Matthew's Birthday Party

Matthew absolutely loves Star Wars, especially Lego Star Wars. It is so cool that those two companies have teamed up. Matthew doesn't usually get to pick what his party is going to be and if he did in the past it was letting him pick between the different themes that the dollar store had. Last year he really wanted  a Transformers party but I talked him into Sports since that was something at the dollar store. This year I wanted to let him be him and have a really fun party. I looked around for Lego Star Wars and I could have found stuff online but it would have been more expensive then just going to Target to get Clone Wars stuff. We had a lot of fun. I had been starting to look for ideas for this party in February. I came across this Jedi rode that I thought would be really fun but I was planning on having 8 people so that was going to be a lot of work. After much deliberation and trying to figure out exactly who to invite, I decided that Matthew had more friends then that to come to his party.
I came across some great ideas and then the ball just started rolling. With Matthew and Allison I finally had 12 guests, however at Target the party favor stuff and plates and all the accessories came in packages of 8. Since I had to buy two packages anyways I figured we should just invite 16 kids anyways.
For this and that reason we ended up inviting 16 kids and then with Matthew and Allison we were going to have 18 if they all came. Well, we heard from all but one and they were all coming. I knew it would be a cray house but we have a backyard and we had some fun stuff planned. It was a Star Wars theme but I really focused in on the Light Sabers aspect of it.
I really wanted all the kids to have Light Sabers but I didn't want to buy one for each of them. I wish I could say I came up with this myself, but I saw this online and thought that was so perfect. It is a pool noodle that you cut in half and then add silver duct tape to with some black electrical tape. They are so super fun because you can actually really hit each other and it doesn't hurt unless you get it in the face.
Each Jedi that came in got to choose a color of light saber and I put their name on it and then sent them out to the backyard to fight. They loved it. It was a lot of fun watching but even more fun fighting back with them.
The day off we ended up hearing that 4 wouldn't be there and the other one we weren't sure about probably wouldn't show up.  Once all 13 of our Jedis got here then I was able to join the fun. The day of we actually only ended up with 16 total which was more then plenty.
We then all went up to Matthew's room where I had taking every but their dresser out, plus they have a pretty big room, we had Jedi training. The each got a balloon and had to keep it up in the air using their light sabers. We had some competitions and it was fun. Then we went outside and we had to destroy the death star. Chris made this death star and we had water balloons filled up and they had to hit it until all the chalk had gone away. They had fun but I wanted it to last longer then it did but it was all good.


We invited two boys from Matthew's school and one of them brought his sister and dad. Matthew talks about Alex all of the time but we haven't ever officially met his parents just seen them so I was surprised when they actually said yes, but Alex wanted to bring his older sister.  His dad stayed and he was just by the fence watching until gave him a light saber and then he joined in on the fun. The kids all ganged up on him. He definitely got a beating that day.
The bad thing about our backyard is that it is full of those little thorns. Since it isn't our house I don't know what to do about it but there were lots of complaints as well as some crying about the thorns or pokies as some people call them.

Here is Bill trying to fight all of these kids.

 

When I didn't have Chris doing other things, he was out there also trying to defend.

Look at those moves:)

I guess being the birthday boy you get a few extra light sabers.
Lucky Jedi

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a cute little Jedi running towards me.

 

 

 I think she got me and I wasn't even armed other then with a camera.


 

I could not find a Star Wars cake pan that was less then $50 and I am not paying that much for a cake pan. I saw this idea and it seemed easy and then I saw another idea of how to make a cake look like a light saber but I decided this was going to be easier to serve cupcakes and cupcakes are so easy to frost because I just do a swirl on top.



We had Galaxy pizza (regular pizza with a cool name), and meteors (watermelon), and light sabers (stick pretzels dipped in red, green, or blue candy coating), with Yoda Soda (lime sherbert with Sprite). The kids loved it and it seemed cool.

It was organized chaos trying to feed all of those kids and keep them happy.

 

 

 

We had cupcakes and ice cream and then we opened presents. After that it was about time for parents and we fought outside until parents took them home. It was crazy that in a matter of about 5 minutes all of the kids were gone.
I think everybody had a fun time and I even let Bill take a light saber home so he could continue to play with his kids.

Primary Spotlight Night

We have had a Primary Spotlight Night at least for 5 years, maybe longer but I didn't know about it as much. Some years are more fun then others. This year, not as good of performance talents, meaning it probably would have been better as a display, but thankfully there weren't as many this year as years in the past.
Matthew sang Armadillo Stew in English and Spanish. Allison kept asking when she was going to go up but she won't ever do anything when we actually ask her to so we didn't even try with her. I would have loved to have her sing Nephi's Courage since we knows, all three verses, though she wouldn't have had to sing all three but we just had her color instead and displayed it. I am learning that she is not like Matthew and won't perform if we want her to, or even say her talk when she is suppose to so I didn't even try. It is hard to realize the Matthew and Allison aren't the same. Oh well though.
Matthew did well and I think the cutest part of the whole thing was when he bowed at the end and took his hat off and swept it across his body as he bowed then put it back on his head.
It was cute.
 

