Spencer's Angry Birds birthday party at Jungle Jim's

So I have the problem every January of what to do for Spencer's birthday party.  It's winter so I can't do it outside, but our house is only so big.  A while back I saw a great deal for 10 Jungle Jim's passes for $37.  So I bought it and let Spencer invite 10 friends (assuming at least one wouldn't be able to come).  8 friends showed up so I still have one pass left.  Then I bought 100 tokens for $20 and gave each kid 10 tokens.  We also bought a couple pitchers of Root beer and Sprite for the kids.  I brougth the decorated balloons and cake to Jungle Jim's.  We let the kids play for just over an hour.  Thankfully Brodie was able to make it so we could keep a better eye on all the boys.  Brodie stayed in one place, at the table as a base and where he could see the only exit out of the building.  I walked around keeping tabs on the boys and helping them redeem their tickets when they had used up all their tokens.  They seemed to have a lot of fun.  The elephant roller coaster was definitely their favorite ride.  Here's Spencer with a couple of his friends on the roller coaster ride:

After the kids had a good time on all the rides, playground, and arcade games we had them come over for cake.


I feel bad one boy wasn't there when I took this picture


I couldn't believe how many people came over to see the balloons and cake.  Everybody knew Angry Birds.  After cake we opened presents.  Then I gave all the boys an Angry Birds beanbag and a bag of Angry Birds fruit snacks to bring home.  They had a great time!  If you want to see more details on the making of the party go on to the next post.

The next morning was Spencer's actual birthday. We started out the day with a pancake birthday cake:

After lunch we had cousins, aunts and uncles, and Grandmas and Grandpas come over.  They played with the Angry Birds Knock on Wood game, and with the bean bags and larger stuffed animals he had.  Then we opened presents, ate cake and cake pops, and hit the pinata.  Here are a couple more pictures:

On their birthday the kids get to choose where to go for dinner.  Spencer chose Planet Play so I got a great City Deals deal and we went there for dinner.  As excited as Spencer was to go there for dinner he threw a bit of a fit about having to leave his new Pokepark Wii game.  But we had a good time at Planet Play and then decided we've been there enough over the last few months that we won't be going again for a few more months.  Happy 7th Birthday to my Sunshine!

How to make an Angry Birds Birthday Party

So I was going to post about Spencer's birthday party and thought about all the blogs I read trying to get ideas for his party and thought it only fair I post what I did in case there is anyone else there looking for ideas.  This year after briefly considering a Ninjago or Pokemon party, Spencer decided on an Angry Birds birthday party.  I was a bit disappointed.  I really think Ninjago or Pokemon better suited him, but this was what he wanted.  To be honest I had never even played Angry Birds at this point in time, although the kids play it on daddy's iphone and ipad.  They also play Angry Frogs.  So as I was a bit clueless on the whole Angry Birds thing I turned to the internet.  This was a couple weeks before Christmas.  At this point I thought it may be important that he get one of the Angry Birds toys he was asking for for Christmas.  But I had already bought all his presents.  So I tried to get a hold of the Angry Birds Knock on Wood game.  It was sold out everywhere online and in every store I kept going to and I couldn't get myself to pay 3x the price on ebay.  My sister's daughter had drawn Spencer's name for a Christmas gift exchange and she said she'd buy him something.

Luckily Santa put a couple cat/dog Angry Bird toys in his stocking so he had something Angry Birds at Christmas and then my neice gave him a couple larger stuffed animals.  And on I went thinking about his birthday party.  I found some fun pictures of cakes and ideas for games.  I then decided I should probably play the game myself.  So I did one day for about 5 minutes.  It's kind of fun but I really don't get all the hoopla surrounding this game.  I then set out for party decorations and invitations.  They didn't exist in any store around here so I ordered them online through Birthday Direct (I found them here the cheapest).  I got invitations, plates, napkins, and cups.  Online I also found some printable Angry Bird faces to put on balloons http://www.thepartyanimal-blog.org/angry-birds-balloons-free-templates/.  The kids went crazy over these cute balloons--I made 4 pigs and the birds.  I tied the strings to clear pebble rocks so they wouldn't float away at the party.  So many people stopped us at Jungle Jim's asking about the balloons and my kids at home loved them all the way until the helium went out of them.  Here's Clara walking around with some of them.

