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.

Tessa's Strawberry Shortcake Party

All year long my kids are telling me what kind of birthday party they'll want.  Currently Tessa has the next 4 years themes ready.  Of course they change their mind on a very regular basis so I try not to think about it until about a month before the birthday.  About a month ago Tessa was very sure about wanting a Strawberry Shortcake party.  I tried to find premade invitations but could only find some online and the shipping costs were twice as much as the invitations themselves.  So I made invitations.  I printed off a photo frame printable from Hasbro's strawberry shortcake site and then modified it to become an invitation.  We invited all the little girls within a year of her age in the neighborhood and ward.  Then we invited all our family members 2 hours later.  I've decided it's easier to have two separate parties--one friends and one family--rather than trying to do it all together.

As I was trying to decide what games or activities would be good for 3 & 4 year olds, I decided to do a craft project.  I took an idea from my neice's birthday party and decided it would be fun to decorate baskets.  But I needed strawberry themed baskets and the only ones I could find online were much too pricey.  So I went for the paper mache instead.  I bought red and green craft paper and tore it up.  I paper mached the bottoms of the balloons with red and the top with green.  I tied yarn around the balloon and hung them outside from my trampoline during the process and once I had all 20 done I moved them into the garage for the night.  I did this for 3 nights.  Then after the last drying I popped the balloons and cut out half ovals to make a basket.  Then I spray painted the handles green and the basket red.  I bought foam flower and bug stickers, stick on jewels, little flower blossoms with glue dots, and some lace.  The kids at both the friend party and the cousin party seemed to enjoy decorating these baskets.  Here's Tessa's:

Tessa really wanted cupcakes for her birthday so I made her vanilla cupcakes filled with strawberry gelee and topped off with freshly whipped (and colored) whip cream and sprinkles.  Then I had to make a chocolate cake so I layered it with the same strawberry gelee and covered it with green whipped cream and green coconut.  I then put Strawberry Shortcake in a hot air balloon on top.

Here's when she saw the cake and the new Strawberry Shortcake toy:

I also made a pinata out of a cardboard box to resemble Strawberry Shortcake's house.  I tied ribbons in it so the little girls could just pull on the ribbons to make the candy come out.

Then the girls used their baskets to get all the pinata candy, which was all strawberry (the hard strawberry flavored and shaped candies, frooties, and Twizzlers):

I also put a strawberry lip gloss, a strawberry shortcake charm bracelet, and a strawberry fruit by the foot in each basket.  Then we opened presents.  At the end of the presents Brodie and Spencer returned (I had shipped them off to the Chinese Moon Festival during the party).  After the girls all went home I went to my mom's to pick up Clara (I shipped her off as well so I could focus on the girls).  I came home to re-fill the pinata and put out some more decorative stuff for the baskets before the family group came.  It made me realize how much more calm 6 little girls are than a group with boys.  There is really a very big difference.

Spencer had a lot of fun with his favorite cousin, Logan.  Tessa loved playing with her best friend/cousin Afton and the older girl cousins whom she ADORES!  I tried to give Clara a nap but that obviously didn't work, which combined with me shipping her off for a couple of hours made her very clingy and whiny.  It was fun and Tessa got even more presents and we had more pinata candy.  She was so excited to get so many Strawberry Shortcake toys as the only ones she had before her party were a couple from McDonald's.  She has been playing with these toys soooooo much.

After the parties it was dinner time so we headed over to Cafe Rio with my sister and her family, since they needed to eat before heading 1 1/2 hours back home.  I sure do love Cafe Rio!  I think that is one place I could actually eat at on a weekly basis and not get sick of it.

I have a great husband who helped immensely with the clean up after the parties.  Only Brodie's parents came from his side of the family so we had tons of leftovers.  I had made 3 dozen cupcakes, 2 9 x 13 pans of chocolate cake (layered on top of each other with the strawberry gelee in the middle), and made 20 paper mache baskets.  We ran plates of cupcakes to a couple different neighbors' houses, ate leftover cake for almost a week, and I have a few strawberry baskets still sitting in my garage that I can't get myself to get rid of after all the hard work I put into them.  I'm sure I'll come up with a good use for them soon...or else I have a feeling Brodie will help "get rid of them". 

