This birthday was bound to be epic.....

A few months ago, one of my besties and I purchased a Groupon for Archers Afield in Tigard.  It was a 30 minute private lesson for 4. We took our oldest boys and had a date night.  If you are unfamiliar with Archers Afield, it's an archery store with indoor lanes and a separate room for private lessons.  Upon entering, I saw "birthday parties" mentioned in the window.  Guess where my soon-to-be-6-year-old wanted his birthday party?!?!  So we finalized the guest list and got the Star Wars invitations sent.  Then I started thinking...I'm going to willingly give 14 kids between 6 and 9 bows and arrows- wth was I THINKING?!?!?!  I figured it was going to be epic- epic awesomeness or epic fail including ambulance rides. Friends, it was epic AWESOMENESS.  It was amazing!  The kids had a half hour lesson with Steven and they listened- focused the whole time! Then had snacks and cupcakes (while the parents got a turn!). Then another half hour of archery for the kids.  All the kids said it was "the best party ever!"

Steven giving the lesson

My 6 year old taking aim.

The first round begins....

The targets- they actually put the balloons up and I had printed some Star Wars villains off for the kids to aim at.  Prizes were given to any kid that hit and popped a balloon (each kid ended up hitting at least one)  :-)

The food: 

The main table- each kid had a water bottle with "Jedi Warrior" and their name on it. Clone Trooper helmets courtesy of my bestie and her sister (also a friend) .

Cupcakes- chocolate box mix with blue frosting and silver sprinkles for that "space" look.  The toppers were Star Wars confetti glued onto black cardstock that I used the hole punch for and sandwiched a toothpick in between.  There is a villain on one side and a good guy on the other.  

The food table: from left to right is: Yoda Soda (green Kool-Aid), Light Sabers (skewers of cantaloupe, pineapple, and strawberry), Vader Veggies and Droid Dip (Ranch)

Continuing on we have Obi-Wan Kornobi (Popcorn), Wookie Cookies (Animal Crackers and Nilla Wafers), Ewok Snacks (Pirate Booty, Goldfish, Pretzel mix), and Galatic Grapes (who's name tag was forgotten.... grrr....)  Along the back of the table were extra water bottles for the parents- their tags read "Jedi Council." 

 

A closeup of the targets. 

The after shot of all the kids. :) 

I couldn't resist putting this one in either- it's a picture of my hubby and my youngest (2).  It's so adorable, don't you think?!?!

I was amazed at this party- for the cost and what you received, excellent!!!  

Happy Birthday my dear Sawyer.  May this year be filled with wonder, amazement, and laughter daily.  I love you. 

"Ameh"

This is the Baby. 

The Baby now sleeps in his toddler bed and has since right before he turned 2 and crawled out of the crib.... no big deal... Except now he isn't taking a bottle (which is TOTALLY fine) and we had to sit in his room until he fell asleep.  (which totally sucks)  Some parents would say "let him cry it out," (my hubby included), but that seemed a little extreme... So we've begun a routine:  We hug and kiss and then I kiss all his stuffed animals in bed with him and then we do a prayer (short and sweet).  I turn his music on and leave the door open, telling him I'll come check on him if he lays quietly.  Last night, however, was part "ADORABLE!" and part "Procrastination"....

I told him that it's time to pray and he folded his hands and squinted his eyes shut.   I said "God, please let me sleep good tonight. Amen." After he said "More." Thinking that he wanted kisses, I oblige. He said "More." I ask, "More what?" He folds his hands and squints his eyes shut-he wants more praying!! So we pray " Bless mommy and daddy and CeCe (Sawyer)." I give him a kiss and he says "More" as he's folding his hands again. I tell him to try it on his own- say "Hi God. Amen." I leave the room and talk to Sawyer, overhearing "Hi Gah. Ameh" over and over again. Sooooo stinkin' cute :)

Hiatus

It has been a very long hiatus from blogging.  I don't know why.  There have been a lot of crazy things in the past year and time just flew on by, completely forgetting this little blog.  In August, I had surgery to remove a mass on my thyroid that was roughly 3/4 the size of your fist.  That was a little scary..... I had to be put under general and I've never had that, so that was an interesting time.... :)
My oldest began Full Day Kindergarten... I cried.  Not going to lie.  But I cried after I took him to school and left him in his class with his teacher, whom I ADORE! So that's showing restraint, I think. :)

(Thanks Pinterest for the chalkboard idea....) 

I began my 4th year as director at the preschool and I still LOVE my job.  I drive 30 mins each way- I wouldn't if I didn't love it :)  

My hubby started a new job (finally!).  He's driving a box truck making automotive deliveries all over Oregon.  His company appreciates him and that's something he didn't have before. They told him "thank you" on his first day and he teared up- in the 5 years at the other company, no one ever told him that.  Amazing how being considerate and polite will get you happier employees.... hmmm... :)

The baby turned 2.  When did that happen?! The Baby and the Kinder have the same size waist... The Baby had a Train-themed party and it was a lot of fun. :)  

Yes... that is a chip on his head.... Yes, I took the picture and then told him to take it off... at least it wasn't dipped in guacamole when he placed it on his head. :) 

So that's the quick "what's-happened-in-the-last-few-months-since-I-don't-follow-you-on-Facebook" :)

I promise to write more. :)

Christmas Tree Shopping

I don't know what it is.  Perhaps it's the crisp air, the trekking around on the mountain side, or just being out with my family, but moving up here has designated that we cut our own Christmas tree.  When we lived in Arizona, we had the "box-it-up" kind, but that just doesn't fly up here for me :)  This year we have moved the family room up into what was the "pool table room" (or living room if you didn't have a pool table...whatever), so that meant that we could get a HUGE GINORMOUS TREE!!!!!  That is, until you remember that how ever tall it is, usually means that it's width also grows exponentially.  So I dialed it down to BIGGER THAN LAST YEAR BUT NOT HUGE tree. :) 