At Walmart I found some little Angry Bird beanbags in a 2-pack for $5 and some large bags of Angry Bird fruitsnacks on clearance for 50 cents.  I bought enough to send each kid home with one beanbag and a pack of fruit snacks. 

Then on to the cake.  After plenty of googling I had so many fun ideas.  I ended up going with the cake pop idea.  So I made a white cake and some cream cheese frosting and mixed them together.  Then I used my scooper and rolled them into a bunch of balls (and a few triangles) and let them firm up a bit in the cold garage (this is my 2nd refrigerator during the winter months).  Whie these were firming up I made all the little pieces that would need to go on the birds heads.  I used mini marshmallows that I cut in half (so they didn't stick out as much) for the eyes and for the pigs' ears.  I used jelly beans for the pigs' noses.  And I used Starbursts for everything else.  For the beaks I just cut the 4 corners off yellow starbursts.  For the eyebrows and straight top feather of the black bird I just cut strips of orange starbursts.  For everything else I used a technique I modified from Girls' Camp.  The girls up there taught me the trick of melting Starbursts in the fire.  For my cakes I've modified to melting them in the microwave for about 10 seconds.  This makes them nice and pliable.  Then I twisted, folded, cut, molded them into the shapes of the other bird feathers and bellies.  Here's what all my pieces looked like:

Then I separated out a bunch of the white candy melts (and some green ones my mom had left over and gave me) into separate bowls for each color I would need.  I then melted each bowl one at a time and added Wilton icing colors to make them the colors I would need:  red, black, blue, yellow, left some white, and melted the green candy melts.  Then I dipped these pieces in the right colors for their eyebrows, stomachs, and head pieces.  Then I pulled out my cake balls and dipped the lollipop sticks in some melted chocolate before sticking them into the balls.  Then I re-melted one of the bird colors and dipped them one at a time.  Right after dipping them and shaking off the excess I stuck on all the bird parts so they would stick to the ball as the melted chocolate was hardening.  Then I stuck the bird/pig into some styrofoam (sold in the flower craft section at WalMart) and moved onto the next bird/pig.  After finishing all of them the styrofoam seemed a bit top heavy so once they were set I moved them onto a jelly roll pan.  Then I dotted each of the eyes with black icing on a toothpick. I also used this black on the pigs' noses and ears.  And I used a toothpick to add the cheeks on the white and blue birds.  Then I placed them in my basement storage room (about 60 degrees) overnight.

The next day was Spencer's friend party.  I made a 9x13 chocolate cake and another chocolate cake split between two 8x8 pans.  I then layered them with a blackberry-whipped cream filling.  I then made a white chocolate ganache dyed with green to pour over the cake.  After doing this I realized I should have made an actual frosting to at least do a crumb coating or cover it all because the chocolate cake showed through.  But then I decided it was supposed to be a hill so who cares if the "dirt" was showing through?  I put some of the large fudge sticks (chocolate covered wafers from Keebler) and some smaller ones for the top.  I stuck toothpicks halfway through the sticks and the other half into the cake so they would stay.  And now that Christmas was over I found the Knock on Wood game that I bought for Spencer's birthday.  I took the slingshot out of the game for the cake.  Here it is at Spencer's birthday party (without a pig on the top):

I let each kid have an angry bird cake pop (turned out the black bird was the most sought after) and a slice of cake.  Then the next day we had family over and did it again with the remaining cake and cake pops.  This time I even let Spencer slingshot the bird and knock over the pigs.  It even worked!

Spencer also wanted a pinata.  So I paper mached a large pig.  I bought a large 24" balloon at Zurchers for just over a dollar and did the whole newspaper strips dipped in a flour/water mixture coating the balloon.  It was too cold in the garage and backyard to hang it so I hung it in the kitchen from the kitchen fan.

Then I spray painted it green in the backyard.  Tessa helped me paint the eyes and nose and then Spencer drew and cut out a crown for it.  I cut out green paper for the ears and we filled it with candy and hung it downstairs for the kids to break open at the cousin party.  I didn't get a picture of it until after it was destroyed.  I had tried to convince Spencer instead of a pinata to let me fill green bags with candy and put pig faces on them.  Then I was going to set up cardboard boxes and paper towel holders with bags on them and have the kids slingshot the bean bags I had bought and have the kids knock over a bag of candy to keep.  I thought that sounded like more fun and more along the theme of the real game.  But he wanted a pinata.  So he had one.

