Caleb aka Harry Potter

Coca Cola and Pumpkins

I finished Lydia's costume!!!  While it wasn't "hard", it sure took a looooong time. Remind me in the future when I get "costume making amnesia" that it's better to just buy a costume!  I vowed a few years back after making a clown for Anna that I'd never do it again. Then I forgot. 

Lydia is always the kid thinking out of the box. I think her idea is cool and I love her creativity. This year she decided she wanted to be a can of Coke.You can't buy a Coke costume anywhere so I had to make one.

Here's Lydders in her Coke costume:

She'll wear a red, long-sleeved shirt under it. This is just the initial try-on stage. I'm still trying to figure out what to do for her head. I think I'll have Michael work some of his 3D magic and make her a head band with one of those "pop can tabs" on it.  I bet he can do it.

And for fun, a coupla cute blond pumpkins.

Nathan: handsome AND funny!

Nathan actually went with me to the grocery store the other day.  We were looking all over for bananas and couldn't find them anywhere.  I was frustrated because there are always bananas out in plain sight.  So I asked Nathan, "If you were bananas, where would you be."  He replied, "Well if I were bananas, I'd be all over the store!"

I love his sense of humor!

And while I'm posting about Nathan, here he is wearing his tux for a strings concert.  Doesn't he look great?!  I seriously got teary eyed seeing him all dressed up and looking so old.

Anna's Harry Potter birthday party

I'm finally posting about Anna's birthday party.  I had issues with the pictures.  I lost them for a few weeks - they weren't on my computer OR my camera.  I was just sick thinking they were gone.  Luckily Blake came to the rescue and found them using a recovery program.  So I'm finally posting pics of her party (a little late).

This was such a fun party and the kids had an absolute blast! I heard multiple kids at various times during the party say, "This is the best birthday party ever." I sure had fun planning it, but once I got into it I realized it was a TON of work. What was I thinking?!

My kids were so excited that they were literally bouncing off the walls on party day. And Anna couldn't sleep the night before and had a tummy ache all morning.  I asked Anna right before the party if she was excited and then took her pic. Here's the result. I think she was excited, WDYT?


First, the invitations:


Complete with Hogwarts seal:

The colors were black, gold and purple. I decorated the front yard with purple and gold flags.

The kids had to go through "Platform 9 3/4" to get to the party.

We put stars up everywhere. My wonderfully nice sister cut all the stars for me.  (Thank you Amy!) It looked amazing when done, but WOW that took a long time to put up. Luckily I have big boys who are taller than me who helped out.

Once the kids got through Platform 9 3/4, they went to Gringott's Bank where they got money to buy treats and supplies.

They worked on Harry Potter trivia while traveling on the Hogwarts Express and while they waited for all the guests to arrive:

On the Hogwarts Express, the trolley came around with treats the kids could buy. We had chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott's every flavor beans, and licorice wands. They could only choose 1 because I didn't want them hyped up on sugar yet and I didn't want them sick because we would be having cake too. However, they each brought home a goody bag that had all the treats in it, so they knew they'd get to try everything later. Here's the goody bags. They also brought home a wand, a robe, a plant, and a charm (more about those in a minute).

After everyone arrived, they had to shop for their supplies. First they went to Madam Malkin's to try on robes. My amazingly talented and ever-so-nice mom made a robe for every kid. (Thank you mom!)  They were all different lengths and several different fabrics so they really did have to get measured for a robe.

Then they went to Olivander's Wand shop where "the wand picks the wizard". Michael really got into planning the party with me and HE made all these wands. I had other ideas of what I wanted them to look like, but I turned off my control-freak self and just let him do them himself. He had a ball and I think they turned out great! Since there were only girls invited to the party, he decided he wanted to paint them all purple, pink and bright green - "since that's what girls like." He was right - they loved them! Each wand had a tag that had the wand length, core, and an Olivander title. Michael was "Olivander" and handed out the wands to each girl and rang a bell when the wand picked the wizard.


I was planning on making spell books, but ran out of time. So that was all the supplies they had. When they had their supplies, they headed to their Hogwarts classes.


First was Herbology. For Herbology, they each got to decorate a flower pot with self-adhesive foam stickers. I told them they could plant whatever plant they wanted to when they got home. (But I didn't want to mess with dirt so that's why I went that route!)

Decorating:


Next was Potions Class. Blake made a wonderful "Professor Snape"!

He did a bunch of experiments, but I took this picture before he had everything set up.

These are the experiments he did: dancing raisins, putting out a candle with Co2, blowing up a balloon with Co2, and exploding cans. The kids LOVED the one where he poured "nothing" over a candle and the flame went out! Very magical!

Then they went to Charms Class. They each got to make a design on Shrinky Dinks paper. Then they all had to use their wand and they learned the "reducto" charm. They performed the spell while they watched them shrink in the oven. This was a big hit - so much so that I forgot to take pics.

