Transformers

When school began in the fall, Connor began inviting all the kids in his class at school to his birthday party.  He told them it was going to be a Star Wars party at Pump It Up.  In the six months that have passed since then, he changed his mind from Star Wars to Power Rangers.  About three weeks ago, he was still adamant he wanted a Power Rangers party until he was looking through the cake book at the store.  He decided he preferred the Transformers cake over the Power Rangers cake.  He promised he wouldn't change his mind again, so the plans for the party were set in motion.

Although Pump It Up parties are a blast for kids, they are expen$ive.  We decided to nix the Pump It Up portion of the party, and threw a couple of different ideas out to Connor.  He finally settled on the idea of having a movie party.  As I started making phone calls, however, I soon learned that there are NO movie theaters in the area that host birthday parties.  Some quick brainstorming on Jeremy's part resulted in suggesting a movie theater in an outdoor mall setting, directly across from a restaurant.  A movie followed by pizza.  And if the parents didn't want to go to the movie, they could walk around the mall.  Perfect!  Luckily, a new kids movie was released just 3 weeks prior to the party.  It all came together.

The Invites

The Friends

Of course Connor wanted to invite all 24 kids in his class from school.  We quickly brought that number down to the few that he actually plays with and calls "friend."  First on the list (of course) was Rita.  It wouldn't be complete without her.  He also invited his friends and neighbors Ian, Ella, Charlie, and Cooper.  As luck would have it, his cousins Kenner and Kameron were in town, so they were also able to join us.  Riley and Lexi rounded out the number of attendees to 10, including the birthday boy. Unfortunately Ian was out of town for spring break so ended up missing the party.  However, Ella's brother Conley joined us, as well as Cooper's sister, Bella.

The Movie

We all met at the movie theater to watch the movie, Rango.  Although the kids seemed to enjoy the movie, I think I would have preferred a more lighthearted kids' movie if we were to do it again.  Of course not having seen it beforehand, there was no way of knowing.  The manager of the movie theater had actually given us the idea of buying one large popcorn, divvying it out into smaller cups for each of the kids, then getting free refills.  So that's exactly what we did.  I bought special Transformers cups the kids could take home with them after the movie.  We also snuck in mini bottles of Hawaiian Punch, so the kids were set for the movie.

The Food

After the movie, we walked next door to Old Chicago.  They put several tables together for us, so we had plenty of room.  We grouped all the kids together at one end, while the adults sat at the opposite end - close enough to keep our eyes on the kids, but also far enough away that we could carry on our own conversations.   Perfect!





The Birthday Boy



The Cake

Although he was a little disappointed the Transformers on his cake didn't actually transform, that didn't stop Connor from asking for seconds.  Being the chocoholic that he is, he would have had thirds if we would have let him.

The Gifts

As usual, Connor was spoiled with gifts.  One of the great things I've noticed with young kids is it doesn't matter what it under the wrapping paper.  They're excited with every gift.  Something else I noticed is that it doesn't matter how many Spiderman action figures you already have waiting for you at home.  Getting one more can still put a huge smile on your face.

 

The Favors

As with any party, each child received a party favor box when they left.  I'm guessing unlike most parties, the birthday boy made a special request to keep one of the favor boxes for himself.

Winding Down

Once all the kids were properly overloaded with popcorn, pizza, cake and sugary drinks, you can imagine they were a little wound up. One exception was poor Rita. She was still feeling a bit under the weather, but had no intention of missing Connor's birthday party.  Even though she wanted to stay, she bid her farewell when it was time for cake.  The other exception was Riley.  It was well past nap time, and it showed.  He passed out almost immediately once we loaded him into the car.  When we got home, he still didn't wake up.  As much as we tried, we could not get the kid to wake up.  It gave a whole new meaning to sugar crash.
 

 

Science Fair

Riley's school does a very good job with planning school activities for the entire family, even extending them past normal business hours so parents don't always have to take time off of work in order to attend.  A few days ago, Riley brought home an invitation for us to attend his science fair at school.  Included with the invitation was a shirt his teacher made for him to wear during the fair.

The timing ended up working out for us since we needed to get out of the area anyway due to the wildfire.  When we arrived, Riley was waiting for us in his classroom.  He didn't want to join us as we looked at all the various projects, but soon had a change of heart.  We visited his class display first, the Elements of the Ocean.  Each child made an "ocean in a bottle."  Ms. Tara also made sugar cookies in the shapes of various sea creatures.  Not surprising, the cookies are what helped Riley change his mind about joining us.

Each class had a different project on display.  Kameron seemed to enjoy the display from Riley's old class, the Kangas.  The younger kids thought the "dancing noodles" were pretty cool, while Connor wanted to keep doing the "lava lamp."

