Happy Birthday EZ!

EZ turned 9 on May 26th and for some reason that sounds so old to me! He is also acting so much older. He likes to hang and play board games with the adults and he has really gotten into magic and especially card tricks. He is learning new tricks off of YouTube all the time and he had me set him up with a blog and a YouTube channel, so he could write about fun entertaining things and post videos of his magic tricks. Watch out world! 

He was lucky that he got to celebrate his birthday multiple times. First, my parents came to town for Memorial Day Weekend and so we celebrated with them. EZ requested I make school cafeteria peanut butter bars and I was more than happy to because they are amazing. I have been looking for a really good recipe for these for a while and my friend Nikki sent some over with her husband, who is our home teacher and I was hooked.

EZ finally got the light pack for his most recent version of the Skylanders video games. I think my kids will be getting Skylanders for the rest of their lives at the rate they keep coming out with new versions.

His birthday was on a school day and I had plans for making a treat for him to take in to his class, and then I got a killer ear infection and so John grabbed donuts instead and of course everyone was just as happy. That night he got to pick where we all ate for dinner and he picked Popeye's. He and John love that place, but it just makes me feel sick every time. But, I will take one for the team for a special birthday treat and pay for it dearly the next day.

His birthday party was at the Y and they did and AMAZING job. The party hostess was unbelievable. She learned all of the boys names and I don't think I even knew all of them. They provided all the decorations and the plates and what not. All I had to bring was the cake and some snacks. The boys got to play a bunch of different games in the gym and again the hostess did a great job of making sure everyone had a good time. They also got to go swimming and the best part was that because everyone was over 8, I didn't have to get in!

EZ wanted a Star Wars party and I just happened to find the Darth Vader cake ban on clearance for 5 bucks and it turned out great! I also found a really fun method for melting buttercream icing and then pouring it over the cake to give it a nice smooth finish like fondant. Luckily, it actually worked because making this cake was a one shot deal. My ear infection, which I thought was from a sinus infection, actually ended up being cellulitis and I had to go on 2 different rounds of antibiotics and for the first few days I was on heavy pain meds, during which time Netta starting barfing then passed that along to me, so basically I was a hot mess. But, I promise I was healthy enough to make the cake and I didn't pass on any of my craziness to the party guests.

Happy Birthday Netta

Netta turned 7 on May 9th and this year she really wanted to go roller skating for her birthday. The school has a skating night once a month and even though I wanted the kids to go, because I remember doing that with my elementary school, we hadn't made it all year because it is always on a Tuesday night and that never worked well with our schedule. That and I didn't want to have to deal with King and Conrad at the rink. Well EZ and Netta both finally got to go for the last skate night of the school year, thanks to my friend Amberly letting them tag along with her, and they were both hooked.  Luckily, a skating party is actually a really good deal. It's 10 bucks a kid, but that includes all the supplies for the party, a choice of food, pop and ice cream. I think we will probably end up having a lot of parties here. 

As part of the party they have the birthday kids get in the middle of a big circle and they do the chicken dance and sing happy birthday to them. Of coures Netta loved having all that attention . . .

and I love this shot of her because it looks like she is trying to poop. HaHa

We decided just to stick with a rollerskating theme for her cupcakes and I found this cute idea for making skates out of candy to decorate with.

Netta is such a funny mix of girly girl and tom boy. She can potty talk with the best of them, thanks to her brothers, but she also loves all things sparkly. The one thing she really wanted for her birthday this year was hair chalk and she ended up getting it from 4 different kids, 3 of whom hadn't even asked what she wanted, they just knew she would love that! She was very excited about each and every one she got. She is a born performer and a good friend. She is my buddy for girl time and I am so glad we were blessed with her!

Happy Birthday King!

King turned 5 this May and wanted to have a Spongebob theme for his birthday. I am kind of addicted to looking for birthday ideas on Pinterest and that is where I found these awesome Plankton pretzels. I am also now obsessed with sending chocolate/candy covered pretzels with the kids to school for their birthdays, since it's so much easier than cupcakes.

