Nerf Party

For Williams 7th birthday we did a "Nerf" party. I went very low key with his party this year because I was so busy with so many other things.

And yes this party was way under my $50 budget.

All who were invited were welcome to bring their own nerf guns for the battle with no more than 4 bullets. I only allowed 4 because I could afford to replace 4 for each kid if they got lost.
I got a couple of big cardboard boxes from an appliance center (for free) These were for the kids to hide behind during the battle. I bought 14 helmets and the dollar store. I got 7 of each color so we could have teams and not get confused. The most expensive thing was the nerf darts. I bought 80 extra darts.
I gathered all our nerf guns for those who didn't have one. I was a little embarassed to see that I had a whole tote full of nerf weaponry, but what do you expect when you have 3, actually 4 boys.
Food was your standard pizza, chips, and juice boxes.
For games we did some target practice, an obstacle course, but the favorite was a few rounds of capture the flag. The kids LOVED it. they wanted to play again and again and again. I had to break it up so they could eat cupcakes and open presents.
The cupcakes were not done well but I seriously ran out of time. So I copped out and just tried to do the Nerf logo on them. I know its sloppy but I was against the clock.
After that was done they had an all out Nerf war. They couldn't have been happier.
Well Happy Birthday My sweet little William I can't believe your 7. Its been a joy to have you in our family.

decorating

I do love Christmas but who doesn't. I keep trying to get the feel of Christmas inside my house with decorating because it sure doesn't get that way outside. Its been 75-80 degrees all week. ( I thought this was supposed to be December?) Maybe there is something to this "global warming thing"
One decoration I don't have is a Santa Claus, and that is done on purpose.
Now I am not opposed to Santa I just feel like the rest of the world has that covered. I want my children to make sure they know the true meaning of Christmas.

new camera

I was just trying out my new cameras different settings. Hoping to get a few good pics of my kids. Not awesome but not horrible. I think it would work better if I had someone else do them. Kids are just better for other people. I almost had to pull Williams teeth to even get him outside and look in my general direction. (I was trying to get some pics of him because he never wants his picture taken.) I could only get 1 of Ellie before she lost patience.
I do love it when you can catch their personalities.

Hollywood Christmas

This is how they do Christmas in Hollywood (Actually it was Santa Monica) After a temple session we decided to have dinner and walk down 3rd Street Santa Monica. It is full of street performers and interesting shops. Surprisingly there was A LOT!!! of Jewish displays. There were giant menorah's every half a block. However the Jewish performers were the funnest to watch.
I saw these window displays and thought they were interesting. The one with the deer is a giant light bright. (It was much cooler in person). The Marilyn Santa was just funny.

Spirit pride award

Ellie won the Spirit pride award in her school for imagination. She is doing so well in school this year. I really feel like she is heading forward. Her writing work has been used often in her class. Her teacher Mrs. Mercy said she often uses Ellie's work because it is much more interesting than the standard material.
Her brothers were so proud of her.

Literacy arts festival

Our city puts on a "Literacy Arts Festival" every year. It is all free. They have all kinds of arts and crafts. They have characters from classic books walking around. Performances of every kind and lots of freebies. Ellie was totally in her element. She even got invited to be Cinderella in a play. My favorite is the book swap. You can bring up to 3 books per person to swap for a brand new one from Barnes and Nobel. Ellie, Brennen, Peter, and I went with our friends the Smiths. It was a nice day and not super crowded which I loved. The kids favorite thing was the giant mosaic building blocks. The kids could build them into anything they wanted. They could have stayed there for hours. As it was, I think we spent almost an hour with the blocks alone. I love how our city has so many things they try to do for the community. The best part is they are often FREEeeeeeee.

thanksgiving 2010

Some of my family came to visit for Thanksgiving. It was a little cramped having 20 people in my little house. But it was well worth it to me. Its so nice having people come visit us. We absolutely loved having family here. They were even here for my birthday which was awesome. They brought me lots of Grandma sycamore bread!!!! I felt like I actually had a birthday this year. We went to Disneyland for my birthday. Even though it was PACKED!!!! I had a good time because I had good company. My favorite rides are Space Mountain, Jungle cruise, and of course Pirates of the Caribbean. Although the Buzz lighter year ride is always a hit with everyone. My kids absolutely love the innoventions building. They could probably spend all day in there.
Thanksgiving was good. Scott made all the food and it was delicious. The weather was a little cold but other than that everything was good. We were all sad when it was time for family to leave. Even my sweet Scott woke up the next morning in a somber mood and commented that he was lonely.
I do love living here but nothing beats having family around. Its almost like we all go through a grieving period for about a week after were separated.