Mr. Roboto

Well, after one postponement and another that came thisclose, Moses had his birthday party with his friends last Saturday.

I had to delay the party a week because he was sick. Then Asher and I got really sick. Joseph and Akiko also got sort of sick. We were kind of a mess for a couple weeks.

The night before the delayed party it looked like Moses' fever was back. He just fell asleep early and was covered in warm blankets. Scared me for a minute. I, however, felt like garbage. I decided to wait till the morning of the party to see how I was feeling before I called things off again. I felt slightly better when I woke up. Only slightly.

Because we'd all been feeling so terrible for the last while, I barely got things done in time for the party. In fact, I was kind of glad I had the extra week to get ready. I decided to keep it low key and simple. I mean, we were entertaining four year-olds, so it worked out really well.

Moses has themes planned for his birthday parties for the next several years. I suppose this has to do with the fact that, for the first time in the history of our little family, Akiko had a themed party with all her friends over earlier this year (which I failed to blog about, sorry!) and it was very successful. We've always just had a low key have-the-family-over-for-dinner-and-presents affair. Both the kids had so much fun at Akiko's party, that Moses immediately started planning his next several themed parties.

I talked him into having a robot theme this year. I thought it would be easy to find cute decorations and trinkets for the goody bags and stuff and was finding tons of cute ideas online. But, since Halloween was over, the stores already had all their Christmas stuff out and I had trouble finding much of anything robot-y. I managed to eek by and find what I needed, though, after many trips to many stores while this sick mama towed her sick kids along.

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures during the party because I was really busy helping and playing with the kids, but I'll show you what I got.

We started out with robot coloring pages and decorating cardboard robot forms while we waited for everyone to arrive. When the kids were done coloring and I was sure nobody else was showing up, we played a few games.

I've got a cute little robot stamp and put him under a projector to blow him up and traced him onto a posterboard. I left his cassette tape blank and made other colorful ones out of cardstock so the kids could play "Pin the Cassette onto the Robot." I couldn't find any of my bandanas, but found that a black beanie pulled over the face works just as well. I also made nuts and bolts out of cardboard for extra decoration.

As the Birthday Boy, Moses got to go first.

Some of our friends got a little turned around.

I opted not to give prizes to game winners and it turned out just fine. Four year-olds are perfectly fine receiving lots of praise for a job well done.

Now that the robot had his music, we turned on some robot-like techno music and played, what I'll call, "Dance Robot Freeze" where the kids dance to the music and when the music stops they have to freeze. If they keep moving, they have to sit out. We played a few rounds of that. It was fun watching these little kids try to robot dance. One kid got really into it and was a pretty good robot dancer.

After that, we played musical chairs, since we already had the music cued and everything. No explanation needed there, right?

Then it was time for cake and ice cream. Now, I love to bake, but my cake decorating skills are lacking. Thank heavens Parenting had me covered. They've got all sorts of cute and easy cakes that you just have to follow the directions for. Here's how our guy turned out:

I'm sure I could have done a better job, but I was a little pressed for time. I am still pleased with the outcome, though.

Afterwards, we opened presents, where my camera, which actually hasn't totally died just yet, started acting wacky again. Once presents were done, we let the kids run loose in the house till their parents came.

Moses was super pleased that he finally got to celebrate his birthday and have his robot cake. On the day of his actual birthday, we were all sick and stayed home from church, but we still tried to make it as special as we could. Akiko really wanted to make gyoza for dinner, but we just didn't have it in us. I made curry instead, which Moses loves, but Akiko hates (Gasp! Is she really my daughter?!). Joseph made him a chocolate cake. Moses was really upset at the time that it wasn't the robot cake that was promised to him. It took many minutes to reassure him that he would get his cake when his friends came over.

I wanted the cake to be a surprise for Moses and tried to keep him out of the kitchen while I worked on it. We tried to send him outside or let him play video games, but he kept coming around to the kitchen and hovering. I finally let him see it while Akiko was putting on the finishing touches. He was thrilled.

