The Middle One Is Eight

Back in early spring, we all attended a silent auction where the Zig bid on a model airplane, and won. I'm not sure why he chose that particular thing to bid on, but he's always looking for things to love. Pets, bugs, stuffed animals, telephone poles, small planes. Soon after that, he read everything he could get his hands on concerning the P-51 Mustang used in WWII and quickly decided he wanted his birthday cake with that theme.

We joked for a while about Pa making a big ol' airplane out of cake, but when it was all said and done, the cake was decorated with fondant and frosting in the theme of the P-51 Mustang. Sounds simpler, but Pa and I likely put hours into that cake. Heh heh, our poor aching backs.

Regardless. My boy is eight, which is good, because I've been saying he is eight for a few months now. It's just easier. I like it when my kids' ages are all two years apart because my memory, MY POOR AGING MEMORY cannot handle so many numbers at one time!

We had a small party at home with the five of us. Pa had taken the day off of work and Zig got to spend the bulk of the day playing with his presents, which is his idea of perfection. Low stress, low on the human interaction. We did make a little outing to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner, because no matter how introverted the majority of us might be, we still can't resist The Call Of The All-You-Can-Eat Buffet.

Ziggy's presents were Legos with a side of Legos, with some plane-themed gifts in there too. Each kid got a small non-tangling parachute man--great fun for all of us in the front yard. Took Pa about five minutes before he was rigging up a contraption to make the guys soar up even higher. And I'm not saying I nearly threw my arm out of joint trying to make mine fly highest--but I might have.

Happy eighth birthday, Zig!

Campers Turns Nine

My baby boy is now nine. Which is odd, because in the nine years he's aged, I've gotten older by just two. Huh! Mom Math!

He wanted his personal logo on his birthday cake this year. Why does he have a logo? Well, because his daddy is a graphic designer and therefore, Campers knows how to design graphics. He created the logo himself and uses it on his notes and artwork. Pa's boy.

I, on the other hand, have massive arm-bending skills that cannot be surpassed. Try that, Campers!

But guess who's excited to turn nine?

And guess who was hogging the ice cream while said nine-year-old was hogging the attention?

Happy ninth birthday, Campers!

Campers Turns Eight

Oh, people. Time is flying by. The older my kids get the faster times goes, and MY WORD, WHY DIDN'T I BELIEVE Y'ALL WHEN YOU TOLD ME THAT EIGHT YEARS AGO.

So Campers is eight now. And he got some Wikki Stix, which are these awesome wax-coated yarn-type bendable thingys that can be used again and again to fiddle around and build stuff with.

And lo, we have entered the age of the "science set:"

My brother had a circuit set when we were kids, and I'm tellin' ya, it was a whole lot cooler than most of the girly junk on the shelves. Then again, I wasn't exactly your "pony heart flower" kind of girl.

On to the cake.

It was a chocolate volcano, from the book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" that Pa just finished reading to the kids.

Mmm-hmm. That's FONDANT, people. Homemade fondant. A first in the snippets and sagas household.

And--because you care--underneath was a four-layer chocolate cake with a jar of black raspberry "simply fruit" in between. The frosting was made with cool whip, and that lava you see is a double bag of chocolate chips. Plus gummy candies, jelly bellies and junior mints on top. Mmm. Sugar overload!

Speaking of sweetness personified:

What a couple of goofs.

(Suz was hiding out in the background. Begging for cake.)

Happy 8th birthday, Campers.

Pa Turns 36

Pa wanted Thai food for his birthday dinner.

He got to take the rest of us along with him.

Even The "Seven."

Who insisted on making a scary face for the camera. Complete with arms. Not that we had to take 87 shots just to get the perfect one, no.

We took our favorite Chinese girl to eat Thai food as well.

Happy 36th, Pa! We're getting o-l-d!

Ma Turns 35

Thirty-five, thirty-five, oh thirty-five. You have found me.

And so my only response was this:

Eleven cartons of ice cream.

You got a problem with that?

Mmm-hmmm.

Okay, okay. So I shared them with my neighbors and friends. But still. No one said I couldn't taste them all, now did they?

DID THEY?!?!

