fun stuff.

we do stuff.
it's always a party at our house.
last weekend was busy, but so fun.
first we had tons of kids here on Friday
(i let the kids invite friends over Friday afterschool... that plus neighbors equal a lot of friends)
i usually invite a couple of families over on Friday night for dinner and games.
Friday is my favorite for friend-time.
a few weeks ago we celebrated Ellie's best friend, Bandera's, birthday.  That night we had the Ure's, Samson's, Parkers, our friends Claudia and Adrian, and the Sister Missionaries stopped by.  I had seen this fun recipe for potstickers so i fried some up.  It was really fun and yummy.  Bandera's mom brought fried rice.  TON'S OF FRIED RICE.  It fed my family for a week!!  We still joke about that.  If ever there is a famine, I'm heading over to the Samson's for RICE!!

 i LOVE friends on Friday!!  and, i can kinda sleep in on Saturday.
mmm.  those pictures make me want pot stickers again!  here is the link where i learned how to make them.

Saturday we do projects.
last Saturday i did a big shopping trip... lots of stores.
and, Saturday night we celebrated the Chinesse New Year.
There was a big show up on campus and afterwards a free chinesse dinner.
it was crazy (with our big family) but, fun.
and, hopefully, memorable.
Jakob got choosen to play a charade game on stage and him and his cute college-kid partner WON!!

Sunday morning we HEART-ATTACKED our favorite neighbor, Mr. Bill's, door.
The kids had so much fun cutting out hearts, writing sweet valentine's on them, and stealthily taping them all to his door.
(They were aiming for it to be a surprise... even though he is VERY hard of hearing, I'm not sure they were able to pull it off!)  we sure love this man.

Sunday night we had a couple of our good friends (McCombs and Samson's) over for Valentine's Dinner.
it was pink... but not anything amazing.
i didn't get a picture, but i just did dumb things like write X's and O's on the rolls, put almonds and craisins in the green beans, made pinkish steak for adults, shaped little meatloafs into hearts for the kids, and my friend brought pink mashed potatoes.  i made heart-peanut butter cookies and two heart decorated pies with pink ice cream.  i actually had my texas-cowgirl friend, Jennifer, come to dinner early to COOK the steaks for us... isn't that horrible of me?  she did a MUCH BETTER job than i ever have.  mmmm.  i love steak.  ps-- i accidently dumped a LOT of cinnamon in my apple pie-- it was NASTY.  and, people still ate it (or tried to feed it to their kids).  i warned them, but everyone was too nice to admit how gross it was.

and, on Monday night we had one of our favorite Lubbock families (Merrill's) over for Family Night.  Once again I mooched.  I told them I'd cook dinner if THEY'D teach my kids a lesson-- on the Sacrament.  I'm still not sure how to keep my active bunch reverent for an extended period of time, but I think it is just continuing to teach them again, and again, and again.   So, we had fun.  I always learn stuff from the Merrill's.   
(i wanted to make a themed-meal for Monday night, but the Merrill's have teenage boys, so we settled on "What Jesus would have eaten if he went to Mexico"-- enchiladas, rice and salad, with Italian Soda (thanks Aunt Mil!)  it was fun.  and, have i told you how much i love teenagers?  love them.  i love that my kids have these kids to look up to... i hope they grow up to be just like them.

and.  that was our life last weekend.  now... on to this weekend.
we do have grand plans, but no company!