Harry Potter Party

On May 11, my baby boy turned SIX! Time sure has FLOWN !
Hours old

6 Years Old


This year, we have been reading Harry Potter. I've read the first three books to him, and he has gotten pretty excited about it. So, naturally, he wanted to have a Harry Potter birthday party.
As his birthday gift (besides the party of course) I made him a Harry Potter costume.

You can't tell from the picture, but it is reversible, has the Gryffindor emblem embroidered on it, and has pockets to store his wand. I was pretty proud of how it turned out.

For the party, we sent out invitations that were basically an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. I found the wording online - here's what it said:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Headmaster Albus Dumbledore Order of Merlin First Class, Grand Sorcerer and Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump International Confederation of Wizards Dear Child's Name, We are pleased to announce that you have been accepted into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for an elective spring session and feast being held in honor of Head Boy Z’s, 6th birthday. Classes will begin at the stroke of 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, May 15th. Please take the Hogwarts Express train to our address, currently disguised as a muggle home at address. There you will find the magical door visible only to Hogwarts students, friends and families. The password is Flibbertigibbet. The last class will end at approximately 4:00 o’clock, so make sure to set your remote broom starter for that time. Capes and robes are optional. Be sure to bring your thinking caps! Please respond by owl no later than May 12th so that we can prepare for your arrival. Send the owl to email address. If your owl is in the shop, you may use your muggle phone to call phone number.

Lots of the kids were very excited about the password and had practiced it so they could say it to get in. Of course, we had the Fat Lady guarding the door. (I found the picture online, printed it out, and put it in a frame)

For the party, we decided to have individual "classes" like they do at Hogwarts. First of all, we started with "History of Hogwarts" as the kids arrived. I had the first movie playing on our laptop. (I wanted to keep them in the front room, not in the family room where the TV is)

I was dressed as Professor McGonagle (I'm a nerd, I know)

I gave them a little introduction, and then "sorted" them into the houses. There were no Slytherin, of course, and I gave out the rest randomly.

I gave each kid a "wand" and then we headed outside for "Herbology" class.
I started preparing for this class a couple weeks ago when my kids and I planted cups of grass. (They thought that was great fun!)

Each "student" got a cup of grass, scissors, and a marker. They were instructed that for this "magic" grass, they needed to give it a "haircut" and decorate the cup. They were all pretty serious about it.


Then we went back in for "Transfiguration" class. I gave each of them "magic clay" (homemade playdoh) and told them they needed to turn it into an animal. (There were quite a few snakes)

We then had "Care of Magical Creatures" class. This one was a bit of a reach, I must admit, but I thought I was pretty clever. I found a pin the tail on the donkey game for only $1 at Walmart. What I told them was that it was a "Magical, Invisible Donkey" that disappeared when it's tail fell off. That was why they needed to practice putting it back on while blindfolded. Good, right?

The next class was my favorite. Potions!
I found the official Harry Potter Wiki where I found a list of all the potions ingredients used in the books and movies. So, I went through those and found things in my house that I thought would make good substitutes. I also found some nifty looking bottles and jars at Goodwill to put them in.

I gave them each a "cauldron" (plastic cup) and we made a potion together. Dragon's blood (water with food coloring) + Boomslang Skin (pop rocks) + bicorn horn power (baking soda) + Bouncing Spider Juice (lemon juice). It was nice and fizzy.

Then, I turned them loose and let them make their own potions. Some of them got pretty interesting! A couple of kids were brave enough to taste them! It was good, messy fun!
Then it was time for Defense Against the Dark Arts. I tried to build up the suspense a little bit. I told them they would be battling against a very fierce, dangerous dragon, and the only way to defeat it was to hit it with a branch from a Whomping Willow.
Okay, so it was a Dragon Pinata and a stick. But I thought it was fun.

Yippee for candy!

Then it was time for cake

The cake was actually pretty easy to make. I used round cakes in a few different sizes. One was cooked in a bowl, and the top of the cake and Hagrids hut were cooked in my Pampered Chef prep bowls. I used canned frosting, and the towers are made of ice cream cones. I was surprised that all the kids wanted the "pointy" parts and fought over who got them.


The birthday boy with a messy face

Of course there were lots of fun gifts to open

And then they had time to go outside and PLAY!


It really was a great party and I think that everyone had a great time! But, it was A LOT of work and I was EXHAUSTED by the time it was over!
I COULD NOT have been able to pull it off if it wasn't for my wonderful in-laws who came to help, as well as my fabulous husband. Thank you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZANDER!

April Fools Day!

I had fun playing a couple of pranks on my kids on April Fool's Day this year. I think it was the first time that they really "got" it, so it was a good time!

First, while Zander was at school, I made "play-doh" for the kids to play with... and told them to eat it! It was a fun treat! (Here's the recipe)



Then, for dinner, I told the kids we were having CUPCAKES! They were excited, and couldn't believe that Mom would actually let them have a treat for dinner! Don't they look yummy?


I also fixed some special drinks for them. They thought we were having some red punch. Here we are getting ready to eat. I think the kids figured that something was up when I started snapping pictures. It took some coaxing to get them to eat.

"Hey! What is this? Why won't my drink come out of my cup?"



It's JELLO! April Fools!

Now, how about those cupcakes??

