Super Hero Birthday Party

Last Saturday we had a Superhero Birthday Party for Blake at our house. We were brave souls, but he really wanted a party and I really didn't want to pay to go somewhere else. So, we invited all his friends from school and church and they were to come dressed up as a superhero. Of course Blake picked Batman.

I knew things would be crazy so I tried to get a couple pictures before. When they first arrived, they each decorated a mask and then when they were done, then they could color.

These are the masks that they got to decorate.

These are the fabulous (super messy!) cupcakes that Sam's Club made.

We played a villain game where they had to kill the villains with the dart guns. Note: the intention was to have the entire party outside in our backyard. The night before it rained A LOT. When we woke up we had another pool in our yard from so much rain but the rain stopped a couple hours before the party started. So, we moved a lot of the games inside.


The kids arrived, made their masks and while the masks were drying, they went in front yard to do the obstacle course that was intended for the backyard, so it was makeshift, but Aaron did a great job creating it. This was called our Superhero training. They had to ride the scooter around the course 1 time, then run the course 1 time, then pop a balloon. While they were doing this, we had Batman music playing.

This is Claire. She is Blake's classmate at school and at church.


Luke K. There are 2 Luke's in his class and 3 moms who have the name Michelle. His teacher loves it.


Sadie riding the course. They used to live right around the corner, but moved about 3 minutes away.

Her brother, Max.

Here is Macie, who is Brexton's sister. Dylan and Macie are friends from church too because they are the same age. She is so cute and has no fear...Dylan and her are perfect together.


So once the training was completed they were now Superheros and got their masks back (since they were done drying). They also were then ready to fight the bad guys. We had 3 stations, since we had 3 guns.

Mr. Freeze froze Batman, Robin and Superman so they were in blocks of ice. The kids had to use water guns to free them (melt the ice). The kids loved this.

All except Dylan. He didn't have a great day. He spent most of the time in my arms...except when it was time to eat. Which we did after this game.

After the snack break, we played "Give Batman his emblem". Like pin the tail on the donkey. This was at the very end when the kids were all done.

The backyard was a lot better by this time which is why we went out there. It is much better for 15 kids to be outside making a mess then inside my house. But the pool is in the backyard. We have a tanning shelf or Baja shelf whatever you want to call it.  So, some kids were standing there. Well, one kid took one too many steps and fell in the pool. I was about 5 steps away and my friend Chad (Sadie and Max's dad) was 2 steps away so he stepped in the pool and just grabbed him. Of course Cooper's mom wasn't there, which might be a good thing. He was totally fine. He was grabbed right away. I knew this could be a problem and left my phone inside just in case. He wanted to go back into the pool, but we told him he could come back with his swim suit another day.


While Cooper dried off, we sang to Blake and ate cupcakes.

Then opened presents.

Brexton and Claire are right next to Blake. The kids love to watch their friend open their presents. It is so cute.




The kids had a blast and Blake loved it. He gave them their party favors as they left and  the kids were so good to each other saying thank you.

Friends from school who came: Courtney, Brynn, Claire, Vivienne, Sadie, Max, Jonathan, Cooper, Luke K, Parker,

Friends from church: Brexton, Macie, Reese A, Kaden, Kyler

Shortly after the party, our neighbors Ashley and Carter brought over a gift.

On Blake's birthday his Uncle James called him to wish him a happy birthday. Friday we were able to Skype with his Uncle David and his cousins Seth and Kaleb and thank them for the present. His Uncle Robert sent him a text. His grandparents and great-grandma sent him some presents. He is one lucky kid. Thank you all!

Later that night, I got a call from Aaron's cousin, Amy, saying that she is moving to the same city we live in in a month. We won't be in the same ward, but they will be about 10 minutes from us. Small world huh?

More Birthday Fun

Even though Aaron was able to be home for Blake's birthday, Dylan and I still kept our promise and went to eat lunch with Blake at his school.

It is tradition that we go to a restaurant for dinner on or around your birthday. Blake picked a place called Hutchins. We have been there once before, although at a different location and really liked it. It is a BBQ place. One of the advantages of being in Texas is there are a lot of great BBQ places. This place happens to have free ice cream, which is a huge hit for the boys. 

Dylan messing around with my phone...it didn't turn out too bad.

Happy Birthday Blake

Aaron was scheduled to be in Chicago all week, which meant missing Blake's birthday. I tried to make Blake less sad about the situation by telling him that Dylan and I would come eat lunch with him at school and we would bring a special treat. He liked that idea, but was still a little sad. 