At times, it felt like this party wasn't meant to happen. You know, like, when everything seems to be going against you when you're trying to accomplish what should be a simple task. But we did it, and it worked out. And as far as I know, nobody that came to our party got sick because of us. Let's hope it stays that way.

By the way, we're all feeling much better this week.

This is Halloween: 2011

We've been taking turns being sick for the last several days. That's why I'm finally getting around to posting our Halloween day. Excuses, excuses.

Like I'd mentioned before, I procrastinated real bad this year. We always bake and decorate cutout cookies, and about half the time, I bake two or three batches worth and invite friends over to help us decorate, but this year, it was just the kids and me.

On a normal year, I would have done my baking on Saturday, or even Sunday. Carving the pumpkins would have been done at this point as well. This year, it just didn't happen. So, Monday, Halloween day, it was.

Unfortunately, I found out too late, that I was totally out of sugar. So, the time I took to get the boys ready, and run to the store to get sugar, was time that was needed to be spent mixing, rolling and baking. I wanted to get this all done while Akiko was at school so that we could just start decorating as soon as she had her homework done. What's a girl to do?

I decided to cheat and buy the pre-made sugar cookie dough and hopefully save some time. Big mistake.

They looked great going into the oven...

... and should have turned out looking like this...

Cookie batch 2010

... but came out as big, ugly, shapeless blobs. You can still kind of tell that they're suppose to be pumpkins and kittys.

In retrospect, I'm sure that if I'd added some flour to the dough, they would have turned out fine. I've never baked with pre-made dough though, so, you know, lesson learned. At least they still tasted good in the end.

Traditionally, I color the Halloween frosting purple, orange and leave one white, but I let the kids decide what colors to use this year. They chose blue, green and white.

Pantsless McMose. Notice, he's not in a diaper anymore? Oh, yeah!

Akiko is very serious about her cookie decorating.

Some of the finished cookies.

While the kids decorated, I jumped on getting the pumpkins carved. I mean, we only had about three hours after school to get all this stuff done and get ready for trick-or-treating.

When it was time to pull out the pumpkin guts, I let the kids do their own.

Unlike last year, Akiko thought it was so much fun getting her hands gooey. This is also where my camera started acting real funny before it totally wigged out.

Moses thought this part was so cool.

Even Asher got his turn. He wasn't so sure about it though.

Last year, we bought a carving kit, which worked out fabulously. The little carving knife, broke, however, which was a bummer. And then I couldn't find the rest of the kit anywhere. It wasn't with the rest of the Halloween stuff. *shrug*

I looked and looked for another kit anytime I'd go out shopping, but they either decided not to sell them this year, or else they sold out super early. So I was stuck with my best paring knife and a regular old spoon. Old school!

So, I had to tell the kids that we couldn't carve anything fancy and their designs had to be straight lines. So, this is what we got this year (which I had to take with my camera phone):

All three lined up and lit for the photo op.

Akiko chose stars, which I thought was cute and clever and super easy to carve.

Moses wanted a robot face, which I was happy to oblige.

Asher got a traditional face, because he didn't have couldn't express his opinion.

Bring on the kids in costumes! We're ready for you!

Right after we got the cookies and pumpkins done, I got the kids ready just as Joseph got home from work to take them out. They had lots of fun getting candy. I stayed home and passed out... the candy.

There's a street just down from ours that gets really into Halloween (think Christmas Street in SLC). Akiko was more brave about it this year than two years ago. Moses got pretty scared. Asher just wanted to run around and didn't care much about collecting the candy.

I'd say this year was pretty successful... except that Moses had a fever by the time he got home and it ended up being croup. I had to postpone his birthday party for this weekend. Now Asher has it. Yay.

Four!!

Happy Birthday Moses!!

 

Lead Up to Halloween

I'm going to take us back in time and post what I should have posted before yesterday.