Yikes!

After eating lunch and devouring the dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts with Grandma, the Bartletts, and the DisneyLunds, we were just hanging around chatting while the kids played upstairs, passing time until it was time to leave for Riley's science fair.  At one point the phone rang.  I looked at caller ID and saw it was from the County.  Thinking that was odd, I answered, but heard silence on the other end.  I didn't think anything of it until a bit before 3:00 when a friend from work called and asked if we were okay.  Puzzled, I answered, "Um, yeah."  She said she wasn't sure if we had to evacuate or not.  At this point I told her I had no idea what she was talking about.  She explained there was a wildfire down around a town near us, but from the sound of it, it was pretty far east of us.  But then she said the magic words, "It's right by Ponderosa High School."  Well, we can see Ponderosa High School from our house.  A field of grass, trees, a herd of cows, and a narrow two lane road is pretty much all that separates us.  In other words, a natural path for the fire.  While she was still on the phone, I ran upstairs and looked out a window and immediately saw what she was talking about. 

Ponderosa High School

We turned on the news to get more details. All the news crews were filming from Ponderosa. Several surrounding areas were being evacuated. That was about the time Grandma suggested the phone call from the County may have been a reverse 911 call. It was almost time for Riley's science fair anyway, so we started bundling all the kids up and loading them in the car. Jeremy stayed behind to load up some of our priority items if it came to that - pictures, documents, etc. As we started to leave, our neighbor's mother pulled up. She lives in the subdivision closest to the fire and received the reverse 911 call. When she looked out her window, it was practically in her backyard. She and her husband came to seek refuge in our neighbor's house, so I enlightened her we may be kicked out soon too. Grandma and the Bartletts followed me out of our subdivision. As we headed up the state highway that runs along Ponderosa, I was amazed to see the amount of traffic and congestion. People were parking on the road to watch the show. In a stretch of road that usually takes just 2 minutes to drive, it took nearly 15 minutes to get through. A line of trucks with horse trailers were coming out of the closest subdivision, with the entrance blocked off by police. It was crazy. We definitely won't forget this birthday for Connor!

Skate City

There are some memories from my childhood that can come rushing back by a simple smell or sound.  That's exactly what happened today when we walked through the doors at Skate City today.  I was instantly taken back in time to when I was in elementary school.  It looked the same, they were playing the same music as they did way back then (i.e. YMCA), and it even smelled the same.  Why is that?

Skate City hosts a pixie class every Thursday for children ages 2-6. Dre had taken Lexi before, so suggested it as an outing for the kids. Connor is still on spring break, and he wanted to spend as much time as possible with Kenner since he'll be back in school next week and won't have much play time.  We arrived before Kenner though, so Connor was a little unsure of himself at first, even with sweet Lexi by his side.  Daddy took him out and taught him some basics.

 

By the time Kenner arrived, Connor was a little more comfortable in the rink and had a blast cruising around with his cousins.  Kameron also came, and got as far as having his skates put on, but had no intention to try them out.  Instead, he hung with Jules, Grandma, Jasmine and me.  Honestly, I think if Riley had come along he would have been standing there right next to Kameron.

 

At one point all the kids lined up to do the limbo. The three kids patiently waited their turn. Afterward, they all sat along the wall for a drink of lemonade.


 

When I mentioned Skate City to one of my friends at work, she enlightened me that the doughnut shop she's always talking about is right next door.  Since doughnuts are one of Connor's favorite treats, I mentioned to him that we would stop by to get him one.  However, when we came out of Skate City, they were all sold out.  Granted, it was almost noon.  Connor was bummed until I mentioned two words to him - Krispy Kreme.  He perked right up!  Luckily for us, there's a Krispy Kreme on the way home.  Since everyone was coming over to our place for lunch, we stopped to pick up a dozen.  Connor was more than happy to help pick them out.

SIX YEARS OLD!

Six years.  It seems like a long time, but yet it's hard to believe it's already been six years since Connor was born.  It's gone way too fast.  Wanting to spend time with him for his birthday, but also wanting to spend time with the Bartletts while they are in town, I took the day off.  We started off the morning with Connor coming downstairs to his birthday surprises waiting for him.  After breakfast, we were off for some fun at Skate City.  After Skate City, lunch back at our house.  Later in the afternoon, we visited Riley's school for his science fair.  From there, we headed to Texas Roadhouse.  Connor's choice.  For a change, I actually got to sit next to the birthday boy.

 

Just when he thought we really did forget to tell our waitress that it was his birthday . . .

We got home from dinner just in time for a very important phone call.  It took a minute for Connor to realize who was on the other end, but one he realized it was Rita, he was all smiles.