Jayce's Percy Jackson Birthday Party

First off, a little disclaimer - this party just does not feel up to my standards of making it extra special.  It is hard to plan things when you can't run to your standby stores - Target, Walmart, etc..

I got the idea for the invitations from Thepeanutone's Weblog (just found it in a blog search).  I used a font called PiRhoHerak, you can get it for free on the web.

Sons and Daughters of the Gods!

Please join us in the celebration of Jayce’s 9th Birthday

Camp Half Blood

April 23, 2011 from 1:00 – 3:00pm

Please note that Camp Half Blood has moved to the Isle of Okinawa, our house.

We will practice warrior training, and Ancient Greek. Dionysus will provide the drinks; Demeter will provide the snacks and cake.

Please send an Iris message letting us know whether you’ll be able to attend or if you have been sent on some other Quest. If you are out of Golden Drachmas, you may call 99999999or e-mail xxxxxxxx@yahoo.com to be connected to Micah, daughter of Hera, Goddess of Motherhood.

Please wear protective gear for the anticipated visit of Apollo (sunscreen). If Zeus throws rain and lightning bolts our way, we will watch The Lightning Thief.


 Well it was raining that morning and I thought we were going to be watching the movie.  It finally stopped 30 minutes before the party started and I was assuming that it would be to wet outside. 

As the guests arrived they pulled a name tag out of a bowl (the Oracle).  On the tag it said...

Son/Daughter of HEPHAESTUS

God of Fire

or some other God or Goddess.  Then they were given a Greek alphabet sheet and they were to write their name in Greek.  Jayce requested to be Son of Hades, God of the Underworld.

About 10 minutes into the movie Jason and I looked at each other and said this is not going to work.  Only 3 of the kids were actually watching.  So I ran over to the park area and checked it for small ponds.  It was dry.  So we armed them all with foam swords and gave half of them blue headbands and we went to play capture the flag.  I thought it was fun, but their was a lot of fighting and I couldn't be a referee the whole time.  I guess I needed to make the rules easier to follow or make up more rules. 

After 3 rounds of this we switched to Medusa Freeze Tag. I kept adding Medusas because they were having a hard time getting anyone frozen or keeping them frozen. After awhile all of the girls (Medusas) came up with a game plan of guarding their tagged victims. The boys were getting so mad, but I figured we needed to be flexible at that point. So after the girls finally had all the boys tagged - I made the 4 biggest complainers be Medusas (Jayce was one of them).


 
 Being guarded.

I let them play one more round of Capture the Flag before we headed in for snacks and ice cream.  We served Sprite, Grape Soda (of course), Root Beer, Grapes, Doritos, and Oatmeal Fudge Bars.  Since Jayce does not like cake he makes it hard to make anything, but we tried.  He wanted a sword before we established that he really didn't want cake.  So I came up with this idea and had Jason execute it.

 I wanted to find small toy snakes, but no luck.  So I tried to pipe some from chocolate - I wont tell you what I think they look like.

He was way too spoiled.  He added to his Nerf gun collection, water guns and swords, Lego's and books. 

Dr. Jekyll

Since we moved here Charlotte has an ever growing number of things she sleeps with. I really try to keep the numbers to 4 things at the most. She always sleeps with a couple of dolls and then she adds in whatever new thing she has or recently rediscovered toy. The most recent addition is a snake.  I don't think in a few years that she would be able to sleep through the night with a snake in her bed even if it is plastic.


I have spent the last few days elbow deep in paint. I am finally getting Tennyson's room painted and the ceilings in Charlotte's and my room painted as well as the hallway.  Since I have been a little distracted my sweet little girl moved out and a mischievous little girl moved in. 

This new daughter of ours likes to sneak into the art drawer and glue card stock circles (from a happy meal) onto the walls in her room.  She likes to dump several large cupfuls of water onto the bathroom floor and onto a pillow that was for some reason in the bathroom.  She finds it necessary to remove all of the books from the shelf (about 50), bring all of her toys from her room into the living room (not to play with).  She is also starting to have accidents again after more than a year of none.  Also this little girl and her big brother Grahm (with help from Jayce) decided to use washable crayons (because the really are good for this add a little water and isntant face paint) and markers to draw on Charlotte and Grahms face just before basketball practice and pictures.

