May the Force be with Ty

I know.  I don't know why.

Anyways...

We had a little boy birthday party Saturday. And we had five very happy little boys after their Jedi Training Academy Party.  I was nervous because what do I know about little boys?  Fortunately, I know about lesson planning:  1)  You always overplan  2)  You constantly re-assess and adjust as needed.  And did I ever do both.  The theme of this party was indeed "Jedi Training Academy" and the boys had different tasks to complete or, in other words, party games.   We had more games than I thought we could ever possibly do and did them all.  I planned 10-15 min per game.  One took about 2 minutes and the other a half-hour.  Yes, flexibility within the plan is key.

 Ty was thrilled with his spread.  We had popcorn and grapes for snack which were both cheap and props used for the first Jedi Training Task.   The first task was mastering fine motor control and to do so they had to eat the grapes and popcorn with chopsticks.

 

I relied heavily on clip art and made placemats, Darth Vaders leering at us (see window in background),  and clone troopers on cardstock that I cut out and taped to old boxes and bottles from the recyle bin so they stood at attention.  We also had great light sabers for each child made out of pool noodles and tape.  Note to self:  while it is very cute to have the lightsabers at each boy's chair, lets face it - they are going to start hitting each other with them immediately.  (That was one of the moments when we adjusted the lesson plan quickly.)

 

 After surveying the scene, Ty opted to go change his shirt to a more Star Wars one.  Cute.

 Marie was a huge help and a good sport.  She assembled Goodie Bags, frosted and decorated cake and cupcakes and helped with the games.  I was thrilled at her help and it was fun to see her get a kick out of being the "big" kid on the scene. 

After snack, the boys had to shoot Darth Vader with Marshmellow Blasters.  This worked great in theory;  they totally loved it and all wanted to do it.  However, the marshmellows were jamming in the gun and so it wasn't as seamless as we hoped.  However, I had hid the clone troopers that were taped to recycled boxes and bottles and the boys set off to find those, buying us some time.  Or so I hoped.  Turns out they are good finders and that took all of two minutes.  Time for the big guns - we pulled out the light sabers. 

This task was to attack the bubbles with light sabers.  Not your friend, not the garden and NOT your sister but the bubbles.  And about 8 out of 10 attempts were on the bubbles.  Not bad.  The other two we just remembered that it is pretty hard to hurt someone with a pool noodle. 

THIS activity went forever.  They loved it!  The girls helped to make bubbles.  They had different techniques:  the traditional but slow exhale-to-make-bubbles, the faster but more difficult twirl-your-body-with-the-bubble-wand-out method and last, our favorite, hold-the-wand-in-front-of-a-fan technique.   I wish you could have seen this;  it was amazing.  Those kids were running and laughing and completely lost in the moment as they ran through the bubble cloud.  Awesome.

 

After that we had rocket balloons, courtesy of Uncle Wobby.  If you ever see these on sale - buy them and stash them in your car.  At some point you will be waiting outside with impatient kids and these will save the day.  Running after the rocket balloons became our last Jedi Training Task.  It was just enough to tire them out.  And then, we caked.  Marie again rose to the occasion and scooped ice cream for each kid.  She loved the power of the ice cream scoop!  As you can see from this little face, Ty was a happy kid.  When he woke me up the next day (at 7am, a little on the later side for him), he said to me contentedly and reflectively, "I had a GOOD birthday party, Mom."  Ahhhh...success!

 

 

A Sample of Summer

SOOOO many photos of the summer to sort through! I just picked a few highlights to give you a sample of our summer here. Marie has grown up so much! She has lost her first tooth (yanked it out herself; new one still has yet to show). She is reading simple books and writing. Here she is making a go at the bike without training wheels. Not the best day for Jim's back. She is confident, talkative, opinionated and a great big sis to Ty. I can't believe how much she has grown in her summer of 5!

Some rare quiet time with Uncle Jeff in the hammock.

Ty...Ty has also grown a bit. He is talking in full sentences, no, paragraphs. He is a ham and loves to try and make everyone laugh. He loves to follow the older kids around and does a good job keeping up. Ty is the king of mischief and his sister aids and abets this. I turned around the other day to find Marie on her bike, pulling Ty on his scooter with a rope tied to the bike. Must watch closer...

I think these two photos sum up their personalities and their summers beautifully. Marie, loving the social time and dress-up time with her "Spicy Sisters" and Ty trying something new (making pizza) and loving it!

So few days left of our summer of 5 and 3!!! I am blessed with an amazing job but still my heart aches to be with them some more!

Beach Day!

I do indeed have a blessed life!

PS It isn't that we like Marie more and so she gets a life jacket. She was going out into the waves with Jim and Momma needed the security of the life jacket. Ty never ventured out that far!

Summer Day

Our front yard is well known in our neighborhood. I hope it is amusedly tolerated and not "oh those people with all the kid stuff in their yard." Because, there is a lot of stuff. The mini-rollercoaster, the slide, play sink are standards and then throw in the variety of child transport modules and it can get a bit much. But it is truly, truly fun. (And we always put the Slip n Slide away). Yesterday, Marie was enamored with the new bubble wands and spent a good half hour testing those out. Then she moved on to the stomp rocket. Always good. No rockets were lost in her work yesterday either, although one landed on the roof initially then slid down.

Ty, he is into the car. The car battery would last a lot longer if he would stick to the driveway. But, no, that isn't fun. So onto the grass he goes and then the car slows w-a-y down as it is not four-wheel drive. Yesterday he figured out how to 'neutral slam' it. He drives in forward gear and, without stopping, hits the switch to change it to reverse. Very fun when your sister is sitting on the back.

Ty taking a "short cut."

