A Royal Birthday Party

"A Princess Party" was the party idea Rebecca stuck with for her 4th birthday. She 1st wanted a water party, then a water party with princesses, then she decided a princess party without water would be best. Today was so hot and humid that some water might have actually felt really good.

We planned some fun games for the party.

Pin the crown on Rapunzel. 

I free hand drew this after looking at a cd cover. 

The crowns were just cut out card stock that I decorated.

 The Princess and the Pea 

I started out by telling the kids the story of the Princess and the Pea. We had 4 pillows and a green bouncy ball "pea" for the game. I hid the "pea" under a pillow and the kids would sit on each pillow and try to feel the pea. The "pea" we used was too small to feel in the grass, so we changed it out for a baseball. All the kids were able to find the "pea" this way.

Poison Apple

This game is like hot potato, but with a poison apple instead. The kids passed the poison apple around until Corrine stopped the music. Whoever had the apple pretended to fall asleep. They were then awoken by a kiss-a Hershey kiss. After all the kids got a turn to get the poison apple and get awoken by a kiss the kids ate their very messy melted Hershey kisses.

Treasure Hunt

We hid wands and pirate eye patches in the strawberry patch, rings and bouncy balls in the sand box, necklaces on the fence, stick on earring in the flower box in the clubhouse and bracelets in the playhouse on the deck. The kids had so much fun going around finding the treasures.

Princess Cake

If you have a princess party-you need a princess cake. 

This princess was struggling to not melt in the heat of the day. She stayed nice and cool in the fridge until it was time to cut into her fluffy dress.

Presents

I love the looks on all the kids faces as Rebecca opened her presents. They were all admiring the fun gifts the other kids gave her. She was so sweet and gentle, yet excited opening them.

A couple other fun pictures I got at the party.

A grumpy princess not wanting her picture taken.

A Happy Princess playing with her friends.

A totally engrossed in her new wand from the treasure hung princess.

A sad princess.

 A tongue sticking out prince.

Rebecca and her friends had such a fun time playing prince and princess today! I'm glad she has such sweet friends that were able to come celebrate her special golden birthday with her.

Rebecca's Golden Birthday

Our sweet Rebecca Lucy was born on the 4th of July, 4 years ago, so today she is celebrating her GOLDEN birthday!!! We LOVE birthdays here, and a GOLDEN birthday is even more special.

Everyone was extra excited for Rebecca's Golden birthday and pitched in to get the house decorated. Corrine helped her shower and paint her nails, Ammon made a banner for her, and Dad & Corrine went and got her balloons. The big kids all wrapped their presents for her and wanted to help set up the birthday present hunt.

As I was putting Rebecca to bed last night she told me "In the morning when I wake up you'll need to tell me Happy Birthday!" She was SOOO excited to be turning 4. Having big siblings who've all just recently had birthdays and having them excited for her special day made her even more excited!

For breakfast we had our 4th of July pancakes with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and whip cream. What a yummy way to celebrate your birthday!!

Rebecca's request for today-go fishing at the lake we went to last. So that's what we did. We went fishing at Kent Park near the new dock.

The fishing wasn't nearly as good as last time. It was hot and crowded, but she still had a really fun time fishing and having a picnic lunch at the lake.

In the afternoon we had some friends over for a barbecue. We all had lots of friends to play and talk with and Rebecca was in birthday heaven. Corrine made her a cute cake that was suppose to be red, white and blue, but came out more pink and blue/green. But it tasted good!

Rebecca showed me a fun thing she likes to do on the swings. She lays on her tummy and runs until she can't reach and flings herself into the air. She was giggling and having the best time doing this. I was so grateful she had short on under her dress with how much it flipped up. She loves speed and swings so this is so her!

She opened her family presents at the party. She got this cute vacuum from Grandma & Grandpa Smith. She, and all the kids there, LOVED this vacuum. She was so sweet to share it with all the kids who wanted a turn to vacuum the front room.

 We ended the night watching the Coralville fireworks. Rebecca had such a fun GOLDEN birthday, that she fell fast asleep on the drive home from the fireworks.

Happy Birthday Rebecca Lucy. We LOVE you!!!

Mad Scientist Experiments

Our sweet, energetic Ammon LOVES exploding, erupting, bubbling science experiments, so a Mad Scientist Birthday party was the perfect way to celebrate his 8th birthday!

Our list of experiments were Film Rockets

Elephant Toothpaste

Awesome Bubbles

Coke & Mentos

Colored Fizzles

Balloon Rockets

Film Rockets were almost a no go. Finding the right type of canisters for the experiment took some time, but it was so worth it. Seeing the anticipation in the boy eyes as they waited for the rocket to launch and then seeing the excitement as they rocketed up was so worth the time it took to find the canisters. The boys figured out that putting the tablet in and giving it a quick shake make them fly higher. It was a great experiment to start the part with.

The Amazing Bubbles were just that-Amazing. The bubbles filled with the dry ice smoke, so when you popped them smoke escaped. The boys loved this experiment. Find the directions to this experiment here.

We went out front for the Coke & Mentos experiment. I got the small bottles of Coke so the kids could do multiple experiments. The boys first put the Mentos into the Coke. Then they put the Mentos in the empty bottles, and poured the Coke over them. Both way got lots of squeals from the boys.

Colored Fizzles was the basic colored vinegar and baking soda. The boys made their piles of baking soda rainbow colored and enjoyed watching the chemical reaction.

The balloon rockets took some prep work to get the string strung from the deck to the back fence and the straws taped to the balloons for all the boys, but the prep time was so worth it. The boys raced those balloons over and over and over again. The blew the balloons up as BIG as they could.

