Graydon's Birthday Party

Almost a month after his actual birthday, we have finally fully celebrated Graydon's seventh birthday.

This was his year to get a friend birthday party.  He chose to have a sleepover.

His friends arrived around 5pm on the evening of his party. They decorated pillow cases first.






To be honest, I probably put the least amount of planning into this party than I have for any birthday party. A few days before the event, I realized that I probably should have some sort of plan for the eight 6/7 year-olds that would be at our house all night. I did a quick online search and found a bunch of "Minute to Win It" game ideas.

In this game, they had to move the cookie from their foreheads to their mouth without use of their hands. I tried it. Very hard! But a few kids did it!


Bella was one of them.


One-handed penny stacking.


Transfering M&Ms from one plate to another with just the use of a straw.






Eat the donut in a minute with no hands.  These kids were lucky to even get a few bites.  Not easy!






Transfer ping pong balls from one ball to another with just the use of a spoon in your mouth.  Again, no hands.








Stacking sugar cubes on popsicle sticks.






Don't let the balloon touch the ground.  This game started off with two balloons/kid.  But that was pretty impossible for this group, so we brought it down to one.




For each game, every kid received 3 points for attempting the task and 5 points if they succeeded.  The boys with the highest total got first pick of the prizes.

After that, the boys went wild with our toys and especially the costume bin.






Cupcake time!  Smile Graydon!


No. . . smile!


Third time's a charm.








Our house was a pretty noisy place for a few hours.  Popcorn and movie time was very welcomed! Graydon chose VeggieTales: Jonah.


Everyone was officially tucked in by 10:30pm.  Whew!

Fun party!  But I definitely found myself napping on the couch the next day.

A Bit of January. . .

Graydon lost a front tooth!


It was a little wiggly. But after eating an apple, it got a little more wiggly. Bella asked Graydon if he wanted to lose his tooth that night.  He did.


She doesn't like to pull her own teeth, but Bella coached Graydon through the process and eventually gave the final yank that got the tooth out.

I work with first graders at the elementary school. One of my jobs is grading assignments and tests.  This little boy's answer to this question just tickled me.  First graders are so much fun!


The kids' basketball season ended.  Both of them did great and we loved watching them play.




But now that it's over, I don't mind getting our Monday nights and Saturday mornings back. :)

We had a snow day last week. The kids' discovered the game LIFE and it has become a new favorite.


Curtis designed this tooth pillow and I created his vision as best I could.  Bella and Graydon both have their own versions.  When Curtis loses his teeth, he'll put the tooth in the monster/alien's pocket and then the tooth fairy will put the money in there.  He has an adult tooth growing way behind a baby tooth. It's been this way for over a month, but he is not in any hurry to get that baby tooth out.  Our deal was that when I finished his tooth pillow, he'd get to work on losing his tooth.  We'll see if he holds up to his end of the bargain.


The kids' celebrated the 100th day of school on Jan. 19th.  We are well over halfway to summer vacation now!

Graydon's Birthday/New Year's Eve

8:21am - Graydon is officially seven!  He slept right through it.


This is Graydon's first birthday (well, since the day he was actually born) that we have actually been at home.  Every other year, we were in Wisconsin for his birthday.  The day was completely open and we let Graydon decide how we spent it.

He wanted to eat at Dairy Queen.


And go bowling.




We were back home by late afternoon.  Bella put together an appetizer from her new cookbook: bacon, tomato, and melted cheddar cheese on a toasted english muffin.


We played a game of Headbandz.  This was our first time.  It's harder than I thought!




Cake time!  Graydon picked this ice cream cake out.


Happy Birthday to you!


We watched Lilo & Stitch 2, part of a birthday present from the Meades.

I can't believe that he is seven.


We all stayed up until midnight and rung in the new year together.  Great way to celebrate Graydon and the end of 2015.


Happy New Year!