On his actual birthday I made him this little Spongebob cake. It actually came to be because of an unfortunately accident with a layer cake I was trying to make for a friend that left me with one unused layer.

The following day he had his birthday party. We had it on a weekday, while EZ and Netta were at school, which they were not happy about, but our weekends were crazy this month and it was the only time we could fit it in. For the party King wanted a Patrick cake and I have to say that I am pretty frickin proud of what I came up with. I printed a picture out online and traced it on a cake to help me get the shape. I also found this perfect blue icing in the store that came with little fish sprinkles.

In true King fashion he started crying when I brought out his cake, because he did not approve of the candle color I chose. Luckily, he finally got over it.

 This was the first year that King had a "friend party." He has grown so much socially this year and it was fun to see him with all his little buddies from church and preschool. Last year he couldn't have even told me the names of his classmates, but this year he talks about them all the time and they hug each other whenever they see each other.

At preschool they get to bring home the mascot Braveheart the dinosaur and he got to come home with King for his birthday. I don't know why, but kids really go crazy for this and King was dying for it to be his turn.

King got a bunch of Legos this year, which we love because it means he isn't trying to play on my phone or the computer. We have so many Legos now that I finally had to sort them all by color. It was a long and painful project. My fingers hurt for days, but it was totally worth it.

King is such a funny kid. He can be a real stinker, but he is also a sensitive sweet heart. He will still cuddle with me and give me kisses. He also loves to watch videos online and it is hard to keep him in check. He has been going to speech therapy all year and he has really improved a lot. He is still hard to understand sometimes, but that is usually because he is talking about some video game or youtube video and no one has any idea what it is. He loves to quote things and he has finally started learning the words to songs and singing them. We love our King and I can't wait to see how much he grows this next year!

April Happenings

When we were planning our Disney World Trip, we had planned on only staying till Friday, but then much to my surprise, the Saturday flights home went on sale and were so cheap that we could save enough money flying home later to pay for the extra hotel night. (Southwest is amazing!)Then on top of that Disney started running a buy 4 days get 1 free promotion and so we got an extra day and all we really paid for was food. That was really exciting although it did mean I had to do my Easter shopping ahead of time because we got home the day before. That is a very small price to pay ;)

For some reason, after Church King and Netta decided that they both needed facial hair and gave themselves these lovely looks.

Getting home so late did mean that we actually didn't dye our eggs till after we got our baskets. Oops.

That evening we went to our have dinner at the Reeve's house with some other friends from church. It was so nice to have some "family" to be with for the holiday and it was an amazing dinner. We all brought eggs so the kids could have an egg hunt outside. Not sure why their is no picture of Netta from that, but I promise she was there.

 EZ is a goofball and every time I ask him for a big smile, this is what I get.

The kids have become really obsessed with Pokemon as of late and they even found this website that lets you make your own cards. These are the cards they made for John and I. Poor John is not a mean dad, but based on the cards I would think the kids are more scared of him then me. HaHa

 We finally made it to story time with King and Conrad at our library, now that the school year is almost over, and I am glad we did because the craft afterwards was making a treasure box and inside each kid got a token to ride the carousal! We will take a free carousel ride anytime. We love the hats and masks they have for you to wear. I just try to pretend that germs aren't a thing.

Mid-month it was finally warm enough to have our first "beach day." Meaning, we could take off our jackets and play in the sand without freezing to death. For some reason, King really wanted me to get a picture of him on the bridge and he had to be squatting with his arms out.

I had no idea that throwing sand into the water was so much fun, but I could not get these 2 to stop.

Conrad is crazy and insisted on taking his slightly wet pants off and he even started wading in the water. It was freaking freezing, but he didn't seem to mind.

