Science Mania

Can you take all of these normal, household items and turn them into a birthday party? We are going to try tomorrow! Stay tuned for pictures and a report of Scott's 6th birthday.

Here we are on the cusp of Scott's birthday party, and I'm finally posting pictures from Andrew's party. March really is birthday season around here.

Andrew had a GREAT 4-year old birthday party. I think I always view parties as having to revolve around a theme. The theme was supposed to be Bibleman, a superhero that Andrew loves. but I just could not bring it all together this year. It didn't help that my imaginative child had wild ideas that didn't fit together.

Take, for instance, the cake. Andrew wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and green icing and ice cream and lots of cookies. He wanted it all piled on top of each other. I convinced him to settle for just a cookie cake with fudge icing, ice cream on the side and green writing. He was quite pleased.

He also specifically asked to play "Duck Duck Goose" and "Red light, Green light" - games that in no way fit with a theme. So, I scrapped the theme idea and we just had fun.

All in all, it was a great party. The kids had a great time. Andrew loved it. Here are some pictures.

Duck Duck Goose:



Red light, Green light


Our pinata


Amanda found some candy from the pinata and proceeded to open it and put it in her mouth. Who said that being third child doesn't have its benefits? I'm pretty sure Scott would not have gotten candy in such a way at 18 months.




Pure delight


I love this - all three siblings help with the opening of presents.


Here is Scott doing a move that he loves. He makes this guitar face and sings "Banjo Guitar Hero." It is hilarious and I'm so glad to have captured it on film.


Our gift to Andrew was the Bibleman costume and light up sword. He loved the cape & mask and wore them the rest of the day.

Helpful?

At almost 18 months (we are 5 days shy of that mark), Amanda is in the *very* helpful stage of life. Sometimes, *very helpful* isn't very helpful at all.

Take this example:

Our dryer broke a few weeks ago. In order to make room for the new dryer, I had to move the pantry shelf to the left one inch. Simple...until I realized it wasn't going to budge until I removed the food. So, into the basket went all my canned and dry goods.

Not wanting to replace them until the new dryer was actually in place, I left the room to work on another project. It only took a moment before Amanda discovered the wonderful basket of food and went to work unloading the basket. Take it out....


...and place it here on the floor. This project kept her entertained until she discovered some packets of dried seasoning and went to work opening them. That's when I decided that she had been enough help for the afternoon.



Dog feeding is another favorite job of Amanda's. If I ask her to get Farley's bowl, off she trots toward the crate to fetch the bowl. Farley gets excited that a meal is coming and wants his meal quickly. The problem is that she sometimes likes to smell the flowers on the way.

Here she is, in her Amanda the Panda jammies, on her way toward the food storage container...


..."Oh look, Farley is following me."


..."See, your bowl is still empty. Since Mommy is too busy taking pictures to keep me on track, I think I'll see what else I can do with this bowl..."


"Look! It fits so nicely as a hat!"

33 ways that my day was great!

It's the end of my birthday, and I've had a great day. So great, that perhaps I can think of 33 things that made it wonderful:

1. I woke up early enough to have a great quiet time.

2. My scripture reading this morning really changed my heart toward the dishes and laundry waiting for me on my birthday - what a joy it is to be able to serve my family, even in mundane ways.

3. Amanda is still not on daylight savings time, so she slept until 8:00!

4. I had so much free time that I made banana and blueberry muffins.

5. Even though the muffins were "healthy" (i.e. whole wheat, flax seed, little sugar, no eggs, etc.) they turned out quite well.

6. Andrew entertained me with knock-knock jokes while I was baking this morning. "Knock Knock" "Who's there?" "Mr. Red"..."Mr. Brown" ... "Aren't you glad I didn't say Mr. Orange." I LOVE it when he just doesn't get the joke, but makes an attempt. It makes me laugh.

7. Andrew could only find one sock this morning when we went to wait for the bus. So, when we got inside, he took the sockless shoe off and proceeded to walk around for the next hour with just one shoe on - "I'm just going to wear one shoe all day." It was hilarious.

8. Scott was speedy and on-time this morning.

9. Even though it was dark when the bus came, the sun rose to make a beautiful day.

10. Scott's bus driver was the second (after Derrick) to wish me a happy birthday. I guess she knew from Facebook and called birthday wishes out the window as Scott loaded.

