Super Jared to the Rescue!

Superheroes are cool, so that’s what Jared wanted for his party this year.

Here is his comic strip style invitation (I got the idea from someone online):

I made capes out of plastic tablecloths (8 capes for a dollar!) and velcro before the party.   At the party, I had symbols (a star, lightning bolt, and a shield) for the kids to decorate, then used spray adhesive (for scrapbooking) to stick them to the capes.  I had also made masks, but only a few kids wore them.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of the game we played.  First the kids hit a poster of super villains with spidey frisbees, then they sprayed them with spidey webs (silly string).

The cake was a city-scape with heroes & villains fighting all over it.  Jared had requested lemon, strawberry, and orange flavored cake.  Lemon & strawberry I just made from cake mix.  But I’d never seen  orange cake mix!  lol  So, I used yellow cake mix, and just added a packet of orange kool-aid.  It was pretty good!  Anyway, here’s the cake:

Jared says that his favorite part was playing with his friends.  He’s a really sweet kid.

On his birthday, Jared kept saying that he wasn’t five yet, because it wasn’t his birthday party yet.  Now I think he’s convinced. 

9/29/10

Jared’s Birthday:

1. a venus fly trap
2. Jamba Juice with mom
3. cupcakes for school

equals a happy 5-year-old

“Beat Ben! Beat Ben!”

When my family (the Robarts) is sitting around after dinner, the question sometimes comes up, “What do we want to do?” One of the favorite answers: “Beat Ben!” I don’t really know where that came from (I suspect Debi, lol). We also have suggestions for Mutilate Miriam, Demolish Debi, Rough Up Ruth.  (Yeah, we’re nice people.) But the all-time favorite is Beat Ben.

Last month, we pulled off a Double Surprise Party.  We surprised both Debi (for her birthday) and Ben (for his graduation). Debi helped plan Ben’s party, and Ben helped plan Debi’s party.  They didn’t know the party was being thrown for them, too.

One of the games we came up with to honor Ben, was, of course, Beat Ben.  I hadn’t made a pinata since I was a kid.  My kids hadn’t had any experience with pinatas.  We had so much fun making this one!  I was so glad to have Miriam’s help.  The kids kept asking what they could to to help.  I was cautious about letting them do the messy part.  I wasn’t even sure I was doing it right myself at first.  Then I came up with their assignment: tearing newspaper strips.  They tore and tore and tore!  lol

Here is Ben with his buddy (holding a graduation cap):

Jared and Esther got the first swings, then Ben knocked himself around, then Debi took him down.

Let’s take another look at that:

I hope Ben felt the love. 

We also played a game of “Debi Says” that Teresa made.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pics of that.

Good times, good times.

Spaghetti & Meatball Cupcakes

A week ago was the birthday of my favorite person in the world.  When I first saw these cupcakes in my Hello, Cupcake! book, I knew I wanted to make them for Tom.  He could eat spaghetti for dinner at least once a week.

These were so much fun to make!  They’re just vanilla cupcakes in white liners.  I tinted the vanilla frosting and piped it on the cupcakes to look like noodles.  The “spaghetti sauce” is strawberry jam and the “meatballs” are Ferrero Rocher chocolate hazelnut candies.  The final touch was the “parmesean cheese” (grated white chocolate).  Yum!

Happy Birthday, Tom!

Jared’s 4th Birthday

While I was “out”, my baby turned four! 

He wanted Chick-fil-A for lunch.  My kids love that place.  They think the cows are funny.

                 

Next, we took him to Build-A-Bear-Workshop.  It was his first time.  Magic!  (That place is really very cool.)

He named his bear “Bear”.

Finally, we went to the theaters to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  We all thought it was fun & silly.

Its hard to believe he’s already four.  He’s growing up so fast.  He’ll start school next year.

I love that kid.

Family + Pizza: Part Two

This week, we had the 2nd Annual combined Esther & Debi Hawaiian Pizza Birthday Dinner.  + pulled pork sandwiches (Debi really wanted those, so she brought them, too.)

To add to the fun, the girls requested that everyone dress Fancy Nancy style.  And if you don’t know who that is, I am so sorry for you.  Adorable stories.  Scrumptious illustrations.  Really.

Nancy would say that wearing posh accessories really does make dinner taste better.  Would you agree?

 

Two in One Day

The morning started very well.

It’s my little sister, Debi’s, birthday.   I made a banner.  See, celebratory banners are kind of a tradition around here.  We almost always hold my family’s “birthday dinners” at my house and I like to print up a sign and display it.  Sometimes, the banner is left up for weeks, and is still up when the next occassion comes around.  Instead of taking down the old one & replacing with a new, we’d just alter the first.  Like, it might have said “Happy Birthday, Miriam”, then Andrew’s birthday rolls around a couple weeks later and so we cross off Miriam and write “Andrew”.  One time, a banner lasted months.  It had celebrated at least 5 separate occassions, and not just birthdays either.  I think we had to cross everything out and sharpie “Happy Father’s Day” in whatever space was left.

Anyway, here is Debi’s:

 

We’d planned to go to the last Family Film movie of the summer.  This one was to be about a little mouse with big ears.  Cute.  Plus, anything free gets extra fun points.  The six of us got seated just in time, and as the movie started, I was texting Miriam to let her know where we were sitting (she took the wrong exit and was running just a little late).  I got a text back from Miriam that she’d smashed her hand & needed help.  I whispered something quickly to my Tom and in a rush left the theater.  My sister was to be found in 24 Hour Fitness’s NRgize Cafe, hand under a bag of ice, dripping blood onto a towel.  It ends up, she’d smashed her finger in her car door.  Don’t do that!  It looked bad.  The 24 Hour Fitness people had been  nice, bringing the towel & ice, and some bandages.

I ended up taking her home to wait until her doctor appt, where she got x-rayed and a tetnus shot.  Her finger is looking a little better. 

And I made  a banner for her, too:

 

Wonderland

A week ago Saturday, our little Essie turned six.

She requested an Alice birthday, and I did my best to create Wonderland.

 

For months before, I scavenged thrift stores for various teacups & teapots.  My sister, Miriam, piped “eat me” on cookies for hours.  I looked up topsy turvy cakes online (and was quite pleased with how it turned out!).  Paper lanterns and friends completed the setting.

 

After tipping teacups, out came the plastic bag aprons and the red paint!  Earlier that week, I’d painted the rose bushes on 15ft of butcher paper.  What a lot of green poster paint it took!  White silk roses were collected from the Dollar Tree and cardboard boxes for reinforcement from Walmart at 11o’clock at night.

The little artists worked (some meticulously, others haphazardly), to fix the cards’ mistake.

That’s enough!  Off with their heads!

 

Cake, presents, croquet & party favors and Ta Da!  A fabulous party!

Most of the photos are courtesy of my sister, Debi.

Post-Edit:

I forgot that I had wanted to include this pic, of the wonderful twilight dinner we enjoyed with some family that stayed after the party (Didn’t John & Tom take wonderful advantange of the party strings by adding the lights?):