Chuck E Cheese and Tessa's birthday

My little girl turned 4 years old last week.  She woke up to a dozen helium balloons and a dozen roses in her bedroom.  Ever since her first birthday I've given her roses, since her middle name is Rose.  She was very excited to bring treats to her preschool class for her birthday.  I also decided to make her a pancake cake for breakfast, after getting the idea from the latest puppet show at the library.

We let the kids choose where to go to dinner the night of their birthday.  Chuck E Cheese seems to be the favorite.  Not because of the food, but because a birthday is the only thing that can get me to be willing to go there.  It's really not that bad, but I still dread it.  I think Chuck E Cheese ties with Classic Skating for the worst pizza I've paid for.  The salad bar is an extra $7 and it is the smallest salad bar out there.  And there are too many kids running around, a good number of which should have their parents paying closer attention to them.  On the good side--tokens are only a quarter and nothing takes more than one quarter.  There is a very large variety of things to do from the regular skee ball and such games to the little car and carousel and other little kid rides.  There is also a play structure (like McDonald's type) that is completely free.  Our favorite is the picture sketch, although there's usually a line for this one.  And I've never come across a game out of service when I've been there.  And you can get some sort of coupon off their website at any point in time.

On our way to Chuck E Cheese we passed the Mayan.  Last time we went we were pleasantly surprised and the kids really enjoyed themselves so Brodie suggested eating at the Mayan and then playing at Chuck E Cheese.  At first I was against this, knowing it would take more time and have me staying up later getting ready for her party the next day, but as I thought about eating Chuck E Cheese pizza, I agreed.  However, our experience wasn't as good as last time.  The carnitas were dry and very fatty.  And the shows were only every half an hour so we only watched 2.  And they didn't seem to be as long or as involved.  The worst part of it was that Spencer totally freaked out.  They did the whole "monsoon" thing with lights flashing for lightning and thunder sounds and stuff and Spencer covered his ears and closed his eyes and started crying.  He was so scared and just wanted to go home.  His over reaction caused Clara to start crying and Tessa almost cried as she responded, "Maybe I shouldn't have chosen the Mayan because Spencer is so scared.  Let's just go to Chuck E Cheese."  But our food was on its way out so it was too late.  Brodie and I both tried talking to Spencer in our own, very different, methods.  He finally sat down and ate without screaming, although he jumped and almost over reacted quite a few more times throughout dinner.

We just bought tokens at Chuck E Cheese and the kids were off.  First they played in the play area, climbing and sliding.  Then they rode the little rides by the play structure.  Clara LOVED the little carousel so much.  We let her ride it a few times, then a couple more times at the end.  Usually the other kids rode with her, as there are 3 horses. 

 






















Then we headed over to "win" some tickets.  We played skee ball, squirting water at the targets, squishing the spiders, making the lizards knock over the flies, virtual bowling, tossing ping pong balls, catching bees in a basket, popping bubbles on the screen, having the bear catch the falling apples in his mouth, shooting the horse teeth down, and most of the other games there.  Clara mainly loved the rides so the older kids sweetly obliged and rode in the car and jeep with her a few times.

Then we took our ticket receipts to the counter and let the kids go crazy with small, cheap choking hazards and candy.  The kids had a lot of fun and can't wait for the next birthday so I have to go back there again.  But we now set a new precedent as Spencer told us he wants to eat dinner at Chin-Wah and then go play at Chuck E Cheese when it's his birthday.  We'll see...

Clara's birthday at Planet Play

On each kid's birthday, he/she gets to choose where to go for dinner.  It usually ends up being Chuck E. Cheese.  Since Clara's too young to choose I thought of taking advantage and choosing sushi, Chin Wah, La Puente, or Cafe Rio.  But we had a City Deals certificate for 4 buffets and $50 in play cards (we bought this for $32) so that's where we ended up.  Okay so it used to be called The Incredible Pizza Company.  Now it's Planet Play, which I think is a much better name so you realize there are games and things along with the pizza.  However, it has been bought out by the Pizza Pie Cafe so the name will be changing yet again.  And they are no longer honoring Incredible Pizza Company certificates or coupons.  Makes me wonder how long they'll be honoring Planet Play certificates/coupons?  Glad we used it, just in case.

