Cool Dude Is 12!

Evan turned 12 last week and had a camp out with 6 friends to celebrate. I have a new found respect for parents of only boys, and so appreciated how my hubby could handle all of the "boyness" that was going on. Lauren and I ended up retiring to my bedroom to hang out and watch movies all night while Roger was able to keep the boys in check. We had pizza, cake, and they did archery, the trampoline, climbed trees, played soccer, and ended the night watching The Avengers and eating popcorn. We did have some drama, which I won't get into, but it was intense. Again, thankful that Roger was able to handle it well. It took them a long time to quiet down once inside the tent and I think they were told to be quiet and go to sleep about 5 times. It was around 1am when I didn't hear any more talking. I heard noises at 7am so got up and Roger and I made pancakes and bacon. Then they all played outside again until their parents picked them up at 10:00. Evan had a great time, but honestly, I don't know if I could go through all of that again!

Camping themed cake--we forgot to add Lego people on the bridge and canoe

Opening presents

Soccer

Archery

Eating breakfast on the deck

Lookin' all nice...

Lookin' like the wild and rough-n-tough boys they really are

9 Years Old

I just can't believe my baby girl turned 9 years old this year! We opted to have her party at our house so it was cheaper and she could invite as many girls as she wanted. Including Lauren we had a total of 12 girls and all of the parents dropped their kiddos off and decided not to stay so that meant Hubby and I were the only adults! But, the girls did great and had a lot of fun.

We decided to make the party theme garden/bugs. I was searching the internet for ideas of how to make that kind of a themed cake, and when I posted on facebook that this was the theme, a friend replied that she had a special cake pan that made 8 individual bug cakes. When Lauren and I saw it we loved it. The day before the party Evan and Lauren helped me frost the cakes. They actually decorated most of the cakes on their own and they did a fantastic job!

Ladybugs and butterflies

Dragonflies and bees

We took a trip to Party City to see what kind of decorations they had for the party and I was so happy to see that they had a bunch of things for our theme. One of the things was cute bug antenna tiaras that you see in the pictures. We also bought goodie bags and cute bottles of bubbles, tattoos, and pencils all in our theme.

The time for the party was 2 1/2 hours. The first 30 minutes the girls spent playing in our playroom downstairs and that allowed time for all of the late guests to arrive. When everyone was present, it was time for cake and presents.

Lauren chose the pink ladybug with purple spots for her cake

The next activity was painting nails. We had the girls sit on the floor lined up against the fireplace with their hands on the floor. Roger started at one end and i started at the other until we met in the middle. We painted the girls' nails red then went back and with nail polish pens put black polka dots on the red so their nails looked like ladybugs. It was really cute, but I didn't get a pic of the finished product. I think Roger should be nominated for Dad of the Year and Husband of the Year for helping me with this activity! Also, I am happy to say that no polish spilled on the carpet. (It's old and ugly and we hope to replace it in the not so distant future, but still...no spills!)

After this we went and played pin the spot on the lady bug--our version of pin the tail on the donkey. We got this idea from Party City who had this game already packaged up and ready for you to buy at $4.99. We knew at home we had a large piece of paper and could make our own and that's just what Lauren did. She drew the ladybug and cut out all of the spots. During the game we wrote the girls' names on their spots so they could see where their spots landed on the bug, or wall. It was a lot of fun.

Lauren blindfolded and getting spun 3 times

Close!

 

 

 

 

The last activity was outdoors. I had found butterfly nets at Target for only $1 a piece so I had bought a bunch along with some lightweight orange balls which acted as bugs and the girls paired up and threw the bugs back and forth to each other and caught them in their nets. They had a lot of fun with this game, too, and the girls got to take a net home with them along with their goodie bags. After this we brought out jump ropes, hula hoops, bubbles and they played outside until their parents came to pick them up.

Over all, Lauren's party was a huge success and I'm so glad we did it at our house and got creative with our cake, games, and activities. Believe it or not...she already knows what she wants as her party theme next year!

Pinterest Brownie/Cake Recipe

I love cake and really felt like some tonight. Roger took the kids to church and I really needed to stay home and have some by myself time, and I really wanted some cake. I had pinned a recipe from Pinterest I had been meaning to try so I made it tonight. It's a single serving microwavable chocolate cake you make in a mug that only takes about 1 minute to cook. It's like those Betty Crocker microwavable cakes you can buy in the store. It was rich and very chocolaty; so much so that the next time I make it I might even cut the recipe in half because a little bit will satisfy. It's definitely a great one to go back to the next time I feel like chocolate cake again, but nobody else in the family does--this way I won't have to bake a regular box of cake mix and most of it ends up going in the trash like so often happens because we don't get it eaten up quick enough before it goes bad.

In the recipe, I did forget to mix up the dry ingredients before adding the oil and water, and did end up biting into some little lumps of brown sugar, so that was pretty sugary sweet, so I need to remember to do that next time. Also, it says you can use milk, water, or coffee; I used milk. I also cooked it in the smallest Pyrex bowl I had instead of a mug. If you like chocolate cake try this recipe that the recipe actually calls a Two Minute Mug Brownie.

Birthday Party

My first born turned 11 years old last week. My how time is flying by. He chose a laser tag party to have with some friends at Laserquest. Just some info for you if you ever decide to have a party there yourself...you have to have a minimum of 8 people for a party, and everybody gets to play 2 games and you get a tiny party room to have cake in. They provide you nothing for the party except the room and saving $1 off the cost of two games for everyone, oh and a sign that says Happy Birthday to the birthday child. But, no plates, napkins, silverware for your cake, or drinks. They did pass out game passes for the guests for buy one game and get a second free which was nice, but they expire in less than 2 months. Oh well...all of the boys had a great time, so I'm glad for that.

 The cake I made Evan was simply two square cakes and I frosted them to look like Lego blocks. The connectors were jumbo marshmallows we had that I cut in half and frosted. Evan decided he wanted to add some of his Lego people to the cake.