Jude's Skylander Superchargers Birthday Party!

After the Pinewood Derby, George took the kids to get some lunch while I set up the party. 

Birthday boy!

The cultural hall is basically just a big basketball court, so we did our best to make it festive. 

Kaos!

One of the games the kids were going to play:

Hats! In Skylanders, you can upgrade your character by purchasing/earning hats that they wear, so of course we had to have some crazy hats for the kids.

Friends! 

Instructions on the first game:

First game we played was life-sized Hungry Hungry Hippos. I found this idea online and thought it would be so much fun! And it was, although I think the kids may have been a little young. It was a bit slow, but the kids seemed to enjoy it.

Basically, the kids were put into teams and each team had to collect as many balls as they could and bring them back to their "base". The team to collect the most balls got to pick their crazy hats first.

Haha! Love that George was being pushed by the kids.

Lily!

We played a couple times, everyone got to pick a crazy hat and also got their goodie bag with a beach ball to put inside.

Next game! We played the Minute-to-Win-it elephant game. Wearing hose on their heads with a baseball in the toe, the kids had to knock over 10 water bottles (each with a Skylander villain pictured on it) in under a minute without using their hands or feet.

I thought for sure it would be hard, but almost all the kids managed to do it in the time frame!

It was hysterical watching the kids swing their ball.

Prizes and snacks time!

Group shot:

We love having family so close! Laura and Tyler came down with their boys, as did the Scholz and the Glasses.

Last game: another Minute-to-Win-it game called "Junk in the Trunk". The kids had boxes full of ping pong balls strapped to their back and had one minute to shake all the balls out.

It made for some pretty funny moves!

Finally, piñata time!

Birthday boy went first (and I totally missed it!)

We then went youngest to oldest. I was convinced this piñata would be impossible to break, so we didn't bother with a blind fold.

It wasn't as strong as I thought! Mason put a big dent in it right at the beginning which had me sweating that we might not get through all the kids before it was destroyed.

George did a great job manning the rope!

Bryce

Lance

Callie got to deliver the final blow!

Candy!!

Then it was time for cake!

Happy Birthday, Jude!!

We hung out after the party for a bit before cleaning everything up. It was fun to see so many family members and friends.

This little girl loves her Aunt Jen!

Jude couldn't wait any longer and broke into his gifts, basically unwrapping the whole pile before I realized what he was doing. I'm still not sure who gave him what (sorry everyone!), but he was thrilled with each and every gift.

Astronaut ice cream! He had been asking for some for weeks, so George and I got him a big 10-pack with several different flavors.

It was a hit!

Lily wanted to help:

Snorkling gear! Just what he wanted!

The Birthday was a success! Jude was happy and the kids all went home with a bag full of goodies and candy. Thank you to all our family who made the two-hour drive to be there for Jude, and for helping clean up after the party! You guys are wonderful!

Love you, Jude! Happy 6th Birthday!

Birthday Prep and Lance's Pinewood Derby

Having most of the kids' Birthdays in January and February is rough! Not only is it tough to figure out how to separate it from Christmas, it's also just... A LOT. It feels like October through February I don't stop moving and I don't sleep. Halloween costumes, Christmas prep, and three Birthdays keep me busy. I do actually enjoy planning and creating events, I just wish there were more hours in the day.

Jude's Birthday is January 2nd, but in an attempt to make it it's own celebration and to give me time to get everything together, we pushed the official party to the end of the month. Jude was a good sport and didn't seem to mind.

Putting the boys to work making decorations:

They were on a painting kick. Thank goodness for this fun set of paints Aunt Amy got Jude and Cole for Christmas!

Each Birthday, the kids pick a theme and this year Jude picked Skylanders. Again. He's been obsessed with the Skylanders game since he discovered it last year and even though last year's party was Skylander themed, he insisted he wanted to do it again this year.

We always do pinatas and this year Jude wanted a Kaos one. (He's the "bad guy" in the game.)

After searching high and low on the internet for inspiration, I finally decided to just do his head.

I wasn't sure how to do the 3D details, so I ended up using foam and filling in the air pockets with Mod Podge.

After I let it dry, I covered it in Plaster of Paris. I'm certain there was a better way to do this, since the details remained a little soft (they're foam, after all!), but it worked.

Paint!

(Look, I know I put the white eye reflection in the wrong spot...) I added details with colored foam which was quick and more clean-looking than paint.

Finished! I glued a fabric-covered box to the bottom to make a sort-of torso. All things considered, I think it turned out well! 

Of course Jude insisted on Skylander Element cookies, just like last year. 

Cake! I got this idea off of Pinterest. It's a couple cake ideas merged into one. It came together pretty quick and ended up looking great.

The night before the party, I took most of the stuff over to the church where we were going to have it and set up as much as I could. Unfortunately, due to all the snow, the Boy Scouts Pinewood Derby had been rescheduled for that same day and since it was taking place before the party at the church, I wasn't able to set up much.

The next morning, we went to cheer Lance and his car on at the Derby!

He did a great job! Although his car, the Annihilator didn't place, it still had some impressive runs. 

Great job, Lance!

Now on to the party!