Happy 6th Birthday Eve!

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Tessa

… and Happy Easter!

Today was a big day! I normally leave little piles of presents on the table for the kids on their birthday, and the Easter bunny leaves their baskets on the table, so we had quite a full table this morning.

Easter morning. They started with the Easter baskets. And the chocolate.

Then she moved on to birthday presents.

Because it was her birthday, Lex agreed to read her new book out loud at breakfast. She loves when Lex reads to her.

Stylish little girl with her headband on backwards. :)

Ring pops at 7am? Why not!? Thanks Aunt Rosy!

After plenty of candy and a few chores we began the first of many Easter egg hunts for the day. I think we did six Easter egg hunts today!

Looking for Easter eggs. We did six Easter egg hunts today!

This was the third hunt, where the boys did the hiding and the girls did the seeking.

Alan hid them high up!

Umm… yeah.

I got Eve a Jr. Scientist kit because she’s always telling people that she’s a scientist. She was pretty excited about it.

Eve helped me put the finishing touches on her birthday cake.

Eve waiting for Lex to hid the eggs outside. Not to complain about the weather, but 55° isn’t very warm if there’s no sun and lots of wind!

I love this girl!

We all had fun with ‘Fraidy Egg :)

While looking for eggs, Eve and I discovered a little bit of spring!!!

We came back inside to warm up and play some more. More company came and we began the official family party. :)

Lex got a 3D puzzle in his Easter basket this morning. It was a group effort, but we got it done. Lex put the final two pieces in and then ran around bragging like he solved the whole puzzle. :)

Time for presents!

Minnie Mouse love.

All decked out in jewels from Aunt Mandy. Eve wanted pizza for dinner, but due to the holiday none of the delivery places were open. Fortunately Mema thought of this ahead of time and bought frozen pizza from KAF. It was ok, but not as good as the fresh stuff.

An Easter basket cake

An Easter basket birthday cake!

Eve, a very happy six year old!

Aunt Katie gave Eve a big drawing pad and new markers. Eve promptly drew a picture of Katie on a horse. Then she wrote, “Dear Kadey. I love you. Love ges hoo.”

Lex’s 7th Birthday, Day 3

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Tessa

Let’s just say I AM EXHAUSTED. There, I said it. I am tired and I am ready to not celebrate a birthday tomorrow! :)

Today we had Lex’s friend party. He invited nine friends (plus Lex and Eve equals 11!) One girl didn’t make it so we ended up with 10 kids total. I had the party mapped out and it went somewhat according to my plan. The glitch was that not all of them are as in to Legos as Lex is, so my “free play with Legos” time ended up being “run around like wild men” time. They all had fun though, and no one got hurt or cried (much) so I’m going to call this one a success!

Eve fell asleep at 6:30 and Lex went to bed quite easily at 7pm, though he just now told us he can’t sleep so I let him sit in bed and read for awhile. I am going to finish this post, drink some tea, and go to bed!

Setting up the table. My birthday boy is so cute!

Alan and I debated for awhile on the best way to play with Legos outside. I thought the back deck, but I was worried about the kids sitting in the direct sun. We agreed on sheets in the shade on the front lawn. It went fairly well.

I thought the kids could color a Lego man coloring page that I printed while they waited for everyone to arrive. The kids thought otherwise and headed directly for the swingset.

Once everyone had arrived we did a Lego relay.

They had to run to the bucket, scoop out a Lego (the big Lego Quattro blocks), and carry it in a spoon back to their team's bucket. All without using hands, just the spoon.

The kids all had a great time with this game! Lex's team agreed that since he was the birthday boy he should be able to use his hands. :)

She did great! (only cheated a little! :) )

This guy was fast!

After the relay was over they all headed for drinks and snacks, then settled on the lego sheets to build.

It was peaceful for a bit.

Guess who's been eating the blue and green Lego block cookies? :)

Cake time! The cake was a bit anticlimatic because Lex doesn't like candles or singing. I brought it out, asked who wants cake, and got only a mild interest. I don't think they realized it was a cake! A few kids appreciated my hard work before I cut it into pieces. Everyone happily ate it.

Three Lego cake blocks with cake "bumps" and covered in fondant. I had a little trouble keeping it all pretty while stacking, but Lex was happy with it and therefore I was too!

I had lots of Lego games planned, but it was hard to keep them focused. Some of the kids wanted to play with Legos the entire time, but many others just wanted to run and be more physical.

This game was popular. They divided up into teams of two and had to build the tallest free-standing tower within a given period of time. They all quickly figured out the tall pieces, but struggled with balance and stability. Everyone (almost) had a great time with this game.

