March 10 Photo: Loud



Photo of the day: Loud! Well - what do you expect with a 6 year old and an 8 year old all hopped up on SUGAR!

 Saturday fell somewhere in between Bowen's birthday and Ashton's birthday. (My cousin's boys) I've missed having them as neighbours since they moved across the city and so it seemed like a good idea to have them both over for a movie party to celebrate. I had a wide selection of movies to pick from - half were mine and half were from the public library. After reviewing all the choices (and it was looking like a difficult decision when every choice was a strong YES!!) it settled out quite easily on two favourites - Jumanji and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We had a bit of lunch first - had to put some healthier food into them before all the treats and then moved into the "cinema" to dish up at the concession table and settle in for the movies.

An early mishap (my fault!) with rootbeer on the sofa was not so bad since I had covered it with a sheet (and caught most of the rootbeer in my lap!) They were basically bouncy throughout both shows - but it was fun and since we had all seen both movies, it was more of an ongoing commentary on the plot and frequent breaks to sample different items from the table.

The party ended with some heart rate raising Oompa Loompa dances and the singing of Happy Birthday with our "party" Oreos.  I was happy to send home as many of the leftovers as I could with them. I doubt they wanted any dinner - sorry for sending them back home in that state but we had a GREAT time together! Love these boys! Enjoy the rest of the pictures!

Welcome to the cinema - treats and movies all afternoon!



The movie "Concession table"!

Love this one! The little Korean 'yogurt' drinks are a MUST when we get together!

All smiles!

Ready to learn the Oompa Loompa dances!

No cake - Birthday oreos instead! (I don't even think they ate them!)

A little too much sugar, do you think? And I sent all the leftovers home with them as well. Sorry cuz!

Looking for a Theme

The beginning - a very young group of wizards and witches

It started with a party that was all things Harry Potter.  I loved the books and the first movie had just come out.  I borrowed some kids so it wasn't just a party for me but in actual fact, I think that is how it started.  I turned my living room into the Great Hall with a long dining table  and a roaring fire - wizardy decorations and a list of activities for the night. We decorated our personal wands (out of chopsticks with glitter glue and paint) and the children were sorted by the sorting hat.  We had a charms lesson and levitated our animals (stuffies), potions class where we mixed coloured ice cubes into our clear seven-up. Herbology was planting magical looking 99cent plants into Harry Potter cups of potting soil. We dipped some gummy frogs into chocolate and had Bertie Botts every flavoured bean. We walked down to the dungeons (the basement) where the picture frames had living art behind them - a mirror of erised to look into and a few other surprises. The last activity was a game of quidditch (looking for golden ping pong balls hidden around the house). I had a lot of fun planning the night and I think we made some great memories.

My very elegant guests



I didn't at first plan for this to be a reoccuring event but there have been a few other special parties (Barbie get together, a Nancy Drew detective party)  that followed. Initially a plan to get my neice Madi together with my cousin's Vi's girls (as we all lived in the northwest but rarely got together) it became quite a bit more formal this past year with a girls tea party. - not quite Mad Hatters and much more Victorian. The plan now is to get the "girl's tent" occupants together before the reunion to renew friendships and make more memories. I know it is even more important as it took a bit of time for the girls to warm up to each other at the tea party but by the end - they were all playing twister together and had lost all the initial awkwardness. That day was about the food, the costumes and photo session and stories and photos of ancestors. And again - it was probably more of an opportunity for me to pull out all the tea cups I could gather, share the stories and photos I had been collecting and justify the dress-up tub of old fashioned dresses in my basement.

In order to save a Saturday, I need to start thinking now of my theme and invitations. It is harder with the age range of girls increasing - I would so love to invite the little ones but it makes the theme and activities that much harder. It was so easy when they were all within a few years of each other.  But I'm sure a theme exists that will make this work. So ideas are certainly welcome!