Moving on. To a blast from the past:

I agree. Very cute.

And I hear you--you're amazed the photograph is still in one piece after 30+ years. Hardy har har har.

So here I am on my 35th birthday, spending it with my favorite friend:

And my favorite food:

Happy birthday to me.

Ziggy's Birthday: Part 6

One decision we made early on in this parenting journey was to opt out of "gifts" being a part of the Friend Birthday Parties. Oh, you know me. I hate having to ask other moms to have to spend big bucks and time and effort to get stuff for my kids that they really don't need. Oh, I know that some people really like to give gifts, but oh well. They'll get over it.

(*smile*)

Plus, what young child likes to watch another little boy open up a bunch of loot while he gets squat?

NO CHILD THAT *I* KNOW.

With that plan, we waited until the kids went home and Ma and Pa had recuperated enough to speak in complete sentences. Then the Zig got to open presents from the Grandparents (XOXO) and from us.

I'm not sure when he went and grew up, but my boy somehow got old enough to assemble his own Lego set:

And to play with the ever-popular, pattern blocks:

And in the theme of the party, he was given a little stuffed "Eve" and "WALL-E:"

And from us, he got a toy eagle:

That eagle is all part of a made-up story that Pa tells the kids every now and then. Each member of our family is part of the story, and we all have fancy Dragonslayer names and a separate animal to represent our part in the story. So for this birthday, not only did Zig get his animal, but everyone else got their "character" as well. And now the boys love to act out the story and it's all so cute and once again, shocker, that Pa is a creative type if I ever did see a creative type.

Meanwhile, I wash a mean sink-full of dishes.

And thus ends the Fifth Birthday Celebration of the Zig, circa 2009.

Ziggy's Birthday: Part 5

When Ziggy first started planning his party, he wanted a Spiderman cake. Oh, but wow, we'd done the Spiderman thing before, at Campers' birthday party a couple years back. After nearly eight years of Boy Parties, the superhero thing has grown a bit weary.

So, we managed to persuade Zig to choose a character he likes equally well--if not more than--the superheroes--WALL-E.

As usual, Pa decorated the cake.

Impressive, as always.

By the time we got back from the park, three of our neighbor boys had joined the party as well--thus bringing the Boy Count to a total of NINE.

(Deep breaths.)

The cake was a real hit with all of them, too:

Then came the best part, the eating following by laughing followed by eating, laughing, eating, falling off the bench, laughing, throwing food, laughing, and running around.

Boys. Gotta love 'em.

Especially the one who just turned five.

Ziggy's Birthday: Part 4

This is perhaps my favorite picture from the set "Six boys play games at Ziggy's party."

I'd like to say that this shot was staged, or that it was a temporary expression.

But I'd be lying.

(*snicker snicker snicker*)

Someone didn't like being stuck in a stroller while everyone else was having fun.

Oh, if that doesn't tell a bunch about her personality, I don't know what does.

Honestly, I had no choice but to keep her confined. Otherwise she would have been "ruining" everyone else's fun and running into the street to boot.

What you can't see in that picture is what she was saying as well.

It wasn't pretty.

But it made me laugh.

Oh, Suz. She'll get her tea parties and princess games someday.

Until then, she will get to practice up on her pouting.

A + + +.

(Cake pics coming next.)

Ziggy's Birthday: Part 3

Before I get all carried away talking about the games and such at Ziggy's party, let me just say this: You know that "Pa" character who hangs out in the background around here on this here blawg? Well. He is One Awesomesauce Pa who rocks at leading little kid birthday parties.

Betcha didn't see that one comin'.

All six of the boys at Zig's party had a great time, and Pa had them moving and laughing and gaming until the cows came home.

Don't know if I've told you this yet or not, but the theme for Zig's 5th birthday party was "WALL-E." That's based on a hit movie, for those of you in the audience who maybe aren't up on your animated films circa 2008.

The first game we played was a WALL-E relay, where the kids lined up and wore robot suits (paper bags) as they walk-raced around the trees.

Then it was off to play WALL-E-BALOO, which is like "Hullabaloo," which is like "run around and step on whatever piece of paper we say until you're worn out enough to be managed by two tired adults."