Working hard. Their tower fell over right before the time ran out.

Guess what Lex got for presents? Legos! Somehow he managed to get through this whole Lego birthday without getting any duplicate sets.

What? Caption this.

The crowd was getting out of control. I scrambled for ideas. I wanted to find another bandana or two and do a three-legged race, but I could only find two, so we did a blind-fold building challenge. This settled about half the kids. The other half grabbed a football and ran around.

Kids were loosing their shirts and shoes everywhere! We agreed that we're doing ok as long as none of the KIDS get lost!

I had a great clean-up crew today (and yesterday!) Eve had a rather unfortunate incident in the bathroom that resulted in me bathing her quickly, so Alan took point on clean up. He proudly announced that he finally found a body for the giant Lego head!

All in all a good day. Turns out bedtime will be a bit later than expected. This post took forever (maybe because I was doing three other things at the same time?) and Lex is having trouble falling asleep so he is downstairs with us again, reading with Alan.

I love my family.

Party time, Lex style!

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Tessa

Day two of celebrating Lex’s 7th birthday, family party! Family trickled in throughout the day and some joined us for an afternoon trip to a local Safety Day event. There we got kid ID kits (finger prints, vintage Polaroid photos, and a high-tech DNA swab kit!) The kids climbed bouncy things and checked out emergency vehicles, did craft projects, made buttons, and we all enjoyed a great K9 Unit demonstration.

A beautiful day at the safety fair.

Eve loved this inflatable obstacle course.

The big slide at the end. That's Eve on the way down and Molly at the top.

My dear kids getting finger printed by the cops.

This was the most well behaved dog I've ever seen. Once he did not obey the officer's command so the officer said "In the car." and the dog ran over, jumped through the open window, and sat still until the officer told him to come out again. Doggie time-out. I love it! I wish my kids ever did time-outs that well.

After that we were all tired and sweaty so we came home. Lex headed straight inside to play with the presents he’d gotten so far, while the girls played outside for awhile. Lex opened presents on an as-arrived basis, so there was always something new and interesting for him to play with. He got tons of Legos, of course, and cool origami books and papers, and an awesome microscope kit, and many other fun things. He is a very, very fortunate boy!

Back home the girls headed straight for the swings and sandbox, while Lex headed straight for the new toys inside. :)

Ouch, you're biting my head! (This little girl was so cuddly with me all afternoon. Lucky me!)

Hugs with Mema.

For dinner we had an oatmeal bar. Like a salad bar, or an ice cream bar, but with Lex’s favorite dinner of all time. The dinner he has every night. Oatmeal! We cooked a big pot of oatmeal and put out tons of fixings. The kids had fun! Several grown-ups grumbled, but Lex was happy and it’s his birthday. As we heard earlier, “You get what you get and you don’t get upset,” right?! :)

Our oatmeal bar. Lex and I love oatmeal and eat it daily, often twice daily for him!

Eve added some of everything to her oatmeal! Including the fruit salad! Not surprisingly, she didn't eat much of it.

Then, because it was getting late, we washed down our creative bowls of oatmeal with a giant, three-layer, bright yellow cake! Lex decided to brave the candle thing as long as there was no singing. Alan started singing something else, not Happy Birthday, and I’m totally blanking on it now, and the crowd joined in. Lex wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. When I put the cake with lit candles on the table the crying won out. He opted to let Eve and Molly blow out the candles while he scooted down to the floor. Silly boy. He happily jumped back up to help us eat the cake. I just now ate a big piece of it (Alan went out for an errand and I’m home alone with a cake… DANGEROUS!) and I can feel the sugar eroding my teeth and hurting my brain. Ahh… I treat myself well.

Cake time! The fondant covering was a last minute idea because I ran out of buttercream frosting and conveniently had lots of extra fondant from tomorrow's Lego cake.

This is the moment he decides he can't handle the situation. His face looks so sweet.

Luckily we had these girls around, always ready to help with candle-blowing-out jobs! (photos of my life are always marred by those darn water bottles!)

There he is! Ready to help eat the cake! As requested, a three layer cake with french vanilla, chocolate fudge, and raspberry layers. Covered in bright yellow fondant. It says HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEX around the side and a big 7 on top.

What's a family party without stories with Aunt Katie?

I got the kids in bed easily enough and Lex fell asleep dreaming of how much fun he’s going to have playing with Legos tomorrow. He is getting really quick at following directions and building the sets. For tomorrows’s Lego party (with his friends) we are going to stick to the big buckets of colored Legos and let the kids get creative. I’m getting a bit excited for that party too, but first I need to fold laundry and have a good long (ha!) night’s sleep.

