A Blurry Valentine's Day

The day itself wasn't blurry but a little person put fingerprints all over my lens and I didn't notice.  Therefore all the pictures are blurry.

A couple weeks before Valentine's Day my girls decided they wanted to have a party.  This is problematic.  I don't do parties.  My children only have family birthday parties, and "party" only means a gathering which includes people that don't live with them coupled with food of some sort.  I don't think I have ever thrown a child's party; ever.  They also had tons of friends they wanted to invite and my house is not sized for entertaining tons of kids.  The third problem was that their friends live all over the valley. Many of their homeschool friends live 45 minutes away.  I had to explain that people weren't likely to drive for 1.5 hours just to attend a little party.  They were adamant.  We got the list down to the amount of people who would fit in the house and started planning.  Actually, I called my sister Heidi, and just had her tell me what to do.  Everyone we invited came.

We made Valentine-colored hair clips, played a get to know you game, and cooked and decorated cakes in mugs.  Meanwhile Ethan and one of his friends sat in his bedroom and watched Flubber (a movie about bad luck because the party happened to be on Friday the 13th).

The little pink flower on top of her head is one she made at the party.

Libby enjoying her cake.  I know it looks like hot cocoa but it was cake. We modified this recipe so it was just plain chocolate cake.  It's actually pretty tasty for a microwave cake.

More cake and bows.  Life was good.

The boys hiding out with cake and a movie.  They just wanted to escape all the pink.

Ethan? Eleven!?

Ethan insists on growing up.  Over the past six months I haven't been able to keep him in a pair of shoes.  He just keeps growing and growing and is now taller than several of his aunts.  I content myself with the fact he has some pretty short aunts.  He even turned eleven (on his birthday, no less!).

He finished up Cub Scouts strong and is now a Boy Scout.  He earned his Arrow of Light and they had a tailor-made ceremony for him.  I loved his Cub Scout troop and was a little sad to see him advance. Before he advanced though, he had to face some challenges.

First he had to be properly attired.  Ethan was pretty embarrassed to be wearing a "dress" in front of his entire den and his extended family.  He faced his trial well.

Next he had to...honestly, I don't remember.  He had to throw disc things through hoops for some Greek mythology-related reason.  Standing way in the back you can see some tied up kids.  They were the imprisoned Titans.  Once Ethan made it to that challenge, the Titans broke their bonds, and Ethan had to subdue them by throwing stones (or rolled up socks) at them.

Then he had to prove his archery skills.  With only a few shots he brought down Cupid, and his quest was deemed successful.

He was crowned with laurels and his praises were sung.  He had one more challenge to complete...

To transition to Boy Scouts he had to safely cross the River Styx to join the Boy Scout troop.

Thankfully his new troop was there to safely carry him on his journey.  I just wish I had been able to get a better picture.

Woo, Ethan!

The Great...the Talented...Nose Sucker Boy!

Sam will accost random people and announce, "Look at me!"  He then squeezes his nostrils shut and attempts to suck in air.  It never fails to induce laughter from both the accoster and the accosted.  He then explains, "My nose stays shut because of all the snot in it!"

He is a genius.

Christmas! Only three months late!

We kicked off the Christmas season by decorating El Fako.  He gets more and more glorious each year.  His branches are limp, his trunk is weak, and we love him.

A couple weeks later we did our annual gingerbread house decorating.  This unicorn even showed up to help.  I think it may have been rabid.

 The boys' finished house.

 The girls' finished house.

 And one very finished little boy.

The children were snuggled all warm in their beds while Santa made sure the gifts were delivered.  On a side note, look at how glorious El Fako looked Christmas night.  It seemed everyday a new decoration was lovingly entwined in his branches.  I'm surprised he managed to stay standing. 

Our children are not allowed to wake up their parents before 7 a.m. on Christmas day.  This picture was taken at 7:01.  Merry Christmas!

The Cannibal King

I'm still not entirely sure why the King is tied up but I was assured this is how it is supposed to be.  I should probably stop reading Pippy Longstocking to them.  It seems to be giving them all sorts of new weird ideas.