Two weeks ago, I took the kids to Half Moon Bay to the pumpkin patch. I realize there are tons and tons of pumpkin patches a lot closer to Sunnyvale, but this one has become our tradition. The one we go to is nothing particularly fancy, as far as decorations or rides are concerned, but they have a huge selection of pumpkins and, because it's so much simpler than other patches in the area, it kind of takes you back to a time when things really were less complicated. If you're wondering, it's the 4-C's, which is the first one on the left as you head into HMB from San Mateo.

I had forgotten to bring my camera, so I took pictures with my phone, which has a delay. So, it was frustrating when I had a really cute shot of Asher, touched the button, and lost the shot because of the delay.

Can you find Asher?

Unlike last year's 55° and overcast weather, this year it was a cloudless 80° day. Beautiful, but it made me sweat hauling those pumpkins in the wheelbarrow.

Strike a pose!

Can he get any cuter? Actually, yes, he can.

Asher loved riding in the wheelbarrow.

Darn that delay! Asher was looking at me two seconds earlier.

So, this year, I severely procrastinated, and anyone who knew me in school knows I am a master procrastinator, and I barely got stuff done in time.

I was going to make Akiko's whole costume for Red Riding Hood, got all the material, and failed horribly when I tried to make the dress. I found a nerdy website that had instructions to make a lady's chemise, but I didn't read the part where it said that it was perfect for the "off the shoulder wench look." Oops!

So, I tried adding a yoke at the top to cover her shoulders and it ended up looking more like ghetto 'Little House on the Prairie' and less like Bavarian fairy tale. Then I remembered she already had the perfect dress for Red.

Oh well, lesson learned: Rifle through daughters wardrobe before buying fabric. The plus side is that I have tons of really cute fabric to make something else. I think I'm going to try making a purse, actually.

The cloak pattern was also found on a nerdy role-playing costume website and it turned out perfect. I was able to do it in about two and a half hours from first cut to finish. I'm super pleased with the result. As soon as it was done, which was last Thursday, Akiko didn't take it off all weekend long.

Friday was the school Halloween parade. So I dressed up the boys and we watched Akiko skip around the playground in the parade.

At first I thought that there was too much backlight, so I tried again...

... then the sun was in his eyes.

Little Red ready for the show!

All lined up and ready to go.

She's having fun!

So, the student body council was passing out slips of paper for "most creative," "best homemade," "funniest," and so on. I was bummed Akiko didn't get one for "best homemade." I guess my handiwork is just too good.

Looks like Red caught the "Little Cute Wolf."

I was supposed to be Grandma, but didn't get my costume in time.

Face painting wasn't allowed, so I didn't draw Moses' beard. I later learned that it was "scary" face painting that wasn't allowed. I wish they'd been more specific in the note they sent home from school. "Weapons of any kind" were also not allowed at the school, though I considered the ax more a tool than a weapon. I suppose it was ultimately used as one in the story. Whatever.

I don't know which picture is cuter. This one...

... or this one.

Really, how much cuter can this guy get? Wait till you see him in his beard.

Saturday was our ward party, trunk-or-treat, and parade.

In the car and ready to go.

My little sweethearts!

Akiko helped me pass out candy after she was done making the rounds.

Getting ready for the parade.

Oh! The little wolf succeeded in swiping the basket of goodies!

My camera started acting funny. It died on Monday right before trick-or-treating commenced. Sorry for the fuzzy.

This picture just kills me!

Moses won the "scariest costume" award in the 0-4 year old category. I honestly don't know how Moses could be scary in any way. He got a mini pumpkin for a prize. He kept saying he won "first place" because it happened to be the first prize that was given out.

Sometime between trunk-or-treat and the parade, Akiko started not feeling well. You can see it in her face in the "getting ready for the parade" picture above. When we got home she had a fever. I felt bad for her. I stayed home from church with her the next day.

The last time we went to a ward party, last Christmas, Akiko started not feeling well in the middle of that one, too. She ended up having strep. This time, however, it was just a 24-hour thing and nothing more than a fever. She was better by Sunday evening and went to school and trick-or-treating on Monday.

I'm going to stop this post here and talk about Halloween day later. I've got a robot birthday party to plan for this weekend. Somebody in our family is having a birthday on Sunday!