It's Party Time!

We celebrated Lance's Birthday last Saturday, September 17th.

Earlier that morning we had family pictures on campus taken by our friend Emily who drove into town the day before. She is very talented and I'm excited to see the pictures when she's done editing them! Everyone was a trooper, especially with the aid of the M&M's Emily brought. Probably one of the best family photo session experiences I've ever had. :)

The rest of afternoon was spent doing last-minute party prep. Even when most of the stuff is done, it's amazing how much there is left to do. Emily helped a lot, but had to leave early because she and John were getting sick. George's parents came in the late afternoon and were super helpful getting snacky foods and helping set up before the guests arrived.

I finally added the figures to the cake. Here is the finished product:

I think it turned out great! Not as professional as the picture on our computer, but for all the experience I have in making cakes (none), it couldn't have looked better.

Lance was pretty excited about it, too! He thought it was "awesome" which made all the hours and hours totally worth it.

We had to get at least one shot of the completed pinata together before it was destroyed at the party. Lance loved it, as did I. It never would have been finished without the help of George, Melissa and Emily. Thanks, guys! Those bird balloons in the background were made using a free template off the internet--print, cut and tape onto the corresponding colored balloon. Easy decorations!

George, knowing the hard work we both put into this party, took the camera and made sure to get some good, detailed shots of the cake. That rock mat under the cake is homemade by me as well... I took rocks from Michaels and glued them using E6000 to a shelf liner. Melissa helped with that, too.

The pinata. We were both a little sad this cute pig was about to meet his death.

7:00 rolled around and it was party time! 

It got dark pretty quick, so we did the pinata first. George was manning the rope and since it was such a sturdy creation, we didn't bother blindfolding the kids--they would have enough trouble breaking it without being visually impaired as well.

Lance was up to bat first and managed to put a good-sized dent in it.

The kids all lined up from youngest to oldest and each took several swings at the pig: 

Even after two rounds of all the kids and Lance's third turn, all they managed to do was dent it and knock off an ear.

Mason, Tyler, and Scott watching the pig's demise.

We tried to give Jude a turn, but he was scared to smack the pig, so he hung out in the swing instead.

Since the kids were having a hard time killing the pig, we called in the "big dogs" and had Rod take a turn. He managed to split it in half and knock it to the ground, but the pinata would not give up the goodies that easily.

So, George and Rod took matters into their own hands:

"One, two, three... pull!"

Candy frenzy!

(Thanks, Nicole and Laura for being my camera crew while I tried to keep the game going!)

While the kids were picking up the toys and candy that had spilled, George and I ran inside and set up the next game: Stomp the Pigs. We had blown up about 45 balloons, each with a prize inside, and then threw them all into the living room. The kids ran from the playground into our house to pop as many balloons as they could (to the tune of "Angry Birds" of course) and collect the prizes. It was loud, it was crazy, it was tons of fun!

Lance had put on his soccer cleats before the party and for my life I couldn't figure out why. Planning ahead?

Poor Kendall was having a hard time popping the balloons with her tiny frame and enlisted the help of her mom.

I came to the rescue of a few smaller kids and popped some balloons for them. (Can you see my mom in the corner being the camera man? Thanks, Mom!)

The balloons were gone in a matter of minutes and all the kids came away with a handful of candy and bouncy balls. (Lance had collected probably half the balls--he would stomp the balloons and if there was candy, he would move onto the next one, leaving the candy for someone else to claim. At least he knows what he wants.)

Then it was cake time!

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!"

Make a wish!

While George was slicing the cake, Lance wanted to taste one of the birds.

NOT as tasty as he was expecting. It didn't stop him from taking a bite out of several of the other figures--maybe to see if they all tasted the same?

Bennett REALLY wanted some cake!

Waiting for his piece.

I guess forks and bowls are overrated? Lance didn't waste any time digging in.

The cake was great! I used Emily's recipe and it turned out wonderfully dense and moist.

There were so many people there, we didn't all fit inside. With my family, George's family, Scott and all our friends, it was quite the crowd! Lance is a lucky kid to have so many people who love him!

Present time! Everyone was so generous in their gifts. Lance walked away that night with quite a haul.

All the kids gathered around to watch.

Sweet! Dinosaur puzzles!

Legos! Lance's favorite!

A pillow pet. Lance has been asking for one of these for more than a year now.

Remote control car! Thanks, Grandma!

Happy boy!

Scott and Lance opening some family gifts from Joyce, Cal, Pete and Jessica, and Grandpa Bob. 

Jude and Mason--cousins! I love this picture. It makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Most of our friends went home shortly after the gift-opening, leaving just our family. It was nice to be together for a bit before they had to drive home. We sat around talking and snacking and enjoying the night.

 Me and my mom. I'm tired, can you tell?