The Great Northern Food Tour of Logan

Spencer didn't have school Friday so I thought it would be fun if we drove up north to visit my sister and her kids.  Then on Wednesday when Clara got her finger shut in the hinge side of the bathroom door and ended us up at Primary Children's Hospital so they could sedate her and stitch her finger back together, I began to wonder if we would still go.  But my baby is tough and seemed okay, other than a little clingy, on Thursday so I decided to stick with the plan.  But then my sister remembered she had Achievement Days Friday afternoon.  I had also told the kids we'd eat at McDonald's as I had managed to avoid the last 2 toy rotations but wasn't going to be able to get out of Barbie and Hot Wheels.  So I met my sister and her little boy at the Tremonton McDonalds for lunch.  The kids ate and played.  I know McDonald's is not healthy and eating there regularly would be bad for our health and our weight.  That being said it's pretty cool to feed the kids, get them a toy, and have them be able to play inside when the weather outside is cold for the same price I spent on a 5 minute train ride up and down the mall a week and a half ago.  And I got to visit with my sister while the kids were otherwise occupied.  Then we went back to her house and the kids played in their cousin, Aliya's bedroom for a while even though she was at school.  Shortly after she got home I got the five kids buckled in my van and headed out to entertain them while my sister was doing her Achievement Days thing.

So how to entertain 5 little kids up north?  No offense to Tremonton, but I couldn't really find much other than the McDonald's we had just been to.  So I took them to more familiar territory for me--Logan.  Ya, my degree may have come from the University of Utah, but I'm really an Aggie.  When I lived in Logan and attended Utah State it was my life and I have very good memories (and a few not so good) of it.  But I was in my early twenties and doing University things like sledding down Old Main on lunch trays, mattress surfing down the stairs in my dorm, going to Colors concerts, making crazy music videos in my dorm, and other college-y things.  So in my thinking of how to entertain 5 young children I thought of treats and decided to take them on The Great Northern Food Tour of Logan.  We started with what I thought would be the most kid-exciting treat at the Creamie Facility.  They are located at 142 West 3200 North in Logan and called "Heart to Heart".  Their website said, "Come Take a Tour of the Creamies Plant in Logan, Utah" but when we arrived I didn't even know anybody was there for a very long time.  We walked into a small room with a freezer where you could buy boxes of creamies and a very large deep freezer full of creamies for only 19 cents a piece.  I let the kids each choose a flavor (I chose mint covered in chocolate) and eventually leaned over the high counter to see a girl sitting on the other end who took my money but didn't say anything else.  So no tour, but we got some yummy treats.

Then we drove much further North to Richmond for my favorite factory, the Pepperidge Farms Thrift store.  If you follow Logan's main street North through Smithfield you'll see it on the left side.  Inside all Goldfish bags are only 99 cents and the cookies are only $1.40.  I let each kid choose a Goldfish bag.  At first they went for the pizza ones until they saw the chocolate kind.  Then Aliya, Spencer, and Tessa each chose chocolate.  Jacob chose the Space ones that were pretty cool.  I chose the Saltine for Clara since they weren't colored and I knew where they'd end up.  I of course bought a few Mint Milano bags of cookies as they are my favorite and even on sale never go as cheap as $1.40.

Then we turned back into town and headed to my next favorite location--Gossner.  It's located at 1051 North 1000 West.  Inside we had some samples and then I bought a bunch of cheese and some cheese curd.  I also bought a box of each variety of boxed milk.  And I had each kid choose a cold one from the fridge.  I love that they make this shelf-stable milk that is real milk--ultra pasteurized and flavored.  You can keep it on your shelf for about 6 months depending on the expiration date.  They are like juice boxes so I can throw them in Spencer's lunch or we can take them for picnics and stuff.  And the kids love them!

It was getting close to 6:00 which is when everything closes.  My sister called me saying she was done and her husband was home from work.  I told them to drive out to Logan and we'd all go to dinner together then I'd send her kids home with her and I'd head home.  As she was still half an hour away I decided to try to make it to Cox Honeyland before they closed.  They're on the main highway out of Sardine just before entering into Logan on the right side.  We got there about 5 minutes before closing so I hurried the kids along.  I showed them all the flavored honey they sold and let the kids each choose a honey stick but told them they'd have to wait until after dinner to eat it.  I was disappointed the bees weren't there but the girl reminded me it was winter.  Maybe I'll try to make it out there again in summer cuz my kids liked watching the bees in the case they had in the store to see how honey is actually made.  I didn't buy anything else here because last time we came we bought 3 gallons of honey and we're only half way through that right now.