Thanks to those who came today and big eHugs to those who couldn’t make it. We have a pretty amazing family!

Happy 7th to Lex

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Tessa

My baby turned seven today! Seven! You’ve come a long way baby! Recently I was telling him how lucky I was that he came along and made me a mom. I was a daughter, a sister, a wife, and a friend, but the day he was born I became a mother. A very fortunate mother, at that!

Now, seven years later, he is a strong, confident little boy. Succeeding in school, making friends, standing his ground, learning and teaching every single day. I am so proud of the person he is becoming. The son, the brother, the friend that he is.

We started our morning with a few presents and some pancakes. A good way to start any morning really.

A little something for the birthday boy. I like them to have a little something first thing in the morning. :)

This is an awesome bouncy ball that has glittery stuff in it and lights up when it bounces. Everyone was entranced with it!

He opened his presents very slowly and carefully. Eve wanted him to tear it off, but no.

Lex: I’m trying not to rip the paper.
Eve: Why?
Lex: Because you never know when you’re going to need a piece of wrapping paper.

Ha!

I got him this Lego man shirt! :) I also got him the ball and two books. One called Science Rocks that he seems to love. :)

Pancakes!

Then Lex was off to school with his cookies in hand (well, in box, then in hand). He was so excited! He told everyone on the way in that it was his birthday. Yesterday two of his classmates had birthdays so it has been a birthday week for his classroom. They all coordinated on the treats. Yesterday one kid brought cupcakes and the other brought ice cream, and today Lex brought cookies. When we walked in the whole class was bouncing and eager for a peek! :)

When I picked Lex up from school we had a conversation that cracked me up. It went something like this:

Me: Did everyone like the cookies?
Lex: Yes! Calvin wanted one with a mustache. (Calvin was very excited in the morning to see the mustached cookies.)
Me: Did he get one?
Lex: No.
Me: Why not? Is there a mustached one in the box? (we didn’t pack all of the cookies)
Lex: Yes, there are two. They are both still in the box.
Me: Why didn’t Calvin take one of them?
Lex: I handed them out. “You get what you get and you don’t get upset.” That’s what I told the kids.
Me: HAHAHA (Seriously. Right out loud in the school parking lot.)
Lex: What’s so funny?
Me: You knew he wanted a mustache one and you didn’t give it to him?
Lex: Well, it’s my birthday and I was handing them out and I said, “You get what you get and you don’t get upset.”

The kid is hysterical. He doesn’t at all understand why I think this is funny. I’m sure he just went around the room and handed each kid a cookie. I’m sure the process was much faster than having the kids all dig through the box to find the one they want. I’m sure it was his birthday and he was probably doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing. I still find it hysterical!

When we picked up Eve all of her classmates said Happy Birthday to Lex and we brought her teachers (his old pre-k teachers) some cookies too. I think the teacher likes him. They had talked about it being his birthday today so all the kids knew. :)

Then home to pick up Don and then off to visit Grandma. The visit was nice, but brief because the kids were wild and I was quickly overwhelmed.

Hugs with grandma. I couldn't get everyone looking in the same direction. Like I said, it was wild over there!

Our plan from there was to go to Panera Bread for dinner, but Lex decided he’d rather go home. I think maybe it had something to do with the fact that Eve had told him FedEx brought him a birthday present today. She really thought it was from FedEx. “How do they know that today is Lex’s birthday?!” she asked me. Kids are awesome.

So instead Alan and his dad went to pick up Panera Bread take-out and I took the kids home to open FedEx presents, which turned out to be an awesome Batman Lego set from Uncle B. Lex took the fastest shower ever and was right back in the living room ready and eager to build the Batmobile!

The Batmobile!

At dinner silly me thought it would be fun to put candles on his bagel, no singing, of course. The idea was a bust and left him in tears on the floor. Bad mommy! You’d think after all these years I’d learn! So we removed the candles and enjoyed our take out dinner. Then more Lego building, stories with Eve, cake decorating, and off to bed. It was a wild day. The first of several.

I now have two cakes decorated in the fridge. Lego party goody bags packed and ready to go. Party games prepped. Nothing left to do but clean! Blah! That will be tomorrow morning. I’m a last minute cleaner. No point doing it earlier because it just gets messy again anyway! :) A family party tomorrow. A friend party on Sunday. I think I’d better get some sleep now!

Happy Birthday Lex! You’ve come a long way!

Baby Lex

Big Lex

Lego cookies

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Tessa

I am getting so excited for Lex’s birthday party this year. I hope I manage to get all of my awesome ideas done before the big day… not likely!

