Wednesday, September 30, 2015

007 Spy Birthday Party!


For William's 7th birthday, he requested a spy party. (He actually wanted a spy birthday last year and I didn't make it happen until this year) It was a fun party, but probably the most work I have ever spent on a party! The planning details took me weeks of thinking, internet searching and prepping. The whole length of the party was high energy and crazy. I did my best to take pictures but it was not an easy task.
The invitations were pieces of paper, letters to each secret agent in a top secret envelope.

When the kids arrived there was a table set up for picking a secret agent name and being fingerprinted. William chose "Golden Eagle", Zachary was "Slate Bat", and Jameson picked "Silver Hawk". All the kids seemed to enjoy the names they picked and did a good job putting their fingerprint on their badge. They all wore their badges for the rest of the party.

Their first training mission was to complete the laser maze. They all did a great job!



Next was the bomb detonation training. They went in pairs and had 20 seconds to detonate (pop) as many bombs as possible :)



The 3rd training mission was completing an agility obstacle coarse. The had to run thru the screen tent and somersault on the mat. Climb the dome and then scale down the ladder. Walk over a bench. Run and jump over the alligator. Climb onto the table and swing across the water pool. (Which I never got around to filling up! whoops) Around the corner was the balance beams with some surprises! Silly string and whiffle balls flying from a pitching machine that they had to dodge while crossing the beams. Their last obstacle was to scale a wall "aka a picnic table on it's side". They all did a great job.







Refueling was necessary after that. Inside for juice boxes, fruit, cheese sticks, and fruit snacks.

Once all the agents were back to full energy, it was into the back of the pickup for an ispy trip on the ranch. They all had to be on the careful lookout for 7 things which I listed for them to find and bring back. A painted rock, a robot claw, shiny binoculars, a crime scene, an empty bottle of Orangina, a ball cap, and the final code symbol written in rocks!



They found it all and came back with a sketch of the symbol they had found. Throughout the party they had received a code symbol for each training completed. After finding the final symbol, I gave them the cipher sheet to decode their message. It spelled "winners"!

A final "bomb" was to be detonated in the back yard.... the piñata. The party bags with spy goodies were handed out, candy was retrieved from the exploded bomb, and the bomb cake was devoured.



It doesn't sound like much, but after everyone left, I pretty much collapsed! William assured me that he had an AWESOME time, so it was all worth it :) right? Not sure if I will ever attempt to throw a party that involved again... but the kids all had a super time.

Uncle Ian and cousin Emmett made a special appearance for the party as well! Thanks for coming and helping guys :) We love you!



Happy birthday William!

Thursday, September 24, 2015

7 and 37- happy birthdays

It's crazy how fast it comes and goes each year! William had made a count down chain for his birthday and it had like 10+ chains on it... now we are 2 days past the day already. Man.

Our special day was a pretty normal one. William had thought ahead and did extra school lessons on Monday so he could have a light school load for his birthday. (smart kid). I made homemade lemon cupcakes in the morning amiss the regular AM chaos so we could bring treats to celebrate at park day. We packed lunches, Billy ran down the road to kill a rattlesnake for a neighbor, and we were off to the park!
The boys had fun with the kids who showed up. Billy took most of them on one of his famous adventures they all love so much, we ate cupcakes & headed out for errands. I wanted to find some things for Williams birthday party we are throwing Saturday. Got a piñata, candy, silly string and balloons. Then, we headed home for some dinner (kids ate) & off on a bear hunt.


We saw the usual turkey & deer. Spotted a huge black wild pig and a couple tarantulas. Drove up to a lookout point to watch the sun set and then took a road through a canyon we hadn't driven on yet. It took us full circle back toward home right as it was getting dark. I cooked up a quick salmon and arugala dinner for Billy & I and we sang happy birthdays & ate leftover cupcakes from the morning!





William opened up a few presents after he finished school, before we left the house. I opened a couple after we got home. It was a nice day!
OH! William lost his 7th tooth that night, on his 7th birthday! Crazy. We need to buy a lottery ticket or something!

Monday, September 14, 2015

Have you ever...

Have you ever come around the corner in your home at night to a huge tarantula climbing on your wall!?!
That happened to me last night, around 10pm, when I was headed to bed. I watched it for a minute, took a picture, then got the broom, knocked it to the floor and shooed it out the front door. Good times. I emailed Billy a picture right after with a note that read, "it's really time to fix the screen on the door :)"
I guess it's all part of life living in the wilderness!

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Little Hawaiian Girl

Some friends from church picked up this cute dress from Hawaii for Leila! She looked so cute on Sunday at church :)


Tuesday, September 1, 2015

First day of School

William & Zachary had their first official day of school today! (it was also opening day of dove hunting season... as I found out, waking up to gun shots sounding a bit close)
Anyway, William is starting 2nd grade & Zachary is a very excited Kindergartener!




I have been busy fixing up the office in preparation for 2 in the room needing a work area. Lots of late nights, cleaning out, organizing, and assembling new desks! The room feels good though, a good learning environment. The boys each have their own desk, computer, and materials.





We even managed to take some first day of school photos :)

Now I just need to figure out how to make everything smooth as I bounce back and forth helping them with their lessons. It will be a learning curve for us all.