I Might Regret Sharing This....

My sister Kaley, who is on a mission in Spain, is having a birthday in a week or so.  So, we are all making family videos to send to her.

Here is my family's video.

Kaley is turning 22- which explains why we chose this particular song to dance to.  It's a tad embarrassing but whatever.

My favorite part is when Dave is filming and he busts out singing so loud!  The first time I watched it I cried laughing because I could not believe how loud and enthusiastic he was being.  I didn't even know that he knew the words.  Then when he kept going I was like "oh geez Dave you're ruining the song!" and then 10 seconds later I do the exact same thing (only not as boisterous).  Why is it so easy to forget to be quiet when your voice is right next to the camera?  It happens to us all of the time.  Also, Mack is kindof a dud in the video- it was his bedtime and he just wanted the cake.  He's still cute though of course!

Enjoy!

The Party to End All Parties

Giant bag of movie theatre popcorn hidden under table

The chocolate is splattered a bit in this picture because the door was left open and the wind got it!

When we first told the kids we were moving I quickly told them that they could have a big end of the year/ going away party to say goodbye to their friends.  I obviously made that promise to lessen the blow of the move.  And of course they held me to it, even though they are mostly fine with moving now.

So Thursday, the last day of school, we had the party.  I knew I was in over my head when I let them each invite 10 kids and then we invited a few family friends too... and then everyone started rsvp'ing with YES.  Like, almost every single person came.  We ended up with 35 kids total.

I enlisted the help of Bremily and if it weren't for them, and the two dads that ended up staying, Mack may have gone missing and the house may have burned down, or a child may have died- I don't know.  But it was crazy and loud and wild and my kids owe me big time!

So, this was the plan of attack (and Dave even made a spreadsheet for it):

6:00- 6:45- kids are arriving, have pizza and drinks in the backyard

6:45- explain each station, divide into groups and begin the rotations (each station was approx. 15 min.)

Station 1.  Relay races in the front yard

Station 2.  Photo booth in the garage

Station 3.  Games in the backyard

Station 4.  Chocolate fountain in the kitchen

7:45- fill candy bags and popcorn cups, get blankets and settle on the back lawn

8:00pm- begin the outdoor movie

9:30- party over, kids leave

How hard could it be?

The Photo Booth was FUN!

So that was the plan... and it mostly went as anticipated. The kids were extremely hyper and the bottom line is that 35 kids together in one house/yard is just going to be crazy.  I think it went as well as it could have gone.  They did love the stations and when broken into groups they were more manageable.

My main mistake was the movie choice.  I was looking for something that would hold the attention of 7 year olds and 11 year olds.  So we got, "We Bought a Zoo."  Lots of the kids were excited to see it but some of the kids were loud and that made it hard to hear.  Looking back I think a more action packed film would have been better.

Now some info on the stations- The chocolate fountain was a hit (thanks mom!) and the dipping items included strawberries, rice crispies, pretzels, marshmallows, oreos, pineapple and nilla wafers.  Also, I called our local movie theatre and got them to donate a bag of popcorn for the movie!  It was awesome except that my house smelled of movie theatre popcorn the whole day and it was difficult to refrain.  

We did really simple games and relays but who doesn't love those?  They were easy but fun- egg race, shoe tangle, "clean your room," and tennis ball toss.  

For the photo booth I downloaded free mustache and lips etc. templates from "Oh Happy Day" and cut them out.  I also threw some of our own dress ups in the mix. I wanted to print the pictures that night and send them with the kids but that was asking too much of myself.

Dave borrowed a projector from work but because of a breeze we ended up just taping a large carstock paper to the fence to show the movie on- it worked so well!  I can't wait to do it again (the outdoor movie thing, not the 35 kid party).