Lex decided he wants to bring Lego head cookies to class this year, instead of cupcakes. With inspiration from much fancier bakers than myself, I got brave enough to give it a shot! This project included hand cutting rollout cookies!

I made a template out of a yogurt lid and hand cut the cookies.

Two done... many more to go!

I wish I could take the credit for this idea, but of course, I can not. Check out Sweet Sugar Belle for a great tutorial and much fancier photos.

Handing cutting 40 Lego heads and a tray full of squarish and rectangularish shapes took awhile, but it was worth it! They looked a little odd at first…

All baked, bare and ready for frosting! I could have measured those bricks and made them even and straight edged, but I did not.

These could be robot heads too! I'll have to save this template. :)

but once I started decorating them… so cute!

Decorated!

I was going to be all fancy and find a bunch of Lego faces to copy, but as usual I got lazy and just winged it! Lex helped me think of face ideas. Some came out better than others, but overall I LOVE them!

We used halved mini-marshmallows for the Lego "bumps" on the squares and rectangles. The kids cut them and put them on the cookies for me.

I'd like to say they ate the marshmallows for me too, but of course I ate my fair share as well! :)

These were super messy! In hindsight I should have skipped the marshmallows, flooded the cookies, then pressed on M&Ms in corresponding colors. That would have looked better and been MUCH easier. Oh well. Next time, right?

The icing actually settled well and they came out looking pretty good, if you just ignore all the extra icing hanging down the edges. :) I'm sure they will taste just fine!

Far from perfect, but Lex was thrilled and I think his fellow first graders will be equally happy with these.

I decided to wrap them individually. This made it easier to put them away (get them off my table before we ate them all!) and I think it will be easier for Lex to manage in school. We're sending in a few extras too, so he can deliver them to other teachers or staff if he wants.

All boxed up and ready to go! This makes me happy. :)

I was crafting a post in my head about “good enough” baking, instead of awesome baking like this, and this, and this. I used to have these blogs in my feed reader, but I had to remove them because I really don’t need a daily dose of adorably decorated sugar cookie inspiration. I really need some “get up and go” inspiration, not “break out the confectioner sugar” inspiration! I decided that “good enough” baking is good enough for me! As long as my “clients” are adorable children then I will better serve them with extra attention and “good enough” baking, instead of no attention and perfect baking!

Stay tuned for my awesome “good enough” cakes! One triple layer and one Lego cake. Bake on!

One more birthday card…

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Tessa

Isn’t this the sweetest birthday card? Lex brought it home from school the other day. One of his friends made it for Eve. He was going to draw all of the boys listed, but he ran out of time. She is so loved.

Pet Show Party

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Tessa

To celebrate Eve’s birthday this year we threw a pet show party. We invited her entire class, plus a few other friends, and hoped for sunny weather. The kids all came, but the weather did not. Nonetheless we had a great time!

To start the theme Eve and I made “Eve’s 5th Birthday Party Pet Show” invitations. We got all fancy with the crayons and copy paper. Nothing but the best in this house. I can’t seem to find a picture (or the original!) so you’ll just have to trust me that they were top-notch!

As the party drew near we prepared by making a bunch of blue ribbon awards and games for the pet show.

Felt, paper, and hot glue... blue ribbons!

Eve didn't have patience for the hot glue gun and decided to make her own ribbon with scotch tape. This one is for the "Softest Pet"

We have an early winner! Cotton Candy won the "Softest Pet" award about a week before the pet show! :)

Eve loves her pony. Thanks Aunt Katie!

In an effort to find a game that would work both indoors and out (darn unpredictable weather!) we settled on "Pin the tail on the unicorn." Eve drew the unicorn and the tails.

The day before the party we baked and decorated the cake (double layer dark chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting) and added some black fondant “dogs” and “dog bone” decorations. Fondant is not very tasty and quite messy to work with. It was fun for this cake, but probably not something I’m going to do again.

Fondant is kind of like Play-Doh, only made of sugar. The taste is only marginally better, especially when it's black! On the plate in the background you can see the dogs we made. Mine is towards the front, Eve's is towards the back. I think her's looks more like a mouse on a barrel, but she insisted it's as a dog. Actually she insisted it was Bone and Karma on her cake. :)

My cake designs always come out better in my head than they do in real life. It tasted good at least!

Then the big day arrived! Normally we do afternoon parties and use the morning to get things done, but this party was at 10am so we were scrambling! Lex was SUPER helpful in cleaning and decorating with me. He and Eve made some party signage, he hung up streamers, decorated the door, and cleaned the mudroom! I think the best party decorations are the ones the kids make!