We then met up with my sister and her husband at the Firehouse restaurant.  Surprisingly the kids weren't very hungry and didn't eat a whole lot.  But they were quite silly.

And my little Jacob nephew said he wanted to go home with me.  I guess treats really are the way to a 2-year old's heart.  And my little baby with the stitched and wrapped up pinky finger was an angel the whole trip.  We had a lot of fun but now Tessa wants to go back because she didn't get to play with Aliya in Aliya's room.  Maybe we'll do another food tour but go for the Fat Boy Factory instead of the Creamies.

Gymnastics

I got pregnant with Clara right about the time Tessa turned 2.  I was tired and just wanted to sleep on the mornings that Spencer was at preschool.  But that wasn't fair for Tessa who was already missing her playmate while he was at school.  So I decided to enroll us in some mommy-baby class.  I tried the Little Gym which was fun, but pricey.  And I kind of had an issue paying all that money for self-esteem and felt I'd rather pay it for instruction.  So I began looking into actual gymnastic places that took little 2 year olds for baby gymnastics.  My friend had her 2 older girls at Bailey's gymnastics (by IKEA) so I tried them out and loved it.  So for about 6 months I took Tessa to gymnastics once a week.  She LOVED it.  Here are some old pictures I have from this class.

 

In this little class the instructor would show what to do at each station and then she would stay at the one requiring the most assistance and the moms would  help the kids at all the other ones.  I liked the equipment, instructors, and the skills that were taught and Tessa had a lot of fun.  But then we quit going for summer as I was having Clara and we do a lot of other things in the summer.  The next year I enrolled her in the older class in the main gym but I also enrolled her in dance.  I couldn't afford to do both at the same time and it seemed she was enjoying dance more so we quit gymnastics and just did dance.  This year she was adamant on doing gymnastics again so we're back and loving it.  Each week they rotate between the bars, balance beam, floor, and then either the trampoline, foam pit, rope swing, rock wall, or a combination of those.  Here's a more recent picture of Tessa at gymnastics:

Back when our neighbor gave us tickets to the U of U basketball game the tickets had a coupon for a U of U gymnastic meet to buy one ticket and get the whole family in.  There is also a get the whole family in free in general admission coupon in the Hometown Values magazine and Bailey's gymnastics has the same family pass coupon so I'm sure it's all over.  We decided to go as a family for Friday fun day.  We drove down and parked at the football stadium.  We then took the free Trax ride up to the Huntsman Center.  I didn't bring the free family coupon since I wanted to pay for a ticket in the lower bowl and get the whole family in free.  However, the lower bowl was sold out so I had to pay $5 to get the whole family into the general admission upper bowl.  Still a good deal, but I could have saved $5 if I had brought the other coupon.  The meet was against Utah State.  I love watching gymnastics and the U has a great team so I had a really good time.  Tessa enjoyed watching the bigger girls doing such amazing tricks on the same type of equipment she does gymnastics on.  Spencer enjoyed watching the uneven bars and the big tumbling runs on the floor but was pretty bored otherwise.  Clara just loved climbing on and off the chairs and my lap.  There was no flash photography but Tessa was having such a good time I took her picture while they were rotating one time.

Boys and basketball while the girls go to the mall

Spencer got 2 tickets to a Utah Jazz game from his Jr. Jazz.  Even though I'm more the sports fan than Brodie is I always try to send Brodie and Spencer when we get 2 tickets somewhere.  Spencer's more of a mommy's boy so I try to take advantage of opportunities for he and Brodie to bond.  So off they went.  I asked Tessa what she wanted to do while the boys were gone and she requested "the big mall with the dinosaur playland".  Between her love of nail polish and going to the mall I sometimes wonder how she's my child.  But I'm glad she is.  Of course she also requested a ride in the train that runs through South Towne Mall.  It is way overpriced at $3 per person.  Really it's just a little thing that runs down the length of the mall and back.  But I wanted to make it special for Tessa so I paid the $9 for us to take a ride through the mall.  I mometarily stopped thinking of all the better things I could have spent my $9 on to watch the girls enjoy their train ride.

