Foster Family Fabulous Feast-Fancy Fondue Night

My mom has been a huge supporter of FFFF nights, including giving us wonderful suggestions for future ones. For our last one, she commented that she wished she was there, so I knew I needed to host August's when my mom, sister, and nephews were in
town. Before my friend Heather moved she offered two bags of chocolate fondue to our moms group. I was the first to request it with the idea of having Foster Family Fabulous Feast-Fondue Night.

My mom was a rockstar and made the cheese fondue, which we dipped our bread (and sometimes chicken in). We didn't fondue any meat because we didn't have enough fondue pots, but Fster Dad grilled chicken that we cut into pieces, and served with three different dipping sauces. We ended the night with chocolate fondue dipping marshmallows, grapes, strawberries and bananas.

We ate by candlelight (at least the dinner portion), had classical music playing in the background, and had our finest white tablecloth out on the table. We all drank sparkling juice from Trader Joe's in plastic wine glasses. It was very classy and everyone had a great demeanor and was very calm and relaxed. Foster child #1 kept saying, "This is like a restaurant, mommy!" Funny, considering I don't think we have ever been to a fancy restaurant with the kids. We're more the Red Robin, Chik-fil-A type! I would have required everyone to dress up but considering the kids had just come in from outside playing in the rain and the pool (don't ask) I decided against it. My mom said she thinks we should eat by candlelight more often because the kids were all so peaceful (not that they aren't any other times, but it did change their behavior some!)

Wish I would have turned the flash on for the group shot!

Bathed by candlelight!

Foster child #3 did great with the plastic wine glass, but that still doesn't mean I think he's ready for the real thing (the wine or the glass!)

Taken by our four year old, Foster child #2

My nephew enjoying the cheese fondue.

Chocolate faces!

Next up is Back to School Foster Family Fabulous Feast, which we will have next Monday before the kids go back to school on Tuesday. On the menu will be alphabet soup, ruler bread, cheese pencils, crayons for dessert (made out of Rolos and Hershey kisses). I'm also really excited for our decor! And, to end the night, we'll watch Schoolhouse Rock (of course!)

She's Got a Point

For my ever fading memory!

Yesterday Foster Dad and I were talking at the dinner table about the fall programs we want our kids to take through the park district. I was mentioning that I wanted Foster Child #1 to take piano (I took piano when I was younger and so did my mom), at which point which says, "No, no no, I don't want to take piano." Foster Dad then replied, "Why not?"
"I don't want to. I want to take gymnastics."
I interjected and said, "But, Foster Child #1...."
And she then interjected and said, "But, mom, gymnastics is better exercise. Piano only uses your fingers."

Good point and now my child will be taking gymnastics!

Foster child #2's Lego Read and Build Party

When I received a House Party application for the Lego Duplo Read and Build Party, I had no shame in putting in the application with my 4 year old's birthday party in mind. He LOVES building with Lego Duplos and I knew we could have a super fun and creative party with it! And that we did! He was pretty overwhelmed once everyone arrived, being rather timid, with his thumb in his mouth and did not participate in anything, but I think everyone else had fun!

This is before everyone arrived when I could still get a smile out of the birthday boy!

My friend Claudia said, upon entering, "Nicole is this a party for Elijah or a party for us moms?" Made me smile, because yes, I want a party to be fun for all (and relaxing for us moms too!) I also hope the party didn't disappoint my neighbor Phoebe (who's about to be 7) who told her mom, "Nicole throws the best parties," hence her presence at a party for 4 year olds.

As the kids arrived they could either color Lego Duplo coloring sheets (found on their website) or build with Legos. I am so thankful that Foster Dad and I invested in the Lego storage bin (also known as the Trofast storage unit from IKEA.) It turned out great, and the kids did a great job putting the Legos back where they belong.

I also had a jar of Lego Duplos where kids could make a guess as to how many there were. Sixteen in ours!

No surprise here, Foster child #1 opted to color instead of build with Legos.

Not the greatest picture, but you can see the unit clearly here, plus some of the kids creations.

We then moved onto games and we played Pass the Lego to the Lego Duplo Jams podcast (found on Itunes and FREE) and also played Lego, Lego, Who's Got the Lego, which is very similar to Doggy, Doggy, Where's Your Bone? (It was also appropriate because it was very similiar to the Penny Game the kids played in Sunday School just a couple of weeks prior and one party guest was sweet to point that out! Made it very easy for the kids to understand the directions and play.)

We then went outside for our only outside time of the party (too hot!) to have a Lego Scavenger Hunt. The kids carried their favor bags out with them, and then got to keep the Lego Duplos they found. I forgot to take a picture of all the favor bags, but here is Foster Child #2's.

I got the Lego font from Urban Fonts.

I think this little guy is having fun, don't you?

When we came back in I read the book that we received from our Lego Duplo Read and Build House Party Kit. I read the story first (with all kids engaged) and then I picked a couple of the kids to work together to build the farm animals.

We then ate pizza, grapes, juice boxes and the kids could also have a Lego cookie. I found both ideas on Pinterest and the Lego juice box download came from here. There were plenty of cookies for the kids to take one home as well in their favor bags. The cookies were sugar cookies, frosted with powdered sugar and milk and the Wilton No Taste icing color, with M and M's on top. Good thing it was no taste icing color because look how bright the cookies were.

After lunch we announced the winners of the Guess How Many Legos contest and the three raffle winners of the Read and Build Kits.

It was then time for cake. I found the recipe here and it would have been great had I followed directions! The kids didn't care and the cake did taste good, but frosting it was a pain because I didn't let the cake sit in the fridge long enough. UGH!

We're so thankful for all of our friends who came out to celebrate our middle child!

Foster Family Fabulous Feast-A Pirate's Dinner

July 31 was the perfect day for July's Foster Family Fabulous Feast! My wonderful and very creative sister gave me the awesome idea to do a pirate themed dinner and even gave me her decorations (so, yes, we can add super generous to her qualities). Love you, Kimberly! Since it was a rather boyish theme I figured what better day to do it than on my oldest boy's 4th birthday. Plus the pirate theme worked out very well for a treasure hunt for his presents!

Although my sister gave me the idea, with food choices, and decor, I did decide to go one step further and try to find a treasure chest since the food items were treasures.
Chicken nuggets=golden nuggets
Pirate's booty=pirates booty
Green and red grapes=red rubies and green emeralds

I love Freecycle for this very reason. Someone responded to my wanted post and had a pretty large treasure chest for me to use!

I put our black tablecloth on the table and used red plates. (At this point, Foster child #1 comes in and asks, "Ooh, are we having a vampire dinner?" Umm, nooooo. Seriously, where does she come up with this stuff?!?!?!) We also had 1 Mardi gras bead necklace (And another seriously, where did all the other ones go that I know the kids got for free and why would these not be something someone on Freecycle would not want to get rid of?)

I found a super cute craft project for the kids to make parrots for their shoulders here.
Foster dad and I had bandanas on our heads. (It would have also been rather easy to make eye patches and do fake goatees and mustaches, but the day was super busy with a trip downtown. Next time!!!)

My sister made signs that said Shiver Me Timbers and Ahoy, Matey (out of crumpled paper bags, with cut edges and pirate stickers). She also found a printable of a treasure map that she printed on brown paper and also made to look old (cut and burned edges).

Along with our treasure dinner,

we had pirate ships on the open seas (orange slices with pirate flags held with toothpicks on blue jello).

We tried talking pirate during dinner and when the phone rang I asked the kids if I should answer with ARRRGH. Of course, they gave a resounding Arrrgh back, so I had to. (I was fortunate that my guess of it being a family member wishing Foster child #2 a happy birthday was correct!)

After dinner we asked Foster child #2 how a pirate would know where the buried treasure was on a map. (An X marks the spot.) We then sent him on a treasure hunt to look for his birthday presents with his brother and sister closely behind.

We finished the night eating a Pirate Hat shaped cake found here,

and watching the Veggie Tales Movie-the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. Thanks, Katefor letting us borrow the movie!

* Oh, and sorry Foster Dad for me not being cognizant of you not being in any pictures that night! He was there!!!

Sesame Street Birthday Party

I'll be honest here, I'm only posting this blog post because I LOVED my food ideas for Foster child #3's birthday party. So, really this is a chance for others to pin these ideas. No shame, being brutally honest. However, I am also using it to post a really cute shot of my now 2 year old!

We did a Sesame Street party for him, which really didn't mean much except his Sesame Street stuffed animals came outside to play, he wore his Elmo shirt, and the colored theme were the primary colors. But I needed to do more, and that's where the food came in. We served hot dogs and chips - his favorite, but I also dolled it up some more. I needed to keep his party simple because I am very loco and decided to have Foster child #1's birthday party on the same exact day (and with it being a Candyland themed party, had quite a bit of prep, like a giant Candyland game in our driveway.)

Anyway, found the ideas on Pinterest of Elmo fruit tray, and thankful I did that rather than Bert and Ernie made of bananas and clementines. Too much work.

