Jackson's Yellow Belt Promotion

I'm so proud of my little karate kid. He's been working hard over the last few months and had really been dedicated to improving his form & technique. 

He's memorize all four of the student creeds. He practices at home almost everyday.

He's a great example to the other students and his instructor often points him out in class for his good form. He will be applying for Black Belt Leadership soon; where he will get to train with weapons, help lead the class with the harder moves & and get a blue Gi.

I hope he sticks with karate, I can see him going far. First competition is coming up in May; he is both excited and nervous. As soon as we got home, we put his certificate in a frame on his wall. Jackson wanted to take all his posters off his walls (spider-man & various movie characters) so the only thing is his certificate. I made one of his favorite dinners (creamy pesto over pasta with sauteed mushrooms) to celebrate and opened a bottle of sparkling cider to cheers to his accomplishment.

I was getting ready for work this morning and Jackson walked in and said, "Mom, today is going to be a good day". It made me smile. He knew he was getting his report card today; which by the way had ALL A's!! He also had a spelling test, which he knew he was going to get 100%, belt promotion later that night, and it's the weekend. He was so cute.

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Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

• A sneak peak of Spring in the middle of winter
• It snowing but not sticking to the roads
• Projects going more smoothly than I anticipated
• Kind drivers
• Jackson doing so well in Karate
• A nice house to live in
• Hair dryers & flat irons
• Mangoes. They are delicious
• Organic milk
• The ability to just watch my kids play & enjoy life

A Few of my favorite things.

(In no particular order)

#1 Lip Gloss. I've never been a lipstick girl. I like just a light hint of pink. My lips feel naked without it.

#2 Xbox with Netflix. Xbox in general is great. Fun time with the kids or just 'me' time with my friends online after the kids are tucked snuggly into bed. But, watching movies whenever we want has been great. I've watched a lot more documentaries since I have them at my fingertips.

#3 Big fluffy towels. I love bath sheets. They are so luxurious. It feels like I'm at the spa every time I step out of the shower.

#4 Food Processor - Which I got from my Mom for Chrismas. I've used it for everything from shredding cheese to mixing up cake batter & making brushetta. It gets used multiple times per week and I love it.

#5 Necklace - Which I got from Rusty for Christmas. I got a ring with my kids names engraved at the art festival last summer. I completely loved it.  It was just made out of coconut, so it eventually broke, and I was actually quite sad. Knowing how much I like necklaces, Rusty gave me a heart shaped pendant with, not only my kids names engraved, but with their birthstones as well.

#6 Tea Kettle. Induction, boils an entire kettle of water in about one minute. Awesome.

#7 Linen Spray. A little mist of fragrance on my pillow. It's so relaxing to snuggle into a comfy bed with fluffy pillows & comforters after a long day, but even better to have a hint of lavender or eucalyptus & lemon to help lull you to sleep.

#8 Camera - From my Brother for Christmas. My camera died last summer and I didn't replace it because my phone has an 8 mega pixel camera on it. I was so shocked to unwrap his gift only to find new Canon. Oh how I have missed my Macro setting. I really do love you. Aslo, being able to adjust the shutter & apature speed is something a phone camera just cannot do.

#9 Cell Phone. The Droid Incredible. It does everything from GPS to grocery lists. Honestly is incredible.

Bountiful Basket

Jackson got up and came with me this week. He's always good company and a great helper since we got extra things this week. The girls were still asleep from Ash's sleepover. This week's basket had some new items! It's exciting to see new things in the baskets. I also ordered a box of mangoes (which Ash LOVES) and a bag of Tropical Granola (with some dried tropical fruits & macadamia nuts -yum!). Last time we got the granola, it was gone within a couple days!

• Carrots
• Yellow squash
• Spinach
• Yams
• Cabbage
• Jerusalem Artichoke
• Mangoes
• Forelle Pears
• Bananas
• Apples
• Strawberries
• Cantaloupe

We bought a dozen doughnuts for the girls, while we were out, since that's what Ash wanted for breakfast. But I cut up some of the cantaloupe, apples, strawberries & mangoes to put out on a platter for the girls also and they ate all of it. Great combo.. fresh fruit and doughnuts. Haha

The entire bag of carrots and most of the spinach and apples are already gone! They have made some delicious juice.

Ashleigh's 13th Birthday Party

It was only fitting to have a Zebra print themed party this year since Miss Ashleigh is crazy about everything Zebra. I made her invitations and put a little glitter on the lights on the chandelier after I printed them. She was thrilled. I had an idea in my head for her cake and I was nervous about making it, for weeks. Not only was it my first time using fondant frosting, but I made it from scratch as well. Start to finish, it took five hours.

One of Ashleigh's guests hadn't been to our house before, and since the party started at 7 PM, we wanted our house to be easy to find. We put a bunch a balloons out in the front yard and pointed a couple landscape lights on them.

Thankfully I got Friday off work, since we had a lot to do. The house looked "fabulous".

 In addition to goodie bags for her guests (with glow sticks, silly bands, funky watches & personally made pair of button earings) We had a bowl full of fun props (for a photo shoot). The mustaches were a favorite! Jackson tried one on before the party and this picture of him still cracks me up every time I see it.

I wanted to have a punch fountain & a chocolate fountain at her party but didn't say anything to her until I actually got them. I didn't want her to be disappointed if it didn't work out. It was the day before her party that we got them and she was literally jumping up and down when she found out. The fountains were a hit!

The trampoline was covered with at least 50 balloons. They had so much fun jumping with them all night. Of course they would scream every time one popped...and it was never just the one that popped the balloon but all four of them. (I think they just liked the excuse to scream). Haha

 Glow sticks!

The Pièce de résistance!!

Complete with pink sparkler candles

Singing "Happy Birthday"

Make a wish!

The inside of the cake was zebra also because I layered the cake batter. Ashleigh dipped a bite of her cake into the chocolate fountain. Along with other random things throughout the night, like spicy chips.

Then gifts

Hangin' out and being silly through the wee hours of the morning.

Morning

I'm not sure I've ever heard more laughing and giggling in a 18 hour time span. Her guests were very polite and thoughtful. They were all great. I dropped them all of at the mall for a few hours, after lunch,and they went home just before 5 PM. An awesome party for an awesome girl. And, I'm exhausted. Haha