Lance and his Angry Birds.

It was a GREAT party! A little chaotic, but what party isn't? It was so nice of our families to drive all the way from Ashburn to be there and celebrate, and for our friends to take time out of their Saturday evening to wish Lance a happy Birthday. We are so lucky to have such good people in our lives!

George and I were exhausted that night and I ended up falling asleep on the boys' bed trying to put them to sleep. The house was a disaster, the kitchen a mess, the floor covered in mashed-up cake and sticky ice cream.

Totally worth it!

And our poor pinata?

Let's just say, he'd seen better days. Good bye, little friend. You served us well.

Lance's Party Prep and Emily Jones!

A few weeks ago, I asked Lance what kind of cake he wanted for his Birthday. He immediately answered, "Angry Birds". He then showed me exactly what cake he wanted--the amazing cake we've had saved on our computer desktop for over a year. This one:

Really? This one? "Lance, I will try my hardest, but it won't look this good." "That's okay, Mom. Just as long as you try."

For those of you who don't know what "Angry Birds" is, it's a game you can play on your iPod Touch that is extremely popular and incredibly addicting. Basically, the pigs stole the birds' eggs to eat and now you are trying to destroy the pigs by launching the birds via a slingshot at the pig's buildings which they attempt to demolish. It's really fun and Lance has loved playing the game. Thus Lance's Angry Birds Party was born.

I spent a while researching fondant and a week before we were going to celebrate, I enlisted Amy's help in making the birds and pigs for the cake. We spent over four hours carefully shaping each figure and adding detail. I used store-bought fondant for the figures and because it is expensive, we came up with a way to cut down on how much we used--we shaped the fondant around lollipops. It was perfect!

 Sisters. Amy was awesome!

King Pig. I think he was one of my favorites we made.

Amy working on the old grandpa pig.

Finished products. Amy even worked on the rocks and the TNT box the next day. What a good Aunt Lance has!

The rest of the week was spent doing lots of prep. Jude and I went to several stores several times trying to get all the supplies. Lance mentioned he wanted an Angry Birds pinata, but when I looked them up online, the one place that made them were selling them for $70!! So, we made our own.

We started out with a large balloon about like this one:

The one I used was a bit bigger.

George had the week "off" to study for his Step 2 and spent a lot of time entertaining Jude while I worked on the party prep.

The pinata came together really well! We started Tuesday night doing layers of paper mache and allowed them to dry before applying new ones. I think we did 6 layers all together.

George lent his had Thursday night and was the mastermind behind reinforcing the pinata and figure out a way to hang it so it wouldn't fall at the first hit.

We put the final touches on the "skeleton" to turn the balloon into a pig.

Next came the paint.

And then the decorations. We got crepe paper from the dollar store, cut it into probably a million little squares and attached it to the pinata with elmers glue. How did we get it to be so fluffy?

We wrapped each individual square of crepe paper around the eraser end of a pencil and pushed them onto the pinata.

It was super tedious, but the effect was awesome!

I stayed up until 4 a.m. trying to get as much done as possible. George had helped until around 1 and had to go to bed to stay on a decent schedule for his test. 

Friday morning rolled around and there we were, still working on the pinata.

Emily Jones came into town Friday to spend some time with us and to take our family pictures! Friday afternoon she took the Elmer's family pictures while I watched Lizzy and John.

Mac and cheese! Doesn't get much better than that!

George had worked all day long on a fantastic meal to feed Emily that night. So after the Elmer's pictures. we invited the Elmers and the Baileys over and had a feast of pork tenderloin cooked sous vide, pumpkin "stuffed with everything good", candied carrots, and garlic bread. It was so good! 

Emily spent the night with us and Melissa stayed until late helping with the Birthday prep.

While I was making fondant to cover the cake...

...George, Melissa, and Emily tackled the rest of the pinata.

 Even Lance and Kendall got into the action.

Covering the cake with fondant was an adventure to say the least. I wish I had pictures because it was hilarious. It kept sticking to everything--so there I was trying to roll it out with George giving advice and Aric and the rest of the Elmers looking on and laughing at the huge mess I was making. After several attempts of rolling, adding more powdered sugar and kneading the heck out of it (not to mention covering the kitchen and dining area with sugar and fondant), we finally got the cake covered. Kendall, Britton and Jayden had a good time messing with the leftover fondant while I smoothed out the cake and got it ready for the figures we would add right before the party.

I think we all made it to bed that night around 1 a.m. Saturday (September 17th) was going to be a busy day with family pictures in the morning, setting up for the party, and then friends and family coming into town for the party that night. We were really excited!

Happy Birthday, Lance!

Yesterday was Lance's 6th Birthday! We are actually celebrating this Saturday with family and our favorite families here in Charlottesville, but we tried to make his Birthday day a special one.

