Hayden's Adventure Time Party

Hayden wanted to have an Adventure Time theme for his friend party this year.  It's a show on cartoon network that Gabe and the kids like to watch.  A few months ago I made Finn hats for the boys, he's the character with the white fleece hat with ears.  They created an Adventure Time club in our neighborhood and those with Finn hats got to be executive members. Although it was the middle of the summer and blazing hot, that didn't deter them from wearing their fleece hats.

For the party I made a Finn cake, actually Gabe did half of the decorating, so I can't take all the credit.  The boys played pin the nose on the Ice King, who is a character on the show, and Balloon Bulls-eye, which was everyone's favorite.  This is how you play: give every child a balloon to blow up and tell them to hold the neck shut rather than tie it in a knot.  Place a target in the middle of the floor (we used a stuffed Jake, the yellow dog from the show).  On the count of three, everyone releases their balloon.  Whichever balloon is the closest to the target wins.

Hayden received a football from one of his friends and the boys were getting a bit crazy playing catch in the house.  So I had Gabe take them to a nearby park where they could run around and expend a lot more energy. Gabe brought his rocket along and they had a "blast" shooting it off.

Happy Halloween

Here are the boys all set to go trick or treating. Hayden is on the left dressed as the grim reaper, Mason a cowboy, Tucker a Hill-Billy (he had a mason jar with "moonshine" that he carried with him), Gabe a Zombie Hunter, and Gage was the cutest pirate you ever did see!

We had a warm Halloween, 70 degrees, so the kids lasted a lot longer trick or treating and brought home lots of loot. Which is always good news for mom and dad because we can pick through the candy and snag our favorites without the kids noticing there's anything missing : )

Little Football Fanatic

This is a video of Gage playing football, or rather catch with Gabe and Brianna

Tucker's Baptism

We waited to baptize Tucker at the end of September so that both of his Grandpa's could be involved. It was a special opportunity and we're glad that Tucker can have that memory forever. My father baptized him and Gabe's father confirmed him. During the program a member of our bishopric was explaining to the kids who were baptized how repentance works. He quoted the scripture from D&C 58:42, "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more."  He turned to Tucker and said, "Tucker if you were mad and hit your brother, you could pray and ask to be forgiven and the Lord will no longer remember what you did."  Tucker, excited as this prospect, eagerly asked, "And my brother too"?  All the grownups couldn't help but laugh!

Grandpa Gosney's Visit

Terry came to visit at the end of October so he could participate in Tucker's baptism. We were so glad he was able to visit for 4 full days. He was able to spend a lot of fun time with his grand kids as well as visit his sister and attend a BYU football game.

We took him to Trafalga in Orem and did some miniature golfing and raced the go-karts. Hayden was ecstatic that he was tall enough to drive by himself. I can't believe that he's already 60 inches tall! I'm not sure if that's typical for a nine year old but I guess we'll find out as his next "well-child" visit...

Gage had fun, when he wasn't upset about something, which

was most of the time, oh well. That's the life of a 2 year old!

Mason had so much fun riding in the go-kart with Grandpa.

Terry was a good sport when it came to reading with Gage. Having 3 older brothers has certainly had a comedic influence on Gage. He loves to make people laugh and using bathroom humor is a sure way to make that happen, according to his experience.

Ode to Mason

To say the least, Mason makes our lives very interesting:

On the first day of kindergarten the principle was called in to help deal with his behavior and he told her that he wanted to be bad, because if he was bad he wouldn't have to come back.

***

Two weeks ago Gabe took the boys to Toysrus.  Gabe was with Mason near the Little People toys when Mason saw a 4 year old girl looking around. He went up to her, introduced himself, then began giving her a tour of all the toys and how they worked. 

***

Last weekend Mason went missing for a couple of hours, (which is typical because he has so many friends houses he loves to go play at in our tight knit neigborhood). When he resurfaced Gabe asked him where he had been. He said that he was at a birthday party. We were a bit puzzled because he hadn't been invited to any parties. We noticed that our Spanish speaking neighbors a couple houses down had a bounce house set up in the backyard, festive music playing and lots of balloons.  We asked if that was the party he was at, and he replied yes. Gabe told him that it wasn't polite to go to a party if you haven't been invited. Mason quickly retorted, "I was! I knocked on their door and said, can I come to your party, and they said yes!"

