Party Like It's 1847

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Somehow we ended up being wrangled into having a Pioneer Day float for our ward's Primary. Brother Shafer came up with the idea to have a Mormon Battalion theme.

We put these sashes across the kids' chests and filled up their water balloon and they were ready. Sadly, the only thing to battle was the HEAT!

After the parade, we went around to the booths to play games and have free snacks. Camryn did the dunk tank. Seth threw the ball to knock her in, but missed! The kid working the booth ended up dunking her.

It was a good day to be soaked.

We stayed to eat and play for quite a while, then we all went home for a nap!

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” - Dr. Seuss

Summer Story Time

The park moms decided to ask the Enterprise Library if we could use their story time room to hold our own. Each family takes a turn to host it. Many families have had a theme of the week, picking books, songs, and crafts that fit that theme. We just picked books that make us laugh. I read Skippyjon Jones, using my best Spanish accent. Then we did the Mexican Hat Dance - only Zack would dance.

Next Chase and Alexis read Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude. Chase read the boy parts and Alexis read the girl parts. Then we played Princess, Princess, Motorcycle Dude (Duck, Duck, Goose).

Then Camryn read our favorite Elephant & Piggie book, We Are in a Book. She read it like the little actress she is - this is the part where the elephant is laughing hysterically.

Our craft to go with that book, was having the kids make elephant or pig paper bag puppets.

Our story time went great. This is one of my favorite things that we do each week.

It All Ended (Harry Potter & Alexis' Childhood)

July 14, 2011

Since the final Harry Potter movie was having midnight showings the day after Alexis' birthday, we thought it would be the perfect activity for her party. We sent out invites that looked like Hogwarts acceptance letters.


The girls arrived at 6:00 and we started the evening with a Wizard Mystery Dinner. The girls ordered food items from the books and movies in 3 courses, without knowing what they were getting. They ordered things like gillyweed and got a salad or witches hats and got pizza.


They had to order utensils too, so some of them ended up eating their jellyslugs (jello with gummy worms) with their hands.


After dinner, the girls played Minute-To-Win-It, Spells Edition. Each game was connected to a spell, like blowing feathers in the air for one minute was using the WIngardium Leviosa Spell. Heidi was really good at all the games. I wish I would have thought to get a TriWizard Cup for her to win.





After the games we had cake and ice cream. Alexis talked me into only putting one candle on the cake - a true sign of getting older. Alexis is officially a teenager now.


The sorting hat on the cake was made of Rice Krispy treats. Alexis took a big bite.


Next it was time to open presents.


Then we made hair clips that were Gryffindor colors to wear to the movie. The girls cut out circles and burned the edges to make them curl up. We hot glued them onto a clip with a button center. The girls made other clips too and ended up wearing multiple clips when we went out.


We thought we were going to have to wait outside the theater for the movie, so we went to get slurpees to keep cool. When we got there, they were just letting people in, which was nice in the heat.


The movie was a good ending to the series. When we got back, the girls were LOUD and giggling until about 5 am, so I worked on a cake. We had pancakes and eggs for breakfast and then took everyone home. It was a fun, but long night.

Cousins Make Over

July 9-12, 2011


Lee's boys stayed with us for a few days while Melissa went back east for her niece's baptism. The kids jumped on the the trampoline, went swimming at the neighbor's, made forts, went to storytime at the library, went to the $1 movie, and had Alexis give them facials. It was a fun few days, until the last night when Austin got the flu and threw up all over.

Baby, It's Better-Down Where It's Wetter, Under the Sea

Friday, July 8, 2011

Donna bought us tickets to see The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn. I got up crazy early to get a cake done, so we could go. We drove up, with Alexis getting a little carsick on the way, checked into the motel, and went to dinner at the Cracker Barrel.


We drove out to Tuachan and took a few pictures, waiting for the show to start.






About 15 minutes into the show - the part where there is a big storm and Prince Eric falls out of his ship and Ariel saves him- a real storm started. There was rain pouring down and lots of lightning. We had to wait around about 45 minutes, until they decided to call the show. They will give us tickets for another show in August, so I guess we will have to try it again.

4th of July

Monday, July 4, 2011

Due to water damage at the cabin, we stayed in town for the 4th of July this year. We had the family over to celebrate the July birthdays along with the holiday. Lee and his family were in town, so we had extra cousins to play with. The bigger kids threw water balloons (that had a hard time breaking) and squirted the littler kids while they jumped on the trampoline.


We had pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. Jolynn brought this ice cream cake for dessert - the 1st attempt ended up on the floor, so this is the 2nd one she had made that day.


We went around the corner, to the Curucru's for the big neighborhood fireworks show. We kept the kids busy with sparklers, until it was time. We had a big brick of them to share with everyone.




We settled onto blankets and lawn chairs to watch the show. Larry, who used to live in the neighborhood, puts on the show every year. His son Austin is 13 now and was big enough to help. The show was awesome. I can't imagine what they fireworks cost. It was like a show you would see in a small town. Very impressive and fun to watch....


but a little loud.