I think the little alarm is going off in my head - she needs more attention and love.  We need to bake some cookies together and read stories.

My Time Half Gone

As Jayce's Birthday approached I had the realization that my time with him is half gone.  Yes, I do realize that parenting does not end when they turn 18, but I am afraid my influence will drastically decrease at that point.  He will move out (unless I can talk him into saving money for another year before his mission).  I started freaking out, I know that I have not wisely used the time I have had.  I hope that the next 9 years I am more focused on what is important and that I can fully prepare him for the challenges and the wonder that this life has to offer.

For his Birthday we were treated to steak, mashed potatoes and grave, jicama, tomatoes, broccoli, grapes, and cheddar biscuits.

We cooked him an extra large biscuit because every time we make them, they fight over who gets the biggest one.  This resulted in Jayce not even finishing his steak or eating much else that he chose.

I am very proud of you Jayce.  You are an amazing son, you help out so much with your little brother and sisters.  You deal with my impatience, bring me Diet Coke's on ice when I need them, comfort Tennyson when I am distracted, help with chores, and so much more.  You surprise me with how smart you are and how quickly you learn things.  I love that you have a love of reading - reading is magical.  A few things that you love Legos, Greek Mythology, jumping on the trampoline, guns, science, Basketball.  You don't like cake, but you do like cake pops.

My favorite part of  Birthday's are watching the siblings, they are so excited and so want to be a part of it all.  So cute.

 Happy Birthday Jayce!

Happy Easter, the last Easter post for this year.

 My boys are obsessed with scary, skulls, monsters (sound like Halloween), so when a fantastic face painter is at Grahm's class Easter Party - he picks this - vampire.  Other kids picked bunny, tiger, butterfly, fairy, ghost, sponge bob - okay - it does sound like Grahm fit in.

Charlotte was a Tinkerbell fairy, in her 2 favorite colors.

 Pretty serious sack race.

 Tug of war.  I love old school games.

I was trying to get her to look at me , but the sun was to bright and my shadow didn't help.

The kids made these Easter baskets at the party, then we had lots of yummy snacks and treats.  I made mini-red velvet cupcakes with green frosting, chocolate shaving nests with a chocolate egg (forgot to take a pic).  Then they played fun games, listened to a story and hunted for eggs.

Egg Hunting

What kid doesn't love a traditional Egg Hunt?  Grahm was not happy that I was going to hide empty plastic Eggs.  I told him he could just find his quota of real eggs (4) and maybe next year the Easter Bunny would fill up a few eggs instead of his basket.  I think he decided that 4 eggs is not much of a hunt and that his basket holds more candy than eggs do.

This is the only pic of Grahm I got, he was off and running.  I think he found all the easy eggs.  Next year we will have to give the girls a head start.

 Jason wanted me to get a pic of Tennyson and an egg, she thought it was very rude to sit her down at dinner time.

She looks like she doesn't want to get dirty.

A Promise

Spring Break is bittersweet.  It is nice to finally get a break from school and schedules, but not so sweet because it is too short.  It is a promise of lazy summer days to come. 

I know that some politicians believe that our kids should go to school year round, I think that is ridiculous.  I have heard that we only want to keep summer vacations because we romanticize about lazy summer days.  I think those politicians need to visit some of our houses during the summer.  They are the opposite of lazy.  Summer is a time for a different type of education.  They still have a structure and a schedule.  It is an education that our society needs.  Our responsibilities inside the 4 walls of our homes are more important than any outside those walls.  We work together getting jobs done around the house, they learn work before play, they learn to get along again, they learn about how to keep a successful home going (compromise, kindness, patience, work, fun, etc...) and so much more.  If they are ever bored during the summer, they get to learn to be creative.

