Friday, November 12, 2010

Seven Years!


Colin really really wanted a Star Wars Sleepover Party this year and we thought it would make for a nice relaxing party if he only invited a couple of his very close buddies over. We figured that two extra boys could not really make much of a difference to the chaos in the house anyway. Boy, were we wrong! Here are some of the highlights of the boys' night. We started off by having some Ewok Food as a snack until everyone arrived. Then the boys played Star Wars on the Wii for endless excruciatingly loud hours until dinnertime. Luckily I had found a website where I copied most of the Theme Food that I made which was a huge hit with everyone and they ate every last bite off their plates! The biggest thrill came from the character cookies (Colin thinks we should make them for Christmas too, apparently they celebrate Christmas in Degobah? Maybe Yoda delivers the gifts using the Force.) The Hans Solo in Carbonite Jello was fun, but in the end, they refused to eat the jello and just wanted to get to the action figure inside it! Everyone actually went to bed at a decent hour and slept great which was my biggest fear and we opened up the next morning with pancakes and more Wii Football which ended, of course, in real-life tackles occurring all over the family room. The party (finally, thankfully) came to an end after we took everyone to play LaserTag which was by far the most fun of the entire 24 hour extravaganza (especially for the adults!)! However, five little boys trying to figure out what to get at the Prize Counter after acquiring reams of tickets from the arcade was nearly enough to bring me to tears. We were so wiped out after it ended, we sent the big boys happily off to school the next day while we proceeded to do NOTHING all day but breathe big, quiet sighs of relief that the potty jokes, fart contests, insane giggling and dousing of my entire car with sugar dust was finally over. But Colin had a great time. Next year... it's back to having 24 kids over for TWO hours rather than 2 kids over for 24 hours!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Entering party season


The holidays are coming and the Fall Birthdays are a nice way to enter party season! I know that Sadie is slightly over-represented in the photos from the party, but it IS her first birthday and Colin got to have another party on his actual birthday, I swear! Little Miss got all dressed up in her cupcake party dress and had a blast! She started the day by getting to open her big, huge, gargantuan, "where the hell is this going to fit" pretend kitchen from Auntie Kelly and Grammy and Grampy and has proceeded to play with it every day since! (As do her brothers). She wasn't particularly enthused about blowing out the candle on her gigantic cupcake cake, but luckily Liam was happy to help her out with it! Colin was maniacally happy about all of the Bakugan that he got (we still have no idea how to play with them, but it makes him happy and that's all that matters, right?) Our other birthday girls, Grammy and MaryKate, got to celebrate too, although they didn't seem as excited about smushing cake and frosting into their hair like Sadie was! She quickly got changed into her cupcake jammies and ended the night playing, not with any of the treasure trove of gifts she got, but with some gourds and was just as happy!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Happy Halloween!


These are the kids jack-o-lanterns for the year. Carved JUST IN TIME, for Halloween night! Colin's owl on the left needed a tiny bit of toothpick surgery, but it came out great! Liam cried and cried and cried when his skeleton pumpkin didn't work out, but Chris saved the day by letting him use his power drill to redo a face on the other side ! Eamon gave me orders and drew a face that I cut out for him complete with "round cheeks". And while Sadie, napped, I took the liberty of fashioning her pumpkin message myself!


Protecting the front stairs from spirits!


The 70-degree weather from last week was replaced by temps in the thirties so Tinkerbell had many a layer on under her costume. I guess it doesn't get this cold in NeverNeverland.


J. M. Barrie would be proud of the Peter Pan clan!


Leading up to Halloween, Colin became obsessed with his vampire teeth and you could find him baring them at you at every turn!