11. Today was my day to read with Scott's class. What a blessing it is to be with them every Monday morning. I love the glimse I get into Scott's school day.

12. The kids really liked the muffins (even though they were "healthy") and asked for seconds!

13 - 18. Maybe it's cheating a bit, but I read individually with seven kids today. I love seeing their improvement each week. It is so encouraging.

19. Amanda ate four muffins before noon! "Bodie...Bodie" is how she requests bread with butter.

20. Andrew and Amanda took naps, so guess who else got a nap? I love a bit of rest time in the middle of the day. It revives me to have a break from my kids.

21. Amanda's nap was long, so Andrew and I had time to snuggle and read books when he awoke. We didn't have to interrupt every other page to figure out what the baby was in to.

22. We played and played outside all day. At one point, Andrew and I were playing superhero on the pirate ship. I said "Arrrgh!" and was immediately corrected - "We aren't playing pirates." "Well, what do superheros say?" "Charge!" So, we "Charged!" the bad guys and shot them with cannon balls. The bad guys landed in the trees above our heads and Andrew used his rope to lasso them to safety. I just sat on the deck and enjoyed the show.

23. Scott arrived home with a smile and demanded that I ask the question I ask every Monday - "How was your day? Did Miss Leslie come today?" He just loves it when I refer to myself in the third person and ask as if I don't know the answer.

24. My three children and I had a DELIGHTFUL trip to Target after school. We went to pick up part of my birthday present, but before we shopped, we enjoyed $1.50 popcorn and a drink in the snack area. Amanda continued to munch on the popcorn throughout the store, and the boys and I had a delightful time looking and playing.

25 - 29. Exactly five dinners that I did NOT have to make tonight. I had a recipe picked out, but was too busy enjoying the sunshine to go shopping, so Derrick took us out to dinner. It was a bit chaotic, but worth the clean kitchen that I came home to.

30. I received several wonderful calls, including a special message on my phone from a 4 year old that just delighted me.

31. It's almost bedtime! I'll snuggle in bed early to read a bit before turning off the light.

32. Derrick is home from bible study and we'll get a few minutes to talk before heading to bed. He, poor thing, has to stay up to work on report cards.

33. The best part about my day was it was so normal...I think I could find 33 reasons that every day is great if I think about it each evening. Sure, there were some tears when Andrew pinched himself in his carseat, and we had two cranky kids at dinner, but overall it was a great day!

Blog envy?

I've read postings on several blogs recently about people having cases of "blog envy." I guess this is where you start looking at other blogs and wishing yours looked or sounded like theirs. Well, I certainly don't wish to be anyone else, so I don't want their blogs, but I do enjoy seeing what other people are up to. I have a couple crafting sites that I especially love to browse: "Make it and Love it" and "Homemade by Jill".

I wonder how women who are raising kids have the time to create such wonderful crafts AND blog about them. They must never spend time on other people's blogs. Maybe they don't require any sleep. They must love what they do so much that they prioritize their time differently than me.

Like my favorite cooking magazine, I mostly enjoy looking at the "recipes," but rarely try them. But, a few weeks ago, I was inspired by one and decided to try to make some things for upcoming birthdays. So, on Saturday when Amanda was napping, I pulled out the sewing machine and went about making a pattern for my sewing project.

Then I realized and remembered why projects like this never get completed. Like cats running toward the kitchen when they hear the can opener, I think my boys have a second sense to know when a project is being worked on. They were playing outside, but the moment they heard the hum of the sewing machine, they materialized by my side, both wanting a turn at pushing the pedal and guiding the fabric.

And I'm such a sucker when it comes to including my kids in projects. I recently had a friend who told me that her kids aren't allowed in the kitchen. It is her sanctuary. Meanwhile, I'm considering purchasing a second step stool for helpers and cleaning out a cabinet for Amanda.

So, back to my Saturday...when phase 1 was complete, I sent Andrew for a nap,but Scott still wanted to help. He convinced me that we should work on a project for him. Here I am, still trying to finish project #1, but the idea of supporting my child's creativity and spending quality time with him sounds great. So, I got to a good stopping point (actually all I could do until I can measure a bit more) and began his creation.

