Party Time!

We did it and survived! As soon as Alyssa arrived home from school (which is half days every Friday) we let her open up her gifts from us. We figured she would be opening up a ton at the party and this way it was one less thing to bring. Finally it was PARTY-TIME!! Here we thought 22 kids would be coming and ended up with 30 counting Ryann, Kylee, and the birthday girl. RSVP is a funny thing. The purpose of putting this on an invite is to give you an idea of how many people would be there so you can have enough food, etc. The day of the party I received two more phone calls of kids coming despite the fact I asked by the 25th to RSVP. Luckily, the place was very accommodating and ordered more pizzas so their would be plenty of food. If your child ever gets invited to a party (which will happen) please call ASAP so you are not one of THOSE parents calling the day of. I know we all have hectic lives and before we know it is the day of the party, so the moment you get it in your hands make the call that same day that very moment.

We got her a much needed alarm clock that she could hook up her MP3 player and listen to music, makeup, nail stuff, lotions, and pet shops.

These are the invites that Nikki (sister-in-law) helped me make.

Pink for Girls; Blue for Boys

The party began at three with all the kids having a great time swimming and playing in the water. It had been snowing all week and was nice to go somewhere to swim where it was warm.

Ryann enjoying the water!

Dad watching and playing with Ryann. Addy was at her Nana and Paca's house sick. You can see his surgery wounds are healing up nicely.

Two of Alyssa's best friends. Jordan and Sophie. The one in the pink had to constantly pat me and tell me something. CONSTANTLY! :)

Alyssa and Elaine in the lazy river!

Kylee and her friend Lauren that came to help me with the party.

Alyssa coming out the water slide.

Around 4:20 we moved into the party room and played a few games.

The first game they played was freeze dance. This is a great game to play with a lot of kids. It also was a great way to warm them up from just getting out of the pool. For those of you not familiar with this game...You play the music, they dance, you pause the music, they freeze. Whoever is caught moving when they are to "freeze" is out.

We followed this game by the limbo...how low can you go?



Finally, I divided them up into two teams. I brought in a small plastic kiddie pool and filled it with mini beach balls that I bought from Oriental Trading. At the bottom of this pool were puzzle pieces (blue or pink). One at a time team members would grab a puzzle piece and then assemble the puzzle. I drew a huge crab on the blue and a seahorse on the pink. It was a little tricky but the blue team ended up winning. I had one more game planned but had to skip it do to time. These little beach balls were a hit especially among the boys. Right before the pizza was brought in they started dancing again and a few boys were throwing the balls at each other so Elliott decided to help them out by picking up the pool and throwing all the balls up in the air. All of the kids screamed and started throwing balls.

Next, it was time to eat Pizza. They figure out how many pizzas you need based off of how many guests so they brought in 8 large pizzas and I thought we would be bringing some home. Ha ha...boy did I underestimate how much kids can eat. We had one slice left over. The kids couldn't believe that they could have as much as they want and so they took advantage of that moment. Elliott with the help from Kylee and her friend handed out the pizza while I poured the soda. We had 8 2-liters of soda and I couldn't pour fast enough. Ahhh crazy moment! It was like feeding a bunch of vultures or hungry lions. It makes me appreciate the lunch workers in elementary schools.

The girl in the pink (Abby) would take the prize for the girls for eating the most pizza and drinking the most soda.

Following the Pizza we went strait into having cake and Ice Cream. I have the cutest pattern to make the cutest cake but decided to help keep it simple I went to a bakery for her cake. We only had one small corner worth of cake left over.

Boys being Boys

Finally it was time to open all the many presents...the big hits were the webkinz! She got 8 and every time she would open on all the kids would scream! Too funny. She opened up this huge scrapbooking kit and a boy from her class said that it was gross and then a girl added in, "Your a boy and can't appreciate the art of scrapbooking." Kids are funny. She finished opening the last gift just as parents arrived to pick their kids up. I had a bag with some candy and a few small items inside tied up with a flip flop key chain on the outside for them to take home along with one of the beach balls from the game.

The shirt she got for having her party at the aquatic center.

Party Favor Bag and Beach Ball.



All the Goods!

It was a blast and seeing Alyssa have fun with her friends is why I LOVE throwing fun birthday parties for my girls. For having so many kids I was surprised at how well-behaved they all were. When we came home Elliott gave me a foot massage...ahhhh! What a perfect way to end a great day.

Alyssa Turns 8

Today is Alyssa's birthday and I can't believe that she is 8! She is welcoming in her 8th year by having her ears pierced. I took her last Friday because she wanted to surprise Elliott. She was so excited to see how long it would take him to notice. After 5 minutes at the airport and of him not noticing she asked him what was different with her ears. He was surprised and responded by saying, "Hey your not 18!" Everyday since, she has wanted to wear her hair up so everyone could see her cute earrings. She was so brave and didn't cry.

