Happy Birthday John!!

John turned 7 years old this past week.  He growing up so much!  He will start 1st grade in a couple days and he brings so much fun to our family.  John requested waffles for breakfast.  Scott was able to take the day off work and made John some of his famous buttermilk waffles.  Tasty!  We went to Freddy's for burgers, hot dogs, fries and frozen custard for lunch.

John got his own custard.  He chose a "dirt and worms" sundae.

He didn't like the gummy worms and ended up giving them to Grant.

Anna got her birthday custard too since her birthday was the day before.

After we went to a local trampoline park

The kids had a great time there

Emma jumping in a pit

Anna on the wiggly ladder

Cute Johnny!  I know its a mom thing to say but he melts my heart with his cuteness.

Later on we had a special Birthday Cafe dinner (where I give the kids little menus - pretty sure I got this idea from my mom).  John ordered a corndog, fries and tater tots.  We're having a super healthy birthday eating day.  ;) 

John wanted a Legend of Zelda cake.  Usually I just find a toy from whatever theme they want and stick it on top but it was hard to find a Legend of Zelda figure.  Anna suggested we make the tri-force symbol (a symbol from the game) with candies.  So that's what we ended up doing.  John wanted chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  Easy.

We did a fun Legend of Zelda themed treasure hunt.  Matthew had a Link costume (main character from the Legend of Zelda video game series) that he wore for Halloween a few years back.  It was a little big on John but did the trick.  All the other kids helped me plan and execute this treasure hunt.  John (as Link) had to complete different challenges, collecting hearts along the way (like the game) and when he got enough hearts he could get the sword to fight Gannon - the main boss in the game.

John looks for some food items to cook and make food for a villager

This is in our very crazy and overgrown pumpkin patch

John finally earned enough hearts to get the master sword!

John fighting Gannon!

And rescuing Zelda

And Zelda told John where his presents were hidden

We had lots of fun.  I had been stressing all week 'cause we had the two birthdays back to back and I was supposed to teach my first lesson in beehives (12-13 year old girls at church) that Sunday.  I was happy the birthdays worked out well.  Phew!  Happy 7th Birthday John!

Happy Birthday, Anna!!

Anna turned 11 years old this past week. She was very excited for her birthday.  We had German Pancakes from breakfast.  She doesn't like most breakfast foods, but settled on this one rather than have rice or nachos.

For a fun birthday activity we painted pottery.  In the past for Anna's birthday we have gone to a pottery painting place and let each kid paint something.  The problem with this is that 4 of my kids take about 20 minutes to paint their special item and one of my kids takes 2 hours.  And its the birthday girl who takes a long time and she never appreciates being rushed along while I try to entertain 4 squirrelly and bored kids in a shop full of breakables.  This year we did a take home party pack from the painting shop.  We went in and picked our items and then brought them home, along with a bucket of paints and brushes loaned from the shop.  It was great!  We painted at home and everyone was free to take as much or as little time as they wanted on their projects.  When we're done we can take them back in to the pottery place to be fired.  Here we are painting at home.

John and Grant picked a small box that looks like a video controller

Emma picked a unicorn (no surprise there)

In honor of Anna's birthday, Emma chose to wear her birthday shirt as well (which says "It's my birthday."). It wasn't a hostile gesture but Anna didn't appreciate it that much.

Matthew picked a castle

And Anna picked a mug with a mermaid tail for a handle

Everyone had a good time painting

We made a watermelon cake of sorts

And Anna got to have her favorite, El Pollo Loco for dinner.

We made a lemon glaze cake

I made the frosting a little too thick which is my tendency so it was less glazy but still good

Anna wanted to have a treasure hunt themed on a book she likes, The Land of Stories.  I haven't read the book so it was a little tricky for me to put together but I gave it a shot.

Anna had to go around collecting fairy tale items to make a wishing spell just like in the first book.

Each room was a different land from the story

She enjoyed telling the other kids about the book as they went around collecting things

In the end she found her presents and we all had a good time

We even got a special birthday surprise!  My parents stopped by our house on their way back from their mission in Indiana.  The finished their mission a few weeks ago and have been making their way back (plus a stop to see my brother on the east coast).  We didn't know they would be arriving today so it was a fun surprise!  Happy Birthday Anna!!

Snow Mountain Ranch - Part 2

We had lots of activities planned while on vacation, but the whole week we were in Colorado Emma was looking forward to one thing more than all the others: meeting the husky dogs.  They have huskies that race in dog sled races and give rides on the dog sleds to visitors in the winter.  One day there was a chance to meet and play with some of the husky dogs.  Emma asked about it nearly every hour while we were there.  Finally she got to see the huskies!

We drove over to Grand Lake and went on a little hike

Got to stick our feet in this river

And climb on the trees

Back in the city of Grand Lake we had lunch at a local BBQ place and went down to the lake.

Sitting on the dock dangling our feet in the lake.

We got ice cream in town then drove into Rocky Mountain National Park

We saw lots of elk in the park and even a moose

We drove to the Alpine visitor center (which is at a very high altitude - I think 12,000+ feet.  All of us except Anna, who wasn't feeling good, hiked to the top of the peak there.

Stopping to look at a herd of elk on the way back down

Here's the view of our cabin.  It was a busy but fun week in Colorado.

So glad we got to go!