I almost forgot to do the Elephant toothpaste and I would have been so sad to have missed this experiment. I did this with Rebecca's preschool group and they loved it just as much as the boys did. The consistency of the foam is so bubbly and easy to play with. The kids were so hands on with the foam having a great time rubbing it on their hands and arms. Thankfully this didn't kill the grass because it got all over it. Find the directions and ingredients to Elephant Toothpaste here.

The final experiment of the night was the bubbling lava cake. All the boys loved seeing the 'smoke' coming out of the active volcano. They tried as hard as they could to blow the smoke out, but no matter how hard and long they blew the smoke continued. This was an awesome cake.

Ammon's Mad Scientist Party was probably one of the funnest parties we've done. It was alot of hands on work during the party, but so worth all the work to see the excitement on the boys faces during each of the experiments.

Our new 12 year old

How in the world did our 1st born child turn 12 years old today? Seriously HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?  Wasn't he just going into elementary school last year?

Now he's just shy of 5 feet tall and his feet are as big as mine. Not only has he grown physically, he has grown mentally and emotionally so much this past year. He's getting more teenager to him then child. It's exciting and somewhat sad to see it happen. What blows my mind the most is that in just 2 years he could have a drivers permit. YES a drivers permit!! Crazy to put it mildly.

Simeon is really growing into a sweet, kind caring young man. He has a serious, get things done side and a very impulsive, do it before thinking side to him. He is very bright and athletic. He LOVES to read, is a bit obsessed with his Nook (and not just for books), loves to camp, loves to talk, wants to do everything he can, is getting quite good at the baritone, is full of energy and loves to listen to grown ups conversations. He's constantly making bows and arrows outside, getting into stick sword battles with Simeon, making up games on his ripstick with Joe and writing in his own language Rickums. We love our Simeon!

A short interview with our newly minted 12 year old Simeon-

What's the best thing about being 12? I get the Aaronic priesthood. I get to go to Southeast Junior High.
Friends- Carter Westlake, Nick Cronk, Sam Lewers, Joe Ring, Kyle Hefferly, Jonathan Brown, Joshua Cahoon and Joe Fischer.
Favorite school subject-Science
When I grow up-Chemist, to find the cure for leukemia cancer.
Favorite books- Legacy and Sentinels (both by R.A. Salvatore & Geno)
Favorite movie-Hobbit
Favorite game or electronic game-PS3 (Skyrim), Nook (Bad Piggies)
Most nervous for this year-getting to class on time at Southeast.
Most excited for at Southeast-LUNCH! I heard they have lots of choices and you don't have to get just one thing, and it's made there and it's fresh from the store that day.

For his birthday breakfast he wanted a bear claw from Day Light donuts. Then we made a mad dash to our early morning Spanish classes. For lunch at school he wanted Taco Bell. He was so sweet and kind to have mom, dad and Rebecca come have lunch with him and he wasn't the slightest bit embarrassed. His school treat were bomb pops. For dinner he wanted a Mexican spread. We had Spanish rice, my amazing (by our kids at least) beans, tacos, burritos and fixings to go with it all.
Simeon was suppose to have baseball practice and Corrine a softball game, but luckily for us it rained pretty good this afternoon and the city closed all the parks, so they both got cancelled. That meant we got to spend more family time together eating DQ treats while walking on the path by the river.

This year for presents he got a very nice sleeping bag, and sleeping mat from us. He also got sent on a scavenger hunt through the house to find his last present-a set of 3 street hockey balls. From family he got money, Legos, Nook gift card and more money.

A cute birthday story. At his family party he wanted a chocolate chocolate chip cake. We stuck the candles into his cake slice, but it started falling apart. Simeon asked to light the candles. So I'm holding the candles up and he lights the 1, then turns the match the wrong way to light the 2 and it burns his fingers, so he drops in on the table. He quickly blows it out and picks the match up. Meanwhile I thought the 1 was stable so I let go and it tumbles over. We caught it before it went and lit the 2 and sang Happy Birthday while his candles balanced crazily against each other.

As mom I've gone through some emotions with this birthday. Each birthday is special for each of our kids.  But turning 12 is huge for Simeon. he'll be be graduating from primary and going into the Young Men's program at church. He'll get the Aaronic Priesthood and will be able to pass the Sacrament. He will also be graduating from Elementary school and will be in Junior High next fall. Seeing Simeon so grown up and healthy has had me in tears many times this week. He wasn't guaranteed this birthday or any after his 5th birthday when he got leukemia. Each birthday I am so greatful that he is here and healthy and happy.

We love you Simeon. We're so proud of the amazing young man you have grown into!

Happy Birthday!!

Looks who's 10 years old

Corrine is now two full hands old.

 It's the 1st time being in the double digits in age and it's the last time she can show her age with her hands. 

What a magical, fun filled day today was. 

It started slightly dark and early when we got up to have some yummy cinnamon rolls and open presents before heading to before school Spanish.

Corrine got to open her remote control car and her gumball machine was sitting ready to be play with.

She brought orange "Push-ups" for her snack today and she said they were a hit!! She said the kids said they were the best treat ever and were so excited for them. Funny thing about them is we're expecting a big snow storm tonight and the kids were eating sherbet!

The afternoon was spent driving her car, eating skittles, driving her car some more and playing with Rebecca.

In the evening we went to swim lessons, which ended very early after a kid got sick in the pool. Luckily NOT one of ours. Corrine was beyond excited to find out that she passed Level 3, and gets to move on to Level 4 next week. (She took a session of lessons when she was 3 or 4,  and it was not good timing with Simeon being sick and life being crazy.) So really I consider this her 1st real swim lesson. She real quickly caught onto doing the back stroke and does it beautifully.

We ended the night with some yummy cheese cake complete with another round of singing Happy Birthday and lighting the #10 candle. I don't think you can sing or light the candles enough in on your birthday!