We went to the place we found new last year.  LOVE this place- $25/tree. Period.  It's the Sunny Day Farms in Sherwood.  Anyways, it began with a sleeping baby, lovingly placed in the Kelty (which hasn't been used in 3 years) and shifted ever-so-softly to my back (since my hubs is the one that cuts the tree down).  Mittens placed upon baby's cold little hands and the hood of his jacket placed gently on his head..... which woke him up.  After a 10 minute nap.  Great.  I should mention now that he HATES hats and mittens..... cause along the way of traipsing through the rows and rows (not in an orderly fashion either- just randomly cutting through the trees), he lost a mitten.  Apparently he uses his teeth (which more came in over Thanksgiving) and pulls them off.  Bye bye one mitten.  I have no idea where he lost it and there's no way I'm going to carry a 25 lb baby in a 4 lb Kelty over rough terrain, backtracking to possibly find the one lost mitten.  Carrying on, my parents were first to find their tree.  

Then it was our turn.  We had a "tiny" problem finding a tall enough tree.  Our front windows are like 12 feet tall... putting a 6 ft tree in front of it would look stupid.  We went up the hill to the barn to regroup and have a hot chocolate break.  Then back down to the other side to look for ours, finally settling on one that was tall enough and would work....

It didn't look that big around on the mountain....

Anyways- Sawyer was a huge help holding the tree while the boys (my dad and my hubby) cut it down, but I'm not posting a picture of that.... I'm going to post an adorable picture of him instead. :)  He is holding the tree, so I'm not really lying....

See?!?!?!

Then, in an attempt to get a picture of the baby, I turned the camera around:

Hatless and mittenless..... *sigh*

Back up to the top of the mountain where we took a couple of family pictures. :)

I'll blog about the tree trimming in the next post. :)

Aversion To Kindergarten

Sawyer enjoys having in-depth, heart-to-heart conversations with me.  Usually on the way to and/or from school.  While I'm trying to concentrate on driving.  Yeah.  So this morning's conversation was this:

S: "I don't want to go to kindergarten."

Me: "why?"

S: "Because"

Me: "Because isn't an answer."

S: "Because there wouldn't be Kate." (his friend in Pre-K)

Me: "You'll make lots of friends and we'll see Kate at playdates."

S: "I don't wanna gooooo...."

Me: "Is it because it would be a new school and new classes and new teachers and it might be a little scary?"

S: "Yes." 

Me: "Ok, but they have this thing. It's called the Kindergarten Roundup. You'll see the school, the playground, meet your teachers, everything.  It's so cool. They do that so you won't be scared when you go to school. You'll get to ride the bus to school and everything.  It will be so grown-up!" 

S: "I don't want to go to kindergarten."

We'll pause now and remember that this school year has just started... we have another 10 MONTHS until Kindergarten!  Yes, we are having this conversation.....

Me: "You still want to be a fireman?"

S: "Oh, yes."

Me: "Well, you have to go to Kindergarten, then 1st grade, 2nd, all the way through elementary school, middle school, high school, and college- then you can become a fireman. But you HAVE to do Kindergarten in order to become a fireman."

(Pause)

S: "But MOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!  There HAS to be a way that I can become a fireman and NOT go to KINDERGARTEN!" 

ME: (trying to quell the laughter....) "Buddy? Can we talk about this later?"  :)

Summer '11 Post #1

It seems as though we've been busy.... a LOT this summer, but I can't pinpoint exactly where the summer went or what specifically we did.  My summer hours vary, so I worked those hours around camps, visits, etc.  Sawyer has been involved in so many camps this summer!  Two sessions of swimming, VBS, Zoo Camp, Tennis Lessons, and "Bug" Camp.  Not really sure why we didn't think about this before... but Sawyer (the self-proclaimed Know-It-ALL) has now gone to 3 curriculum-driven camps.... so now we have a MAJOR Know-It-All.  :)  Sitting at the baseball field today watching a friend play, we noticed a bee buzzing around.  Sawyer asked me what the bee was doing, I told him the bee was collecting pollen.  He went on to inform me EXACTLY how the bee collects pollen and what he does with it, etc...  It was so cool to sit and have this wonderful intellectual conversation with him.  :)  

So, in looking back on some pictures I've taken this summer, I thought I'd do a picture re-cap.  I'm thinking that 3 months of pictures is going to take a while, so here's the first posting of our summer. :) 

Clover Pictures:

The clover was out and I couldn't resist taking the boys out to shoot some pictures!

Sherwood Drive-In:  Car show in downtown Sherwood.  We love walking around and looking at all the different cars since each one of us has their own favorite era/make :)

The Police Cars are Sawyer's favorite!

Father's Day:  My grandparents were sick on Mother's Day so they couldn't come down to celebrate the holiday with us and decided to come for Father's Day instead.  We converged on my parents' house, where Sawyer's "job" is to water the plants. 

Some Generation Pictures:

So clockwise from bottom left: Finley, (great) Grandpa (my dad's dad), Ivan, Papa (my dad), Sawyer.  

Finley, Sawyer, (Great) Grandma (my dad's mom), my mom (Ama), and me

Finally pics of my boys just being themselves. :)

That's all for tonight and post number one.  It's way past my bedtime and I need some sleep tonight. :)  

Just Because

I love baby feet.  I really do.  I don't know why, but it just what I love :)  

                                        See what I mean?! :) 

And two pictures of my boys... who are actually looking towards the camera... at the same time.... 

Yeah... I kinda like them :)