Then the went to Transfiguration Class:

Each kid got a "snake" made out of play dough and they had to "transform" it into something else. They had fun. Looking at these pictures now - after the fact - gives me anxiety. WHAT was I thinking letting a bunch of kid play with play dough ON my couch and carpet?  I must have been really distracted.

Then we headed downstairs to Care of Magical Creatures where we had a bunch of "magical animals" waiting... dragons, snakes, pygmy puffs, cats, toads, etc.:

 The invitations also asked the kids to bring "one magical animal" if they wanted. For this class, everyone put their magical animal on a sheet. They they all shook the sheet, trying to get everyone else's animal off and "take care of their own magical creature" by trying to keep it on. They played this over and over and about wore themselves out jumping so much.

 Katie really had fun with this game:

Next was Quidditch. We had 2 teams. Each team had a Seeker and a Beater. We hid a golden snitch (made by the ever-so-talented-when-left-to-his-own-devices Michael). While the Seekers were looking for the snitch, one member from each team had to get on a broom and try to get a quaffle (a small red balloon) into the goal (laundry baskets). They got 10 points for every goal - just like in the real game. In the mean time, the Beaters had to try to throw a small stuffed animal (the softest thing I could find that would actually go any distance) at the other team while on their broom. If they got hit, then they had to go back and pass the broom to the next person. Oh and they had to hold onto the broom with BOTH hands "so they wouldn't fall off their brooms", which meant they had to use their chin to hold the quaffle (making it a little more difficult). This was incredibly loud and ABSOLUTE CHAOS (to me), but the kids LOVED IT!!!! Most of them said that was their favorite part of the party. No pics of the kids.  Since it was so chaotic, I didn't even think about it.

Then we went up the North Tower for Divination. Nathan's room is on the top floor of our house and right at the top of our stairs (perfect for Divination, huh?) We hung a sheet over his window to make it dark. Then we lit candles all around. The kids each got a turn asking the Divination Ball (magic 8 ball) a yes or no question. There were some pretty funny questions. Nathan, The Pyro, had FUN "decorating" his room with candles and lighting them.

 After all their classes were over, we went to The Great Hall for cake, pumpkin juice and butter beer. ("Pumpkin juice" was orange soda in old-fashioned bottles and "butter beer" was cream soda in old fashioned bottles. I had grand plans for making both, but Blake found bottles at Costco and it worked just fine. The kids were happy with them and thought they were good and never knew the difference.  I was happy with less work.) I bought the cake from Costco because 1) I was tired from making everything and setting it all up up and 2) I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Costco cake!

Then it was present-opening time:

Nathan and Michael had a blast playing music with the empty bottles. They filled them up with different levels of water and actually made up a song.

I finally got all the kids to go home (they wouldn't leave!) and then I crashed on the couch. I think Anna had a fun party that hopefully she'll remember for a long time.  I better get "birthday party amnesia" because Elizabeth's is coming up soon!
 

Techno-Baby and Funny Sayings

Caleb is definitely a child of the rising generation with all his knowledge of technology and love of buttons and cell phones.  Here are a few funny stories and quotes from our little Techno Baby.  (And yes, I know he's not a baby, but I still call him my baby.)


**Caleb found Blake's cell phone and somehow managed to unlock it and then sent an email.  But he didn't stop there.  He hit "reply to all" and sent emails to a bunch of Blake's co-workers!  Made daddy pretty embarrassed. 

**Caleb loves playing with toy cell phones too.  We have one from Build-A-Bear that has a picture of a bear on it.  Elizabeth has that same bear and she named it Chocolate.  Caleb was on his cell phone one day talking to Chocolate.  Here's his conversation:
"Hello Chocolate?  This is Caleb.  You're on speaker chocolate."

**And another cell phone story... he held his cell phone up to me and said, "I'm taking a picture of you mommy."

**We were on a walk and Caleb heard crickets chirping.  I guess in a techno-world crickets don't "chirp".  Caleb asked me, "Do you hear those crickets beeping mommy?"

And a few more funny sayings.  (And while I type this he's standing by me saying, "Mommy.  Mommy!  Talk to me!  I'm right here.")

**We were driving home from the grocery store when Caleb saw a guy walking on the sidewalk and said,  "That guy better watch out for us.  We have a big car."


**On the same trip he noticed that cars were starting to turn on their headlights.  He asked me, "Are the cars shining on us mommy?"

**And while we were at the grocery store, he was sitting in the cart talking away (he never stops talking) and asked about something we were buying.  I told him he couldn't have it right now because we need to pay for it.  He said, "Do you have to pay for me too?"


**And my very favorite:  He was eating breakfast and got some crumbs on the palm of his hand.  He said, "Wash my high five mommy!"

He cracks us up constantly!