We had so much fun playing with different stitches. Scott designed the bag and pushed the pedal. I guided the fabric and made some necessary changes to the design. There are no finished edges, but Scott was so happy with the final product. It was exactly what he wanted.


Here is Scott cutting fabric to make the straps longer. I'm not sure if it is a bigger mistake to let him push the pedal or use my fabric scissors, but he did both on Saturday.


The finished product...

Andrew birthday - part 1

Happy Birthday Andrew! Today, my little boy is four. Since his birthday was on a Saturday, everything was supposed to happen today...birthday party, presents, cake, etc. But, Andrew learned a very valuable lesson instead - sometimes life doesn't always work out like you planned.

We actually ate Andrew's birthday dinner on Friday night. He selected homemade chicken pot pie. I cheated a little with a purchased pie crust (Dad - it was not as good as Mom makes.) The filling was delicious, however, with a curry cream sauce - yum!

Later that night, our plans turned left. Amanda and I came down with a little virus and we decided to postpone the party for a week.

Even with a postponed party, Saturday turned out to be a great birthday. Some sweet friends who were supposed to attend the party, invited Andrew, Scott and Derrick to the park instead. And they brought cupcakes for all to share! Unfortunately, I forgot to send the camera, but I heard they had a great time.

So, in the great tradition of our family, passed through the generations from both sides, we will stretch Andrew's birthday celebration for a full week. I'll post party pictures (and the super gift we are giving Andrew) next week. Until then, here are some pictures of what has already happened.

Last week we prepared for the party by making a pinata. We didn't want a balloon shape, so we cut a cereal box and used it as a frame. We'll see how it works at the party! I quickly learned that the messy part should be done after bedtime - little helpers were NOT needed! So, I completed the newspaper pasting early in the week. Andrew helped me paint the box...


... and color a Bibleman coloring sheet to decorate the outside of the pinata. Thus, we have a Bibleman pinata - something not sold in stores.



We also enjoyed making letter cookies together. If you look carefully at the cookie sheet, you can see we just finished Amanda's name and were working on a second bunch of Andrew's letters. The first batch of "Andrew" and "Scott" were already in the oven.


Here is Andrew enjoying an "A"

Friday night was part 1 of birthday night. Thank you Aunt Stephanie and Grandma & Grandad for the great gifts! Andrew especially loved his birthday crowns and his new Thomas video. (If you look in the background, you can see the finished pinata on the right.) Oh, and yes, both boys were sitting on the table. I'm not sure who gave them permission to sit there, but they both found it comfortable and my rules are always lax on birthdays.

Guess who is having a birthday?

(taken in August 2007, just before his first haircut)

The arrival of March marks the arrival of "birthday season" around here. First Andrew, then me, Uncle Kendall, Nana, Scott and Callie. We also have many friends with birthdays sprinkled in between, so it is an exciting month, filled with cake. :)

Andrew is first! And we are making the final birthday preparations around here. Today was cleaning day. We also finished the pinata today and made some celebration cookies. Tomorrow we'll put together the party favors and games and Friday will be food day. Oh, and although the floor was mopped today, I'll have to have at least six more sweeping sessions under the kitchen table.

I can't believe my sweet boy will be four.

More funny comments...

Derrick and I were lingering at the table the other night, and Andrew asked to be excused to put on his jammies. He wanders back into the dining room about 5 minutes later. His expression is serious and sad. "My pants caught themselves in the fan."

I couldn't help it. Although I knew he needed a stern response, I burst out laughing. Derrick, with humor in his voice, asked, "Did they just fly up there on their own?" Andrew - "Yes." Scott - "Let's turn on the fan and make them fly down." Andrew and Scott ran back to their room to try their plan. We also make a quick exit to rescue the pants before a fan blade was broken. Sigh...boys.

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Feb. 25, 2010

Scott, out of the blue said: "Giganotosaurus was the largest meat eating animal ever."

Me: "I thought the book we read last night said Tyrannosaurus was."

Scott: "Let me sift through the papers in my brain...(long pause)...No wait, that was the right page."

Scott loves books, and I think he sees his brain as one gigantic book. Later he found another dinosaur book and turned to the correct page that proved his statement was right.