My First 5K

I think paying someone to let you run is such a waste of money. Obviously I am not a hardcore runner. I am however willing to support a cause. I heard about the BlueBell Fun Run last year. The Blue Bell ice cream company has a creamery in Brenham, TX, about 45 minutes from here. I have been there for the tour. I LOVE ice cream but I am not a "spoiled" eater, per se. I will eat any kind of ice cream pretty much but I usually like our HEB Creamy Creations here. Anyways, every year Blue Bell sponsors the Brenham High School sports program to put on a Fun Run. You pay to get register, get your shirt, and then after the race you can have as much Blue Bell ice cream on a stick or fruit bars on a stick as you want for free. All the money goes to Brenham High School Sports and all of those athletes with coaches and parents I am sure are helping make it run smoothly. I actually think this is a reasonable cause and therefore I signed out. However when the time got closer I decided I had trained much for it and I didn't want to drive there just to run, so I opted out of going for the race. However it was a good cause that I donated to.
This year once again I signed up to do it and started training. Then I had to stop training because of some issues and therefore did not train. I was still planning on going but didn't want to and a few days before I twisted my ankle. I figured that was the breaking point, I wasn't going to go. I talked to my friend that is an avid runner and she said that she would walk it with me but I just needed to go. There was another friend that was going so we go together and made these shirts. It was fun to have matching shirts there and it was fun to hear people comment on them. One lady asked us where she could buy one.
I didn't train and had a hurt foot. I really did not want to do it, even up to the time that we started. However once we started there wasn't any quitting.
When I signed up for this thing I thought that you can't really do a 5K if you want so my goal was to not stop to walk at all. After some issues that happened and the lack of training and my ankle my goal was to just finish. My friend had said she would stay with me but I knew she wanted and could go faster and when I told her she could go ahead she said no she was staying with me. I actually hadn't ever run or walked or a combination of the two 3.1miles.
A week before it started they said they had 4000 runners signed up for the day. There was a kids 1 mile, though adults could do it also, the 5K and the 10K. There were many more that signed up after that. There were over 2500 people that ran the 5K. They actually ran out of bibs and t-shirts because they didn't expect so many. At the end I heard the announcer say that it was a record turn-out of runners but I never heard the final amount. I actually knew 4 people that ran with us but they didn't have bibs so I am sure there were many others also.
There were some hills and especially at the very end was a big hill. I was so dead and I just about stopped to walk going up that last hill, in fact I probably would have moved faster if I walked but I had thought long and hard about it and finally decided I am telling Sadie I am going to walk and she said no Steph just keep going and so I did dang it, and I finally made it to the top. I ended up running/jogging/shuffling the whole 3.1 miles and I was very glad that I was able to meet that goal but I am sure it would have been more fun if I would have walked a little and regained my strength to continue on and may have had a better time but didn't walk and that was my original goal. It is funny because Sadie has kind of figured me out and she knows me. She says she knew that when I hurt my ankle and said that I was going to walk that I wasn't really because that is just not like me. It was great having her to run with and keep me going.
I do have to say though that I am very glad that I went and got to experience it. It is such a great family atmosphere and dogs and strollers and everybody is welcome. If we are still here next year I would like to take the whole family there. Other then the running it was fun.
Here are my pictures after I got home.
 

I have to say, I will probably do another 5K in my life, especially the Blue Bell Fun Run.

Easter Nests

I saw these on allrecipes.com and thought it would be fun to make with the kids. They didn't taste all that great but they looked really cool. The kids thought it was fun to make Easter nests though.
 

 

 

Pinewood Derby 2012

Since I am still in Cub Scouts as a Den Leader and Matthew is always with me, he really wanted to make a car this year. We have never done one before so we thought it would be good to start trying to learn how this pinewood derby stuff works. Matthew decided he wanted a shark. We could have done better now that it is done but it was a good car to start with. Since we weren't in it for real it didn't have to be regulation so we were able to put the fins on our shark. It looked better before we put the wheels on  but it was still fun to do and see.
 

 

 

 We didn't put any weight on it so it didn't even make it to the end but it was all about looks. We are learning though.

Spring Break - Waco Zoo

We did not do a whole lot for Spring Break except I enjoyed sleeping in every day. It was great. I don't think I got up before 9 any day. It was wonderful.
I did still have to babysit a little girl for three of the days but Friday I didn't so we decided to go to the Waco Zoo. We haven't been there since my mom was here two years ago so Allison was only 1 and Matthew 3 then but Chris has never been there either.
I like zoos because they are a good outing and they don't cost a fortune.
We had a fun time and the weather was perfect, not too hot or cold.
Chris thought it was pretty cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had fun and the kids kept thanking us for days afterwards for taking them to the zoo.
Allison said her favorite part was "seeing the animals".  Um, what else did we do there? She cracks me up.