An Angry Birthday (Angry Birds, That Is)

My sweet, energetic, dramatic, loving and smart third son turned seven this month!

We started the day with birthday donuts with Daddy and opening the gift that Daddy sent from the middle east...a stuffed camel and some Qatari Riyals (as well as some American dollars).  I'm again, so thankful for technology and that Chris can be here with us while being so far away.

Soon it was time to party!

Pig cake using marshmallow fondant.

Pin the Crown on King Pig

The life size Angy Birds game was a big hit.  We didn't have anything for a slingshot so they just threw the ball.

The King Pig pinata was not that fun to make.  I made it with a round punch balloon, flour, water, and newspaper strips and then painted it.  I used a hanger to hang it with, but we put too many goodies inside and the hanger broke through, so I resorted to using duct tape to fix it.  It worked!  The kids had a lot of fun with it.  I did three layers but the first big kid to hit it broke it, so I'll do four or five layers for big kids in the future.  Which, thinking about how long it took, there probably won't be a homemade pinata in my future!

The party turned out great...the weather was nice, the boys helped a lot with preparations, and hosting a party with 22 kids?  No problem.  Maybe not quite 'no problem', but Gabe loved it and I didn't go insane, so I call it a success.

I got lots of ideas from Pinterest websites for this party...paper mache pinata, fondant icing made of marshmallows, life size Angry Birds game, decorations, names for the themed food, and the Pig cake.

A Special Day

A special day is almost here...

And these balloons are awaiting the birthday boy when he wakes up and opens his door!  Love it!

Pics of party to come!

Happy Fall

Much fun was had this pumpkin season.  In addition to visiting the pumpkin patch/hayride/maze I wrote about in a previous blog post, we did other fall-ish fun type activities like...

...we painted pumpkins.

I'm not sure what is considered 'too many pumpkins' to have at one's house in the fall, but I believe I counted  21 in our house this season...either painted, carved, and just sitting around as decorations.

I've gotten rather good at not helping to make them looks pretty and perfect.  I'll help if I'm asked, but I just smile and take pictures if I'm not.

...we rode bikes dressed as a mushroom named Toad.

...we had fun with friends at our church's fall festival.

...we carved faces on pumpkins.

We had a lot of seeds from those pumpkins and roasted all of them; most salted and some cinnamon sugar.  We sent two small baggies to Chris and the rest were gone in a few days.  The boys loved them.  Well, their mama did too.

From left to right: Gabriel's T for Toad, Anna's smiley face, Christopher's M for Mario, Leah's sad face, and Matthew's L for Luigi (hahaha, backwards)

...we ate Halloween themed food.

orange pancakes

grape/kiwi spider, mandarin orange pumpkin cups, and a jack-o-lantern quiche

If you could see it in my mind, you'd be more impressed.

...we played 'Pin the Nose of the Pumpkin'.

...and we went trick or treating in the neighborhood.

I was a little nervous doing this part on my own.  I took the girls in the wagon and the boys ended up going ahead of us with a friend who has a cell phone and while I was a little frantic when the girls and I got home and the boys were still out, I remembered (duh!) about the friend's cell phone, called them, and found out they had gone down a side street that the girls and I has skipped, so they were a bit behind us.  

Happy Fall!