Pookie's Minecraft party

Squdge (with a Steve head) hitting the ghast piñata.

Everyone enjoyed wearing the Steve head.  This is Bun in it.  We covered the eyeholes during the piñata and the pin the tail on the pig game.

Pookie, the teenager, blowing out his candles.

This game was called, "Upset the chest."  There was one less chair than people.  Each player was assigned to be:  gold, iron, or diamond.  The person in the middle called out a material.  If it was yours, you had to change seats and the person in the middle would try to get a seat.  Whoever didn't get a seat was the next to call out a material.  If they called out, "Upset the chest!" then everyone switched at the same time.  The twins were guaranteed to call that.  I think they enjoy chaos.  ;)

Pin the tail on the pig -- you play it like pin the tail on the donkey.  Instead of a blindfold, we used the Steve head. There was a whole lot of laughter during this game.

Crush the Creeper game-- 

We blew up green balloons and drew creeper faces on them.  We tied them around our ankles.  The object is to pop other people's balloons without getting yours popped.  Once your balloon is popped, you're out.  There was lots of squealing and panic during this game.

Mining for gold game--

Pack a cup with flour and invert it on a plate.  Put a coin or candy on top.  Everyone takes turns slicing off some of the flour.  

Whoever makes it fall has to get it out with their mouth and no hands to help.

Hammy was clearly upset for Pookie's friend here going for the candy.  

Pookie-- a good sport.

So young and so bearded.

We had lots of fun Minecraft-ish foods.

Golden apples, carrots, slime (lime jigglers), sand blocks (rice Krispy treats).  It was hilarious to see kids from 4-13 walk around with handfuls of the jigglers. They were probably the most popular food.

Dirt blocks (cocoa Krispies treats) and veggie dip next to it-- but are not to be eaten together ;)

Pookie said it was his best birthday ever.  

Mission accomplished.

Pookie birthday party coming soon!

Speaking of cute kids...

This little guy turned 7 the day before Biscuit was born.  It was perfect timing.  It may have been the ONLY day that week that I wasn't hemorrhaging or contracting. 

Bun was just thrilled about the cake Auntie Leslie made for him.  He was probably secretly thrilled that Mommy couldn't make it being on bedrest.  It would have been really lame.  My best attempts to impress the kids is a tasty frosting and let them at it with a jar of sprinkles.

I'm glad Leslie brought in the kids and the cake to my room so I could watch Bun blow out the candles. 

Today I got the best birthday present ever.

I got to have an early ultrasound.  I asked my doctor if he could do it early since my mother-in-law would be leaving in a couple days and I wanted to send back baby clothes with her for other grandkids since this is our last baby.
So when the nurse was weighing me, I told her, "Here's the deal:  If it's a girl, I'll bring you cookies."

She said, "Awww, I think we should get cookies anyway for getting you in 2 weeks early."

That's fair.  So I counter-offered, "Okay, you get cookies.  But if it's a girl, you get GOOD cookies."

Then I told my OB the same thing right before he started the ultrasound.  He chuckled.  But then he started scanning and said, "Ah, I see boy parts."

"No you don't!"  I said.  "Look again!"

He continued and said, "Nope, you're right.  That's just the umbilical cord.  These are girl parts."

And then about five more times throughout the ultrasound exam he pointed out, "Yes, definitely a little girl."

So I told him, "This is the best birthday present ever.  I will be bringing you cookies for sure!"

Gabbers Under the Sea Party with Friends

Every four years, our children enjoy birthday parties with friends.  This year for Gabbers 8th birthday party, she chose an Under the Sea theme.  We started the party off with games:

Under the Sea Relay

Crab walk from start to the tunnels.

Eel swim through the tunnels.

Put on the mermaid tail (pillowcase) and hop to the end (the fence).

Raise your hand to signal to your next teammate to go.

Fish, Fish, SHARK!

This was an "Under the Sea" rendition of "Duck, Duck, Goose."  No pictures because I was busy running around playing it with the kids while Danny was busy finishing up the poster board for:

Put the fish in the bowl

A fishy version of "Pin the tail on the donkey.  We were going to do "Pin the tail on the Whale" but thought it would be more fun to put the fish in the bowl (and easier to draw).