So their salad portion was decent.  Not the largest selection, but enough.  They did have quite a good variety of pizzas, and they weren't bad.  Not good, but not bad either.  Better than Classic or Chuck E Cheese, but not up to Papa John's and The Pie.  And the only breadsticks they had were flavorless cheesy breadsticks, no plain ones.  They also had a pasta section where the noodles were al dente and the worker put a single serving in the boiling water to heat it up for you.  Then he gave a plate with noodles and you pour a sauce on it.  Really?  Might as well have the pasta already cooked in warming chafing dishes or something.  Or do the whole thing--let the customer choose the noodles, vegetables/spices (garlic, mushrooms, pesto, spinach, etc.) and sauce and have the worker actually prepare the dish.  The very best thing here was the dessert pizza.  They had Oreo, cookie dough, strawberry, and cinnamon.  They also had mini chocolate chip cookies and soft serve ice cream.  But for kids you can't go wrong with a buffet, especially one with lots of pizza!

Then we headed off with our play cards.  I do like the concept of swiping a card rather than carrying around and inserting tokens and then collecting tickets that print out.  Much cleaner and simpler.  However, I would never go there paying full price.  The arcades, go-karts, and mini golf were way overpriced.  And the bumper cars, that my kids were MOST excited for, weren't working.  Both kids were too short to drive the go-karts by themselves so Brodie drove and they took turns riding.  A single rider is $4.50 and a double ride is $5.75.  It lasted for less than 5 minutes.  However, we only  paid $32 for dinner and the play so it was worth it.  The kids enjoyed riding around with dad and waving and smiling at me each pass.

 Then we played some of the basic arcade games everyone has.  They did have more motion types than some other places.  Then the kids wanted to play mini golf.  It was $3 per person and the holes weren't very far away.  We got both kids through in about 15 minutes.  But the dark room with black lights was kind of fun.

Then we went and got some cheap toys with the "tickets" they earned.  The two older kids had a blast and Clara put up with it very well.  Happy Birthday to Clara!  I'm not sure if anything will change with Pizza Pie Cafe, but as is I would definitely go again for $32.  But not for full price.

Clara's butterfly birthday party

So my precious little baby turned 1 today.  We actually had a family BBQ to celebrate her birthday last Sunday.  I'll backtrack even further to last Friday.  It was field day for Spencer at school and I volunteered to help and my awesome sister, Janelle, was gracious enough to watch the girls.  After field day and driving out to my sister's house it was getting late.  We stopped at Costco on the way home to eat lunch and get stuff for the BBQ party.  We got home close to 2:00 and then the kids asked what we were going to do for Friday Fun Day.  I was tired and had stuff to do still, so I told them they already had fun at field day and with cousins.  They didn't like that idea much so I had them help me make ice cream sandwich cookies for the birthday party.  I made extra large chocolate chip and chocolate cake cookies and stuffed them with vanilla and chocolate ice cream.  I had the kids roll them in Heath bits, Oreo cookie crumbs, candy flowers, and colorful sprinkles.  On Sunday I decided I should try to arrange them to look like a butterfly, to go with her party theme.  And I thought she should still get to eat cake, since it's her first birthday and all, so I made a few cupcakes.  Here's what I came up with:

Took me a lot less time than my usual birthday cake!  Here's Clara with her cake

And even though I let her eat a cupcake, Grandma decided she should eat some cookie ice cream sandwich.

Getting ahead of myself.  Back to Saturday--I was feeling bad that we didn't do something for Friday Fun Day together so I took them to Lakeshore Learning for the free kids' crafts.  The kids each made a fish puppet and a little paper stage for it.  They enjoyed it and want to go back every Saturday.

Sunday after church I decided I should probably do a bit more for Clara's birthday party.  I guess I figured since it was just family--and only half of them were going to be able to make it--that I didn't need to go all out.  We were just going to have a BBQ and ice cream sandwiches.  But I got feeling a little guilty.  So the kids and I made about 20 tissue paper butterflies.  We took colorful tissue paper and wrapped a pipe cleaner 2 times around the middle of it, leaving the edges of the pipe cleaners sticking up for antennas.  I then glued googly eyes onto fuzzy balls and glued those onto the pipe cleaners.  Then we went outside--oh my goodness it was hot--and taped them all over the fence, deck, and trampoline.  I also hung up a couple little butterfly decorations I had bought.  Then Spencer asked about party hats.  When I told him I didn't have any he went downstairs and drew a couple butterflies, cut them out, and stapled them onto a thin strip of paper he had cut out.  He then measured his and Clara's heads, stapled a few more strips of paper, and made Clara and himself butterfly crowns.  Tessa was sad she didn't have one so I cut out a butterfly to let her color and staple it onto a crown for her.

