Month: May 2017

We started the summer right by biking to a nearby playground.

Long lunches are back too.  Indulgent, but they eat their fruits and vegetables this way!

Saturday we celebrated Jack’s Birthday!  Because it usually falls on Memorial Day weekend, and this time it was on Sunday, I bumped the party up a week so we could have it before school ends.  After planning a Star Wars party all year, he changed to Gravity Falls theme about three months ago.  There’s a lot less Gravity Falls merchandise than Star Wars (nothing at all versus millions) so this party took a strong DIY attitude.

Mummy Wrap race was a good starter while we waited for everyone to arrive.

The kids snacked on “Mabel Juice” “Chipackers” “Gnome barf” and eyeballs.

They also bedazzled their faces and drew their own Waddles the Pig Balloons.  

The main event was a treasure hunt. I offered a Team Dipper and Team Mabel trail – what a surprise that they split themselves by gender, right?  I’m quite proud of the hunt.  It took them around the house and yard with simple puzzles that needed only a little adult prodding to figure out.  They had to get creative a few times to find the clue.  I’m glad they were a little stumped at first, and it gave the groups time to each try ideas.  At the end they had to bring their pieces together to solve a decoded message.  But they solved the whole thing in about ten minutes.  The final message told them to look in the basement for Bill Cipher (the show’s villain) that I had made into a piñata.

This was the sweetest moment for me.  Jack came back from the piñata frenzy near tears, saying he didn’t get very much stuff. Four of his friends immediately grabbed fistfuls from their own bags and put it in his.  What great kids!

Cake, presents, and some water balloons and mummy racing finished the party.  We put on the show to let the kids watch while waiting for parents to pick them up.  

It was a rousing, great success that I’m sure Jack will remember well.  Shout out to my parents for being GREAT help running the party, and to Ben for jumping in to help out in games or clean up after the ruckus.

In this case, the dust is an apple 😉

Sam demanded a picture too.

What a good way to start the week!  Now Jack is regaling me with all the tooth fairy lore he has picked up from classmates.  Dylan wrote a letter and got to keep his tooth AND the money AND a bag of skittles.  Blakey says there is a different fairy for each kid.  If you leave a glass of water out she will dip her wand into and change it to her color and you will know what color your fairy is.  I wonder what new fairy tale he will bring home after sharing his news at school today.

Jack was asked to participate in a school assembly about their Seven Healthy Habits Program.  It was an honor to be chosen to be a part of the program, they singled him out for his responsible nature and exemplary use of the Seven Habits.  Ben and I got to attend and see him speak in front of the K-2nd grade audience.  He was very nervous in the weeks leading up to it.  We are so proud of him for speaking in front of so many kids!

I helped at the dessert table for the church’s Girls Camp fundraiser night.  Pineapple Upside-Down Cake is one of my favorites.  I decided to use the recipe from my American Cake book and adapt it to cupcakes.

It was years ago when I last make one of these.  If I recall, it was a fairly straight forward all-in-one dump cake.  Melt butter and sugar, layer pineapple, mix the rest and pour it on top to bake.  THIS recipe was crazy!

Make a separate butter sugar topping.  Cream the butter and sugar, sift dry ingredients separately.  Mix lemon zest and juice with sour cream, alternate that with the dry ingredients into the butter. THEN whip your egg whites and fold them in.  SO MANY BOWLS!

They were totally nummers, but I’m not sure it was worth all the hassle of production.

As you can see I tried both whole rings and chopping the pineapple.  The chopped version was the definite winner.  It absorbed the caramel topping better and melded with the cake.