Not exactly what he was expecting! It was actually MEATLOAF with mashed potatoes on top! Believe it or not, it was rather tasty. But it didn't taste anything like a cupcake! The kids ended up liking it and the jello made up for not having "real" cupcakes.
Happy April Fools!

A Black Eye - and Green Eggs and Ham

On Tuesday of last week I got a call from the school. My son was in the nurse's office. She wanted to let me know so that I wasn't shocked when he came home. Apparently, he had taken a bad fall while he was climbing the "spider web" on the playground. (One of those metal, half-circle things that kids like to play on). The bar hit him right above his eye. This is what he looked like when I picked him up:


And the next morning it looked even worse!

I kept telling him that he should tell people he was in a fight, but, thankfully, he didn't go along with that plan. He was actually quite embarrassed about it, and got tired of everyone asking him what happened.

In other news about my boy, on Monday (the day before the black eye) he got an award at school - "Appreciation for Reading Green Eggs and Ham to the Class". He got the book Green Eggs and Ham for Christmas, and spent much of Christmas break learning how to read it. He was pretty excited that he got to share it with his class. So, after he got the award, he asked if we could have green eggs and ham for dinner. I didn't have any ham, but I cut up some turkey slices and dyed some scrambled eggs green. It was basically just like an omelet, and if you could get past the way it looked, it was actually quite tasty.


I like green eggs and ham - I really like them Sam I Am!

Happy Birthday, Ady!

My little girl is THREE!

For her birthday, she wanted to go camping - probably because that's what we did last year. And, she wanted the theme to be Boots the Monkey. NOT Dora. Just Boots. (Do you know how impossible it is to find Boots without Dora?!)

So, we headed up to the campground just north of Payson, AZ. It was quite a bit cooler than Phoenix, especially at night. We were able to see the stars. We roasted marshmallows and had s'mores.

We had the party at lunch time on Saturday. Gran and Papa, Uncle Sean, Aunt Jewlee and cousins Ashlee and Drake were there. It was a big time!

I must admit that I was pretty lame when it came to the cake. I feel pretty bad that this was as good as it got - but we were camping, so what do you expect? At least it has Boots the Monkey and it's PINK!


Monkey impression (with Doritos on the face)


The Birthday Girl


Cousins


Her daddy insisted that she would be fine if we let her sit in the dirt, and then got mad when she started putting it in her mouth. What do you expect?!


She got LOTS of fun princess dress up stuff. She had fun playing dress up when we got home!


Happy Birthday little girl!

Summer Time Fun

We started swimming lessons this week. The pool is really nice, but the kids were a little disappointed that there is no water slide like there is at the pool we've gone to in the past. But, there is a nice shady area for me to sit at watch. They even have misters to keep it cool.
My friend Hillari signed her kids up for classes at the same time as mine, so it's fun to have them there. Her baby is older than mine though, so she gets to do the mommy and me class. Ainzlee won't be able to join in the fun until she is six months old in July, so for now, we just sit and watch.


It's not too bad though. Ainzlee's usually pretty happy if I just put a towel down for her to lay on and give her a few toys to play with. I've started bringing a book to read. I don't get to just sit and read very often! It's nice to have that time to myself.


We found out that the school right around the corner offers the Summer Food Service Program. Free lunch for the kids! It does cost $2.50 for adults, which isn't too bad, but I think I'll try to pack a lunch to take for myself.
After lunch on Thursday, we decided to go to the splash park at Tempe Town Lake. It was fun, but VERY crowded. It was a little stressful trying to keep track of all the kids. Thankfully, since Hillari was with me, we could work together a bit. We'd switch off for potty breaks and if the kids wanted to go to two different places. (Big kids and little kids usually).

This is shaping out to be a very fun, but very busy summer!

Wordless Wednesday

(because that's all that I have the energy for today)

Terrible Twos and More about the room

If you haven't yet, be sure to enter my giveaway!

Because we have been working on Ady's room, we couldn't let her sleep in there. We set up a pack-n-play in our bedroom and tried to get her to sleep in there instead. She doesn't do well when she isn't in her bed. She didn't have a nap AT ALL on Friday. (Instead she stood in there and screamed for over an hour until we finally gave up.) Friday night she didn't sleep very well either.
So, she was lots of fun on Saturday. Brandon spent the morning helping a friend and took Zander with him, so I was home with Ady by myself.
First of all, I tried to get her to take a shower with me, which usually isn't a problem, and is the easiest way to get her clean. She refused to get in. But, as soon as I got out, she threw a big fit because she didn't get to take a shower. *sigh*
Then, I tried to get her dressed. She wouldn't let me put her diaper on her. She kicked and screamed and threw herself around. I finally got tired of it and put in in time out, in the pack-n-play. I told her that as soon as she was ready to get dressed and be nice to me she could get out.
She sat in the pack-n-play, naked, for at least half and hour.
I finally managed to get her dressed and thought that everything fine. But then I got distracted doing something and turned my back on her for a minute. When I found her, she was in the bathroom, completely naked (again!), giving her dolly a bath. In the TOILET!
GRRR! Back into time out she went!
Needless to say, by the time Brandon got back home, I was pretty fed up with my little girl.

We had her room mostly finished, so she was able to take a VERY long nap. (hurray!)

Here's what the finished room looks like: