Mid-Month Randoms: Focus on Sophia and James

I went through my camera roll and decided to do a "Mid-Month Randoms" post with some of the pictures that were on the reel, and then realized that all of them focused on Sophia and James.  I blame that on the fact that we just got done celebrating their birthday month ...

On the morning on her 13th brithday:

Later in the day, she opened all of her presents from us and then we headed to Relli's for dinner, her restaurant of choice.  Grandpa joined us, of course.  

Sidenote: the weather was unseasonably warm.  In fact, the next day (my birthday), the high reached 72 degrees which broke a record.  Crazy!

********************

The same weekend that we celebrated Sophia's birthday with friends, we had a "Family Party" to jointly celebrate both Sophia and Jimmy.

I made a cake for Sophia and she absolutely loved how it turned out.  I kept it a secret on how I was planning to decorate it and it made it even more special for her.

Because I had already decorated a cake for Jimmy for his earlier party with friends, I kept it more simple and did some dinosaur-topped cupcakes.  That way, we had the option of either white or chocolate cake for our guests:

We kept the balloon arch up, although it was starting to lose a bit of its "ooomph:"

I then added a little plant to this adorable disco ball planter that I found and used it as a centerpiece.

A sign of a good party is wild hair when it is time to blow out your candle!

Sophia's hair was a bit more tamed, ha!

********************

As a potential decoration for the disco ball party, I custom ordered this neon sign for Sophia.  When it didn't arrive in time for the party, I completely forgot about it.

The following week, it showed up on our doorstep.  I had a good laugh about it and then waited for Sophia to get home from school.  Together, we did some rearranging in her room and then opted to put it above her vanity.  It is PERFECT there.

********************

Once a month, Jimmy comes home with an "extra credit math project."  It is completely optional, but we like to do them anyway.  The teacher gives the students plenty of time to complete them and we tend to add a little extra creativity to the project.  For this particular assignment, Jimmy had to compare the distances of two planets from the sun and share a few random facts about them.  He opted to use watercolors and the final project turned out awesome!

********************

St. Patrick's Day

This year, St. Patrick's Day fell on a Sunday which meant that we started the day out a little slower and not as rushed as we might have if it was a school day.  The kids slept in a bit and I made sure that there was some special holiday treat waiting for them, as usual.

Rainbow Sweet-Tart ropes, a favorite of everyone, set out on gold placemats with a shamrock place card:

Sometimes, simple is best.

I did add a little bit to the mantle for the holiday and chose to keep a couple of the star balloons up, leftover from Sophia's disco ball party.  The kids all dressed in green and obliged me with a traditional picture.

St. Patrick's Day is one of Steve's favorite holidays and he was ready to celebrate by mid-afternoon:

Actually, we had plans to meet up with a group of friends down the road and then head to a couple of places in Lansing.  We had a great time!  

We didn't stay out too late -- one of the perks of having the holiday on a Sunday is that you can start celebrating a little earlier and then end earlier.  I ordered pizza for the kids for dinner and had it delivered and we made it home shortly thereafter to make sure that everything was lined up for the next morning (school and work).

Sophia's 13th Birthday - A Disco Ball Theme

I knew that I wanted to do something sparkly for Sophia's 13th birthday and suggested a "disco theme" early in our planning stage.  While she did not want an actual disco dance complete with lights and music, we both agreed that the sparkles with silver, black and hot pink would be a great place to start, and then we could integrate a few other special items.

Of great importance was a balloon arch.  I have to say, we are getting pretty good at these now and I love how it turned out.

A true labor of love was the homemade disco ball pinata that I made.  It was layer upon layer of newspaper mache, which I then spray-painted silver and personally glued all of the sparkles on it.  The sparkles were actually punched-out circles from silver notecards that I found on clearance at Walmart.  I filled it with ALL KINDS of goodies and then sealed it up (more paper mache!) and used a coat hanger for extra support inside when hanging it.

Disco Cowboys!  We found these at the store and knew that they would be absolutely perfect for denoting everyone's special glass at the table.  (Everyone took their cowboy home after the party as as a souvenir.

All set up at the table and just waiting for her friends to arrive to celebrate.

I made virgin margaritas for everyone, using special glasses, and there was a lip gloss placed there before the party as another favor.

Sophia's Disco Cowboy was named, "Peace."

Ready to party!

Steve and the boys had other plans so I was on my own to make sure that the pinata was secured in the garage.

It definitely lasted longer than I thought and the girls ended up with TONS of items from the disco ball when it eventually broke.

Lots of silver sparkled adorned the floor afterwards, but it was worth it to see the girls having so much fun with it!

Afterwards, I planned another fun game for the guests.  The girls love playing BINGO, but I added a little extra twist to it.  Whoever won each game got to go to this homemade board and punch out one of the cups to reveal their prize.  

Everyone was allowed to win three games so they ended up with various gift cards and/or some cash.  This is such a big hit with teenagers!  In the end, they were allowed to switch with someone if they liked another prize better ...

All prizes were claimed!

We ended the evening -- before the sleepover began -- with 'brookies' and ice cream while singing 'happy birthday' to our newly minted TEENAGER!

Valentine's Day 2024

This was Jack's last year doing valentines for his friends at school, as he will be moving up to the Middle School in the Fall.  It's the ending of an era and a sad one for me.  We have always 'stepped up our game' with the valentines and passed out something other than a small piece of candy and I have loved watching the kids work on them at the dining room table.  Jimmy will still continue doing valentines for another 3 years and I plan to savor those moments while I can.

This year, I printed out stickers to put on nice-sized bags of Sour Patch Kids that read, "Valentine, you make life less sour."  

These are one of the boys' favorite kinds of candy, so it was fitting to choose those to hand out to their classmates.

When the kids came home from school later that day, I made sure to have the table all set up for each of them.  Aunt Chris sent along special bags for each of them to celebrate the holiday and I made one of everyone's FAVORITE desserts: brookies.  

Those are a combination of a brownie and a chocolate chip cookie and are completely irresistible.  

Jimmy's 8th Birthday

On Jimmy's "real" birthday, he woke up to bunch of gifts all wrapped with dinosaur wrapping to complement his chosen birthday theme.  We had a basketball game to attend for Jack later in the morning so we made sure to start the day off early celebrating this 8-year-old.  

Of course, we had our traditional cinnamon rolls with a candle in them for breakfast and everyone sang 'happy birthday.'

Jimmy took turns opening gifts from all of us and one of his most favorite items was a gel blaster gun from his brother.

Later that evening, I surprised everyone with ice cream sundaes in waffle bowls ... and ALL the toppings!

Jimmy loaded up on chocolate syrup and gummy worms ...

And then I stuck a candle in the top and we sang 'happy birthday' again.  Such a great day celebrating the youngest member of our family!

Winter Dances

The girls each went to their respective Winter Dances this year with friends.  

Sophia's dance was at the Middle School and as a 7th grader, this was her first dance to be able to attend.  She chose her dress online and then I made a few modifications to it to make sure that it met her expectations.  Of course, it is the trend to wear comfortable shoes -- especially Converse -- with your fancy dress now.

A quick pic of Sophia and her dad before she left for the dance:

She has now officially surpassed me in height, even when she isn't wearing her platform Converse shoes, and I can't believe how grown up she looks.  She will be turning 13 in just a few weeks.

********************

Samantha also chose her dress online and then asked me to make a few modifications, as well.  I'm glad that she chose to go with a long-sleeve for the winter season and I think that the navy color was so stunning on her.  

Sam loves our cat so much and wanted to be sure that I captured a picture of them together.  I don't think that Mia was quite as thrilled for the photo shoot.

I say this every time -- her legs are SO long.  This is one of the reasons why she is so great at hurdles on the Track Team. 

I helped her with her hair and I think that it turned out pretty cute.  

I can't believe that her sophomore year is almost over already.  Time is really flying by!

Celebrating Jimmy's 8th Birthday with Friends

When I was planning Jimmy's 8th birthday, I looked ahead on the calendar and sighed.  This is always such a busy time of year in our household because of basketball season, Winter dances, Valentine's Day, ALL the February birthdays ... and the list goes on.  But -- I don't ever want to miss an opportunity to celebrate my kids up big for their birthdays either.  So, I shuffled some things around and reached out to the moms of some of Jimmy's friends so that we could be sure to find a day and time that worked for a party.  

Jimmy chose a dinosaur theme and I suggested a party at the bowling alley where we went for part of Jack's party last year.  Then, we set to work filling some party bags.

We included some dinosaur chapstick, dinosaur gummy candy, some squishy dinosaur eggs and one of our favorite things -- dinosaur eggs that you 'excavate.'

I made and decorated the cake and then made sure that we would be able to safely transport it to the bowling alley.  

The girls (and Ainsley) were a big help to me, loading up the van and then waiting in the vehicle while I picked up a few balloons from Meijer.  Steve was with Jack at his basketball game at the time and they planned to join us at the bowling alley after the game was over. 

One by one, the friends arrived and they were so excited to be able to see Jimmy, bowl and have lots of pizza, pop and cake.

I ended up adding on an extra lane after Jack arrived and the girls and Jack bowled on that lane.  

We took a small break to sing 'happy birthday' to this 8-year old and then the kids DEVOURED the cake.  Our server even surprised us by bringing out cups of ice cream for everyone.  It was such a thoughtful gesture because I knew that I wouldn't be able to transport ice cream to the bowling alley for the party and manage to keep it cold.

Jimmy is one loved little boy because he was spoiled by all of the gifts that he received.

They all know him SO well!

Build your own Lego car?  Yup, perfect.

Pokemon, Bakugan and football.  More favorites.

As Jimmy was finishing up with gifts and the boys were competing to see who the final winner of their bowling games would be, our server did one more amazing thing for us.  She went into the back of the alley, where all of the pins are stored, and brought out a bowling pin as a souvenir.  She wrote, "Happy 8th Birthday, Jimmy!" on it and signed her name.  And then she left sharpies for the rest of the guests to write on it.  

Jimmy proudly posed with it and his balloons when we got back home and I am pretty sure that he did not stop smiling for the rest of the day!