The kids were so excited for the cousins to come.  They had a blast jumping on the trampoline and running around the yard with all of them.  Tessa was especially glued to Alexis and followed her around like a little puppy dog.  It was cute to watch and Alexis was a good sport and even read her some books in Tessa's room.  Spencer and Logan were pretty much inseparable and we had to promise them both we'd get them together more often.  We had some yummy BBQ food and enjoyed visiting with people well past the kids' bedtime.

The high light of the party was the release of the butterflies.  The Easter Bunny had brought the Live Butterfly Garden.  It was really so much fun to watch the process as the caterpillars got bigger, climbed to the lid of the container, shed their skin and then turned hard to form a cocoon and then after 10 days the Painted Lady butterflies came out.  The kids named them:  Early, Lady Flower, Dora Bootsy, Lady Goo Goo, and Late.  They actually go to watch Late physically come out of her cocoon.  The kids were so excited about these butterflies!  We picked flowers from my front garden each day and dropped a few drops of sugar water on them.  We got to watch the butterflies actually suck up the nectar.

 Anyhow, these butterflies only have a 2-3 week lifespan and since Clara was having a butterfly party we decided it would be a perfect time to let them go.  The kids really enjoyed it.  One of the butterflies even let Spencer, Logan, Alexis, and Tessa hold it on their finger.

We have so many toys in our house that we really didn't need anymore.  I got Clara her own baby doll and a little Disney Princess ride on.  I told the kids to find one of their toys to wrap up and give to Clara.  Tessa gave one of her many baby dolls and her baby doll potty.  Spencer gave her a couple of his favorite Dr. Suess books and his Jeff Gordon NASCAR pillow.  What sweet kids!  We gave her the presents this morning for her real birthday.  She loves them!  Of course the other kids also love the baby doll who makes noises and the fun ride-on so Clara has to scream and push them to get to her own toys.  I sense bad habits starting...

Birthdays and BK

So tomorrow is Brodie's birthday.  Unluckily his birthday is in the rush of the end of tax season so he usually spends it working then coming home to get dinner for the kids and putting them to bed.  I usually buy something for him as well as buying him a cake (I know this comes as a huge shock to those who know me and this is the only time I ever buy a cake rather than make one).  I love my husband very much and feel bad that I don't really show it on his birthday so I wanted to make a little more of an effort this year.  Also, whenever I ask him what he wants for his birthday, Christmas, Fathers' Day, etc. he usually responds with, "We don't have any money" so I didn't even bother asking him this year.

I made an appointment for the carpets to be cleaned today, as Brodie is a bit of a clean freak and our carpets are pretty bad.  Because of this I passed up on some work I should have been doing and had the kids help me clean the house yesterday.  I also baked Brodie's favorite chocolate cake yesterday.  This morning after Brodie took Spencer to school I hurried and moved everything except the big furniture out of the front room and TV room and vacuumed them.  Today was short day where Spencer basically goes to school to say the Pledge of Allegiance and then comes home so I didn't have much time to shower after getting the rooms ready.  Scott's Carpet Care did an awesome job of cleaning the carpets while I played with the kiddos down in the playroom.  Spencer wanted to watch The Lion King while we played.  Which makes me wonder why Disney movies have a recurring theme of a dead parent.  Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Bambi, and Nemo all have lost their mothers.  Simba and Tiana lose their fathers.  Cinderella, Snow White, Tarzan, and Mowgli lost both parents.  Even Aurora and Rapunzel don't know who their parents really are until they are all grown up.  Okay off subject here.