I incorporated a couple of other characters by having a Cookie Monster cookie tray. My little guy really is a cookie monster, and I know I personally counted him eating 4 cookies at his party. He could have eaten more without my knowledge. But hey, it was his birthday. A once a year happening. I'm not sweating it. None of my kids are big fans of cake and why force it on them for their birthdays? I love to bake so it was fun prepping all week by making Brownie Crinkle Cut cookies, Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Chip, and Sugar Cookies, which were brought to you by the letter C and the number 2.

I am also forever grateful to my mom who was able to find me a metal garbage pail, so I could make Oscar the Grouch's Garbage Can milkshake. She lives in small town, Iowa so this very thing is very readily available. Can also be bought on Amazon. At Young Life in high school, they always kicked off the year with garbage can milkshakes and it so fit with the theme. Also, so very, very grateful to my friend Kim, who herself throws fabulous parties for her kiddos, who found an Oscar the Grouch doll for Foster Child #3 and bought it for him for his birthday gift, because she knew I was needing it!

ChiIL Mama: Beauty and The Beast at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre Giveaway

ChiIL Mama is one of my favorite local blogs and she ALWAYS has some pretty awesome giveaways! This one is no different, so of course, I want to help promote it (and yes, to be completely honest, I want to win these tickets!)
You have one day to enter to win 4 tickets to see Beauty and the Beast at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (one of my favorite theatres by the way!) So, head on over here to enter! (And if you happen to win, share the tickets with me. Just kidding! Well, sort of!)

Foster Family Fabulous Feast-Mystery Night

Oh, how I have missed FFFF!!! The last one we did was April 1, and we had to wait to do this one because of busy weekends (and one thing I had to buy for it). It worked out perfect because we were able to share it with friends, which really makes it all that more special!

This month's Foster Family Fabulous Feast was Mystery night! I found the idea on Pinterest of creating a menu of 20 items with random names. Notice I am saying items, instead of food. That's because they had to get their utensils, napkins, and beverages also this way! Although lots of people described it as a good April Fools dinner, I knew it would be perfect for mystery night! The meal was served in 4 courses, but everyone had to pick which 5 items they would have during each course from the get go. There was to be no repeat of items and no discussing what they thought each item was. Items had names such as Titanic's Demise (ice), polka dots (peas), and round and round (Ritz crackers). I'm so thankful for my friend Beth who was my partner in crime in actually serving the food. I had 20 slips of paper laid out on my kitchen island and we placed the designated item next to the numbered slip. It made the serving part so much easier! (And in case you are wondering, we had our family members pick our foods, so that it could still be random to us.)

To cap off the night we played Clue Jr. (which I found at the Winnetka rummage sale for $1!!!) It is the item that I needed to wait to get before we could have this month's FFFF.

Can you guess what some of these items are?

Here's an answer key:
1. ice
2. mashed potatoes
3. gravy
4. goldfish crackers
5. ritz crackers
6. ham
7. pineapple slices
8. peas
9. fork
10. napkin
11. water
12. marshmallow
13. knife
14. apple
15. chocolate syrup
16. ice cream
17. lemonade
18. meatballs
19. chicken noodle soup
20. spoon

Me giving the directions for the meal. Notice the blanket I hung up to keep the kitchen private?

The kids busy making their selections.

Some of our lovely guests!

Foster child #1 is all smiles because she got ice cream during her first course! Fortunately she had a spoon to eat it with!

Poor Foster child #2, only got a pineapple slice to eat in the first course! There wasn't too much complaining though!

Foster dad was smart and used his crackers to eat his mashed potatoes since he didn't have any utensils!

Foster child #2 digging in. Remember he had his fork and spoon during course 1! The best quote from the night came from Beth's oldest son, who asked "Mrs. Foster, do I have to use my best manners to eat tonight?" I asked him if he had any silverware (he didn't) and I said, "I guess not! You need to eat! " He then dug his face right in similar to Foster child #2 here. Beth didn't know what was in store for tonight except that it was FFFF. She had told her kids to use their best manners, which they did, despite the circumstances!

In course 3, Foster dad helped Foster child #2 eat his soup with his knife.

No utensils or napkins made this course a rather messy one for Foster child #1 as she enjoyed chocolate syrup!

Foster child #3 was too young to understand and appreciate the meal, so we just gave him his favorites. Here, he is enjoying his last course - ice cream!

Clue Jr. with our guests. It was Mrs. Peacock who ate the cake at 1:00 pm with chocolate milk!