostly for the kids. But the grown-ups like food, so it's always a win/win situation. We came up with a few ideas. Christina thought up finger sandwiches cut into various shapes they might learn in school. So we had some numbers, some letters, and a few shapes like hearts, stars, and circles. Along with a funky looking hand (it looks like a fist) and a baseball cap. We decided on gourmet sandwiches like pb&j and bologna and cheese. Because what kid hasn't taken those sandwiches in their lunchbox?

Mom came up with idea of "paste" that is actually fruit dip. But you know, every kid has probably eaten their share of paste or glue anyway. So I think it was very genius. And something that gets the kids to eat the healthy fruit is always good, right ;)? Although it was so funny. Benjamin wanted another "stick" (which you will see in a minute) and Brad told him to finish his fruit. He said he couldn't. And I looked at him and said, "Why can't you finish your fruit?" And he said, "Because it's disgusting." I laughed! The kid is four! Was the word disgusting in my vocabulary at age four?
Alphabet pasta salad. It's a bit fuzzy. And mostly you see a lot of O's in there, which are actually the ends of the elbow pasta rather than actual alphabet pasta. But the alphabet pasta is in there. It's just really really small. And this pasta salad used one of my cucumbers from my garden again. I do love this pasta salad recipe. Much thanks to Meemaw (Julie's mom) for a tried and true recipe :). Family, it's in the family cookbook.

More finger sandwiches. These are the pb&j ones. They didn't cut so well as far as the letters went. We think it was the jelly's fault. Oh! And if you want to hear a really cute cute cute song that will get stuck in your head, click here :). Nevermind. I think they removed it. Bummer.

Our unsharpened pretzel pencils in a pencil cup :). These are what the kids referred to as "sticks." Anyway, my mom and I made these. I think they turned out cute! My mom came up with the idea.

And here is the overall look at the food. And the trays. I found those at Target and they were too cute to pass up. I thought they were only $1, because I found them in what I thought was the $1 section. Turns out they also have $2.50 things there too. And that's what these were. But it was for the kids. And they were excited about it. So it was worth it. Girls had Disney Princesses and boys had Toy Story 3.

And here I am with two handsome boys: Benjamin and Samuel. Benjamin is 4 now and Samuel is 6 and will be going into 1st grade.

Here I am with Desiree. Desiree is 5 and will be starting Kindergarten this fall. She is excited.

Here are Samuel, Benjamin, and Desiree eating.

Here I am with Emily. Emily is 1 and a half and has lots of years still before she starts school. But she gets to party down too. And eat and take pictures with her mouth full.

Here are Christina and Emily. Emily was excited about her stick (or pretzel pencil).

Saria read Bartholomew and the Oobleck to the kids, and then Tarylyn made oobleck. It is cornstarch and water with green food coloring to turn it green. And this is the coolest stuff ever. It looks liquid, but it's a solid the second you touch it. But if you put it in your hand and just lay your hand flat, it turns liquidy again. It's wild. I played in the oobleck a lot. This is my hand.

For dessert we had school bus banana splits. Some people had short buses. Saria was my big helper. She peopled the buses with gummy bears (thanks to Tarylyn for that idea). Oreo cookies were the wheels on the bus. And I don't care if bananas aren't really yellow. Their peels are. And they are always thought of as yellow. And it was a fun idea.

And here I am with Saria. Saria is 9 this year, and will be going into the 3rd grade. She reads way above her grade and age level. You can't tell it from this picture, but Saria was wearing an Auburn University t-shirt. I asked her what she was doing wearing that when her favorite Aunt Hila went to the University of Alabama ;). Nah, I'm kidding. I don't really care. But her t-shirt did kind of clash with my UA crocs ;). Courtesy of Elka (the crocs, not the shirt!).

And by the end of the evening, I was tired! But there is always time for one more picture with 3 of my most favorite people in the world. Aren't they cute?

So I got back to where I am house-sitting. And I got a shower. And played on the internet. And then I had to make a chocolate eclair cake to take to Lea's tomorrow for our Monday night feast. And really, I didn't even want to think about that chocolate eclair cake. Don't get me wrong, it's a fabulous dessert. But it didn't even sound appetizing after everything I'd already eaten! Ugh! And now it's midnight. And tomorrow morning will come bright and early. So I must go for now. One note, though.... It's taken me almost 3 years, but I finally figured out the smart way to load pictures into here and have them where you want them with little effort... You load them first and type around them! So sad that I didn't piece that together a long time ago...