Birthday Party Olympic Style

Last Saturday we had the "big party" for John and Ben's birthdays. I haven't done a true theme party in quite awhile, so I had a lot of fun putting this one together.

On the invitations, I had the kids RSVP with a country they'd like to represent (a good way to get people to actually RSVP). I made them each little flags and we did a Parade of Nations...

...followed by the lighting of the Olympic Torch:

Then we divided them into two teams, Red and Blue, and had a battle for the gold!

Here's the "discus throw."

Check out Christopher's look of determination! He's done his level best to keep up with his big brothers from day one, I'm tellin' ya.

The Basketball Toss:

(That's Chris, if you can't tell.)

Their oldest cousin is finally getting too old for this kind of stuff, and decided to join the adults as a spectator (I can't imagine why):

Next was the relay race. They had to use a spoon to get water from the bucket:

Race to the other side without spilling the water:

Deposit the water in their team's cup and race back to pass it off:

At the end of the race, the team whose glass has the most water (no matter how it got there - ahem) is the winner! (This was my favorite event; the kids expressions were too cute.)

At first Christopher's spoon was bone dry by the time he got to his glass:

But after a few times, he finally started slowing down and got a drop or two in. Hooray!

The Soccer cone race:

Brady looks like a pro here! :)

Brian was in charge of all the picture taking, and got in some cool shots of the torch:

The Water Balloon Toss:

And that was that! We awarded gold medals to the Red Team for the events they won:

And gold medals to the Blue Team for the events they won. (There were some rumors about one of the officials "fixing" a challenge on behalf of the Blue team, but don't ask me about it - ask BRIAN!)

This little kiddie pool (look familiar Rachel?) had been the target for the discus competition. As soon as the games were over, this is where several of the athletes headed to cool off. This picture looks so nice and refreshing, what with the pool and the big shade tree, but believe me, it was hot!




The adults opted for a more grown-up reprieve from the heat:

The grandmas:

I love this pic of my nephews, Ryan and Trevor:




Instead of a regular cake, I made cupcakes and put them in the shape of the Olympic rings. This was nice because we didn't have to cut cake for a bunch of people, and the "decorating" was easy (the candles spell out "Happy Birthday"). But unfortunately, the blue frosting wasn't very dark and the red turned out more pink than red. Oh well. That's something good about boys: there's no pressure about those kinds of details because they simply don't care.

After cake and ice cream, I gave them each a goodie bag filled with a few little things, like Americana-themed pencils, mini-kaleidoscopes, bouncy balls, etc...

...but there was plenty of room left in the bags for candy from the pinata!

(This was a "paper bag" pinata I made in lieu of a paper mache one. Much easier!)

And that was it! The kids had so much fun, and I did too. Even though it might seem like a lot of work, this party was really pretty simple to put together. Most the games required little to no prep work and we kept the decorations simple too. I'll have to remember next time not to schedule it over Labor Day weekend - so many of their friends were out of town - but they had fun anyway. Maybe we'll do an Olympic party again... in four more years. ;)

It's Okay... I Like the Rain Anyway

Last Thursday, we had a big electrical storm here in the Valley. I missed most of it because I was in a restaurant with Rachel, Staci and Becky, talking till the wee hours of the morning. When I got home, I discovered my internet wasn't working. It took us a few days of troubleshooting to figure out why, but it turns out the modem got zapped in the storm. Know what that meant? I was without the internet for a week.


A week, people.


Cut off my leg, why don't ya? I went down to the library a couple of times to check my email and do some speedy blogging, so I wasn't completely cut off. But close enough. I was oh so happy when the new modem arrived.


But that ain't all. The morning after the storm, I came out and saw something a little unusual in my yard.

This is the top of my palm tree:


This is the bottom:




All I could think was, "What in the?" LOL. I mean really. What in the???

But Where Are the Little Green Men?

Here's another great pic from Astronomy Picture of the Day (the explanation that follows is theirs too):

High Cliffs Surrounding Echus Chasma on Mars

(This is not how I picture Mars, so I think this is cool.)

Explanation: What created this great cliff on Mars? Did giant waterfalls once plummet through its grooves? With a four-kilometer drop, this high cliff surrounding Echus Chasma, near an impressive impact crater, was carved by either water or lava. A leading hypothesis is that Echus Chasma, at 100-kilometers long and 10-kilometers wide, was once one of the largest water sources on Mars. If true, water once held in Echus Chasma likely ran over the Martian surface to carve the impressive Kasei Valles, which extends over 3,000 kilometers to the north. Even if initially carved by water, lava appears to have later flowed in the valley, leaving an extraordinarily smooth floor. Echus Chasma lies north of tremendous Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the Solar System. The above image was taken by the robotic Mars Express spacecraft currently orbiting Mars.

Book Blurb: Joan of Arc

This is a book I read for the kids' school library (all books have to be reviewed by parents before going on the shelf), so it's really geared for kids in the upper elementary grades through junior high. Personally, I've found books like this can be a great way to get an overview of something (or someone) I'm not familiar with. I knew just the tiniest bit about Joan of Arc, so I wanted to know more, but I wasn't interested enough to check out a full 300+ page adult book on the subject. (This one was just 130 pages.) It had plenty of artwork, pictures, and maps, and a clear and compelling narrative voice. I appreciated the simplified overview of the rift between France and England at that time, as well as the straightforward way the religious aspects of her story were told. All in all, this book really brought the story to life for me. I was absolutely fascinated by this woman (well, girl really). Regardless of what people think about her hearing "voices," her story is simply amazing. It makes me want to browse the history section the next time I go to the library, and look for a good "kid's" book on an interesting subject. If you're interested in Joan of Arc, I recommend this one