Well, Aaron's trip was shortened so he got back Monday night at around midnight, but we didn't tell Blake. So, we were getting ready for school and Aaron snuck up on him and he said, "Happy Birthday!" Blake was so excited! After they got ready to school, he opened his presents. 


Great-Grandma sent him a birthday card and some money.

My folks sent him a Batman birthday card. (This kid might be really into Batman...his party is Batman themed) He loved the card. The card mentioned that they were going to be in Panama on his birthday so would have a surprise for him after their trip. 


Then he opened the card from Aaron's folks who are serving a mission right now in Nauvoo. Pretty awesome that they were able to send their grandson a birthday card. He loved it. He is now able to read...although not every word and some handwriting is easier to read then others...but he likes getting cards.

Then he opened the present from Aaron, Dylan and I.

Here is the birthday boy. He is now 6! Crazy. We are so grateful to have him in our family.

More Friends and Rain

Last week, Dylan and I did a lot of yard work. We did some hedging and weeding, etc. Then while Dylan was at preschool, I went and got some mulch and flowers. Thursday after preschool, I put down the mulch and most of the flowers. Then when Blake got home from school, the boys helped me plant the rest of the flowers. It was a great workout lifting all the mulch around our yard...but I was glad when that was done...except that I needed to get some more mulch.

Aaron got home Friday night from his trip 10 minutes before our friends arrived at our house for dinner. They are big U fans so that made for some interesting conversations. They have 2 girls. One is in 2nd grade and Blake is way taller then her and then they have one in kindergarten and Dylan is taller then her. They are cute kids and now we are BFFs...these girls and I. They came up to me before Sacrament, before Primary and every day after school they find me to say hi. Even though they are U fans, we still like them. She is our pianist in primary and she makes awesome cakes so we will keep them around.

Saturday morning, our babysitter came over and watched the boys while we went to the temple. When we got back, we went to Home Depot for round 2 of mulch. We then came home and laid it all out. Done.

Sunday morning Aaron left for Chicago. He left early so I wasn't able to go to ward council..oh darn. Dylan gave the prayer in Sharing Time. The Sunbeams are adorable. I may be a little biased because one of my kids is a Sunbeam, but these 3-4 year olds are super cute...way cuter then the 11 year olds who are graduating.

On Monday, Dylan had Austin over. He is from his preschool and is super shy. His teacher was telling me that Dylan is the only kid who Austin will talk to and play with. His family also just adopted twins so thought it would be good for him to come over. Monday morning it rained...a lot. Crazy crazy rain. The good news is that we actually have water in our lakes now. We have had so much rain lately that they MIGHT let us water 2 times a week starting in May. As a reminder we can water 2 times a month right now and during the winter we weren't allowed to water at all. Interesting how our stake president had our stake do a special fast for rain months ago when we were in serious drought trouble. Those prayers have been answered.

But it cleared up enough and the boys were able to play outside.

And look for potato bugs.

Day with Lacie

A couple days after Easter, we had Lacie over for a playdate. We went to the park.

And they did lots of eating. These 3 year olds eat so much. Dylan and Lacie play together so much that not they are getting to be like brother and sister where they really play well together and like one another and then they each know how to get on one other's nerves. Aaron was gone that week in Houston so it was nice to have Dylan have a friend over so that I could get some stuff done. I dragged him around town the day before dropping off some birthday party invites and doing some primary stuff so he welcomed a friend the next day.

Happy Easter

Sunday morning the boys found a letter from the Easter Bunny inviting them on an Easter adventure. It was fun this year because Blake could read all the clues. (Note: we ate breakfast first which proved to be a brilliant idea because Dylan has to eat immediately after waking up otherwise he basically dies...okay, just super unpleasant....and he didn't need to eat all his candy this way.)



They first were sent to the pantry where they found their baskets.






The next clue sent them to their costumes where they found some candy and another clue.


They next were sent to the garage, but only found their next clue.


Which took them to the dining room where they found some candy and another clue.


The clue sent them to the media room where they went on an Easter Egg hunt.








They also found their last clue that sent them to the guest room.

Where they found a special surprise.


That was immediately played with.





They played until they got hungry so we made our snack of Resurrection Rolls. These have become a tradition in our family. It is a great way to teach about what happened to Jesus' body, etc.

We then watched Conference and had some yummy dinner. Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!