One Saturday, the cooking school at Martin's grocery store had a daddy daughter event called "Papas, Princesses and Pancakes." I wish they had a daddy daughter dance somewhere here, but this is probably the next best thing. Netta got to meet the local "Blossomtime" princesses and make an amazing breakfast with John. She also got an apron and crown and John got this lovely chef's hat. I love seeing him be such a good dad.

Disney World Part 2: Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Magic Kingdom Again

Day 4 we headed off to Magic Kingdom. I had to get some pics of us on the shuttle, since we spent a lot of time there. We were staying in Port Orleans Riverside, one of the Disney Resorts and it still felt like the shuttle took forever some days. I can't imagine what it would be like if you stayed off property. Cheaper for sure, but endless shuttle rides.

Magic Kingdom gave my kids their first real taste of lines. To the parks credit, the lines were always moving, which makes them feel shorter. And to my kids discredit, they were so spoiled by the fast passes that even though we usually didn't wait more then half an hour in line, they could not stop complaining.

There is a Tom Sawyer Island that you can visit and I was amazed at how much my kids loved it. We had to basically drag them out of the fort. This gun area was especially popular. I think we could have left them there all day and when we came back they would have been in the same spot.

My favorite ride was the Seven Dwarfs Mind Train, because all of the kids had so much fun and it was the one coaster that King was willing to ride again. It was also the only ride picture that we decided to buy. I love that we are all just so happy in it.

My least favorite part about Magic Kingdom was when we got stuck in the middle of It's a Small World. Now, I love that song and that ride but being in their for too long can drive anyone insane.

Our 5th day was spent at Epcot. This may have been my favorite day, based entirely on how good the food was. Holy crap it was amazing. John got amazing Japanese food and I just about died sampling all the French pastries. I would love to go back with just John and I and spend days there eating everything. 

When we went to Animal Kingdom everyone wore their swim suits because of the water ride and no one got that wet, but we didn't realize our kids were going to absolutely soak themselves at Epcot. Of course King and Netta got the most wet because they dove right into to the sprinklers. EZ was true to form and hung out on the fringe of the splash.

The kids also loved the great over-priced candy. I may never got over the sticker shock. It just seems like it should be illegal to charge what they do. I passed on the candy, because the space simulator ride made me pretty much sick for the rest of the day. It was so fun when I was in it, but man I was hurting after. I am getting old.

 I think the highlight for the kids was the Phineas and Ferb Scavenger hunts. They gave you a cell phone that gave you all these different clues around each of the different countries and the phone would trigger hidden characters to pop out in the most random places. It was a little tiring for the adults because it had you zig zagging all over the place, but the kids thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Our final day took us back to Magic Kingdom. There is no way you could do that park in one day. It was truly magical because King and Netta were not trying to kill each other the entire time. It was worth the money just for that.

It was really hot that day and we loved the play area inside the Dumbo ride. I couldn't believe this was part of the line. When you got into the tent they gave you a pager and they would page you when it was your turn to get on the ride. Genius and it was actually really fun. We could have stayed there all day.

They had a parade with a bunch of the characters and since we are on a Phineas and Ferb kick, we were so excited that they were part of the parade and that you could dance with them. King desperately wanted a picture of them but their handlers keep moving them along and we could never get close enough. So instead we just have a pic of the kids dancing.

We really lucked out that last day, because whoever was in charge of taking the "you have a baby passes" from you when you got on Space Mountain, wasn't doing their job and we actually got to ride it 4 times. Like I said, my kids were seriously spoiled. The last time I was riding with the older 2, John took King and Conrad back to the Buzz Lightyear ride. I actually thought it was really lame compared to the one at Hollywood Studios, but King begged John to take him back and poor John got stuck in the longest line of the entire trip. The plus was that during their 45 minutes of bonding, someone took this great picture of the 3 of them.

 

This was hands down the most exhausting vacation I have ever been on, but it was totally worth it. As soon as we got home I was trying to figure out cheap ways to go back again. That may not happen for a couple of years, but I can't wait till it does!