Two Down, Three To Go

WOO HOO!

It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye

Let me start this post by saying that I am not a big gun fan. My three older kids didn't play with toy guns when they were little and I thought I would never have toy guns in my house. Then I had numbers 4 and 5 and I lost all control.

Number 4 is totally obsessed with all things Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Knights, etc. Anything that involves a weapon, he loves. For his birthday, he received several Nerf guns and several gift cards to Target that have since been used to purchase more Nerf guns. There has been total warfare in my house since Friday and most of the family has been involved...especially the poor, deprived older children.

At least I stress safety with the little ones...he is wearing safety glasses. Here Kellen is waiting for his big brother to jump out of the closet.

Ammy is extremely tough--think Angelina Jolie in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The blue gatorade mustache helps with the toughness.

She is having WAY too much fun (and looking way too natural with that gun.)

Here are two of the poor, deprived older children getting ready to launch their attack.

Last night, around 9:30 p.m., I decided to join in on the fun. We were running around in the dark shooting each other with Nerf darts. I was hiding in Tristan's room and heard Tyler walking down the hall. I decided to jump out into the hallway with my gun and start shooting. Only problem was that Tyler was right there and I pistol whipped him instead. Oops. Every teenager needs a bump on his nose and a black eye for the first day of school

I just have one thing to say...Don't mess with the Ma-ster!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The Parties Are Over!

Kellen's party was a lot of fun. Of course, it rained in the beginning of the party so I had to rethink how I was going to do things (love when that happens) We started the party making life size knights. The big kids traced the kids' bodies on brown paper and then the boys painted themselves as knights. I found some really cool knight masks and we used them as the faces. I was afraid that some of the kids might not be into this project, but they loved it (and spent over an hour working on their knights).

After painting, the kids got dressed in their costumes. We dressed up in blue and red tunics that I made out of felt. I found the helmets at the dollar store and the kids made their shields out of cardboard.

All of our activities were team oriented. Gold coins were awarded for different things and the team with the most coins at the end won the tournament. The first activity was a scavenger hunt where the knights had to find a horse, a knight, a castle, a jouster, a bag of gold coins, a princess, a pigeon, the Holy Grail and a king.

Then we moved on to shooting a foam arrow through two hula-hoops that I hung from a tree. Every child got two tries to get it through one of the hula hoops. If they got it though the top hoop, they got 2 coins and if they got it through the lower hoop, they got 1 coin. They could have played this game for hours!

Then we had the team catapult activity. The kids moved through the different positions on the catapult (end holders and launcher in the middle) and each team tried to launch their water balloon farther than the other team. This was a little difficult, but it was hilarious when it worked.

We had another bow and arrow activity where we used marshmallow bow and arrows and frozen mini marshmallows. I set up a bunch of empty soda cans and they got a coin for each can that they knocked down with the marshmallow. Again, they could have spent hours doing this.

My friend made a cup cake brown dragon (adapted from an alligator) for Kellen. It was really good-especially the chocolate wings. This picture does not do it justice.

Then we had our joust. I placed rings around the yard and the kids had to ride the hippity hops while carrying a 4 ft. sword. As they got to each ring, they had to try to pick up the ring on the end of their sword. If they knocked the ring over, they had to leave it. Two kids went at a time--we gave a coin for the team that got finished first and a coin for the person who got the most rings. The best part was that the big kids and some of the adults bombarded the kids with water balloons and shot them with the marshmallow bow and arrows while they tried to get the rings.

Of course, we launched the rocket.

The second launch did not go well...we are hoping for a good storm so that we get our rocket back!

This party was so easy! We never got to everything we had planned--I got a bunch of boxes so that each team could make their own castle and then we were going to have a game of Castle Wars.

I might have to have this crew back next Friday so that they can finish the fun! Just kidding...no more parties until December!

Foto Find Friday- Eyes

Angie is hosting Foto Find Friday and this week's theme is eyes. Several years ago, I ran a volunteer group that worked with critically-ill children and I took thousands of pictures. The thing I loved about these kids is that no matter how sick they were at the time, they still had that "twinkle" in their eyes.

Here are some of my friends.

"I have looked into your eyes with my eyes. I have put my heart near your heart."

Pope John XXIII

Go here to see more "eyes".

Hula 'Til You Drop

So, yesterday was day one of the birthday party extravaganzas.

We decorated with palm trees, umbrellas, lanterns, parrots and all things pink, blue, orange and green.

We made dollar store flip flops with fabric scraps. Someone told me you can do the same thing with balloons. Might have to try that sometime!

We did the limbo. There were some really flexible girls at the party!

We made candy leis.

We wore really big sun glasses.

We did relay races with hippity hops and water balloons.

We made sponge balls.

We soaked the sponge balls and attacked Tyler.

We drank a toast to the birthday girl in margarita glasses coated with sugar and filled with lemonade and a paper umbrella.

We ate the yummy chocolate cake that Allie made.



We learned the hula.

We launched the rocket (not originally part of the tiki party).

We attacked Tyler again with water balloons.



Then everyone went home and mom went to bed!

Eight is great!

Now, I'm knee deep in all things knight. God help me!

Ammy's Birthday Part One

The party was a huge success, but I am too tired to post all of the pictures tonight.

Another one to add to the collection!

Poor Mr. Sock Monkey

The other day I stopped at Walmart to look for birthday party goodies and came across this 7 ft. tall rocket in the pool toys isle. It was on clearance for $29. I figured I would buy it since my kids love rockets and water and I knew it would provide hours of fun -- little did I know that it would keep me entertained as well!

Basically, you assemble the rocket and pour water into a container that is attached to the rocket and to a pump. You pump the water until the pressure reaches the launch point (as indicated on the pump) Then you press the trigger.

Water blasts out of the bottom of the rocket and the rocket shoots way up in the air.

The box says it goes 100 feet in the air, but I'd be willing to bet it went higher.

After several launches, someone in the group decided we needed to see if something could fly on the rocket. In light of Mr. Sock Monkey's recent adventure, he was the obvious choice.

He took several successful rides until this last one.

Poor Mr. Sock Monkey was shot off the rocket on lift off.

It might be awhile before he gets back on the rocket.

Butterflies, Bees and Flowers, Oh My

The Maryland Zoo has a bunch of gardens so I had to take pictures of flowers and bees (flying, stinging things) yesterday. This wasp was gigantic-he made the bumble bee look tiny.

The orange flowers were my favorites.

This picture just makes me happy.

Happy Tuesday!