And then, because the temps were in the upper 80s that day, we pulled out the water balloons. First, a water-balloon-on-a-spoon relay. We used white balloons to represent the movie character "Eve."

But a water balloon on a spoon was not exciting enough, so it naturally evolved into this:

Mmm-hmmm. A water balloon toss and then a free-for-all and then it was time to wrap up the games. But what could possibly be more fun than getting wet?

Oh. Eating cake.

More pics to come.

Ziggy's Birthday: Part 2

For the first time in five years, it wasn't scheduled to rain on Ziggy birthday. So I finally made the "birthday party plan of my dreams" by hosting the party at a park.

Yes!

No house to clean!

I've always got the kids' best interest in mind, of course. I knew they'd love going to the park. Yes. That's it.

So we stuffed the stroller full of junk and hoofed it down to the park.

First on the itinerary was lunch. Hot dogs, chips, and Capri-Sun. Look at me, the nutrition nazi. But it was Ziggy's pick, and easy to haul to the park.

Outside of his siblings, Zig invited four other boys to his party.

Yes. That's a table full of boys, right there.

Honestly, it was a great group of kids. All friends of the Zig's, and calm, well-mannered children at that.

The boys on each end are friends from church, and the other two (non-orange-shirt-wearing) are boys (brothers) in our homeschool field trip group.

It was a beautiful day for fun in the sun.

More pics to come.

Ziggy's Birthday: Part 1

I always begged my mom for Cookie Crisp as a kid.

Do you think I ever got any?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

(No hard feelings, Mom. Really.)

(*sobbing*)

Well, I could buy some now, but why would I? Their sugar bombs! They'll rot my teeth! They'll send me into spazzy space!

But I digress.

Last year, Campers lobbied and nagged me enough to get to eat some Cereal Of His Choice on his birthday. So, you know, what I did for one kid I have to do for all the others.

All the children love the firstborn, for paving the way. Breaking in the parents. Training 'em up right.

I told the boys they could have ONE BOWL of Fruit Loops each day until the box was gone. Yessiirreee, I've never seen those Corelle bowls filled that full before!

So anyway.

My "baby" just turned five. He's been acting "five" for a few months now.

Here he is, waiting for his Ma to get everything ready for his party.

What a squash.

A squash who happens to be getting taller and taller and his legs are starting to go all the way to the floor.

(Campers hates that phrase. So we say it all the more.)

Lots more pics to come.

Cake! E'buddy Like Cake!

I like to call this hairstyle, "Maybe I should think about getting it cut."

But this post isn't about me. (It isn't?)

It's about the cake.

For Campers' 77th birthday.

Didn't Pa (and sons) do a faaaabulous job with the cake?

We invited the neighbor boys (ages 7, 6, 5) over to help celebrate and eat the cake.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the din, I realized...

My baby is seven.

S-E-V-E-N.

(In case you couldn't spell.)

Boys And Their Toys

Campers was super excited to get an erector set for his birthday:

Pa and the boys spent an entire afternoon building this thing and that.

I gave Pa the Fatherhood Medal of Honor for spending so much time in "play."

This might surprise you, but I don't usually describe myself as someone who likes to "play."

Zig was close by the action, providing a little "atmosphere" for the event.

And yes, he's covering his nose for the VERY REASON you THINK he's covering his nose.

Boys.

Speaking of, I've got two words to say about this picture:

"Uncle Jared."

The boys finished building their Very Special Helicopter, and shortly after their great sigh of satisfaction, the Suz came along and destroyed it.

Building character. We're aaaaaaaaaalways building character.

It's His Party I'll Make Him Wait If I Want To

I figure it's every parent's prerogative to drive their kids nuts.

After all, my parents did it to me.

So when it came time to open presents on his birthday...

Campers had to wait A WHOLE FIVE MINUTES...

While his Ma bustled around getting everything ready...

Namely, finding the presents:

And after a frenzied two minutes, Campers was satisfied that he got everything he ever wanted, and *I* got the satisfaction of building his patience in the process.

Mmmmm-hmmmm.

Happy Birthday, dear... Here's the name of a good therapist.