The "Group Dinner" Tradition

The "Group Dinner" Tradition - where to begin??

Our group of friends has been having "Group Dinner" for about 10 years now. I believe the tradition started in the Spring of 2000. I was teaching 7th grade science at a local middle school and the art teacher there, Lori, had decided to take a group of middle school students on an art appreciation/learning trip to Paris. She had opened the trip up to teachers as well. My English teacher friend, Krista, and I decided that we wanted to go along. I didn't know Lori and Krista extremely well - we were just work friends at that point.

The Paris trip was a blast - lots of walking, talking, and getting to know each other. We all came back with fabulous calf muscles from all of the walking! Once we got home from that trip, we decided that it would be fun to get together once a month for a group dinner to hang out, talk, drink, etc. During that time none of us had any kids and we were able to get together once a month for dinner. Lori and her husband Kevin, Krista and her husband Derek, and Ryan and I were the founding "members" along with another couple who went to Paris with us. We've rotated through a couple of different couples and over the last 6-8 years the core group has been Kevin and Lori, Krista and Derek, me and Ryan, and another teacher from the school, Sheri and her husband Patrick.

Once we all started having kids it got a lot more difficult to get together every month so now we get together every 3 months or so. Sometimes we go out to dinner, sometimes we have dinner at someone's house (we all bring something - kind of potluckish) and sometimes we even go out afterwards to a wine bar (actually I think we've only done that once :) ) or watch a movie at someone's house (while my husband sleeps peacefully on the floor - it's a running joke in the group that if it's after 10:00pm - my husband will be asleep. On the floor - at the table at the restaurant - wherever!).

Recently I started thinking how much fun it would have been if we had taken pictures at each of our Group Dinners. Ten years worth of dinner pictures and after dinner pictures would be awfully entertaining :) So I'm going to try to get as much info and as many photos from our past Group Dinners and post them here. I'm also going to start documenting our many Group Dinner adventures from here on out!

I'm going to go searching for all of our past Group Dinner details and photos.... Update to follow!

Little Man - School Auction and Carnival 2010

Little Man's preschool had their annual School Auction and Carnival today. It was so much fun!

There were games for the kiddos in every classroom where they could use their tickets to play and win prizes. There was a bucket train to ride in, bounce houses and slides, hair painting, and pony rides. The kids had a blast ~ I even got to ride in the bucket train with Little Miss :)

Little Man turns 4!

Little Man turns 4!

Another year has come and gone and my Little Man has turned 4!

Little Man is so amazing! He is extremely intelligent, thoughtful, and full of energy. He constantly surprises me with insightful observations and his ridiculously funny comments. (I asked him the other day why he pushes his straw into his juice box so that he has to drink it like it's in a cup. His reply - "So that I can drink it like a beer." - So matter of fact that Ryan and I burst out laughing!)

He is always surprising us with his observations and the way that he sees the world. I love it that he is still at home with me 2 days a week so that I can help cultivate his blossoming creativity. Just this year he started drawing people in his pictures and has been writing his name for at least 6 months. His teacher says that he won't let her write his name on anything - he wants to do it himself - so independent. Little Man also loves to be the center of attention and will break out dancing, doing karate chops, or quoting from his favourite movie "Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" if given the opportunity. And of course, he is still "all speed and no direction" and we wouldn't have it any other way :)

Little Man, I love watching you grow and mature and can't wait to see what the future brings. Happy 4th Birthday Son!

Lipizzaner Stallions at the American Airlines Center

This afternoon we all went to see the Lipizzaner Stallions at the American Airlines Center. Both sets of grandparents and my sister and her boyfriend along with me and Ryan and the kids sat in row K (pretty close to the floor) to see the show.

The kids snacked on popcorn and cotton candy while watching the stallions do some amazing stunts.

The show is mainly an "equestrian ballet". The horses do maneuvers set to classical music. There is also a lot of history incorporated into the show.

The Lipizzaners were originally bred as horses of war and have now become a living form of equestrian art. Included in the performance was a section called "Airs above the Ground" where the horses perform spectacular leaps and maneuvers once used by riders in the saddles to protect and defend themselves on the battlefield.

The show was great and we all enjoyed it!

Little Man's 4th Birthday Party

We had Little Man's 4th Birthday Party this afternoon and what a party it was :)

Little Man wanted a snake party this year so I called up Grisham Farms and we made it happen.

When the kiddos arrived at 3pm I had colouring sheets and stickers for them to work on. Once they finished with that most of the kids went outside to play in the sandbox or on the playground. We then called them inside for the animal presentation.

Stephanie from Grisham Farms brought out 8 animals including a rabbit, hedgehog, pot bellied pig, bearded dragon, green eyed tree frog, chinchilla, tarantula, and a ball python. She did an excellent educational presentation about each of the animals and let all of the kids pet or hold the animals. Even the parents were quiet and paying attention :) It was so much fun and Little Man had a blast holding and petting all of the animals - especially the pot bellied pig and the python!

After washing all of our hands, we snacked on munchies and then played outside some more.

Then it was time for cake. I made a super cool diamond backed snake cake this year that turned out really great! After cake we opened presents and then it was time to go.

Little Man had a BLAST and the party went off without a hitch!

Little Miss's First Soccer Game of the Season

The veteran Superstars team had their first game of the season this morning! They did pretty good too :) The score at the end of the game was somewhere around 3-9 (we lost but had a great time). We had two new players join the team this year and the practices are going well (when it's not too wet to practice). We're looking forward to a great season and hopefully a couple of wins!

Valentine's Day Parties 2010

After two snow days last week that put Valentine's Day Parties on hold, we were able to have both of the kids parties this week at school.

Little Man's party was on Wednesday. The kids decorated brown bags that I had already put their names on with stickers and markers and then went around the room distributing their Valentine's Day cards.

We then snacked on doughnuts and juice and called it a morning.

Quick and fun party!

Little Miss's party was rescheduled for Friday. So I picked up Little Man from school today and headed over to Little Miss's elementary school for the party. I didn't have a hand in planning this party so it was nice to show up with my 24 red plastic bowls and help out as needed. The kids decorated foam picture frames with their pictures already in them (love that) and then snacked on marshmallow chicks and ice cream sundaes.

Another quick and easy party!