Lego Birthday Bash

Harrison and Noah had yet to ever have a friend birthday party - so I decided we'd do something this year.  For 3 years in a row we moved right before their birthdays, and then last year, I was pregnant and exhausted, and so it didn't happen.  Since their birthdays are so close together (8 days apart) and they share so many common interests and friends, and combined birthday seemed like the perfect solution. Noah's birthday landed on Saturday this year, so the party was on his birthday.  We would be leaving for Disney World the day after Harrison's birthday, so it was nice to get the celebrations done a week before. The theme for the party was easy - LEGOs.  They have both been obsessed for several years, and it made decorations easy - as we already own so many.

Diagon Alley, Quidditch, the haunted forrest and Toy Story were on the room separator.  

Ninjago on one shelf.

Star wars and City took over the mantel.  

We just tied strings to normal balloons, and pinned them to the ceiling for a floating balloon effect.  I've heard that helium is going to run out in our lifetime, so this may become a much more common alternative!

I made each of the boys a mini-figure shirt to wear to the party, but Noah opted for his Ninjago shirt he got for his birthday that morning.

I will admit to pinning lots of ideas on pinterest in the months and weeks leading up to their birthday.  One of my favorite ideas that I used was a lego pinata.  My favorite part about the whole thing was that it was a trap door pinata, so no stick or blindfold needed.

 Each boy took a turn pulling a string, but only one "magic" string released the candy inside: 

We also did  a "guess how many" lego jar. I was kind of surprised how little the boys inspected the the jar before guessing.  They we almost all way off, only one guess was anywhere close.  But still fun.

This, along with a "Design your own Mini-figure" were the activities we had going when they arrived.  I was surprised they actually enjoyed the coloring, at least for a little while.  I panicked for a moment realizing that some of these boys were 9, and were maybe above "coloring," but I guess the mini-figure idea was enough to keep it interesting.

We did a lego toss:

And create your own minifig.  We had bowls of heads, bodies, legs, and accessories, and they each came up with a creation:

Even Sam got in on the action:

I've decided the ideal birthday cake for kids is cupcakes.  I really hate having half a cake leftover, and extra cupcakes can easily be sent home with guests as a favor if they want.  They also seem to be easier to decorate.  For this I just molded some candy melts in lego shapes with some ice cube trays I got on amazon.  Simple.

Here's all the boys enjoying cake, ice cream and pizza, the birthday party staples!

And we ended the party with some Lego games, and Ninjago battles, of course.

For favors we did lego shaped candy, coloring books with lego crayons, and a birthday mini-figure.

which all fit nicely into their lego bag: 

Maybe I went a little overboard, but I think birthdays are a fun way for moms to release some creative energy, while celebrating their children at the same time.  I do like to follow a few guidelines to keep it under control - short and small.  Note we didn't have 30 boys running around our house.  We kept the invite list to 8 boys, and the party was  1 1/2 hours.  The boys had a great time, and so did their friends.  Maybe I wont wait another 9 years before throw them another one!

First Dance Class

Olivia had her first dance class on Monday.  She's quite the little dancer around the house, and she's been asking to take a dance class.  It took me a while to find the class I wanted her to take - these were my criteria: low key, low commitment, during the morning and something that wouldn't break the bank.  The limiting qualification was that it was in the morning - most dance classes, even for preschoolers, are held the the evenings or on Saturday, which was a no-go for me.  We did find an "academy of ballet" that had classes in the morning, but it seemed a little to formal for what we were looking for (and pricey to boot!)  Finally we found a class held in someone's home, that seems to be just the right fit for us.  She loves her dance clothes, and so I have to keep them put away, or she'd be wearing them every possible moment.  She posed for a few pictures right before her first day:

One funny story: I had purchased the ballet skirt, tights and a black leotard at a yard sale over a year ago (along with some tap shoes which are still too big.)  But she needed a pink leotard and some ballet slippers for her class.  I was running some errands at target, and noticed they had a ballet section in the girls department, where I picked up an extra pair of tights, the pink leo, and some slippers.  When I got home,  I had Olivia try it all on, and that's when I noticed the "ballet" slippers were more like house slippers than anything you would wear to dance class.  After talking to another mom whose daughter is in the class, I decided to return the shoes to target and order some from amazon.  The only problem was they wouldn't arrive in time for class.  I knew the teacher was really easy going, and she had mentioned that the girls didn't even need slippers, so I wasn't worried.  But as Olivia was following her new teacher into their dance room on the first day, she explained, "I don't have any ballet shoes today.  They're on order."  Just the way she said it sounded so grown up, and made me laugh!  

Olivia's First Day of Preschool

First Day of Preschool

2012

Olivia is going to her first year of "real" preschool this year.  After a year of Joy School with moms in the neighborhood, she's now going to the same preschool Noah did when we first moved here.  She was so excited, and I don't think she even thought there was any reason to be nervous.  Her best bud is in her class with her, as well as so other familiar faces.  She is loving preschool, and every morning she asks if it's a school day - I think she'd be happy going every day of the week, but I'm savoring my time with her before real school starts next year, so she's just going twice a week.  

Her brothers gave her the "shiner" on her lip!  It was somewhat unintentional, but it started with Olivia asking for a fight.  She's a fire-y one, alright!

She insists on picking her own clothes each day.  I only make her change if it's truly  clashing.  She certainly has strong opinions about almost everything.

Millions of Peaches

This was my first attempt at canning, so it was a learning process - I had no idea how much you really need to "stuff" the jars.  So, as you can see, some jars are holding less than their capacity...

So, there weren't quite a million, but it seemed like that many.  On labor day Sam noticed that a local farm still had you-pick peaches.  At $.60/pound, we thought it might be good to finally put some canning supplies we had laying around to good use.  I told Sam to pick about 3 apple boxes worth, thinking that would be enough to can a few batches, and have plenty for fresh eating. Well, he came home with 80 lbs worth of peaches!  Just in case you are wondering, 80 lbs of a peaches equals:

24 Quarts and 11 pints of canned peaches
15 pints of jam
6 half pints of freezer jam
2 quart bags of frozen peaches
1 batch of fruit leather (which failed...)
2 batches of baby food
1 peach crisp
and as many fresh peaches as you and your family of 6 can eat in 4 days, with more to spare!


Next time I think we'll pick a few less peaches...  Sam was a wonderful help in the kitchen with all the canning, and the kids are already enjoying them for after school snacks.

A Fresh Start

The First Day of School

2012

Harrison, 4th grade

Noah, 1st Grade

  As I mentioned before, Harrison will be going to another new school this year, so the boys will be at different schools.  Thankfully, they provide a bus, which picks Harrison up at our home school, so Noah and Harrison still ride the bus together.  Harrison was glad to be returning to a class-full of familiar faces for once, and a friend from church also joined his class this year, so that's nice for him.  Noah was hesitant about starting school this year, but quickly got over that when he realized his best bud was going to be in the same class this year.  The boys both seemed to have settled into their new routines nicely, and both come home with reports of a "great" day.