After the carpets were cleaned I still had a full day so I gave in to Spencer's request for McDonald's as their new toys came out today.  First I cut the cake I made in half and filled it with Brodie's favorite chocolate ice cream.  I didn't have any whipping cream so I just put it in the freezer like this for now.  Anyhow, I'm sick of McDonald's.  The last time we went the kids didn't even finish their meals or want to play at the Playplace.  So I decided we'd at least go to a different McDonald's with a playplace they haven't been to before, but I didn't want to drive too far out of the way.  We passed a Burger King and I offered that as an option.  Spencer said, "Ya!  We haven't been there before and they have Hop toys!"  Seriously I think that kid could tell you what toy is in any fast food chain's kids' meals.  So we went there.  Positives:  We had the Playplace to ourselves and the kids played for like 45 minutes because it was new and different.  They had a blast!  Also, I thought the chicken nuggets had better flavor than McDonald's and I enjoyed my Tendergrill sandwich much more than McDonald's food for adults.  Also the kids loved the crowns.  Negatives:  It is much more expensive than McDonald's.  The nugget kids meal was $3.49 (McD's is currently $2.99) and the mac'n cheese they advertise was even more.  Then they charged $.20 to upgrade the drink to milk.  And another $.59 charge to upgrade the fries to apples.  McDonald's let's you get milk and apples at no extra cost.  Their chicken nuggets had more flavor, but the breading had a horrible dry, stale texture.  And their toys aren't near as cool.  They're made cheaper and don't do the cool things McDonald's toys usually do.  But it was Friday Fun Day and the kids had fun.

We then stopped at Kohl's to get daddy birthday presents from the kids and then over to Costco where I made it out without even having to sign the credit card receipt (meaning it was under $100).  I pretty much just bought fruit and veggies cuz I love the quality and price here.  And I had to fill up with gas which I hate doing these days.

We got home with enough time for the kids to show dad their toys and play for a bit while I ran to Wal-Mart quickly and then put together a butterfly craft kit for my neice's birthday.  We dropped off Spencer and Tessa and then took Clara with us to dinner.  It was different just having one little baby.  We had a Groupon deal for Wild Rose, which is from the owners of Tiburon and Epic but out at the District.  It was really good, but I still prefer Tiburon.  Mmm thinking of their halibut in a carrot butter reduction and their chipotle seared scallops....... but tonight's dinner was very good as well.  Clara was pretty well behaved and loved gumming away on a piece of bread.  Spencer and Tessa had a blast decorating their guitars and eating cake and hitting the pinata.  They talked and sang in their balloon microphones all the way home!

That's about it since I have to make some ganache to cover the cake I made and be up in a few hours to attend my nephew's baptism before hurrying back for a full day of work.  Hopefully today made up in advance for Brodie having to take care of the kids all day tomorrow for his birthday!

April Fool's Day and a birthday party at Boondocks!

I am not a big fan of pranks, or even of surprises.  So much so that I usually buy my own birthday and Christmas gifts from my husband.  However, my kids are so much fun that I knew they would get a kick out of the day.  Of course I didn't think about this until 10:30 last night so this is how the morning went:

Spencer woke up in a pretty, silky pink and and purple Fancy Nancy comforter.  He at first thought that was kind of silly.  If you've been following my blog you know he only had school 1 out of the 4 Fridays in March which explains why his first question while I was still in bed was, "Do I have school today?"  In the April Fool's mood I made a mistake and said, "No, it's Church Day.  April Fool's!"  I then followed him downstairs and he kept going down to the TV room and turned it on.  I said, "Spencer, you need to come and eat breakfast."  He replied, "No, I'm going to watch a show."  I said, "You need to eat so you can get to school."  And the tears came, "But you said I didn't have school!"  I knew at this point I had made a huge mistake as I reminded him I said April Fool's.  He was still crying as I pointed out the cupcake stand full of chocolate cupcakes with candles.  I lit one and put it in front of him and began singing "Happy Birthday."  He kept crying and getting mad at me saying "It's NOT my Birthday!"  So I blew out the candle and ate the cupcake which made him more upset.  He finally calmed down so I gave him a cupcake and told him we'd trick Tessa when she came down.  As if on cue, Tessa strolled down with her cute, mysterious face as she said, "Hey, there's a Superhero blanket on my bed?"  She's new to April Fool's day so I quickly expained it to her.  Then I lit her a candle and Spencer and I sang her Happy Birthday.  Her whole face was smiling.  Then we both said in unison, "April Fool's!"  And she laughed hysterically.  Now it was getting fun.

