Two February No-Nos

There are two things that our family doesn't do in the month of February.

We don't talk about the ground hog.  Instead, we talk about birthday girls.  After all, what birthday girl wants to talk about a 4-legged rodent on her big day?

Also, we don't watch much (if any) of the super bowl, because we are too busy with birthday parties and such.

This was a big birthday weekend in our family.  Two birthday parties.  Our daughter and our niece were born on the same day -- six years apart.  Giving each girl her own "party space," we celebrated with our niece on Saturday, and for our daughter on Sunday.

Super Bowl Sunday is typically the day that we schedule our family gathering to celebrate our daughter's birthday.  This year after everyone left, I chuckled and said the neighbors probably wonder why we have a super-bowl party every year, and everyone leaves BEFORE the game....  (Because all of the birthday gifts have been opened, and all of the cake and cupcakes have been eaten, and the icing licked off our fingers - duh!)

So, yes, we birthday-partied.  And what a party it was.  Celebrating 14 years of pure joy! We enjoyed a new Pinterest recipe for a birthday cake (I'll tell you about that another time). There were camera lessons (of some sort, I heard) and lots of Leapster-Explorer-sharing in the living room.

At one end of the kitchen, the birthday girl showed a bunch of the girls how to make THESE Christmas stars, as well as some Duck tape wallets and clutch purses.

One lucky cousin even got to take a purse home!

At the other end of the kitchen (this makes me laugh, because it's not like our kitchen is huge or anything), my hubby gave a demonstration of the teapot he recently purchased.  It allows you to watch the flowering tea leaves "bloom," and then to dispense the tea from the bottom of the pot, leaving the tea leaves behind.  Sound wacky?  It is.  He found it for cheap on clearance at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. There stood a group of family members watching those silly tea-balls "bloom" -- well, it IS kind of fascinating.  (Wish I would've taken their picture, all bent over and watching...)

Looking forward: It's week SIX of the 52 Weeks to a More Organized Home.  This week we're learning about a home recycling center, and how to handle trash.  Do you recycle? I'm headed over to Taylor's Home Storage Solutions 101 next to see if our family is doing things the most efficient way, or if there are things we could be doing better.  More about that later in the week.

For now, party's over.. big kiss... everyone back to work.

HAPPY MONDAY.  Have a great week.