 

Bonus points if you get it in its little house.

Fish that don't make it in the bowl died.  *eek*

We also played The Fishing game.  I laminated the fish so I could reuse them for Primary.  I'm the new chorister.  I used a wooden dowel with some string tied to it and a magnet on the end.  Each fish had a paper clip on it.

I forgot to take pictures of this game.  Everyone's fish had something on the back.  One fish was different.  Everyone won a prize of Twizzlers or Smarties (remember this was just before Halloween) and there was a grand-prize:  Flavor-blasted Goldfish (from the dollar store). 

Then we had Gabbers open her presents.

 After presents we had cake that Danny ordered from the commissary (because I nearly had a mental breakdown that week thanks to my little twin buddies).  And it's a good thing we did, Lindsay from the bakery did a fabulous decorating job.  It was white cake with buttercream frosting and Bavarian creme filling.  Yum!

Gabbers was pretty happy about it.

We passed out goody bags to everyone.  The contents:  Goldfish crackers, Swedish fish, bubbles, banana creme pie pudding cups (they looked like beach or sand colors), and a balloon in cellophane bags that had sea critters all over them (that I bought on vacation in Utah one year a looong time ago). 

I originally planned the party to be inside.  But the day before in a short period of about 10 minutes horrible HORRIBLE things happened due to the two year old-ness of the twins.  Danny suggested an outdoor party also planning on how many boys were also going to be there.  It worked out well.  I had to toss out all the decoration plans I had-- since they wouldn't work outside.  But the bubbles and the sea anemones seemed adequate.

When Peachie's age.

This little bug turned 1 on November 12. 

Her weight is in the 9th percentile but her height is only 4%. 

She's a tiny little chub with just a little bit of red hair and smiles readily for anyone. 

She loves to practice her acrobat skills while nursing.  She walked just before 11 months -- younger than any of her older 6 siblings.  She signs milk, please, and eat.  Peach tries to keep up with the twins by running after them. 

She got a soft bunny and little pink and brown polka-dotted blanket (woobie) for her birthday that are her FAVORITE.  If she has them to go to sleep with, she sleeps longer. 

Happy belated Birthday my sweet Peach!

Scratching that creative itch

On Saturday we are having an Under the Sea birthday party for Gabbers.  She's celebrating her EIGHTH birthday!



In preparation something good AND bad has happened.  I have discovered Pinterest.  That octopus was on there.  Oh my.  There are so many wonderful crafts and holiday decorations and goodies and party ideas and presents and organization tips and on and on! 

I have been pinning and having too much fun.  Ah yes, I have been procrastinating my time away. 

I want to make this:

I would LOVE to bake and decorate for Halloween but I need to focus on baking and decorating for Gabbers' birthday party.  This IS the year for her big friend birthday party.  So I have to file away my fun ideas for next year when I don't have a big party to plan. 

However, it hasn't stopped me from making a pumpkin basket craft with the kids (that I cut on my Silhouette) and painting pumpkins (we were given a dozen on Sunday while we waited in the van during Danny's meeting).  Pictures later.

Today I learned how to make these:

Picture and tutorial here.  (and p.s. if you add a half teaspoon of shortening to about 1 1/4 cup candy melts when melting, it makes it smoother and easier to coat the marshmallows.)

Have you seen any cute crafts or goodies lately you couldn't resist adding to your to-do list?

Hammy's 4 year old Friend Birthday Party

The decorations you can kind of see in the background were 12-inch colorful circles cut from scrapbook paper.  My friend Sarah gave them to me after an activity at church they were used at.  Hammy loves circles.  So these delighted him to be the decorations for his polka dot party.  We also had about a dozen balloons just kicking around.  No streamers.  I ran out of time.

This boy here is the older brother of Hammy's friend.  We invited him along too.  Gabbers and he are in the same Primary class at church.  They have to be separated though (during class) because they talk too much.  haha

The bean bag toss.  A.K.A.  The sock toss. 

