Party #1

With spring comes the birthdays of the young'uns here in our household. I think about ideas for months in advance, start planning, and get excited about finding bargains for the parties. This year I was really focused on Jordis' party since Xander decided he didn't want one. And then a few weeks before his birthday he got up one day and announced he'd changed his mind. With limited time to prepare we told him he could have a set number of friends over for a Mario Kart Wii tournament. And this is how it went down......

Since I was working on a budget with two birthdays in the same week, I decided to fore go ordering the Mario Kart Wii party pack online, and went with a theme of primary colors mixed with the black and white racing checks. I made the place mats by just cutting up some fabric I found at JoAnn's (with my 40% off coupon) and the turtle shells were sections of an egg carton that I cut up and painted.

I used my Cricut and existing scrapbook paper to make a banner that hung over the dessert buffet.

The kids had an array of homemade Mario Kart themed desserts to munch on......sugar cookies with royal icing and fondant, chocolate cupcakes with butter cream frosting, brownies with royal icing and M&M's in the primary colors of the party theme.

My plan was to just have cupcakes, but Xander said he HAD to have a cake. So this is the cake that I slaved over lovingly made for him and he ended up eating a cupcake anyway.

I couldn't justify any sugary drinks with all the junk food we were having, so I jazzed up some water bottles and no one seemed to mind.

All the participants received a certificate and a trophy, with a little something extra for our tournament winner.

And goodie boxes on the way out.

The birthday boy had a great time and even had some love for his little sister.

Mardi Gras

We had fun celebrating Mardi Gras this year, although I didn't take too many photos. Jason had to work at dinnertime on Fat Tuesday, so we had our little celebration the day before.

Of course the house was decorated, and for dinner I made chicken sauce piquante. I also made king cake. Typically I make it from scratch, but I was sick and decided to take a shortcut involving crescent dough. It was a little flat, but it actually tasted better than my time-consuming recipe, so I might start doing that from now on. I figure if I lived in Louisiana I'd be buying my king cake from the grocery store like everyone else, so I'm still adding a little homemade touch to it by making my own with store-bought assistance. The kids were super excited to eat some since we don't give them dessert very often.

We have a GIANT bag of Mardi Gras beads I collected on my two trips to Mardi Gras in 1997 and 2001. They are mostly the green, gold and purple ones that the locals don't care about very much because they're not as intricate as some of the other ones. So they were pretty easy to come by, either because I caught them, or found them on the ground or Jason's family just handed them off to me.

I thought it would be fun for Xander to take some in for his classmates, so we counted out enough and he took them to school. Looking cute in his purple shirt, Xander informed me as we were waiting for the bus that if you bring in something about your culture you have to be prepared to talk about it. So I quickly wrote out a few things for him to share. I volunteer for his teacher on Tuesdays so she invited me in for his presentation. He did such a great job, and his friends seemed geuninely interested in what he had to say. They asked relevant questions as well.

He ended his presentation by saying, "I love Louisiana because I like to watch Billy the Exterminator." He cracks me up.

Jason's Birthday

I don't have any pictures from my birthday (which was fabulous, if I do say so myself), but I do have a few to share from Jason's. His aunt and uncle were here visiting from Louisiana and we had a fried turkey dinner, so I made his birthday cake a little early for our gathering. Square cakes are much more difficult than round ones, and I didn' have the high quality ingredients that I wanted for the frosting, but all in all it turned out okay. Luckily, Jason isn't too picky when it comes to dessert.

Jason took the day off on his actual birthday and was nice enough to keep the kids and send me on a women's retreat with my bible study gals. It was lots of fun and nice to be out of the city.

When I came home we got pizza for dinner and gave Jason his presents. This year the kids have taken to finding things we already have around the house and then wrapping them to give us as presents. Hence the Bass Pro Shop brochure.

I also like how kids are fascinated with ages. As if you don't know how old you are, it's always nice to be reminded. Our kids are currently enjoying that they are half-ages. Instead of being 6 and 4 they are 6 1/2 and 4 1/2.

Isn't getting older great?

A night at the fair

The Ohio State Fair is every summer and Jason and I used to go annually....until we had kids. Our whole purpose for going was mostly to eat junk food, so once the kids came along and it would have involved a stroller, diapers, etc. we decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Now, my mom and step-dad take the kids every year so we still don't go. But this year, my mom invited me to go one evening after she got off of work. Aside from the fact that my mom is fun to hang out with, we also have very similar tastes in food (minus my disdain for olives and stinky cheese and her texture issues with fruit). That being said, I had someone to share fair food with, which equaled ability to try more things.

