Katie's 9th Birthday Party

Okay.  So this wasn't great planning.

But, it had to be done.

I had to schedule Katie's IV infusion for the day before her birthday.

We had a vacation coming up that next week.  We had Girl Scout camp the week before.

What could I do?

You can tell from the picture below that she is NOT happy with me.

As she would say, "OBviously, Mom."

But it was all made better.

The next day she got presents!

LOTS OF THEM.

(Thanks to all!)

In typical Katie fashion, she loved ALL the presents she got.

Her enthusiasm for ripping open presents and exclaiming, 

"IT'S THE BEST PRESENT EVER!!!!" knows no bounds.

Later that day it was time for the actual party.

A sleepover party.

I know.  Crazy.

It wasn't too bad.  She invited friends she's known since preschool (and their littler siblings) and I know both families very well.

First up, Katie's favorite....Ooba's Mexican food.

Then it was time for a little after dinner archery...

....and sword practice.

(Notice the baby doll that has been hung up as an archery target)

The theme of the party?

It was complicated.

Monster High (black and pink) AND Percy Jackson (blue).

Hey.  Remember that "mordida" thing I talked about in the Mikey's B-Day Blog Post?

Well, here you can see it in action.

No Katie's were harmed in the making of this film.

Here's a still picture of the result.

Time for just a few more presents.

Then we took a little break.

The girls went upstairs and did some makeup.

Um.

I don't know.

The boys played a wicked game of Uno.

Not sure who ended up winning.

After the games and such (and some loud singing and dancing) it was movie time.

Katie chose to watch Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

I was pleasantly surprised.  All the kids really liked it.

Huh.  Who knew?

I guess Katie did.

And then it was time to head to Camp Halfblood for the sleep portion of the evening.

That sleep portion was a little long coming.

After a bedtime story read to all by Huzbend...

...it was time to settle down.

Except, that didn't  happen.

The kids didn't quiet down completely until about 2am or so.

Phew.

Most were up by 9 the next morning.

Although, they looked like they could've (and should've) slept another few hours.

Despite the not-so-happy morning face, Katie had a great birthday.

Next up....vacation time!!!!

Mikey's 6th Birthday Party

We got back from camping and the kids had their last week of summer camp.

Mikey took a half day coding camp in which he made a bunch of totally awesome games using Scratch.  All of them, of course, had Puppy Ralph in them.

Katie had a week at Girl Scout day camp.  This week had an emphasis on Archery, where she could learn and test her skills at a range everyday, and also had a Thursday night overnight.

And for the first time, she ate the food provided at the camp.
They were able to accommodate her multiple allergies and her celiac.
It wasn't the first year they could do that, it was the first year I trusted them to do that.

She was a happy camper.

Next thing on the list was Mikey's Birthday Party.

He decided to have it at a local city rec. center.

He also decided his theme was going to be Minecraft....

...No wait....Mario!

Sigh.

Theme changing happens every year.

That's okay.  It gave me an excuse to bake up this beauty.

Thank you, Wilton Star Cake Pan and Amazon Prime!

The pool complex is super awesome.

They have slides!

It just so happens that Mikey is friends with the younger siblings of some of Katie's good friends.

So, that worked out.

Sopping wet fun was had by all.

It was time to head to the party room for cake, Minecraft bricks, balloons and presents.

TAAAA-DAAAAAA!

Okay.

Let me explain.

Our friends have this tradition from Mexico.

This year they wanted Mikey to give it a try.

It goes something like this:

The guests chant, "Mordida! Mordida! Mordida!"

Mordida means bite.

The birthday girl or boy is entitled to the first bite of cake, but the kicker is that they cannot use their hands.  As they bend in to get a bite of cake, the people behind them shove their faces into it.

Everyone laughs.

The birthday boy or girl inhales cake.

It's pretty funny.

After eating way too much star cake and chocolate cocoa pebbles with green frosting it was time for presents.

"Oooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Annnnnd, it was over.

A couple of other guests left and then it was just the 

"Preschool Kids - Phase 1 and Phase 2"

The next week, 

Batman ate some mac n cheese.

Someone got braces.

Before....

....after.

And we went to the zoo.  Always a good summer time filler.

Ralph!  What are you doing-.....

Oh wait.

Not Ralph.

Wrong color.

Same size nose though.

This was the kids favorite part of the zoo.

Special treat time.

Note to self:  Next time wait until right before leaving to give them treats. 

The rest of the day Mikey wanted to leave because he was "tired", a.k.a. had gotten his treat, so there was nothing to look forward to.

He got distracted by climbing.

Katie took over camera duties and took lots of pictures of animals.

They got really close to this tiger.

Mikey was in heaven.

"I. Just. Can't. Walk. Anymore."

"I'm exhausted.  I have no energy."

"I think....."

"I think I need......"

".....more cotton candy!"