Even when you plan for two months in advance, sometimes life gets busy and you find yourself tossing your daughter's balled up beaded socks into empty bakery buckets instead of lovely circle shaped bean-bags as you previous daydreamed about.

There were two spots on the floor marked off with masking tape.  Everyone 5 and up had to toss from the further mark.  But Hammy and his friend would NOT be thought of as little and tossed also from the "big kid" mark.  This was by far, the most popular game, and the hardest to cheat at.  ;)

The prizes were the most brilliant last-minute idea EVER.  I went to the BX (store on base) and happened across the discounted Easter baskets.  I bought two.  One was $2.47 and the other was $1.57.  There was sidewalk chalk, a jump rope, a cute pink bucket hat, top spinners, jacks, candy, etc.  I divided them up and wrapped up a few of the bigger toys as prizes.  The smaller ended up being prizes for children that didn't win prizes in a game.

 musical chairs

This one is probably better for older children-- like 8 and up.  There weren't too many tears.  (Pookie is not actually crying here-- just being a spazz for the picture.)

If your twins decide it's a good idea to open the CD-rom drive and sit in it during the party, you may want to strap them into their high chairs and hand them some wrapping paper to play with.

And right here is where you imagine pictures of the Pin the Tail on the Donkey game.  Half the pictures showed that I indeed have had 7 kids in 8 years (ie. not your slim and trim mama) and the other half had me lecturing Pookie about cheating. 

The birthday cupcakes were a hit.  I hate cupcakes.  But my kids are thoroughly enchanted with them.  And since this was a party for Hammy, and not me, I honored his wish to have cupcakes instead of cake. 

They were lemon cake (from a cake mix) with yellow frosting (I followed the Wilton Buttercream recipe) and brightly colored sprinkles. 

I didn't get a picture of the presents or the goodie bags.  The goodie bags had Wal-Mart's Fruit Smiles fruit snacks (since they're circles), a balloon, a parachute animal for boys and butterfly sunglasses for girls, and a circle crayon we made out of melting broken pieces of crayons into mini-muffin tins.

Everyone had a blast and we had a good review on being good sports and playing honest.  lol

Planning a 4 year old's party-- part 1

Brainstorm and pick a theme, pick a location, pick a date.

The following questions will help determine the theme. 

Ask your almost-four year old (if you are unsure) and write it down (so you don't have to rely on memory): 

What is your favorite book?  Harold and the Purple Crayon

What is your favorite show?  Gumby and Diego and Sesame Street

Who is your favorite character?  Cookie Monster

What is your favorite number?  3

What is your favorite color?  Yellow

What is your favorite animal?  Duckies!

What is your favorite shape?  Circle

Tell me your friends names. Bobby, Buddy, Billy, and Bug. (not really.)

Hmm... I've actually been thinking about this one for a while.  We're either going to do a colorful polka-dot party or Sesame Street.  I'm leaning towards Sesame Street.  Why Sesame Street?  Because I threw a Sesame Street friend party when Pookie turned 4 and I've still got most of it in my memory.  I can see incorporating all the things he loves-- except maybe Diego. 

Location:  Home.  With a young, small group, I think he'll feel most comfortable here.  He is a homebody and more shy than the other kids.  His siblings will also enjoy the decorating process for the few days before.  No renting fees.  Just some clean up will work.

If you choose to use a rec center or a community park, check to see if you need to make reservations, how far in advance, and if there's a fee as well. 

Date:  I like to check for the Saturday before or after the birthday.  Then it does not interfere with the Sabbath.  With a group this young (and having the benefit of being a homeschooler), I might also consider a weekday for the party.

Hammy's birthday is May 13-- which is a Friday this year.  A quick phone call consulting with Danny brought us to the date of May 14.  This is good.  We're 2 months out still.  Calendars are marked.  No need to procrastinate.

One more thing, as a general rule of thumb, I do not like to feed other people's toddlers/preschoolers during parties.  We get into pickiness and slow-pokiness (including in my own kids). 

So, I plan the birthday party for two hours starting right after lunch like 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. I can focus the bulk of the party time to games and fun with a little time for eating (cake) at the end. 

This post is linked at WFMW.  Read part 2 here.