Our first stop was sweet potato fries. Then we walked around to look at the chintzy memorabilia stuff people try to sell and spent a good deal of time looking at the contest submissions in the art building. We worked up an appetite after that so decided to try some deep fried bacon and cheddar mashed potatoes with ranch dressing. My mom didn't care for them too much, but I liked them. Next we went to see the butter cow and then a horse competition. Not sure how the judging took place where the horses were concerned, but the horses we liked didn't win, so we moved on.

The day they brought the kids to the fair the afternoon was cut short due to rain, so my mom had some extra ride tickets and suggested we put them to use. We then became the oldest people in line for the roller coaster. I'm typically okay with roller coasters, however; this roller coaster literally folded up into a truck like a Transformer so I was a little concerned about its safety. But we survived and went next to the ferris wheel. It was much better and we had a great view of downtown Columbus.

After the rides we went to the LaSalle building to look at our favorite exhibits: decorated Christmas trees and baked goods. We thought these were two of the best cakes this year. I'm always amazed by what can be made with fondant.

On the way out we passed some cute baby animals and then got our last snack....hot mini donuts covered in cinnamon-sugar. It was a fun and yummy night!

93!

On August 1st my step-grandma, Alberta, turned 93. You'd never know by looking at her that she was so many years young....no hearing aid, no cane, no walker, living independently. She has outlived two husbands and her only child. And she still talks a blue streak. My aunt and uncle had her come stay with them for a week and we all got together at their house to celebrate the occasion with a cookout. When we got there my aunt brought out three pillowcase dresses she had made for the little girls. Jordis loves hers!

We all brought food for dinner, so I decided to make the cake. I went to my neighbor Lisa's house for some special lessons on bakery-style buttercream. It was a long process to make and apply, but I was happy with the end result. It was an almond sour cream cake with almond buttercream and fondant accents.

Alberta loved the cake and we had a fun visit.

Jordis' Birthday Party

This year Jordis invited some friends over for a cupcake decorating party. She had wanted some invitations at Factory Card Outlet that I refused to buy because they cost a ridiculous $8. Then I spent $19 buying the supplies to make her some invitations. Crazy, I know. But mine were cuter. The ones she wanted had turqouise frosting and they just didn't look very little-girlish.

The first thing we did was play Pin the Cherry on the Cupcake. Then we opened presents. Jordis got some really nice gifts.

Then we put on the aprons I made and decorated some cupcakes.



After the cupcakes were complete everyone had a box to take them home in so they could share them with their families.

Then we capped off the afternoon with cake and ice cream. Jordis picked mint chocolate chip, just like her brother. She didn't want anyone singing to her though, so she hunkered down in her chair.



Xander enjoyed the day, too.

And now, we are thankful that their birthdays don't roll around for another 11 months.

Scooby Dooby Doo!

Xander has been into Scooby Doo for the past 8 months or so. Want to know what cartoon I HATED growing up? Yeah.....I probably don't have to tell you. But I love the kid, so I went along with his idea for a Scooby Doo birthday party. The plan was for the kids to make their own pizzas, play a few games, then do presents and cake. It didn't quite happen that way. Only a few kids made pizza, some refused to play games, one stood in the corner and listened to his I-pod, and they all practically sat in my lap while Xander opened his gifts. I think his whole video is going to just be me asking the kids (over and over) to scoot back. Let's just say that Xander's already been told he's not having 11 people over for his birthday next year.

I found paw print wrapping paper to decorate the tables and the kids snacked on potato chips and Scooby Snacks served in dog food bowls. We also had punch in Scooby Doo colors.

We played Scooby Doo bingo and one other game, and Xander enjoyed sitting with his "girlfriend." She lives down the street and they share a seat on the bus together. Each day they rotate who sits by the window, although I'm not sure if the coveted seat position is by the window or on the aisle.

Xander opened presents

Then we had cake and ice cream (Xander picked mint chocolate chip) and passed out goodies. Xander gave his friends cupcakes that had Scooby Doo liners, Scooby Doo Fruit Snacks, Scooby Snacks and Scooby Doo Band-Aids.

And then it was time to finish working on Jordis' party. One down, one to go.

Pump It Up

Last night the kids got to go to a birthday party at Pump It Up. It was Xander's friend from our old church who had the party, but Jordis plays with them too so she got to be included. They couldn't wait to go and jump all over the place.





It was hard to get good pictures since the kids were moving so much. Jordis even made me go down the slide with her. One time was good enough for me. After an hour and a half of jumping and sliding, it was time to eat. The kids were all about pizza, Spider Man cake and ice cream. Xander was most excited about getting to sit by the birthday boy...until it was time for goodie bags. You'd have thought someone offered them a trip to Disney World. They both shouted "goodie bags" and hugged each other like long lost friends. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to get a photo of that.


Happy Birthday, Wes. See you next month at Xander's party.