Birthday Boy!

We finally got around to having a birthday party for Ethan. This week has been (and still is) crazy busy - so we decided to squeeze Ethan's party in right after school (before a piano recital and pack meeting). Ethan has been reading Harry Potter books non-stop recently so it was no surprise that he wanted to have a Harry Potter party. We started it off by making our own glasses and some of the party-goers went the extra step and make their own wands too (not a great picture of Ethan - he looks like he is knitting:)
We then played a guessing game with "Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans" - since I was a big procrastinator and I couldn't really find "every flavor" in Cedar, there were no "earwax", "toenails", or "soap" flavored beans - but that didn't stop the kids from guessing those. Most everyone guessed "shampoo" on the "orange juice" jelly bean - they had lots of fun coming up with absurd guesses.

We then made our own Harry Potter BINGO cards and played bingo. Lots of fun and there was a 4-place tie for black-out.

The next game was the hit of the party. I couldn't figure out how to play quidditch inside the house - so I settled for a broomstick relay. The kids had to sweep a balloon around the living room/kitchen circle and then hand off the broom to the next boy. It was a hit and we played it a few times.

Dinner was pizza (couldn't find a way to tie that in with Harry Potter - but the kids didn't seem to notice) and a potion that had been brewing throughout the whole party (dry-ice rootbeer). This picture didn't catch all the "smoke" coming out of the pitcher - but the kids loved it!

Cupcakes were wizard hats - complete with the Harry Potter lightening bolt scar!

And then - Ethan's favorite part of the party - PRESENTS!!! He got absolutely spoiled - thanks to all the friends for lots of fun and presents that woke him up early to play with them!!!

Lego's and Locksmith's

We have a birthday tradition in our family - the birthday child wakes up to a present on the floor by his/her bed. This morning Ethan woke up to a Harry Potter lego's set (Hagrid's Hut) from his dad - when I finally got up with the girls (6:00 am) - both of the boys were up and had half of the 500 piece set already done. I wasn't going to even ask what time they woke up - but they volunteered the information - 4:34 am. Yes - you read that right - 4:34 am. Well - most of the set was finished before the boys left for school - with only a short break for breakfast (swedish pancakes per Ethan's request). The rest was finished as soon as they got home from school. Here is the finished product.

Another tradition we have started is that the birthday child gets to go out to lunch with mom - I talked Ethan into letting me take him to lunch with 4 girls tagging along (since not only did I not have a babysitter for my 3 - but I also had a girl that I am babysitting). So - I started loading kids in the car for our lunch outing. I had just put Paige in her carseat and she started whining for the keys - I gave them to her and shut the door. As soon as I let go of the door - I realized what I did and reached to open it again - too late. Paige loves to play with the buttons on the keys and especially likes the lock button because of the honking noise it makes. She had already locked the car and was laughing everytime the car would honk. I sat there for 5 minutes trying to get her to push the unlock button, before I had to run grab a phone to call the school. Luckily, they just sent Ethan home instead of making me sign him out - so he got home and tried to help me teach Paige how to unlock the car before he lost interest and ran inside to work on Lego's again. Well - Paige managed to drop the keys eventually and I got to call a locksmith. He was there 2 minutes later and had the door open in 30 seconds. Here are a few pictures of the rascal - here she is still with the keys.

This is a picture of her dropping the keys - and her "smile" face. She thought the whole incident was rather amusing.

We ended up making it to Subway - but I made Ethan eat in the car as we ran to Walmart. I left him in the car with the girls while I sprinted into to the store to grab a snack for his class - then we raced back to the school where he was only a few minutes late. He will remember this birthday to say the least.

We ended the birthday with a dinner from KFC and cheesecake and presents at Britt's. Overall - it was a great birthday!!!

Storybook Parade

Yesterday was the storybook parade here in Cedar. We went! I almost left the twins at my parents house for a nap, but decided to take them last minute. They LOVED it!!! Here is Paige with her "smile" face - yep, whenever anyone asks her to smile - she gives them this face.
Piper loved all the characters - and hated when anyone got in front of her.

My favorite float - Where the Wild Things Are - I still love that book!

Abby's favorite character - DORA!

We were all a bit partial to Goofy though - look how well he (she) is able to drive with one hand and no peripheral vision - good job Court!

We even got to take pictures with Goofy - and yes, we had to show Paige and Piper who was under that funny face before they would let her hold them.

And then Goofy was nice enough to let everyone try on his head - first Miles

then Ethan

and even Abby!

Parade was fun and relatively nice weather - kids loved it, but the babies were ready for a nap by the time it was over!

Word Nerd!!!

Ethan has really taken to the game Scrabble lately - and when he went to California with his dad, he got to play it on Frank's iPad. Frank send me a screen shot of one of Ethan's games - which he insists Ethan did by himself. Ethan got 78 points for one word - and when I looked at the word - phenix - the first thing I thought was that he had spelled it wrong. I looked it up though and Webster's dictionary said that phenix was the US spelling of phoenix. I do know that Harry Potter uses the British version of spelling though and Ethan has been reading those books non-stop lately so I will leave it up to you to decide if he meant to spell it the american way or not. Either way - he is a pretty smart kid and does love the word games!

Kid's California Trip

This is a late post on the kids trip to California with their dad over Nevada Day (end of October). It was the day after they got home that we got the news about Paige and life was a bit crazy for a while. Better late than never though - here are the pictures. DISNEYLAND!!!

They went to Disneyland on Friday and then hit the beach on Saturday morning. I did get more information out of the kids about the beach - they all love the water and the sand. I worry about Abby near water, but I think the water was a bit cold for her to want to get too wet. Ethan has always liked sand a bit more than water - he would much rather dig in the sand then swim.

Miles talked about "body surfing" for weeks after he came home. He sure appreciated his dad teaching him how (especially since his dad had to wear a wetsuit to brave the "cold" water:)

After the beach - Frank took Miles to the Oregon Ducks football game (I already posted pictures about that) and Grandma Gilmore took Ethan and Abby to the Aquarium - Ethan now wants to be a marine biologist when he grows up. When I asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip was, both Miles and Abby said Disneyland and Ethan said the Aquarium because he got to pet a shark. Thanks Dad and Grandma Gilmore for a FUN trip!