youtube.com: “Snow” from the movie White Christmas; daughter Stephanie quoted this song on Facebook the other day and reminded me how hilarious the words are.
“I wanna wash my hands, my face and hair in snow.”
Thank-you, Jesus, the snow has finally subsided and the meltdown begins. By 4 pm today huge sheets of thick, heavy, wet snow were sliding off the roof in loud splats, scaring my big-fat-chicken dog. The sun re-emerged and made me very happy.
I never heard the official numbers for my city, but my own {highly scientific, I am certain} measuring says we got 13 1/2″. I know this partly because I left my 12″ ruler in place at 10 pm the first night where the measurement said 9.25″ and the next morning, it had disappeared. I had to pull out a yard stick. Dessa’s neighborhood got more than a foot and a half of snow.
If some one really is excited, as the song says, “to see a great big man entirely made of snow,” now would be the time.
pictured: snow measurement first thing Thursday morning; a huge pot of chicken and dumplings which Jovan had fortuitously requested for her family birthday party meal, as well as a balloon snowman Tredessa fashioned and Averi enjoying a piece of the very moist and dense triple-layered pumpkin spice cake with that cream cheese icing you could just die for. Hot comfort food on cold days: good!
We got together over the weekend to celebrate Stormie’s birthday, just the fam. She didn’t know it, but we decided we’d do a Twilight – themed party since Stormie loves the books and movie by Stephanie Meyer so much.
There were pepper, onion and roast-beef stuffed chimichangas along with cilantro-lime rice and all the other fixings. Tara made her excellent guacamole while Rocky and Jovan served us sizzling sausage and cheese-stuffed jalapenos, “poppers” as they should be. Food everywhere! No special cake, but as Stormie requested, her usual fruit pizza.
The movie soundtrack provided the musical backdrop, and naturally the flick was playing continuously for ambiance. There were red apples (see the book cover), red ribbons and chess pieces (Stephanie-the-daughter is in to the details), quotes everywhere (oh, how our family loves movie quotes!), and Tara painted a black sheet with the title. We used it as a backdrop for some silly pictures.
A Twilight-Movie Party Game
I “invented” a Twilight-Mad-Lib kind of thing. I asked each person to give me a noun, a thing of any sort AND to name a characteristic or physical attribute of Stormie’s. They didn’t know why, but then I used the line from the movie: “Your scent is like a drug to me…” and filled in people’s responses for Stormie. She got stuff like:
Your love is like a picture frame to me. (Cousin Elise)
Your heart is like an egg to me. (Nephew Hunter – reference to the Easter eggs he had just colored with his daddy)
Your chameleon-like hair is like a golf ball to me. (dad)
Your beautiful smile is like the Eiffel Tower to me. (Dave/DP)
Your buns are like the D-Note to me. (said by a certain ornery brother; the D-Note is a very hip indy-style restaurant where they do live music in Olde Town Arvada)
I wish I had thought to also ask them to name their own secret obsession, too, because I could’ve added from the rest of the quote: “Your scent is like a drug to me, my own personal brand of heroin.” Then Hunter’s might have read, “Your heart is like an egg to me, my own personal brand of candy.” And Jovan’s would probably have read: “Your eyes are like a shoe to me [which she really said]…my own personal brand of Edward Cullen!” Which, if you keep up on Jovan’s blog – you know she actually has her own personal brand of Edward!
Feel free to use “my” invented game at your next party! :]
Scenes from Twilight
A couple of the girls re-enacted their favorite neck-biting scene from the movie and everybody held an apple in their hands like the cover of the first book of the series, referenced then in the movie when Edward is talking to Bella at the school cafeteria salad bar. She accidentally knocked a very red apple down and he, with lightening-quick reflexes, kicks it back up, catching it in his hands. Fun!
Gavin fixed his own hair to look just like Edward’s and is already talking about being Edward for Halloween this year. Gemma thought if they were handing her an apple, she may as well eat it. Stephanie got shy about the neck-biting.
There was Easter stuff, too
There was an Easter-egg hunt for the Grand-bebes.
There was some Karaoke
No. Don’t even ask. I will not share the video of Dave and I reprising one of our greatest wedding-singing hits ever: Always by Atlantic Starr!
Last night we celebrated Guini-poo. She was in ponytails wearing a Little Mermaid dress with sparkly pink shoes when she graciously opened all her presents, layed the clothes aside without much thought, oohed and aahed over the fun stuff and then got the pink, shimmery bike with the glittery festooning and horn and took off riding, never to be heard from again.
She rode and she rode and she rode. Perhaps she stopped long enough for the Little Mermaid cake?
Since the day you were born, sweet Guinivere, I have always seen you as my little princess. So fitting that you love the Disney Princesses so and have landed on my personal favorite, Ariel. And it is kinda funny because you are the only Kelley kid who isn’t a red-head, but your princess-of-choice is one! (See Guini above as Ariel the Little Mermaid at the Fall Harvest Fest -sometimes known as Halloween – shhhh…).
To know you is to love you, Guini-muggins. But to know you takes thought and patience and time. In the crowd, you are quiet and self-sufficient, but get you alone and the true powerhouse, chatterbox comes out. At three, you already know your own mind. You are sweet and sensitive, sassy and silly. You are smart and singular in purpose. But my favorite part of you: the singer, as you belt out the song of the Lord.
A few weeks ago, just you and me on a Saturday evening watching the most gorgeous purple and orange sunset of the summer, your little song of the Lord began to rise. And as we stood, arms raised toward heaven, I know the whole neighborhood heard your unabashed worship, it would have been impossible not to, as you sang from the deep place in your heart with your loudest voice over and over and over:
He loves us, O how He loves us!
He does love us, Guini. And He loves you and He is going to use your strong passion to declare it! I am watching, giddy with excitement!
Happy Birthday, my Guinivere!…Nonna
NOTE TO SELF: More one on one time with Guini.
pictured: Guini, “Under the sea” and Guini as Ariel; Guini with the Little Mermaid beach towel and the bean bags game, both handcrafted for her with love from Aunt Stormie!
