Henry's Starwars Birthday Party back in August

 On my birthday, August 20th, we hosted eight, 4, 5, and 6 year old boys at our house for Henry's Star Wars birthday party. It was a our first drop off party, so most of the parents were not there, but some decided to stay and help. So it was fun to just focus on Henry and his friends. Ever since last spring Henry has been engrossed with Star Wars, especially since he and his daddy watched all six episodes last summer. So it was fitting that his birthday party be full of light sabors, darth vadar, and mastor yoda.

We started decorating a week or so ahead of time just so I would not become a mean mommy the weak of the party. We laminted star wars characters for the wall that we found on the internet.

Then we bought balloons from party city to help make it festive. I decorated the white balloons with sharpy to resemble storm troopers. Very simple...

When they kids arrived the each got a star wars tato and colored a picture of a star wars character or space ship. They really got into it when we told them they could win a prize for the best drawing.

The next activity was "Pin the Light Sabor on Mastor Yoda". I printed Mastor Yoda off from clip art on the computer, and then blew it up and laminated it. Then Henry and I made light sabors out of tonge depressors, markers, and construction paper. He made sure we had green, red, blue, and purple ones, because each charactor in Star Wars has a different colored light sabor depending on who you are.

Charles Tucker got the closest, so he won!! Daddy made a big deal out of his victory...I think Tuck had mixed emotions about all the attention brought to him...

The next game was Star Wars Bingo, which I printed off from this website called,

Henry was anxious to play this with his friends after our family played it as a trial run.

Chad, Andrew, and Jonathan...such cuties...

Daddy was obviously taking this very serious....

Mary Taylor watched from the counter with Nana...

Her and Charles Tucker don't like to be in the middle of the action at first, it takes them some time to warm up.

 After the star wars bingo game it was time to go down stairs for Pass the Death Star, which is the same as hot potato, but with star wars music instead. The boys really got into it and they were pretty good sports about getting out, expect the birthday boy.

 Then they each got a light sabor to keep, but also for a couple of more games before cake time. Definitely a boys heaven....at least for most of the boys.... So starting from left to right we have, Sam, Henry, Jonathan, James, Dexter, Chad, Charles Tucker, Mary Taylor, Andrew, Dominick, and Jac decided to venture upstairs after things got too intense.

 The little munchkins even joined in the fun!

 Like I said some boys thought this was pure joy and some were not too sure, like Sam, but he was definitely holding his own....

The next game was keep the balloon off the ground with your light sabor. I was a little worried, someone would get wacked, but they did great and loved this activity too!

 And then the moment all the adults had been waiting for, while the boys were thoroughly surprised to see Darth Vader pop out of the bedroom. Oh my gosh...they went wild! Dee really got beat up, but loved it! The kids thought it was a blast! And my dad kept creating more stories involving Darth Vader and then he would pop out again and scare them...

 

Henry was having the time of his life as well as all his buddies...
 

My dad had the best time watching this caous!

Watch them in action...

After fighting Darth Vader...we took the party upstairs for 'galactic pizza' and 'yoda soda'....

The kids love the pizza, apples, and spirit with green food coloring in it... The 'yoda soda' was a hit!

"Happy Birthday to Henry!!" I had to sneak a kiss in...I won't be able to get away with this much longer!

My sweet boy...

I made him a Light Sabor cookie cake, which was very simple...

My sister Amelia was amazing to make these Princess Leia cupcakes! Aren't they adorable? Everybody loved these!

I also made Master Yoda cookies for each child to take home. I ordered the star wars cookie cutters from William Sonama and then used slice and bake sugar cookies and then added green food coloring. Extremely easy...

And lastly I made Light Sabor pretzels which I dipped in white chocolate that was colored blue with food coloring. Yes, food coloring can be your best friend when baking for a birthday party!

Had to take a picture of all the food...Thank you to my sister Amelia for making the food labels for everything! I don't know what I would do without you! Thank you so much for your help, hopefully one day I can repay you when you have kids! :) (all these ideas were influenced by the internet)

After the kids were full of sugar they were ready to run around outside!!

And of course T.J. was right there creating more adventures....

It was such a fun party! Henry I hope you had a great time! Happy Birthday again, two months late, but better late than never! Love you buddy!

Daddy's Birthday

We celebrated Dee's birthday two days after Charles Tucker's, which was on September 27th. Hints why it has taken me a couple of weeks to get it on this blog/scrapbook. I was a little burned out after 4 birthdays in August and September. So glad Mary Taylor's birthday isn't until the end of November, still have a couple of weeks before I have to start thinking about it!

