Monday, March 28, 2011

Weekend in Galesburg...a Mystery!

We headed to Galesburg this weekend to host a dinner party for Brian's parents ( a Christmas gift for them). We got out Brian and his sister, Anita's big wheels in the front yard and the kids went crazy! Look how awesome they look ( and check out their autn aunt or dad's names on the side of the big wheels)
Brian found his old liscense plate from Highschool- he was so cool!
We shipped the kids off to their aunt and uncle and surprised all 12 of the guests with a mystery dinner. We had SUCH A BLAST last April when our neighbor hosted the same kind of party for our neighborhood, we just knew we needed to do this for someone, and Brian's parent's golf group was perfect! Check out details from our neighborhood party here.


Anyway- we came up with 25 items that had golf clues and put them on a menu. The guests had to pick their own order of items for each of the 5 rounds and see what they got when they sat down. For instance, the menu might say "Golf Drives Me". If you pick that, when you get your plate, you might see a scoop of nuts. Or maybe you see "Slice". Well, that will earn you a knife. A "Wedge" will get you a slice of cheesecake and "19th Hole" gets you an icecube.
The guests had no idea what they were getting themselves into and thought they were really going to have a wonderful 5 course meal with great food choices. They poured over the menus to make their selections!
Brian and I took those menus and spread out in the kitchen putting together each plate with exactly what they ordered for that course. They may have chosen a utensil to eat with or not. If not, you had to eat with your hands or get creative. The only rule was you had to earn every part of your course, silverware included however no one said you couldn't tear part of your plate to scoop or simply pick your plate up and shovel it in. By the end of the meal, they got the hang of it!
Bob ( at the far end) shows everyone that his course had all utencils and only ONE food item, ONE CHIP ( "chipping one in") while someone else shows their fork ( "hook") with pride that he could actually eat! Too bad all he got was 4 saltine crackers ("fore")
They had a blast, and had a great sense of humor! Brian and I had so much fun doing it too!
Then the kids came home to see everyone and play. Wayne and Alaric had some fun together too!
And as always with grandkids, they were the center of attention and entertained the crowd!
****


Alaric and Daddy on his big wheel!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Bechtel Family March Birthday Celebrations!

Tonight we went out to celebrate Brian's ( 10th), my mom's ( 15th), mine ( 16th), and Al's ( 20th) birthdays!

We went to Kamakura Japanese Restaurant!

Alaric love, love, loves his baby cousin Jack ( and I think Jack loves Al too) We loved it!
and our chef!
Mara wore her best for the occasion!
Then back to Mom and Dad's for brownies and icecream and gifts! Happy Birthday everyone!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Happy 5th Birthday, Alaric!

Breakfast in bed! Wake up BIG Boy! Waffles, Apples, and Bacon ( his favorite) on the special plate and bowl just chilling in his bed!
Our kids get one gift and Alaric got a Batman and Superman and his first comic book AND....


We told him we were getting in the car and driving to Chicago RIGHT THEN to the Super Hero Convention to meet REAL SUPER HEROES!!! He was so excited!
Our first stop in Chicago was to drop off the capes we made at his birthday party to Children's Memorial Hospital. We made 8 capes for the real heroes, the kids fighting battles everyday in their own bodies! Unfortuantely ( and understandably) we couldn't actually give the capes to any children ourselves so we told all the details to the receptionist at the front desk.
She was very proud of Alaric, we were beaming with pride, and you can tell Al is too!
We arrived at McCormick Place with thousands of others and Alaric could barely contain his excitement.
Especially once he saw there were real superheroes and villians there!
The place was CRAZY! So many people, so many artists and comic book people and weirdos dressed up and people who take this culture way to seriously but it was still great!
Alaric met tons of superheros and special guys like Batman
Star Wars Jedi guy
Look at this place!

Mara even found her own superhero too!
The kids got the hold the real Captain America Shield and Thor Hammer
Captain America
It was amazing!
We hope we made your day, Bubba!
Then we headed to the Museum of Science and Industry to see a few other cool things and let Alaric do whatever he wanted
The kids ran and ran and ran and never wanted to take a break
Me on the other hand, as soon as the kids went into a tractor or something, I was trying to take a break.
My kids love the circus!
***

We hit up the Olive Garden on the way home- my happy boy!
Mara doing her thing at the Museum of Science and Industry!

Alaric is FIVE Years Old!!!

Today is my first born, Alaric Arthur Fulton's 5th birthday. Here he is over the years and through the past 12 months.

BIRTH One year old
Two Years Old
Three Years Old
Four Years Old
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
Janaury 2011
February 2011
March 2011
Happy Birthday, baby! I love you so much!