Today is the big party! She wanted to invite everyone in her class at school. My first thought was their is no way I wanted that many kids in my house but soon thought of having the party somewhere else and that is what we are doing. Their is an aquatic center with indoor pools and slides real close to our house so swimming it will be. Their will be around 25 kids so this will be interesting. We normally don't have parties get this big but we feel turning 8 is a big deal. They will swim then we will move into the party room for games, pizza, and cake and ice cream. Wish us luck!



Last night I let her pick her favorite dinner since we will be having pizza tonight at her party. She picked Hawaiian Haystacks which surprised me a little because they are Kylee's favorite. I think she loves so many dinners that she couldn't decided and picked it because she knows Kylee loves it. This morning I made her breakfast and pancakes was her top choice.



Last Friday night Kylee was gone swimming with a friend and Ryann and Addy were asleep. Alyssa and I decided to play some games. We were playing a card game called "King in the Corner" when she gave some very good advice. She had ended her turn without catching a move she could have done. When it was my turn I did the move and then she said, "Ahh, I forgot to do something. That is why you need to be watching your minds so you don't go crazy." So for any of you that may feel at times you are going crazy...just remember to watch your minds!

Morning of her Birthday ready for school!

Happy Birthday Alyssa Christine We Love You!

P.S. She also told me this morning that she wanted me to wear something nice and fix my hair for her party. I told her I was thinking about wearing my pink bathrobe. (Not a favorite of Elliott's either but it is sooo soft and WARM)

Za Za Zoo

Nikki and I are on a roll. The day after our venture to see Dinosaurs we took the four younger kids to the Zoo. Luckily I only live about five minutes from the Zoo so the painful car ride was kept to a minimum. We started our day with a trip to the store to get some food for a picnic lunch at the Zoo. Then we were off to the Zoo. Below is a picture of Ryann and Bryant in their car seats. I know it would have been easier to have them not on the same row but it was the only way to fit all 6 kids with 4 of them in car seats. Their hands could barely reach each other so then they would spit on each other to make each other mad. Spitting is Bryant's main tactic but Ryann soon picked up the gross habit. Today was the first day that Nikki tried a new way to try to get him to stop spitting. I gave her a water bottle and every time he would spit she would spray him. She gave him a warning the first time. The second time she would spray. It was nice because she could do it in the car or at home. He would at first laugh and then when he realized he didn't have a towel it wasn't much fun and he would tell her to stop it. When she would discipline him he would always say, "Stop it Mom, Stop it!" One time when I told him to stop something he folded his arms and said, "HUH! STOP IT LADY!" It is hard to keep a strait face when he would get mad because it is the funniest cutest thing, even though in that moment it should not be cute or funny.But the spraying seemed to work because the amount of times he would spit dramatically reduced and if he did do it, spraying immediately put a stop to it. The water gave him an idea to what it is like to have someone spit in your face except not as gross. A almost three year old has no idea how gross spitting in someones face is especially when the spitter is sick.

When we first got to the Zoo we decided to eat lunch and then headed off to tour the Zoo.

Climbing the fence to get a good look at one of the Giraffes.

I guess Ryann got sick of posing for pictures. I didn't ask her to make this silly face it was all her.

Addy's favorite was looking at the "mummys" (monkeys). The one sitting by Ryann is 5 years past it's life expectancy. It was not the cutest mummy and virtually hairless.

Addy trying to undress again.

Playing at the park!

We finished our day at the Zoo by taking a ride on the fine choo choo train. I am loving this beautiful weather!

DINO-SAURS

On St. Patty's Day Nikki and I felt it was best for our sanity to get out of the house with the crazy kids. Having 4 kids in a house with the oldest being 3 is enough said. This does not include Kylee and Alyssa because they are gone all day at school and they are easy. We decided to take the kids to a dinosaur museum. The car ride to the museum was PAINFUL! Ryann and Bryant seriously have a love-hate relationship and it is nothing but hate in the car. Once I put in an obnoxious children's CD and started singing and clapping to the music it completely changed the mood. I am sure Bryant thinks his Aunt Angela is one crazy lady but it worked. Upon entering Ryann was so scared which then I think made Bryant scared. After just a few minutes of being there Ryann asked me in a very serious and scared voice if we were going to die. Here we were trying to take them to a place we thought would be fun and now they may need therapy. Their was lots of hands-on activities that kept them distracted from the idea of a dinosaur coming and eating them. We even managed to end the afternoon with a rather painless lunch considering our four kids and Ryann's and Bryant's personality.

Ryann's face says it all. She wanted me to hold her.

At the very end they finally relaxed.


Addy learned that sand doesn't taste the greatest!


Playing in the sand and water.

Digging for bones.

Pin the body part on the DINO

Addy thought it would be more fun to undress.