Better than a Dozen

roses, cookies, cupcakes, eggs, and whatever else comes in groups of 12 is a dozen years with J (pardon the pictures of pictures. I am too lazy to scan them).

In the middle of the craziness of the past couple of weeks, we managed to find one evening to celebrate at Donovan's steakhouse.

We had grand plans afterwards to go race Formula 1 cars at the largest indoor racing facility in the U.S. but after the relaxed, classy atmosphere at Donovan's and with full bellies, we decided to postpone the racing for another day.  After all, it was probably best to end the evening with a feeling of togetherness rather than have J be upset that I beat his tail in go-kart racing, right?

How a Boy Becomes a Wolf

Clearly, a boy becomes a wolf by drinking wolf's blood:

Or maybe it's the patch and the pin that represent achievements and electives:

 However it happens, afterwards, he's way too cool to actually smile:

Let's Get This Party Started: Our Hogwarts Extravaganza

It's been 2 years since I've done a birthday party for the kids, and 2 years ago we went to Chuck E. Cheese since H was 9-months old and I couldn't handle an "extravaganza" yet. So, since it'll be another 2 years before more parties and since the kids both wanted a Harry Potter party, I decided we'd go big. I had so much fun planning it with them. But then there's the execution. I should be a party planner and then hire people to do the actual work because I am not so good at the actual work. But here's how the party went down in the end:

The invites, sealed and with an "owl feather" attached

The favors--chocolate frog boxes

And the chocolate frogs

The book of spells

The Honeydukes bag with ton-tongue toffee, Droobles best blowing gum, Fizzing Wizzbees, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and the chocolate frog

We were scurrying around at the last minute trying to hang the Hogwarts sign in the front of the house and the house banners above the garage (I borrowed these from a friend). I also have a wall-covering that looks like a castle stones for inside, but we didn't get that up in time--we had a couple kids come 25 minutes early. Hello! I'm not that prepared! Anyway, because of the last-minute scurrying, I didn't get any pre-party pics, but here you can see Madame Malkin's rob shop and behind the girls are the wands in Ollivander's wand shop.

 

The Sorting Hat ceremony--I recorded it from the movie on my phone and played pieces for each kid. They got a house sticker for their robes to match whichever house the hat told them.

The feast! hot dogs, watermelon, chips, and soda--we had 17 kids total and they drank  60 cans of soda!!

Inedible Potions class

Edible potions class

Care of Magical Creatures--they had to find these hidden in the yard to get points for their house.

Taking turns riding on Hagrid's motorcycle to the park to play Quidditch.

H in his robe

The birthday boy

Quidditch, which was totally chaotic.

Opening presents, after which we had "cauldron cakes" (cupcakes) and called it good. 

A Day on the Praire

So, I'm sure you've noticed (anyone, anyone?!) that I took an unintended leave of absence from blogging for the past couple of weeks. It's called being CRAZY BUSY, with J in North Carolina for a week, swim lessons starting, dance, piano, Sweetie's presentation, Mister's wolf ceremony, birthday party, class treats, birthday lunches out with mom, teaching at BYU-Idaho, and Primary stuff. It's been fun, fun, but also exhausting. So, I'm setting out to recap it all in individual posts this weekend. Here's the first--our Primary Activity Day, "A Day on the Prairie." The kids churned butter, kneaded dough, learned about pioneers and covered wagons, dressed up for a photo booth, and did relay races with handcarts, hoop/sticks, and washboards/hanging clothes. They then got to take their 5 pennies to the general store for marbles, candy sticks, lemon drops, taffy, and gingersnaps. It was fun, but my station was outdoors and we hit a record-high 105 that day! I sweat through my shirt/apron after running the handcarts all over the place.

Gifts that Keep on Giving

With 2 kids' birthdays 8-14 days away, I'm currently on a desperate hunt for gifts that keep on giving, giving all the way through the hot summer so that I do not have to deal with fighting, boredom, etc. Okay, maybe that's asking a little much, but still, I need some help. What are the most-used gifts your kids have received?  (And I'm assuming books, legos, playmobil, and outdoor items like bikes/scooters are on everyone's lists.)

I'll add a few of our own below.

A recent winner for H:

All of the kids have loved this one:

H is currently obsessed with games and this is one for his age that I don't mind playing over and over again:

Mister got this for Christmas this year and he and Sweetie love building all kinds of contraptions--a doorbell, a light, etc.

My favorite game to play with the kids, hands-down. We love this one!

These books have kept my kids occupied during sacrament meeting and road trips for a couple of years now:

So what would you add?

Just call me a "Viking"

Today's my first day teaching here: 

But not actually there since I'm teaching online. In fact, I have no idea what the building in this picture is, but it's beautiful and hopefully my teaching experience will be beautiful too! 

Words for the Week

Monday night, in a fit of cleanliness, I put away almost everything that usually sits on "my" counter in the kitchen (with J working from home so much and usurping my office, I tend to stack my computer, my camera, and my piles there--teaching prep pile, Primary pile, book proposal pile, kids' papers pile, you get the picture). Unfortunately, since I put the camera away, you don't get the picture, or pictures, that is, of our week. These 2 are the only ones. But they're goodies. I give you . . . 

Sweetie's Art Debut

We got a letter in the mail a week or so ago, informing us that Sweetie's art had been chosen for an art show for our school district and that the open house would be Monday night. Sweetie had no idea which piece of hers was selected, so it was a surprise for us all. Here's our resident artist with her work:

Had I taken pictures of the rest of the week, you might have seen a lot of blue, red, and purple lips because we are the happy owners of a snow cone/slushy maker and have taken it upon ourselves to sample the flavor possibilities. 

And we've had the perfect weather for it. This afternoon after church, we spread the blankets out on the lawn again. J read; Sweetie, Mister, and I played Sleeping Queens, and H alternated between holding my knight cards, playing in the sandbox, and being sent inside for throwing dirt from the flowerbeds. It was just what I needed after spending the entire day yesterday cooped up in the library reading about rhetorical agency and moral agency. Blah. I don't want to talk about that and you don't want me to talk about that. We're trying to soak up the sun while we can. I have a strong premonition that in a few weeks, we'll be trying to stay out of the sun. I think that's the extent of this week's excitement. Without pictures, I don't remember much . . . how sad is that? I did break the camera out again and solemnly swear that I will not indulge any fits of cleanliness this week.