Well, I had fun with Dee's birthday too after my friend Anne suggested I do a theme party, so he would not feel left out, of course I think she was trying to be funny, but I thought it was a great idea. Then she suggested a plethra of cheesy fun ideas to make him feel special and get a good laugh in all at the same time. Well, because Dee love's reformed theology, Anne suggested I go in that direction. Of course I am laughing the whole time she is texting these ideas to me, but I thought it was perfect especially since it would not cost any money, which is a perfect birthday party for my husband!!

He was very surprised when he came home to this on the walls!

For dinner, we had mashed potatoes with sauted spinach and flank steak, which he prepared because he doesn't trust me with meat on the grill, I don't blame him...I was perfectly happy for him to help cook, besides he enjoys it. While we were eating I told him quotes from these theologians and then he had to guess which one said it. I don't think I picked very easy ones, because he only got 2 correct out of 15, opps! I promise the site said "Famous quotes by reformed theologians." It was still fun! I think this quote was by Martin Luther, who is on the bottom, middle, right in the picture above.

When everyone was finished eating, we play "Theology Bingo", which Henry wanted to play over and over again. It was fun for them to help celebrate daddy's birthday. Henry was also very curious about these men and kept asking Dee if these were his favorite people. It was cute.

Then we sang "Happy Birthday" to daddy over his pumpkin whoopies, which was a "pinterest recipe". They really weren't that hard to make, but I am still impressed I made something from scratch, especially these days! This is his favorite dessert in the fall and winter when Trader Joes has them in stock, so it was a real treat to eat them out of season.

We really had a fun time preparing all day for his birthday, the kids helped me make the pumpkin whoopies and were excited to surprise daddy when he came home from work! Oh, yeah we also made him a card that included a page from each of the kids and then one from me. They each drew a picture of how daddy shows them God's love. Henry drew daddy taking him to eat ice cream. Mary Taylor wanted to trace her hand, so then I helped her think of words that describe daddy to put inside her hand. Charles Tucker told me he wanted to draw an egg with leaves around it, so I helped him draw it, it was cute to see their own ideas come out! then I wrote the 31 best things about my hubby and put it in the back of the book, which was titled, "Happy Birthday to our Redeemed Daddy." Yes, I was totally being so cheesy, but that's what made it fun and I think he felt special and loved!

Happy Late Birthday Dee!!! We love you!!

Henry's birthday back in August

Back on August 19th, we celebrated Henry's birthday all day long and then the next day too, which was my birthday! Well, so bright and early I got him up before school so he could have his special birthday breakfast and open his first present.

During school, we brought a special snack for his whole class to help celebrate his birthday. When we got there, Henry was standing at the front of the room while the other students were talking about why Henry was special on his birthday. I love his teacher, Mrs. Sears, she is amazing! If I ever go back to teaching, I want to be a kindergarten teacher and be just like her.

Then we were off to the Aquarium for the afternoon. Did you know the Aquarium will let you get in free on your birthday, if you live in Georiga? Yes, it was great, because the little ones were still under 3 when we went, so we only had to pay for Dee and I, so we could not resist taking advantage of this!

We had an aquarium pass back when Henry was a year old, but we have not been in about three or so years, so it was fun to get to see all the new exhibits. The babies, CT and MT had not been either, so it was neat to experience it through their eyes too.

They had a race to get the energy out...

While the boys took a bathroom break, Mary Taylor found the little mermaid...

One of my favorite parts is the ocean tunnel where you can spot all kids of sea life including whales and sharks, very cool...

Then that led us to the huge room that stretches several feet high and wide, it is just beautiful...

so precious, he is just mesmorized...

Wouldn't you be too, if you saw this?!

 

Once the "Awwww" wore off, it was time to jump on daddy...

So we decided to take it to the play area, where they had been begging to go, since we walked in the door...

Because everyone was getting hungry by now, we decided to head over to Johnny Rockets for Henry's birthday dinner...

Henry's favorite food is a cheese burger and milk shakes, so he really enjoyed his meal. He got the rest of his presents too, which were several star wars figures that he had asked for. It was a fun time!

I think daddy was ready to go, but the kids were doing so great, I took advantage of them cooperating!

Then I caught this cute little serious of pictures...

 Look a Mary Taylor's face...

Sweet Tuck Tuck kissed her...

How cute is this shot!!

They were having the best time!!

Little miss model...

 
Henry is oblivious to the babies, he is playing hard with his new star wars toys...

  Then little miss gets a hold of his toys. Look at her face making the chchch sound that an aircraft makes just like her brothers do....

She is the girliest tomboy I know!!

What a fun day we had celebrating his five years of life....hard to believe.

Happy 5th Birthday Henry from two months ago!