After about 30 minutes of the movie we lost them all and it was mass chaos on the trampoline, popcorn everywhere, kids running about.  I'm surprised we managed to keep most of them in the backyard!  They are all really good kids so that helped- no one was being naughty, just excited and having fun.  Another small issue was that Lexi and Logan are only 17 months apart and in 4th and 5th grade so there were some boy/girl teasing/flirting/chasing going on (mostly instigated by the boys and a couple of boy-crazy girls) that added to the madness but we managed it ok.  It gave me a small, scary glimpse into our future teen years though!

My only regret is the amount of pictures.  I never got a large group photo and did not have a second to get any pictures of the games/relays.  Or any kids enjoying the fountain.  Or one of Mack wandering aimlessly, alone, eating popcorn and pizza off the ground.  Oh well.

 I've said it once and I'll say it again- my kids owe me big time!  I've already gotten lots of big thanks from them and even a thank you note from Lexi so that's good.

 And I owe Bremily huge time!  Between Dave and I and Brett and Emily, we each managed a station (and Emily managed the babies too!) and we did it.  I couldn't have done it without them!

Now that it's over... I'm glad I did it.  The kids got to say a final goodbye to their best friends and have some fun memories to hold on to!

Crazy Hair!

This week was spirit week and my kids totally got into it. Of course I only got photos of crazy hair and sock day. It was my favorite day anyway because they looked so cute.

Mack was a little jealous after the kids went to school so we had our own little photo session of just him. He is getting huge! Almost 11 pounds already!

Happy Weekend all!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the YEAR!!!

I just hit my 600th post. Pretty huge. Too bad I'll probably lose it all when blogger crashes because I haven't made another book. I have half of it documented and hope to do the other half asap.

Do you people really think I can blog, do Christmas cards, Christmas decorating, Christmas shopping, Christmas parties, my kids, school, my husband, church, food, laundry and sleep all at the same time? Because I can't and something has got to give! And it's not going to be food or sleep!

I am having some days of Christmas spirit but today- mostly tonight- wasn't so Christmas-y because the dinner I placed so carefully into the crock pot at 10am was not cooked tonight when I got home!  I was mad.  Then I had to scramble around for dinner and I don't like that. 

I'm hoping I'll have a better day tomorrow because I'll be wearing my new sweater from Old Navy (on sale 40% off!), and my kids will be wearing the new beanies ($5 each) and turlenecks ($4 each) that I got for them.  They are cute and so cheap!  How can you not feel good knowing you got such great deals on your clothing!  I love that feeling (you need to go to Old Navy asap- but if you live by me do not purchase the $4 turtlenecks because I already did)!

My kids have the Christmas spirit times 1 million this year.  Especially in the car.  Their favorite tradition is to sing Christmas songs at the top of their lungs whenever we drive anywhere. 

I actually like that tradition too, until we drive somewhere that is more than 5 minutes away and Macey's favorite Christmas song is Jingle Bells, and she has to sing it alone and then she gets stuck at the jingle bell part and sings that same sentence 10 times in a row, and Lexi and Logan start yelling and whining at her to be quiet but she just keeps on going and going, until I have to tell her stop and then she cries and I feel like a jerk. 

Or, if her and I are alone and no one else is there to pick a song then that is all I hear for 30 minutes straight.  It really is so cute how excited she is.  I can handle the loud singing for a few more weeks I think.  

I do love her as my little shopping companion.   Today she was singing out loud for all to hear in Costco and getting lots of smiles.  She also loves to play the kissing game when she's in the front of the cart. This is how you play: I try to kiss her and she tries to duck out of the way.  Then she tries to kiss me but really I don't move out of the way fast enough because I like kisses and don't get them as much anymore now that my kids are huge.

Today at Costco one of the snacks was "hot from the oven" brownies. Macey and I were dy-ing of happiness. And we kept "accidentally" needing to go down that row again!

Oh and can I please thank Jeanelle and Andrea!  They both sent me fabulous Christmas mixes in the mail when I said I needed new Christmas music.  They are my new favorite blogging friends.  Want to be another favorite blogging friend of mine?  Send me a present.