***

I often have people relate funny conversations they have had with Mason, whether they are complete strangers or people in our neighborhood.  This summer while we were at Seven Peaks water park, an old man came up and tapped my arm. Pointing to Mason he asked, "Is that your son"?  I looked over and saw Mason and Gage sitting on some of the rock landscaping and assuming that Mason had done something to offend him, I gave a hesitant, "yes"?  He continued, "I saw him kissing a rock and I asked him, "Is kissing a rock better than kissing a girl?" and he told me "YES!"".

***

My visiting teacher related this story to me after she watched him for a couple of hours. He had walked into her house and noticed her 11 month old niece playing on the floor. He curiously eyed the baby, then asked, is that your baby? She replied that it was her niece. He didn't quite understand, so he asked, "did that baby grow inside your tummy?"  She answered, "nope, she didn't grow in my tummy". Then very dramatically he queried, "Well, if that baby didn't grow in your tummy and it's not yours, THEN WHO'S BABY IS IT!?!"

***

Now that Mason is in kindergarten, part of his his homework is to read 15 or more minutes a day. The other night he was whining and complaining and wasn't following directions. He wanted Gabe to read to him but he kept misbehaving until Gabe said, "Mason! Why should I read to you? You have been whining and not listening and are being mean to me! Give me one good reason why I should still read to you?" Mason paused a moment to think, then replied, "because I like you daddy."

Dancing "Gangnam Style"

Gabe introduced the boys to the new worldwide dance craze.

Here's the link if you want to learn how to dance Gangnam Style 

Your Monkey, My Monkey

Gage really loves reading books. When I read with him, he usually has to be the one holding the book and turning the pages and he likes to repeat all the words. I suppose this is very educational, but I now have to limit our reading to just 2-3 books at a time since it takes sooooo dang long : )

Before bedtime a few nights ago I took a video of Brianna reading with Gage in my bed. Once you view it you will understand the title of this post : )

The view from our porch

This week we've had some "crazy" weather, which is actually typical of most Springs and Falls in Utah. We had a couple days that reached 100 degrees, then a few with lightening and rain and strong winds. We love the rain and wind and the awesome scenery that sometimes follows after.

This is the first full rainbow any of us had ever seen. Theses pictures show it from right to left. 

 Mason and Gage posing their cute and crazy faces

Secret Agent Birthday Party

Tucker turned 8 last week and he had his very first friend party ever. This was the first year since his birth that we haven't been traveling or at a family reunion, so he was pretty excited. Tucker received some spy toys for his family party so I thought doing a Secret Agent theme would be fun, and luckily he did too. We sent out invitation in manila envelopes marked "Top Secret".

 The premise of the party was that he and his friends were training to become Secret Agents and the games all centered on skills they would need to become spies. Gabe made this poster for our front door.

When the guests arrived they each received a passport with their training course

Next they were given Secret Agent code names, these were created by drawing two slips of paper from 2 jars: One with a color or adjective, like spinning, jumping, lightening etc. and one with a noun, like ninja, tiger, rider ... then we wrote their names inside their passports.

OBSERVATION SKILLS:

We played a memory game where you put several objects on a tray and let everyone look over it for a minute or two, then you take away the tray, remove 2 items, then bring the tray back. The kids had to figure out which items were missing.

ART OF DISGUISE:

The kids designed their own secret agent disguise on a sturdy paper plate, then we cut out eye holes and fastened the plates on with yarn. The kids had a fun time choosing their mustaches.

Disguise Kit by The Project Girls

TARGET PRACTICE

Using nerf guns the kids took turns shooting at the target that Tucker helped to make, which we created on a piece of styrofoam  from a refrigerator box.

LASER COURSE

I got the idea for this game from the internet, so I can't claim creative license, but it was a big hit and the kids had a lot of fun. They had to go through the course without touching the laser beams, retrieve an object, then come back through.

CLUE IDENTIFICATION

The final mission was to locate the loot. We put the loot bags in an old briefcase that looked very spyish and hid it. The objective was to find and decipher the clues that would lead them to the loot bags.

We used this QR code generator to create printable codes that would be the clues. I then downloaded a QR code reader onto my cell phone for free. When the kids found a code, I would scan it with my phone and it would generate the text clue that would lead them to the next QR code. Here is the link if you want to view the clues I created, http://goo.gl/RMSxJ

SPY CUPCAKES

Rather than making an elaborate, time consuming cake, I let the kids create their own spy cupcakes. We used the following supplies: regular and mini m&m's, jelly bellies, licorice string, chocolate sprinkles (for the stubble), and chocolate frosting to pipe on details.

(I didn't get a picture of the cupcakes we made, but this is where I got the idea from)

If you want to see any more ideas for creating a Secret Agent party, then check out these two websites frugalfamily and chickenbabies