Whacking the Jabberwocky

Last weekend we went to a birthday party the day after we got home from the beach.  The party was a Alice in Wonderland/costume party.  Having just gotten home from the beach we mustered the following costumes: Rachel = fairy wings and fairy dust in her hair.  Debra = England shirt and Mad Hatter hat. Asher = The cat in the hat (modified for summer meaning black shorts rather than black sweat pants). Chiara = lady bug. 

We had a lot of fun at the party and the kids got to whack the jabberwocky piñata (2 turns each because Asher was the cut-off for the "little kids" before the "big kids" killed it). 

More Party Pictures

One of our party guests, Monica, brought her camera. She is the same friend who took our wonderful family photos last year. And these pictures from the party are wonderful.

Chiara doing experiments:


Asher and other kids doing experiments:




Ash blowing out the candle:


Everyone enjoying the beautiful weather:

Asher's Birthday Party

We had Asher's birthday party on Saturday. We planned a small guest list, letting Ash choose the invitees (he chose just the "big kids" (each of whom has a baby sibling) and cousins). Unfortunately, if you only have 6 kids and 3 babies coming to a party and one family gets sick removing 2 kids and a baby, that is a very small party. Of course, Asher being Asher small is fine with him although he was sad that Molly and Leah couldn't come.

For months Asher has said that he wanted his cake to be a portrait of himself which I think was a little daunting to Rachel. Then a few weeks ago he decided he wanted a trampoline cake and here it is:


Asher requested singing and cake early so we complied. I like Avelyn's bow. No really, it's a bow off a present.


Chiara apparently wanted to pose for pictures near the food (spanakopita, baba ganoush, hummus, pita, grapes, oranges, cheese, & crackers). Note how she's letting Joey hold her without screaming:


Ash opened presents and one of them was a fruit clock which Joey, Asher, and Owen got working.


It was a great party and we can't believe our little boy is five already.

Halloween Party 2008

We had our annual Halloween party Saturday. It was a pretty low-key affair but we had lots of friends in costumes and good food. I made corn chowder from the Year of Crockpotting website but I used vegetable broth rather than chicken of course and also tossed in a can of diced chilies. I think that everyone enjoyed the chowder (except perhaps myself and Molly). Other than that we had cheese and crackers, fruit, and pumpkin cupcakes which Asher helped make.


Asher reprised his Stuart Little costume and didn't want to take it off all day even when the party was over. Chiara was Pebbles once again and I broke out my costume - note the hockey jersey, baby, and lipstick. Got it?


Will brought Avelyn and Keegan who didn't want to put on his costume but finally did just so I could take a picture.



Owen was a football player, specifically Colt McCoy (he said) and he and Asher really got into playing trampoline.


Maggie, Jay, Molly, Leah, and Dylan came up from Houston as well. Molly was Tinkerbell, Leah was Belle, and Dylan was a spider but I didn't get a single good picture of him.


Daniel reprised Asher's dragon costume and Joey showed up as the big dragon.



And we were thrilled to have Angelique and Jayden eat the bottoms of a few cupcakes.

It was an awesome party.

Adoption Party (er... Open house)

Yesterday we had the Party (ok, Open House) for Chiara's second parent adoption. Basically was wanted to have an Open House to make it less presurey for people to show up at a certain time and leave at a certain time. But most people showed up near the beginning and stayed quite a while which was really great. Some of our guests we hadn't seen in quite a while (including a few who hadn't met Chiara yet which says that we need to socialize more).

So in no particular order. We had food (of course): egg casseroles, chocolate chip cookies, crudites, chips, and some really great natural-good-for-you cupcakes that the Sullivans brought but that I didn't take a picture of:



For entertainment, we had toys indoors of course, fantastic conversation and the slip n'slide and kiddie pool outside.



Owen looked great on the slip n' slide (Have a great first day of school, Owen!).



And Monica, Owen, and Willow had a lot of fun in the kiddie pool. Later Owen, Asher, (and then Charlotte and Ezra but I didn't get pictures of them) played a very complicated game of golfbaseballtrampoline. I went out and put a kibosh on the golf/trampoline part but I think that was for the best.


Monica, Willow, Owen, Molly, and Leah look like they're having an fun discussion.



The Libba and Liam half of Team Letton-McCabe



A few group shots of (if I spot everyone here) Willow, Joey, Karen, Robin, Rachel, Chiara, Ezra, Vickie, Tash, Wylie, LD, David.


And normally I wouldn't post both of these pictures but I think it's worth of posting or perhaps contacting Guinness that LD had her eyes open for two straight pictures. What are the odds? Perhaps the hat is a special eye opening magic hat.