I like to leave a little something for the birthday girl to find on the table in the morning.

She was surprised and excited to find presents from us! :) She thought she had to wait until her party for presents. I got her a dress and the new Muppet movie.

He refused to get dressed, but he did a great job decorating the house!

No free play at this party! When guests arrived they got a bag and were put to work! :)

A "Pet Grooming and Vet" sign, made by Lex, hung above the office door.

The final stop for the pets was the judging station (ie, the hearth), sign by Eve.

Then the crowds arrived. We had 17 kids, plus most of their parents. The house was tight but everyone tells me they had a great time. There were no tears and no fights (that I saw or heard!) so I’m going to call it a success!

The first task was to make a collar for your pet. Turns out most kids don't have names for their stuffed animals so we got some creative collars. Some made up a name real quick, others put their own names or random letters. It was fun.

Next step was grooming (brushes, bows, etc.) and then a photo with Eve. Alan used my phone and we printed a picture for each kid to take home. Some kids were excited, others refused. Here are Lex and Eve doing a practice run.

Last stop, the judging station. Once each pet had a collar, a grooming session, and a photo with Eve, they were placed at the judging station.

Only then were the kids allowed to play! :)

Baby Kate was taking notes for her upcoming birthday! :)

Time for cake!

Lots of eager children filled the kitchen.

Make a wish!

This is the only photo I took of the judging process. I wasn't quite sure how this part of the party would go. It ended up being a throng of children crowding around me while I read the awards. They eagerly clambered for each one. I handed them out and made sure each pet got one, but I'm not sure how appropriate they all were. Everyone had fun though!

Lex didn't think any of the awards were right for his pet, so he took one of my blank ones (I made a few blanks, just in case!) and made his own award. Most Loved Pet.

Time for presents!

Many of her friends drew her lovely pictures to accompany their gifts.

After presents Eve went around and thanked and hugged each of her friends.

After presents we headed outside. The day was overcast and chilly, but everyone was full of cake and ready to play! The most popular gift was the stomp rocket. The kids (mostly the boys!) were lining up for their turn!

The party officially ended at noon but it was almost one before her classmates all left. Jim and Julie stuck around for awhile longer with their sweet girls. When they left we all crashed. I bought Eve the new Muppet movie thinking she might like that for quiet time, but instead she wanted her usual quiet time (an audio book in her room) while Alan and Lex crashed on the couch to watch the Muppets. I cleared the counters a bit and then got lost in my computer. A few hours later Amanda and Rachel came to visit.

Paint marker bowling

Eve got a 3D Tinkerbell puzzle that was quite challenging!

We had pizza for dinner and Eve added a few burgundy chocolate chunks to her piece. An interesting way to wash down a sugar filled day!

Happy 5th Birthday to Eve!! I think everyone had a fun-filled day.

Happy 5th Birthday Eve!!!

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Tessa

The day is not over yet, but here are a few pictures of our morning “Pet Show” birthday party. We had a blast!

More to come… later.

Birthday cupcakes

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Tessa

Eve brought cupcakes to school today in our fancy new cupcake carrier. They were devils food with cherry frosting and heart sprinkles. All from a can or box. Not very appetizing to me, but she was thrilled. :)

Birthday count-down

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Tessa

The count-down to Eve’s birthday has begun. She has been talking about it for months and awhile ago we started making her a birthday chain. The idea she had was time-consuming though and at that time we were 52 days away from her birthday! Needless to say we did not finish the count-down chain. However, we got 24 “cakes” made on the chain so when I realized we were 24 days away from her birthday I “remembered” and got the chain back out! She was excited and we hung it up. Now each morning she cuts off one of the cakes as the count-down continues. She loves waking up and announcing “It’s time to cut a cake!” :) It makes me giggle every morning.

First thing in the morning, cutting a cake. :)

She also made herself a birthday list last month. She hasn’t added anything to it since the original effort, but here it is.

Dog, Flowers, American Girl, Panera Card (she has been practicing her lowercase a, which often looks more like a q)

Last week we started planning her birthday party. It will be a Pet Show party and all of her friends will bring their favorite pet (stuffed animals only!) We’re going to have a pet show with awards (fluffiest pet, most colorful pet, etc.) and pet-themed games and projects. We are expecting quite a crowd! That will be on her birthday morning, then we’ll have a family party (pizza and cake, pets optional) in the afternoon/evening. Then we will all crash! I have lots of great ideas in my head, now I just need to find the motivation (somewhere, somehow!) to get it done!

Calm and Chaos: Life with kids

Tag Archives: Birthdays