Today is Pookie's birthday.

He is 9!

For lunch we had his favorite food:  Ramen.

Danny came home for lunch for this special occasion. 

Danny thought it would be a good idea to let Squdge feed himself. 

Then Danny scurried off to work.

One week ago these little critters turned one.

Ooh!  Rainbow party chip cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and Halloween sprinkles. 

Tater can't believe he's allowed to have such a treat.

Gotta stuff it in my mouth before it gets taken away!

Squdge seems satisfied with his birthday cupcake and is ready for more.

It amazes me that even though they are fraternal twins, how many similarities they share. 

Of the six kids, these are the youngest to start walking.  (The older four walked after 14 months old.)

They were both tongue-tied.  They both had a posterior tongue-tie, to be precise.

When they cried as newborns, they bleated like sheep.

They are both SO BALD. 

They cut most of their teeth on the same days.

I love these babies so much.  I am thankful to have survived the nightmarish c-section and the crazy first week.  And most of all to make it to the year.  Everyone always said, "The first year is the hardest."  It was my goal to ENJOY, not just survive, the first year.  I definitely did. 

What's better than a scooter and a Lego Star Wars hat?

The candy bar poster!

An easy birthday present for children from 5-95 is a candy bar poster.  For just a few dollars, a sharpie, and a hot glue gun you can create memories for your birthday boy that he'll never forget.  And who doesn't love candy?

Tomorrow is Bun's fifth birthday.  It was originally going to be a big friend birthday, but I kinda got pregnant and sidetracked.  And he doesn't remember, so shhh.  We're going bowling.  And yes, we don't normally have big friend birthdays at five.  We have them at 4, 8, 12, and 16.  But I was hospitalized with twins on his fourth birthday.  Poor kid.

In case this picture doesn't get bigger when you click on it, here's what the poster says:

Dear Bun,

Just be-TWIX you and me, I hope you have GOBS of fun on your birthday!  I just know you'll SKOR big with WATCHAMACALIT?  oh yeah, BOWLING!  The REISEN I wanted to tell you to ignore the NERDS, is because you are worth more than 100 GRAND!  Just some friendly advice from a couple of LIFESAVERS. 

Love Always,         

Mommy and Baby Ruth 

Cheap, easy, and memorable works for me!

(start sarcastic font) How to have a total blast the week you turn 33 (end sarcastic font)

This Saturday, March 27, is my birthday.  Every year as I approach my birthday I feel the need to catch up on things, re-access goals, set new goals, fill my freezer, tackle a DIY project (the one I meant to tackle last week but canceled due to sick kids), even some spring cleaning. 

This week I'm also going to be reading about different homeschool curriculums, probably ordering some books, seeing what programs are available to homeschoolers that are recognized in public school programs.

I just read on someone's post about a Pizza Hut reading program.  I'm sorry I cannot remember who it was to give them the link credit they deserve.  But she said it applied to homeschoolers as well. 

I'm also going to be checking out Scholastic Book Printables and mini books.  When Scholastic Book contacted me to take a look at their site and include a link from my blog, I was thrilled!  I LOVE the Scholastic Book book orders that my children bring home from public school.  I even joined one of their monthly book clubs when Pookie was a newborn.  I never thought to look online and see what else they offer.  I have spent a few hours already perusing all the great stuff over there.  Take a look yourself!  Whether you homeschool or public school or are looking for some fun educational opportunities for summer, Scholastic Books has something for everyone.   

So yeah,

Scholastic Book Printables and Minibooks
Everthing your first grader needs to know
Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons (reviewing this to start with Bun)
Top-secret project Danny doesn't know about yet
Pressure canning chicken
breakfast burritos
visiting teaching
scrub the top of the fridge
Pack Meeting
Girl Scouts
Feeding the missionaries
Wednesday's playdate and lunch
organize homeschool classroom

So that's what I'm doing this week.  I'll be back next Monday. 

Feel free to leave me a Happy Birthday message.  or 33.  That's how old I'm turning.  Hard to believe, I know.  Seems like just yesterday I was sneaking out of the house at midnight running through the sprinklers in downtown Pleasant Grove.