After the train ride we had a lot of fun playing at DinoTowne.  I mentioned it previously on this blog and have more pictures of it back then but here's one I took this time:

Clara was a maniac on the slide.  She just kept climbing up the ladder and sliding down the treacherously slippery and fast slide without letting me hold her hand to slow her down.  And 90% of the time she would look shocked at how fast she went.  Then she'd smile and run to do it again.  A few times she bonked her head but didn't cry and just kept going.  Tessa also had a blast running around, going down the slides, playing in the treehouse, and climbing on the bones.  We played here for a good hour before I told them we needed to head home.  We stopped in the food court for a snack first and then made it home just before the boys showed up.  They didn't stay for the whole game cuz they were both tired and it was a school/work night.  Another reason I sent Brodie with him rather than myself cuz I would have stayed for the whole thing.

A snow day

Every so often the words, "I wish I lived in San Diego" may come out of my mouth.  But they're really not true.  I love living in Sandy, Utah.  Mostly for the same reasons I occasionally wish I didn't.  Top reason being the weather.  I hate the cold.  And the really hot.  And the dreary.  But then again I love the variety.  I seriously get bored quite easily and love new things--clothes, food, activities, seasons.  I absolutely love when spring time comes.  Trees get new leaves and blossoms, flowers start blooming, grass begins turning green, birds are chirping, and the weather is warm enough to go to parks and play outside without coats on.  Then summer comes.  School is out, it's warm enough to go outside barefoot, we have picnics outside, the garden is producing fresh vegetables, every day is a fun day, we go swimming and play in the sprinklers, and I have to admit I love the feeling of the sun burning my skin so long as I'm able to just sit around and feel it.  I don't like sweating and burning as I'm trying to walk around or accomplish something.  Then by the time I am getting sick of the sweltering 100 degree weather and the crazy water bill to try to keep the grass green, Fall comes.  The weather cools down, school and schedules and order come back into our lives, the mountains are spotted with bright colors as the leaves are turning yellow, orange, and red, we cherish the last of the garden season and can applesauce and peaches, and then we wait for the snow.  I don't particularly like the cold, or driving in the snow.  And I don't like to look at the bare trees or the dead grass.  But when the first magical snow flakes start falling from the sky I think it is the most wonderful thing!  And when there's enough to play outside with the kids, it beats any sandbox or beach!  But then the winter drags on too long and I'm ready for spring again.    And each change of season leaves me marvelling God and his wonders at creating such amazing beauty and variety.

So where's the snow this winter?  That's the question my kids keep asking.  As I have no control over the weather and the forecast wasn't predicting ANY snow, I decided we'd make our own snow day.  I put up the new illuminated snow man I bought on clearance after Christmas before packing him away for the next 11 months.  I then dressed up all the kids in their snow gear and threw a pack of jumbo cottonballs on the trampoline.  I also crumpled up a bunch of white tissue paper and threw these "snow balls" on the trampoline as well.  We jumped around throwing snow and snowballs at each other and had a great evening in the snow.

We then came in for hot chocolate with marshmallows.  After dinner I had the kids help me make snowflake decorations for their rooms.  We've done the traditional fold the paper a lot and cut little shapes to make a snowflake but this time I bought fishing line from the store (dental floss will work but I like the less visible fishing line) and some white sticker dots.  Wal-Mart only had colored dots so I had to go to Office Max to find the white ones.  I put glue on the dots and sprinkled glitter on them just to add the "sparkle" that real snow has.  Then I cut out a bunch of fishing line strips just longer than the kids' windows.  I then had the kids stick two dots together, sandwiching the fishing line.  We did this every so often down.  I then taped these strands in front of their windows, creating the illusion of snow falling.  This project was finished right as they were going to bed.  Then the next morning we all woke up to actual snow falling outside!  Even if I were a betting person I don't see myself every betting for the weather man.  In any case, here are pictures of the snow falling in their windows.

So again we bundled up in our snow clothes and spent the day out in the snow.  There wasn't enough to build a snowman but Spencer was a great big brother and pulled each of the girls around the yard in the sled and they made a bunch of snow angels.  And then came in for hot chocolate again.