He actually got to bring cupcakes to school! I was surprised (I've heard rumors and horror stories about snacks and treats being banned due to allergies), but thankfully Lance's elementary school still allows it. He wanted chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting--surprise!--which I was happy to make for him. He helped me frost and decorate them the night before with him on the essential sprinkle duty.

He was excited to take them to school and share with everyone. When I picked him up that afternoon, he was beaming and said that everyone loved the cupcakes AND his teacher wanted the recipe. There is no better compliment than that! I was even stopped by one of the teachers helping herd the kids to the cars who told me they were great. I'm so glad they turned out!

We let Lance pick what he wanted for dinner since it was his special night. Originally he said China King Buffet, a favorite, but changed his mind to hot wings right before we left. We ate at Wild Wings Cafe off of Main Street. It was good and Lance was excited he got his wings. It was a good day and Lance went to bed that night saying he had fun.

I thought now would be a good time to write down a few things about Lance so I can remember this phase in his life.

Here we go:

- He LOVES the Transformers movies and watches them with his dad all the time. He has collected many of the toys and is very good at transforming even the difficult ones.

- Some of his favorite things to play with (besides his friends Killian and Kendall) are water guns, bouncy balls, and Nerf guns.

- His favorite food to eat is probably Chinese food--especially their noodles.

- He's not a big candy eater, but will devour a Hershey's chocolate bar in no time. Just don't put anything in his chocolate. He's a purist. He doesn't really like cake or ice cream or most desserts either, but will have bites if it's chocolate. He won't eat fruit snacks or most other kid snacks.

- He will, however, eat tons of Cheezits, Oreo's, and fishy crackers.

- The only veggies I can get him to eat are carrots (raw and dipped in ranch dressing) and broccoli (cooked). The only fruit he will eat is an apple, sliced with the skin removed and sometimes strawberries. We eat a lot of broccoli and apples at our house.

-  He is a bit of a picky eater, although he does have some crazy things he likes to eat, such as lamb, crab, shrimp, and crab. Did I mention crab? (Well, he used to like lamb until he found out it was baby sheep. Then he told us none of us should eat it because we were eating a baby.)

- Lance is obsessed with Legos and has a bucket here and at his dad's house that he is constantly using to build new things--usually cars and rockets and airplanes. I am always amazed at his creativity.

- He doesn't like to sing. I've been singing to him since he was a baby, but it is difficult to get any kind of song out of the kid. I don't know if it's because he feels like he can't sing or just doesn't want to. The two songs he will sing to himself are the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars and the Harry Potter theme. Interesting, huh? He has been singing a bit more lately--mostly narrating what he's doing at the time and I've really tried to encourage it and tell him I like to hear him sing. It's pretty funny!

- We have been working on reading for a while now and it's starting to stick. His enthusiasm for actually learning the skill isn't great, but now he's in school I've noticed a big difference his his willingness to try. I'm excited because I love to read and hope this love will rub off on him as well.

- Lance is 100% boy. He loves to get dirty, he loves to be wet, he loves to run and climb and jump off of anything and everything.

- He is constantly "on the go". There are few things that will hold his attention for much longer than a few minutes. Legos and TV are a couple of them.

- He loves to watch Phineas and Ferb on the Disney channel. I love to watch it with him. :)

- Lance is a passionate person and everything he does, he does at full power. When he laughs, he laughs hard. When he cries, he cries hard. When he plays, he plays hard. If he's upset, he's really really upset. If he's happy, he can't contain himself.

- One of my favorite things Lance and I do is lay down for a few minutes in his bed together before he falls asleep. He's asked me to do this with him every night for years and I love it! Yes, sometimes I only have time for a minute, but often we spend a while talking about things that are important to him, about his day, about a cool toy or something that happened at school. It's a neat time because it's quiet, there aren't any distractions and we can be together and just talk--something that doesn't usually happen during the rest of the day.

- Lance is a good brother--reluctantly. Jude is a bit messy and drools (which Lance has a hard time with) and can be a bit of a pesky brother, but I'll often hear the boys playing together and Lance making Jude laugh. We're all still learning how to be kind and nice and we're getting better at it day by day. Lance and Jude love each other and I know they will grow into great friends as they get older.

Lance is a wonderful boy that brings so much energy and love into my life. He is constantly teaching me how to be patient and kind and how to love. In these six years, I've learned a lot about myself and what his really important in life through being his mother and trying to teach him what he needs to know to be happy. I love his smile, I love his enthusiasm for life, and I love how the little things make him happy. I can't believe my baby is 6 years old!

Lance, thank you for being part of our family and for sharing your fun spirit with us. You make life more fun and eventful. I thank Heavenly Father every day for the blessing that is you! Happy Birthday, Lance!