Indiana-ana Jones

I find myself with some time this evening to share some birthday party pics. Jon is in SF for an academic conference (and having the time of his life--he is in love with that city), the kids are sleeping (I hope) so I have time to finally document these events.

Seth wanted to have an Indiana Jones-themed birthday party. (Jon and I tried to talk him into having a "monster" party where the kids could make monster masks and eat fun/grotesque treats--but he was having none of that.) Having a February birthday when it's actually winter outside is a challenge because you can't really plan a party outside (at a park-with built-in entertainment) which leaves you with only a few options: A-- shell out $150+ to have your party indoors at a restaurant/play gym, etc. B-- have your party at your own house. or C-- have your party outside anyway (even though it had snowed that morning) and make sure everyone brings a coat. We opted for a mix of B and C. Once that was decided--in a moment of mental weakness I told Seth he could invite 9 friends. Ten 6 year-old boys in my house, at the same time, what the heck was I thinking? (Luckily, 2 didn't come.)

The party guests (counter-clockwise, L to R) Finn, Seth, Ryan, David, Srijan, Christian, Brennan, and Elijah.

Special thanks to Grandma B and Aunt Carlie for many great ideas for Indiana Jones-themed party games. We played "put the gold coin in the chest", IJ Bingo, and Jon put together an awesome treasure hunt which included some outdoors fun. (There wasn't enough hats to go around, so you can see that one party guest settled for Maryn's pink cowgirl hat!)

As part of the treasure hunt, Jon had them watch a scene from the end of "last crusade" when Indy has to walk on stones labeled with letters, spelling "Jehovah". Then, he had the boys act it out by walking on our kitchen tiles labeled with letters to spell "birthday".

Dig for a buried clue in the sand pit (aka- sandbox turtle).

Balance on the beam and do jumping jacks.

Touch a friend on the nose.
The treasure hunt ended (after finding the treasure) with Jon pulling out his old Construx set.Seth got some cool presents that he really liked- 2 Lego sets and a Webkinz (among others).Seth was a little embarrassed by the Happy Birthday singing. And we had to do it twice because of an overzealous party guest who blew out the candles before Seth did.

Overall, I think the party went well. I felt badly that I didn't make a cool cake and I didn't really work that hard at planning a bunch of activities. But truthfully, I don't think Seth noticed and the boys seemed to have a lot of fun (especially during the treasure hunt). This February birthday party thing is always going to be hard as long as we live here!

Happy Birthday, Seth!

Maryn's first haircut

In between birthdays a few weeks ago, on Feb 26, Maryn got her first haircut....done by me! I was cutting all of the boys' hair (Jon, Seth and Jonas) and I thought it was time for Maryn to get her hair cut too. She was excited at first and then got upset and said she didn't want to have short hair. So I told her that I was going to "cut her hair long"-- she bought it and let me do it.

Don't you just love the little curly ponytail? After I cut off the ponytail and saw how short it was going to be, I was a little nervous. I evened the ends out as best I could and I'm really happy that the ends of her hair still naturally curl. She looks really cute, if I do say so myself, and so much more grown up!

birthday wishes

The three major boys in my life all celebrate their birthdays in a 7-8 day period (depending on leap year). I've mentioned my two sons, but have yet to post some pictures of their birthday parties (coming- I promise, grandmas!).

Today is Jon's birthday. We were talking last night and he mentioned something that was bothering him about his body (I won't mention what- partly because I wouldn't want to embarrass him and mostly because I don't really remember) and I responded with "well, it must be because you're in your early thirties now". This is the 13th year we have celebrated his birthday together. It will be fun in (...let me count here...) 2015 when we have celebrated more birthdays together than apart.

He's already bought himself some birthday presents-- a turntable, some new records and a "squatty" IPod (last gen. nano). He's not one for surprises (in fact, he detests surprises)- so this is pretty much how it usually goes with him. I am planning on making him a pecan pie tonight to celebrate.

I love him. He's my best friend. He continues to be the coolest person I know and attempts to keep me up-to-speed with what's cool in music, media, movies, etc. even though I kind of lag behind a lot. He is a hard-worker, super-smart, a talented writer, an awesome daddy, and a sincere, loyal friend (those of you who are lucky enough to be one of his close friends know this for sure).

Loves.