Then, there's water play. At the end of the slide, we have put a winter sled and filled it with water. No need for a swimming pool! Just slide down into the sled and you still get the splash! But if you do need your own swimming pool, just climb into the water play tub.

So, yes, people may prefer hastas and daisies to my romper-room motif but they will just have to put up with this look for the time being!

A little piece of the action:

Now She's Mad

It makes more sense if you know that Marie switches her d's and b's, switch them and you may be able to read her public service announcement.

Cars go fast down our road. I know, every parent feels that the cars go too fast down their road but in our neighborhood, ours is the only street that is not curvy and hilly. So when people get onto the Hillside Dr Straightway, they let it rip. They usually see the kids out and then slow down - after they have gone by! Both Ty and the neighbor boy who is two have gotten out into that road before a parent could nab 'em. It is a worry. So, yesterday, after what felt like the 100th car (probably was the third), I said, "That does it. I am making a sign." I did and Marie decided she wanted to as well. Mine is still sitting in the garage. I thought I would give hers a chance to work first. It is on the mailbox and I worried briefly if the postal carrier would take it personally. Then I remembered that he clocked at least 40 last time he flew through and decided I don't care if he does.

Just a Really Good Time...

We had an amazing but way too short time! I vowed, halfheartedly, to never leave the cabin and thanks to the rain and Ty's upset stomach, that came true. But rocking on the deck, overlooking the hills was not a bad way to spend a few days. The girls played Barbies, made crafts, did rocket balloons, a water balloon "fight" and just ran around together. The older kids played games, relaxed and taught the little ones the elements of "coolness." The adults ate waaay too much and just relaxed in each others' good company. Wish the miles were less and the visits more frequent!

Dress Up Night

We wanted to take a "Big Picture" of the girls. Much to-do was made about dresses, curls, lip gloss and hair beads. All the little ones were in an excited quiver about the fun of dressing up for the Big Picture. Primping and beading occurred and then they waited...

Finally, it was High Fashion Photo Time! The girls were in giggles because their loving brothers were making the silliest faces that only boys can do.


Then, Group Hug!

But, sadly, one little one felt awfully left out. Everyone else who was little got to dress up, why not him? So, we let him play along too. He even got a bead in his hair.
However, even though you can put the boy in dress up clothes but you can't make him be fancy at heart!

How They Spent Their Time...

Swimming in the "hot tub"


Shrinky-Dinkying and other crafts...



Bonding with each other...


Frequently Choo-chooing...


And Just Hanging Out Together!

The Players...

The often serious and elusive Ava B...queen of the dress up clothes. She will wear her hair short, Momma, and smile when she wishes! Adorable Princess!

Athletic Annalee...Queen of the Little Sisters of Atlanta. Everyone's Best Bud

Gorgeous Gracie...The Disney Princess and Queen of the Barbies. Marie was jealous of her fancy car seat the entire trip home.


Wisconsin Ava...The Other "Not a Little Sister" along with Marie. She and Marie learned some super cool moves from the older kids this week.


Marie...coming out of her shell and truly loving every second of it!

And Ty...always into something!

On Our Way...

We took off right after the 4th for a China Sisters Reunion. Again, a few families gathered together in Gatlinburg, renting a big lodge home in the Smokies. We drove down on the 5th and, needless to say, there were moments when it felt like it was a loooong ways away. But, all in all, the kids were great and enjoyed the I-pad just a bit. And sunglasses.







But the view and company were oh so worth the drive!

Revival

Marie went to Vacation Bible School. They had good tunes.

How to Have Fun At Some Boring Adult Thing

Yup. Have fun, will travel.

(see previous post for Ty's b-day)

Birthday Boy!

Ty's birthday was yesterday and the weather cooperated nicely! He was up and at em at his usually second after sunrise. Jim let him watch some PBS on the IPad so Marie and I could get a normal amount of sleep before we all had breakfast together. Ty had a breakfast of champions - instant mac n cheese. He entertained a few phone calls at that time too to begin his day. The previous day, his daycare celebrated with him and he sported his crown from that all morning!

After breakfast, the kids got down to business of sorting out these envelopes and wrapped gifts, making short work of that. Ty was thrilled with his robot bank, truck book, dinosaurs from Uncle Wobby and Aunt Sandra, swimming toys from Grandma Tina and dinosaur mask from sissy.

Pretty much the rest of the day was spent outside. Marie and Ty played outdoors in the AM and then the Fed Ex truck arrived with another gift. Rocket Blaster!!! Thank you Uncle Jeff. That got the neighbor kid over right away the second he got home from his soccer game. Playing with that, losing the rockets in the trees, garden and on the roof of the house took up the rest of the morning, right up until nap time.

After nap, we had Ty's favorite snack of popcorn and headed to the Choo-Choo. Ty and Marie waved to half of Traverse City as they went around and around on the "Spirit of Traverse City." Ty was thrilled with himself because, "I no think it scary any more, Momma. I LIKE IT!" After a quick trip to the beach we brought home two sandy, tired kiddos. They shared some dinner and birthday cake on the back porch before bedtime. As we gave Ty his bath, Marie decided to put herself to bed. She currently has decided to sleep on her travel cot, with a sleeping bag and her huge animal pillow rather than on her bed. This way she doesn't have to make her bed in the morning, she reasons. So, she climbed into her sleeping bad, stripped down to her skin and slept until 9:30 rather than taking a bath. She woke up, crying and confused, got her teeth brushed and story read and then back into bed!

Ty went to bed after insisting that Jim sit in the hall where he could see him. Jim obliged and then Ty woke up another 4 or 5 times, each time expecting Jim to still be in the hall. Long night for both. Again, 6am, Ty is up and raring to go. Momma took the turn this AM so Daddy could get some shut-eye. Ty, at lunch time, was starting to feel it finally...

Stinker