Ian's class rodeo

Last Wednesday, Ian had a rodeo at school. The kids were dressed up in denim vests adorned with Texas symbols. They learned the state flower, bird, flag, and some songs about Texas. You know that Texas Independence Day is in early March ;) Yes, we used to be our own country.

 

Anywho, he was so excited for this day. Parents were invited, so I went.

 

First they had a picnic, where the kids 'paid' for their lunch with play money from their saddle bags. Then they played rodeo games like barrel racing, flag in the boot relay, and bull riding. Ok, so the bull riding was actually trying not to fall down while in a bounce house, but hey it was cute.

 

 

Happy Birthday Ian!

My baby boy is 5 years old! He's not a baby anymore :( but he is a very sweet, energetic little man - who loves sword fights, shooting toy guns, and building Legos!

Ian decided he wanted to have a Knight themed party with a castle cake. (This will be my third castle cake....but more on that later:)

Daddy and I decided to have the party at Lifetime Fitness, so we wouldn't have to entertain 12 children for a couple of hours. It was very nice to have 'wranglers' corral Ian's friends for games and activities. They jumped around in a bouncy house first. Then they played indoor soccer,

rolled around on scooters,

 and finally, played indoor hockey.

Everyone was worn out and ready for cake and pizza at the end.

We trekked upstairs to a conference room for the food and candle lighting.

It was a nice way to celebrate Ian's 5th!


And now a word about the cake.....

Scott and I thought that we should use some Lego knights to help decorate the cake. Well, then I thought it might be cool if we made the turrets and a draw bridge out of Legos. So, Scott got involved in the creation of the cake. At first, we had a little difficulty seeing eye to eye. But after a few negotiations, we came to a compromise :)

First, Scott built the drawbridge and I was a little taken aback by it....because it was huge! I got him to scale it back a bit, but it was still a little big. So, the platform was built.

This thing was pretty sweet. The whole top slides off to reveal a lower level where the knights dwell.

The top is held in place by the turrets which are also removable so that I could put the cake on top of the platform.

I used 2 - 9x13" cakes, 2 - 8x8" cakes, and half a loaf pan. It took 4 boxes of cake mix and about 10 cups of icing. 

 The grey icing was a little frustrating because it took a ton of it to get a dark grey that matched the Legos. I thought I had the color just right, and then the icing kept turning darker and darker as time went on. By the time we served the cake, it looked purple! At least we had already taken all our pictures by then :)

Payton's tooth

Right before supper tonight, I hear Payton cry out. She comes into the kitchen holding her chin because her tooth hurts and it's bleeding. I give her a paper towel to stop the bleeding and ask her if it's about to come out. This tooth has been loose for a week or two..... She doesn't think so, but then she decided that she didn't want to eat because it hurt. I couldn't really blame her.

So, she gets some yogurt because she doesn't have to chew that.

I don't know how most people are, but seeing her wiggle her teeth gives me the willies. I don't know why, but it freaks me out a little.

Ian and I are eating and all of a sudden, Payton has her bloody tooth in her hand. 'Look it came out!' she exclaims. 'I just twisted it and it popped out!'

 

I almost lost my supper right there.

 

She laughed. And I took her picture :)

 

Meet Superhero

Ian came home from school on Friday with a new pet.

Meet Superhero, his new pet rock.....covered in faux fur and googly eyes.

 

Scott and I were a little freaked out. His eyes follow you when you walk by. And he sheds!

But, Ian is so proud of him.

 

 

Happy Birthday Opa!

Last weekend, Opa and Kennedy came up and we celebrated Opa's birthday. It was also a nice opportunity for Opa and Oma to see each other. Oma's been up here in Plano doing physical therapy for her shoulder.

Leo and Scott played golf and tried out Opa's new GPS golf watch. This watch can tell you, no matter where you are, how far you are to the hole. Evidently, the watch worked great. But, I don't know if it really improved their game much.

Of course, no birthday would be complete without a cake :)

This was the second time I've used this cake pan. It turned out much better this time. The first time, it was a little lop-sided..... Yes, that's suppose to be a soccer ball.....not a flying saucer.


The weather was pretty nice, so Oma and I took the kids out to a park.

Dallas Zoo

Last Saturday we went to the Dallas Zoo. It couldn't have been a better day to go. It was 70 degrees and sunny. 

We had never been to the Dallas zoo and I really enjoyed it, especially the African safari side. 

Payton's favorite animals were the giraffes because she got to feed them. See those lettuce leaves? They sold those....3 leaves for $5!!!!!!! I felt like such a sucker, but at least the money will go to a good cause (I hope).

Ian liked the penguins the best.

Happy New Year!

What are you going to do differently in 2012? 

I tried to explain to the kids about New Year's resolutions....how people use January 1st as a mark to try to improve themselves or start something new. It's a chance to start anew. Not that we need a specific date to do necessarily do this, but it's a tradition that many people take part in. So I asked the kids if there was something they felt they needed to work on.

Payton said, 'No, Mom. I'm perfect.'

Huh. All righty then.

Of course, then I tried to explain to her that I thought she was very special and unique, but that everyone could always improve somehow or another. And that no one is perfect. I used the example of her whining. She admitted she did whine......

And she didn't have much to say after that.