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!

Snow!

This year we only had one good snow storm. We watched the news like a hawk and anxiously awaited the projected 2-3 feet of snow.

George was supposed to work the whole weekend it was going to snow, so when it started falling, he packed up for the weekend and drove to Culpeper. The hospital put him up in a hotel so he wouldn't have to make the hour trek back and forth between shifts. 

The kids saw the first flurries and insisted on playing in the "snow".

It's coming down!

We went to bed that night with about 6 inches on the ground and woke up to about 18!

Around 7:30 a.m. I got a text from a friend to look out my window. I took a peek and saw this:

This is the view from our front yard. Apparently one of the neighbors had tried to drive in the snow and their engine caught on fire!!

(picture one of the neighbors took of the fire)

It was crazy! The burned out car sat in the intersection for three days before the tow truck could make it in to remove it.

Lance thought the snow on the trampoline was great! We ended up clearing it off later that day since the snow was so heavy the tramp was sagging about two feet.

All bundled up and ready to play!

I probably cleared the drive way three times over the course of the falling snow. Lance and Jude turned the drifts into tiny igloos.

Bender was having a blast in the snow, especially when the neighbor's dog came over to play.

The kids lasts a long time out in the snow. The best part? They were pooped afterwards!

The next day it had warmed up quite a bit, although it wasn't making much of a dent in the snow. Apparently Lance decided a shirt and jacket was optional and spent most of his time playing in the snow like this:

Lily discovered eating snow and spent most of the day sampling the various drifts and mounds.

Not to be left behind, Jude discarded his shirt as well. 

Jude, Cole, and Lily spent a while sledding down our driveway as I continued to try and clear it of the snow. 

I love snow, it's so delicious!

The plows had finally come by, but plowed one line straight up our cul-de-sac, leaving a huge mount of icy snow right in front of our driveway. Lance and I worked together to clear another driveway's worth of snow away so George could make it into the driveway when he finally got to come home.

(See that dark blob on the right of the driveway? That's Jude at the end of our driveway. I'm taking the picture from the plowed strip that we had to clear to in order for George to pull in. You can't really tell, but it was at least another 30 feet. That's a lot when the snow is 18 inches deep and there's ice!)

Boys pretending to be pregnant with balloons. :)

Daddy finally made it home!

(And after all that effort to clear the extra snow, the plows came through again and finished the job. I should have just waited another 12 hours. Oh well.)

Daddy is the best!

The kids didn't have school for the first three days of that week. It was great to have them home! I also got a lot of work done for Jude's Birthday party!

Lily "helping" make the goodie bags.

With George home, we finally got to walk down to the park and go sledding (something I wasn't about to attempt all by myself). It was great!

This was Jude's face the entire time:

Like a boss...

Cole and Lily mostly hung out on the swings.

Bender had fun searching for his ball in all the snow.

Lily thought sledding was fun!

I have to admit by the time the weekend rolled around, I was done with the snow. It was fun while it lasted, but I'm ready for warmer weather!