January is birthday season around here
January -
We had just enough snow to see it and make 1 snowball.
Alee's sense of style is just fantastic...
Really, none of us is sure if it's summer or winter this month?
Really, none of us is sure if it's summer or winter this month?
We've celebrated birthdays about 4 times over this month! (We celebrated with Rob's family here.)
My twins love ice cream cake (and are very particular about how they want it, so buying it easily (and cheaply) just isn't possible. I'm finally getting better at making them so they look and taste good. This one is red velvet cake (box mix altered to be awesome), home made ice cream (easier than store bought), and white chocolate buttercream frosting (homemade with lots of real butter). It was so very good.
And of course, amidst the birthdays, we had exciting news that some are still adjusting to....
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Finally put Natalie's Christmas present to use - she's getting better, but it was a rocky start (and I had to watch a YouTube video to refresh my archery knowledge from girls' camp - I was showing her how to nock the arrow on the wrong side! oops)
My sister in law found a good deal for a carseat-stroller combo (which cost about as much as a new carseat and used stroller that I had planned to buy). Natalie went ahead and tested the carseat. :) One baby thing purchased...a few more to shop for.
We celebrated birthdays with just our family on their actual days:
(I need to learn how to make carrot cake. Only Rob liked it...but it was from a grocery store bakery because I was too scared to try out making it for the first time on his birthday in case it didn't turn out.)
Double digits...they are all getting so big!
Alee celebrated the 101st day of school (because they are FIRST graders). They had 101 dalmatians theme and were encouraged to dress up like dalmatians. (Guess when we sewed/basted those fabric circles on that dress? Yep - about 7:00 the night before. Rob, Beth, Natalie, and Kaitlyn all sewed dots.)
My parents celebrated birthdays with the birthday people when they're in town each month - the twins two weeks ago and Rob and I later today.
We also had awards day for elementary school - but I don't feel like editing the pictures to take out all the kids that aren't mine.
Also keeping us busy - we have so many appointments (dentist, doctor, orthodontist, OB/GYN) during January and February - ridiculous!
Then we celebrated the twins birthday for a 4th time with a friend party. (If you don't know our family birthday plan, it's that each school year I do 1 friend party - and of course we always celebrate as a family.) This year was the twins' turn and they picked Percy Jackson theme (Books by Rick Riordan).
Rob made PVC bows and Beth made dowel/ping pong ball arrows.
The bow idea I found online and Rob altered a little (tighter string, more bendy PVC and a pool noodle grip). Beth altered the arrow idea to use what we had available and to make them safe.
Blue theme (in the books Percy Jackson's mom celebrates things with blue food - so of course, the cake and icing were blue - all from a box mix - can't make but so much homemade).
The kids helped me clean up and decorate the dining room and den.
And the party favors (besides the bow & arrows) were quick to make. I did make the lollipops, but candy melts only take about 20 minutes to melt and fill the mold. I first tried them out for Seth's birthday a few years ago and have been collecting candy molds each birthday party since.
Seth made this awesome Python target for our archery activity. I am learning to delegate in life!
I considered just doing Little Caesar's pizza, but mine tastes better and it's cheaper, and it's easy to customize (for those who can't eat or don't like mozzerella). So we made personal pizzas. I make pizza every Friday anyways and we only had 8 kids (that's only 3 more than usual), so it wasn't overwhelming to handle. Rob managed archery while I baked their pizzas and Carolyn hopped from one to the other (whoever needed her help most).
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The second activity (really simple) is I had the kids draw a "Medusa" on a white balloon and then we did a modified version of "Pin the tail on the donkey" - we Pinned (stuck with a sewing pin) the balloon. The trick was, we spun them around twice and then they had to use the mirror to pop the balloon that was behind them.
The last activity I didn't take any pictures of - it was fun, but not picture worthy. I sent them on a "quest" to find the "lightning bolt" (glowsticks). The clues are linked below in case you want to see/use the idea. The treasure hunt/quest was based on the first book and followed the path and incidents Percy and his friends had to go through on the way to recovering Zeus's lightning bolt.
Alee and Seth were "traded" for two of the twins friends and had sleepovers of their own away from here. Alee was not interested in the twins' friend party (and I was grateful I didn't have to manage her while managing 8 tweens) and Seth had no desire to be around even more girls. (There were several boys invited, but only 1 came.)
I was concerned that I couldn't carry out a party right now, but I kept the party simple - focusing on the parts 10 year olds would care about (like a cool bow and arrow) and letting go the parts they wouldn't (a perfectly cleaned house and elaborate decorations) - and Rob and the kids pitched in and helped prep and carry out.
It'll be Seth's turn next school year (thankfully!) and teenage boys (I think) are easier to prepare for - no cute little activities or specially themed decorations. Just balloon and streamers, lots of food, music, and board games / video games. They should entertain themselves!
I'm happy January was fun and also happy one thing on my "to do list" is done.
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