When the kids wanted cereal I opened the cupboard and asked which they wanted.  They both screamed, "Fruit Loops!"  When I poured from the box, Frosted Flakes came out and they laughed.  Then they chose Captain Crunch and Cinnamon Toast Crunch came out.  The next box had the Fruit Loops in it.  Then when Spencer went to get dressed he started laughing and said, "Mom I don't wear girl panties!"  And he threw all of Tessa's panties out of his room.  That made Tessa wonder what was in her drawers so she ran upstairs to see.  She started laughing and brought Spencer his underwear and told him she liked the octopus ones.  That was as far as my late night thoughts got me but it set them on the path.

After Spencer came home from school he couldn't stop his April Fool's jokes.  Of course his were at a kindergarten level such as telling me it was snowing while we were outside in the 60 degree sunshine or telling Tessa the fruit snacks she just ate were poison and she was going to die.  At least he was quick to always follow his jokes up with "April Fool's!" which would make Tessa laugh.  By lunch time Tessa was saying, "Ha, ha Spencer you so funny" after absolutely everything Spencer said, even when it wasn't a joke.  And Tessa followed up just about everything she said with "April First Day!"  But she never got the hang of actually tricking anyone,she just said that at the end of whatever she was saying.

Shortly after lunch we began our Friday clean up, which was enough of a downer to seem to make them lose the April Fool's magic.  After cleaning the front room and TV room I decided they needed to enjoy the beautiful weather so I sent them outside while I vacuumed and got some laundry done.  Then we tackled the toy room.  The cleaning combined with the break outside took longer than I had thought it would, so we headed out a little later than I originally planned.

My sweet little neice turned 5 today!  My sister decided to have her party at Boondocks in Kaysville, which was really sweet of her to make it closer to us Salt Lake City-ers as she lives up in Tremonton herself.  But the party started at 7 and was about half an hour away and my kids go to bed  between 7:30 and 8:00.  So we headed out early, stopped for dinner, and arrived at Boondocks just before 6.  Tessa is too short for most things there and we didn't have  alot of time so I just got them wristbands for the Kiddie Cove.  My youngest sister arrived about the same time with her two girls so the four kids had a blast playing in the Kiddie Cove.  It was a lot of fun and I know $3 isn't much, but it's too much for the Kiddie Cove.  It's not that much of a step up from a McDonald's playplace where $3 not only gets you unlimited play but a kid's meal with a toy as well.  And places like Classic and Jungle Jim's aren't too much more but include all sorts of rides or bouncy houses and slides as well for not much more money.  Luckily I had a Happenings Coupon for buy one get one free and it was worth $1.50 per kid.  Then we played a few arcade games but I also noticed $5 doesn't get near as many games at Boondocks as it does at Chuck E Cheese's or Jungle Jim's or Classic.  The other places are like 10 cents a game but here they are a minimum of 25 cents and some are up to $1.50!  Nonetheless my kids had fun playing the few games they did and redeeming their tickets for some useless choking hazards.  Most importantly they had a blast playing with their cousins.

We had already eaten but my sister got pizza for the party and my kids ended up eating a slice each as well as having some cake.  They had a lot of fun running around the room and the tables with each other.  I felt bad that as we were leaving (a little past 8) all the other cousins were just heading out to the bumper boats.  Spencer cried that we weren't going with them but it was already past their bedtime, Clara would need to nurse soon, and I was exhausted.  Thankfully Spencer didn't cry long and the car ride home was uneventful.  I was actually quite surprised with how well the kids did for the ride up and back.  We rarely drive more than 10 minutes away from our house and I didn't even hook up the DVD screens.  I am sure lucky to have such great kids!

And now I am wishing I was in bed but I'm waiting for the laundry cuz Tessa puked all over herself and her bed a little bit ago.  I cleaned her up and changed her sheets, but my past experiences tell me there is a very high likelihood I'll need to change them again tonight so I need to get them cleaned.  I'm hoping it's something she ate and that this won't spread to my other kids or the cousins they played with or the countless other children who were at Boondocks tonight.  But if it does.....so goes life.

Oh, and staying true to tradition Clara lost her favorite sippy cup at Boondocks tonight.