My Legomaniac

Spencer's description of his latest Lego invention:
I made 2 of the same escape pods.

Can't Help Lovin' this Man of Mine

Father's Day fun is starting early around here. Due to Sunday morning meetings, we decided to have our leisurely morning celebration on Saturday. Remember, we like to really stretch and savor any cause for celebration around here. 

We asked Adam what he wanted for his Father's Day breakfast. "French toast" was his reply. Well, we can do something with that. A quick search on Six Sisters' blog revealed what looked to be an easy, scrumptious recipe for Nutella Stuffed French Toast. If you know Adam, you know he LOVES Nutella. We were sold. We took a family trip to Wegmans to secure the necessary ingredients. First time I've ever purchased Texas Toast (which, thanks to a wikipedia search, I discovered is nothing more than thickly sliced bread). This breakfast did not disappoint. I could only manage to eat one slice, and that without syrup. It was that decadent. Emma snapped a photo of the breakfast tray.

Here is the breakfast crew. I planned to snap a photo of Adam with kiddos, but John is a bit of a grump until he has had breakfast, and I was unsuccessful in my attempts to get him to eat something earlier. A family photo at arms' length had to suffice for this group. The kids were excellent helpers. Spencer washed and sliced the strawberries and bananas by himself. Emma helped mix the egg mixture. John held the spatula and kept saying "hot" and pointing at the pan. Pretty cute.

Next, it was time for presents. The kids and I decided that this first gift would be a perfect Saturday present. We had taken one of Adam's old, white t-shirts and redecorated the back of it. 

This gift was made with love. Each child helped trace something on the back. Emma helped with the road lines; John did the STOP sign; Spencer helped pick colors for everything and did the house entirely by himself while I was making dinner last night. They were really excited to give Daddy this present. 

Here's a shot of the back, modeled by Adam.

And...the best part...a built-in back tickle. The kids drive cars on the roads, resulting in a relaxing way for Dad to join in their play. (Thank you, Blue Basket for the idea.)

Emma just announced to Adam that Father's Day is a day for fathers to play with their kids. Funny in contrast to Mother's Day, which was a day for mom to stay out of the kitchen and take a day off. Adam is a willing, cooperative and AMAZING Dad. He's spent the morning snuggle wrestling and generally playing with these three cute kiddos. They are the luckiest kids, and I am one lucky, lucky lady to have this man by my side. 

Love you, Adam. 

Spencer v. Darth Vader

Spencer, I AM your father!

Star Wars Birthday Party - Video footage

Here is video proof of my awesome husband, dressed as Darth Vader, and Jedi Master Joel as they converse. Thank you, Star Wars sound board, for your assistance. 

Backyard Jedi Training.

Star Wars Party

I took a page out of my friend Ellie's book (she also has a cluster of birthdays), and we threw back-to-back friend birthday parties for Spencer and Emma. Emma's party ended at 4:15; Spencer's began at 5:00. The chosen theme of his party was...you guessed it...STAR WARS. 

One of the great laments of my blogging career is that I do not have ANY still photos of the party to share. But, in my defense, we did have nine 7-year-old boys running around the house with foam lightsabers. There were more pressing matters, like reminding friends that bathroom language wasn't allowed at the table and helping all the boys stay engaged in the activity at hand. (No small task! I have new appreciation for Spencer's awesome 1st grade teacher). 

Fortunately, we had Jedi Master Joel on hand to keep our rowdy bunch in line. He was AMAZING! I don't know if I've written about it before on this blog, but Joel and Spencer have a VERY special relationship. Joel is my baby brother; he comes after a string of 5 girls in the birth sequence and is followed by another 2 girls. Spencer is the little brother he never had, and Spencer absolutely ADORES his Uncle Joel. (He's been asking all week when get to come see you, Joel, but we're going to let you finish the school week first.) Joel's present to Spencer this year was to serve as Jedi Trainer at his birthday party. 

When the kids arrived, they made (decorated) their own lightsabers. This is supposed to be part of becoming a Jedi, if I understand Jedi lore correctly. If I had it to do over, I would have put this a little further down the list because battles immediately erupted. Ah, well. Lesson learned. 

The lightsabers really turned out well. The idea came from a blog, found by my mother-in-law Valerie (thank you!). They are swimming noodles, cut in half. Spencer and I prepped the hilts with silver and black duct tape. Then I precut strips of duct tape and colored electrical tape so different sizes so they could decorate their hilts and make their own "activate" buttons. 

Here's a photo I just took of the three that ended up at our house, which have been popular not only with my kiddos but also with the neighborhood boys who came over specifically to play with these.

After collecting the lightsabers and treating the kids to some pizza and Star Wars Gogurts, we headed down to the basement to see what Jedi Master Joel had in store. He had tied a cup with fishing line, which then went through a hook in the ceiling and behind a white sheet so he could demonstrate how to use THE FORCE. (I was behind the sheet, helping the force along). Joel demonstrated, explained the level of concentration and focus needed to lift the cup off the table, and then the padawans (just had to check the spelling on that one) got to try their hand at levitating the cup. Pure awesomeness.

After that, there was a disturbance in THE FORCE. Adam had rigged up a Star Wars sound board on his computer to a set of speakers. I acted as AV specialist and did my best to press the right buttons at the right time. Adam (most awesome dad EVER) came out of a storage room door in the basement dressed as Darth Vader with "The Imperial March" playing in the background. (You know...Dun, dun, dun, duh-duh-dun, duh-duh-dun).  He had even set up a fog machine for greater dramatic effect. The padawans gathered by their Jedi Master while the sound board spoke for Vader, inviting them to join him in the dark side. Joel responded in planned lapses, and they had some verbal parrying until it was time for the padawans  to run up the stairs and out back so they could be properly trained on their lightsabers. 

