Catch up

OKay - so February is finally over and it appears that although there is plenty on the calender, that life is starting to slow down. So, this is my chance to update everyone on the fun we had this past month. The beginning was mostly planning and trying to stay ahead of the game, then my birthday rolled around. We had a really nice dinner out with friends and Wendy made me a very delicious chocolate cake :) The boys bought me a super soft body pillow and cool plastic glasses (I love drinking out of plastic glasses, is very retro Pizza Hut in my head). Sam bought me a beautiful pendant from my QVC wish list. I love it! :) Then it was full speed ahead to Jesse's birthday.

The party was incredible. We had a great crowd filled with family and friends - all who showed us great support in our journey to bring Jesse home. I don't think he realized everyone was there for him and when Happy Birthday was sung he wilted into my arms. And we should have practiced blowing out the candles - I think he thought I was going to drop him into the cake. It just never occurred to me. But playing and socializing with everyone he thought was great. We served delicious Thai food (which I really should have ordered more of) and bagels with cream cheese. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves - and having so many kids (nearly 20 between the ages of 2-14) made it a lot of fun all around. Jesse loved opening his presents! He kept yelling "presents" every time someone new arrived at the party with a shiny package. It was really hard on Ian, being this was his first experience where someone else got all the presents, but he got over it the next day and since he gets to play with everything anyway......

On his actually birthday (the day ofter his party) we opened more presents and went to dinner. Again, I'm not sure he really grasp the whole thing but we kept reminding him it was his special day. I'm sure he'll catch on by next year.

After all the craziness, I thought it would be fun for a field trip to museum - there was a new Clifford, The Big Red Dog exhibit we still hadn't seen. Here is Ian hamming it up with Emily Elizabeth (who is sitting on Clifford foot). The whole thing is really great if you're familiar with the cartoon and the books. Everything looked exactly the same - and Clifford himself I think was over 8 feet tall.
Then I got some me time and went to a jewelry "class". It was more like rented space in a bead shop, but the owner did teach me a few tricks and showed me all the materials I needed. I had bought a few beads ahead of time and just supplemented with accents from the shop. I"m so super proud of my bracelet I made - I've worn it for 3 days in a row :) Here's a picture at my first attempt at jewelry design and making. Let me know what you think.