Invasion of the Ninja Warriors

Having your birthday fall during the cool weather season and during a major holiday week makes party planning difficult. However, that was not what Kevin and I thought about when we had kids and we ended up with one baby born the week of Thanksgiving and the other with a birthday that often collides with Easter. Needless to say parties can be tricky as people are often out of town. Plus, the weather can be iffy that time of year and I prefer outside parties if possible as cramming ten second-graders in my house and the place might not survive. There is a lot of energy packed in those little bodies!

This year we devised a clever plan. We have learned through trail and error that we seem to get better turn-out having parties after school on Friday. So we picked two Fridays and watched the forecast hawks. Then when it looked like the first one would be rain free, Jack took invitations to school and handed them out. This year we lucked out and the weather was more than rain-free, it was a downright gorgeous day to be an American Ninja Warrior.

 

Both the kids love watching this show and are always trying to make their own elements in the house. Mom, is a bit of a killjoy about that though. It came to us that setting one up for a Birthday party would be a great way to keep the kids moving and engaged and Jack was all for it. Most of the course is made from firewood logs, pallets, and wood scraps we had lying around the place. The only board we bought was for the teeter-totter (even the pipe that acts as fulcrum was a “found lying around” piece). The kids had a BLAST!

(Author’s Note: The course pictures are not mine. An awesome Mom offered to take some picture for me with my Camera since Kevin and I were busy wrangling kids…I am eternally grateful!)

We timed them all once, but by the end they were just practicing different elements and coming up with ways to terrifying me on the teeter-totter. In the between playing on the course we did manage to squeeze in some Birthday cupcakes and a Piñata. I mean if you're going to  put them through their paces why not throw some sugar in the mix?

The only real bummer of the whole day was there was just enough breeze that I couldn’t get the candles on the cake to light. Everyone was fine with faking it…..guess we’ll save candles for his actual birthday. Here’s the whole party crew. I’ve been told that they had a great time by several Moms, and one kid cried when he had to leave so I’m going to mark this party a success. Now I just have to wrap my head around the fact we have an eight-year old……

The Great Pumpkin Rides Again!

Unless you somehow missed it, Halloween was on Monday. This group of mine always has fun dressing up and doing fall things. The only disadvantage this year is that Kevin has been working a big work project that keeps him gone Mon-Thurs (and occasionally Friday) right now. That means most of our Halloween/Fall festivities ended up being pushed into a long weekend this year. Not the way we prefer to do it…but that’s just how the chips landed this year.

Thursday kicked it all off when I took the kids down to Tubbs Berry Farm after school. The kids enjoy the big slides, duck races, and the corn cannon (both hit targets this year). The Hay Bale maze is fun and there is always something new to see, do, or learn. For example: Did you know the average Honey Bee only lives six weeks and produces about 1/4tsp of honey during it’s lifespan?

I think the kid’s favorite element this year was the giant jump pad. This thing was huge, and we got there at a time when it was also devoid of other kids….My kangaroos went wild.

Saturday, after helping out at the Church’s fall cleanup and roaming the canal bed catching Crawdads we headed into town to the CSI Corn Maze. It wasn’t too many years back when we couldn’t make it through this thing without carrying people. Now we have to worry about them getting too far ahead and turning a corner on us. Not too many more years and they won’t have to stay with Mom and Dad the whole time….that has some potential

For now however I’ll enjoy the time as a family….besides these kids still come in handy when you get yourself truly turned around. “Okay sweetie, can you see the exit tent?”

Once we got done with the Corn Maze there was really only one thing left to do before Halloween itself…pumpkins!

This is another area where I’m always impressed by how far the kids have come. Jack doesn’t require any assistance anymore (except for some muscle to pull off the lid) and had some creative ideas up his sleeves (he turned his pumpkin on its side to use the nose as part of the face). Emilie still wanted help cleaning out her pumpkin. She also needed some carving help. She drew on the face (and hands, because all pumpkins have hands) and did a little carving (like one eye), but then, it seems, she suffered a career ending hand cramp and Mom had to step in and carve the rest under Emilie’s careful guidance and commentary. They turned out pretty good if you ask me.

Left to right: Kevin’s – Traditional Face (originally slated to be a trio of ghosts but the template allegedly ‘slipped’ so he went with option B), Mine – Butch the Cougar, Emilie – Hands! (I think it looks like ‘The Scream’ a bit). Jack – Stem-nose Pumpkin.

Then came Monday – Halloween Day – All Hallows Eve – Reformation Day and lots of parties. I attended three myself (Jack’s, Emilie’s, and Kevin’s Work)…how about you?

KINDERGARTEN PARTY

SECOND GRADE PARTY

Once the partying wrapped we had just enough time to go home and breath a bit for hitting the candy train to Tirck-or-Treat town. This year we did group costumes. Kevin/Jack went as Bandit (Burt Reynolds) and Snowman (Jerry Reid) from Smoky & The Bandit. Emilie and I went as Rapunzel and Mother Gothel from Disney’s Tangled. Both kid’s costumes turned out great! Jack got an extra handful of candy at one house because the homeowner was a trucker and said it was the best costume he’d seen all night…right down to the dog (Fred) strapped on back as his dog rides with him when he’s on the road. Jack was also stopped for a photo on the sidewalk by a parent who worked at a truck repair shop. Emilie wasn’t left out either, In fact her Rapunzel braid inspired a fellow mom to whip one up quick for her daughter who was also going as Rapunzel (Imitation is flattery people). In all we had a great time, are loaded down with Enough candy to easily make that Gain-10-lbs-by-New-Year goal, and have two kids already scheming up costumes for next year.

Oh….and those Crawdads I mentioned earlier…..

Back to School

We made it through summer vacation! Both kids are officially back to school. Jack entered the second grade this year and Emilie is in Kindergarten. With a few weeks under our belts both seem to be having a good time.

Jack is my “old pro”he knows where to go and what to do. He’s got several friends in his class, enjoys his teacher, and is determined to do his best in class. I get detailed accounts of the day’s goings-ons from accounts of in class learning (Rocket Math is fun! Hadley made it to B side…I’m going to get to B-side soon) to accounts of other notable events (Carter C. threw up on his desk and his grammar page!). The biggest hitch for him was that he moved to the “other side” of the school building this year. That means you use then 2nd/3rd playground and you walk yourself to wherever you met Mom/Dad for pickup after school. Parent help in the classroom isn’t regular for this grade either. They’ll call if they need it, but it isn’t a weekly scheduled thing. Kinda bummed about that, but I still have Kindergarten.

I started volunteering in the Kindergarten class last week on Tuesday mornings. It has been very helpful to meet miss Emilie’s classmates and learn their names. I kept asking if she’d played with anyone new and she’d say, “Yes!”

“What’s his/her name?” I’d then ask.

“I forget…” would be the reply.

Now that I’ve met the kids I can help with specific names and that helps. Still, she’s harder to get information out of at this point. In fact, some days she’s tells me she’s “saving up” the recount of her day until Daddy gets home. Mom is a skilled interrogator though. Now that I know classmate names, and a basic idea of her daily routine I can usually ask the right questions and figure out what she did.

Fingers crossed we have the foundations of a great school year laid for both kids. It will be exciting to watch them grow this year and see what progress has been made come May.