This part went SO well. These boys needed to be outside. They lined up, saw a demonstration of how to defend themselves against the dark side with some basic combinations, practiced with Joel, and then each padawan got to face Darth Vader himself. The training and lightsaber matches took place on the deck, which served as a stage, all the other padawans waiting below. It was most excellent. 

After that, it was time for cupcakes and ice cream. Spencer had requested not to open gifts during his party because he didn't want anyone to feel bad. Sweet kid, that one. (I get to say that since I am his mother.) After the friends left, Spencer had an additional Star Wars extravaganza opening the gifts his friends had brought. 

MAJOR thanks go to...

Heather and Sarah, who answered Joel's call with it became blazingly apparent that we needed more adult supervision and came right away.

Grandma (Valerie), who gave us a Star Wars cupcake set and the blog link for the light sabers. From there, we were off and running to create a truly awesome party.

Grammy (Merilee), who made Joel's Jedi costume which gave him immediate clout in the eyes of our company. He SO looked the part!

Adam, who was seriously awesome in his role as Darth Vader. 

Uncle Joel - not sure I have the words to say just how awesome you were, Joel. This was the best party Spencer EVER could have imagined. Thank you for making it a reality. You were such commanding presence, exuded so much confidence and expertise. We would never have survived this party without you!!

Here's a photo I snapped as we all relaxed in the backyard after the goodie bags were distributed and the parents had picked up their kids. Joel was letting my three munchkins duel him in the backyard. I wish I had a photo of him in his full get-up with the boots, facing off with Darth Vader. 

But alas, we were too busy living life to photograph it. 

Soccer Lovie

Last fall, we did our traditional soccer teams with a bunch of friends as teammates and moms or dads coaching. This time around, I tracked down a local company to make t-shirts (iron-ons and I didn't get along too well the last go around). Emma's team was red; Spencer's was green. Since that time, Emma has thought of herself as a soccer player. Amazing the confidence a few drills can give a girl! (Most of those drills, I was running along with her, John in tow, while Adam coached Spencer's team. My lovie doesn't do well with heat and bugs, but those have long since been forgotten). 

When my friend Emilee gave us a form for a soccer cake, Emma announced that she wanted to have a soccer birthday party to celebrate turning 5. Sounded good to me!  We pulled out the cones and a bag of balls given us by Mr. Paul, my in-laws kind neighbor who mows the lawn for our practice field and coaches soccer himself. The kids gathered at 3:00 for a bunch of soccer drills and then it was inside for cake, ice cream, and presents.

Emma invited her preschool carpool, 2 cute girls that live on our street, and a few friends from church. We had to put a limit on the list because Emma would have loved to invite everyone she knows to join in the soccer fun.  Here's a line-up of the party goers with Coach Adam, who is dressing the part in his Argentina jersey. Spencer served as assistant coach.

A close-up of some soccer friends. 

The soccer cake. And yes, I tipped all that frosting onto the cake...with 3 very eager helpers, I might add. 

This was the first time we have included friends in our "heavy, heavy hang over thy poor head..." tradition, and I loved it! It was a nice way for Emma to express her appreciation to each friend by giving them a fun wish before opening each gift. There was a strong Barbie theme to the gifts she received, but each item given has been played with and given a prized place in Emma's room. Thank you to all our wonderful friends for helping us celebrate Lovie's birthday. 

Birthday Bashes

We had a fun family dinner and party to celebrate this dynamic duo on the Sunday between their birthdays. Born 2 years and 6 days apart, by some ultrasound date calculations, they shared the same due date. (Spence was a few days early, and Em was induced the day after her official due date.) April is birthday month at our house, and while that means we party all month long, it also means that there is cause for some collaboration/consolidation so things don't get too out of hand.

Sneaky, Seven-year-old Spencer kept blowing out his candle while we sang. 

Five-year-old Emma had donned her birthday princess crown and was very poised, waiting for the right moment to arrive before she made her birthday wish.

The kids were very excited about the bounty of presents they received from doting family members. (Thank you, all!)

This is one of my favorite pictures of the day. Emma received a copy of the Book of Mormon because she had misplaced her other one. She was thrilled! Emma is not one to shy away from books containing words she cannot yet decode, and I love that this book is important to her. 

(Slipping special moments in here as they occur to me. Each night Emma uses her imagination, she tells me, to read to her imaginary class. She plays the role of teacher and, sitting in her bed, "reads" aloud to her "class" from the pile of books she keeps at the foot of her bed. She tells the stories with the pictures showing to the imaginary class so everyone can be sure to see the illustrations.)

While other birthday celebrations (family/friend parties mostly) may have their dates adjusted to fit the needs of our family calendar, there is one event that must occur on the morning of the actual birthday: 

THE BIRTHDAY BREAKFAST!

This year, with Spencer being in 1st grade, that meant early rising for all of us so we could sneak some strawberries and cinnamon rolls with the birthday boy before he headed off to catch a 7:24 (on the dot) school bus. (Side note: the bus stop is on the same corner as the house, and Spence is quite consistent at leaving the house when the bus shows up. Amazingly, he has only missed the bus once and told me he sort of likes running for the bus each day. That would stress me out, but he's a more confident kid than I was, I think.)

When we arrived at his door, Spencer had already snuck out of bed, dressed, and crept back under the covers so as not to spoil the birthday breakfast arrival. Here he is holding his 7 candle.

Rinse and repeat for Emma's birthday breakfast. They both wanted poppable cinnamon rolls, strawberries with sugar on top, and eggs. 

Emma with her 5 candle. 

These are kiddos worth celebrating!