I know that it would be more convenient for families that have working parents if school was year round, but it should not be mandatory.  School is very important, teachers should be better compensated for the work they do.  However; school can not teach my children to be successful adults, it can only provide them with a portion of the tools they need.

What do you think about year round school?

I promise to explore, swim, jump, run, clean, mow, weed, nap, picnic, learn, create, bake, build, sew, and be bored with my kids in a few more weeks.

Sorry about the rant.

Happy Easter!

Here are the Easter outfits for this year.  I really debated about the bow-ties.  If you love bow-ties then this is not meant to offend, but I think they are kind of geeky.  I know they seem to be more in for kids lately.  I am still getting used to them.  Jayce did have to deal with some ribbing from his class mates.  I need to get the boys a belt that can be worn with something other than wranglers.  Oh, and if you notice Grahm's hair - not me.  He really wants Bieber Hair - he is in Kindergarten for Pete's Sake.  I do have him talked into short hair for the summer.  I am going to try and get better pictures of the kids when they are in better moods and we are not rushed for church.

Charlotte's dress was really fun to make (not to iron, pleats give me such fits).  The trim I got on e-bay, I think it is from the 70's, but it was perfect.

Grahm was coerced with the promise of 1 crazy picture at the end.  Here it is.

Ruched Pillow Tutorial

Here is my version of a ruched pillow.  I wanted something with lines in it, I think it turned out cute.  Feel free to use this tutorial for personal use.  Thanks.

1.  First you need to cut out your fabric.  Cut out 2 squares of fabric to fit your pillow form or desired size.  Remember to cut your fabric to the size of your form or slightly smaller to have nice full pillow.  The third piece of fabric you cut out needs to be your pillow size in one direction and 2X the length of the other side.  Mine was a rectangle (18X36).

 2.  Next you will need to mark the lines you want to gather on with a fabric marking pen or chalk or something.  (I pieced my tops together because I was using leftover scraps of white muslin). 

3.  You need to mark the center of your pillow at the edges and at your marked lines.  Also mark the center of one of your square piece of fabrics.

 4.  You need to sew a gathering thread.  Use your longest stitch and stitch the top edges, bottom edge and your 2 marked lines, be sure to leave long tails.  (You are not sewing anything together, you only have the one piece of fabric).

 5.  Now you will line up your centers of your extra long piece and the other pillow square you marked the center on. 

 6.  Pin your extra long piece to the square piece at the edges and the centers.  This is 4 pins on each edges and down the center, you have pinned in 12 places.

 7.  Start pulling your gathering thread.  Pull until the top (gathered) piece of fabric is now the same width as the underneath piece of fabric.  Repeat for each line.  I like to work on one half at a time.  I pull from the left until the left side is all nice and ruched and then I work from the right.

 8.  Pin your fabric the underneath piece of fabric.  Be sure to keep your top piece pulled tight, make sure you line stays straight.

 9.  I used a lot of pins.

 10.  If you are adding any trim add it now.  Pin the trim on top of your line.  Again, make sure you keep your lines straight.

11.  Sew on the top edge, you lines (or on top of your trim), and the bottom edge.  Sew nice and straight - take your time - you don't want to unpick.  Now your ruching can't move around on you.

 12.  Pin the remaining square to the top of your ruched pillow piece (right sides together).  Sew around the edge, be sure to leave an opening wide enough for your form to get through.  I like to round my corners, if you do this is the time to do it. 

13.  Turn your pillow right side out.  (I dyed mine a blueish grey to match my living room).  Stuff it and hand sew the opening closed.

Somebody Stop Me

Why do I stuff too much into one week.  I need someone here to tell me to step back every know and then.  If Jason tells me to reign in the horses I just think he is afraid of me adding more responsibility to his to do list (which it always does).

This week I have been finishing up the Easter Dress, planning a Birthday Party, getting ready for Easter, oh and I decided to get sick (temp of 102) - ugh.  Thank goodness the fever broke last night and we should be ready for Saturday and Sunday.

I will be posting my tutorial for the ruched pillow tomorrow.  Thanks for being patient with me.