TreVuchet

I'm sure everyone gets the urge to fling things across the room from time to time.  Most people, though, aren't lucky enough to have a 12th century weapon of war (albeit a tiny version of one) to help them with said flinging.

Trev glued together about a zillion wooden pieces this morning, carefully following the blueprints (See!  They're actually blue!), until his Trebuchet was complete.
The one problem with glue, though, is that it takes time to dry.  Builder-boy had to wait all day for his creation to be ready.  I was the lucky parent on glue-drying supervision duty, while Chad was on tooth-pulling duty.
And there was a quick trip to the nail salon.  Because you can't just sit there and watch glue drying, right?
10 hours later....
It flings!  Not that Trev ever saw the actual moment of flingage, because he closed his eyes every single time he pulled the pin.
P.S.  He wasn't in his jammies all day long, by the way.  Proper clothing was worn in the interim.
P.P.S.  Thanks for the awesome Trebuchet kit, Gomma!

The party!

We tried to trick out Manny's birthday party with as much Scooby-Doo-inspired stuff as we could think of (or online friends-especially my friend, Heather- could think of).

When the boys arrived, they started feeding Scooby Snacks (aka Lincoln Logs) to a hungry ghost.
Next, they tossed dog bones and tried to catch them in dog bowls.
We cleaned the bowls, and then had a kibble (aka Cocoa Puffs) eating contest. Ha ha. This was a crack-up to watch.
Everyone turned Trev into a mummy.
Pizza was in there somewhere, and then it was cake time.
Look at this sweet little man.
Goodbye, my fair cake...
Never wanting to stray from the theme (or dirty extra dishes), we made the boys eat out of their dog bowls. *Snicker*
Next, a genius idea from Heather:
You know how Velma is forever losing her glasses and crawling around, blind as a bat, trying to find them? This is a blindfolded Find-Velma's-Glasses challenge.
Rain was threatening all day, but we lucked out and managed to get all of the outside stuff done between showers. We threw darts at mummy balloons......
......and unscrambled a message hidden inside the balloons that led us to the goody bags. After that, Trev discovered that his friends really do know him well. Almost every gift was Lego.
Now, here's the part where we realized that we'd run out of activities, and still had half an hour until the parents arrived to pick up their boys. Cue the musical chairs, hot potato, and random running around in the backyard, playing with balloons and climbing trees.

Another great party (albeit 30 minutes too long) under our belts! Thank you Scooby, for the inspiration, and Dollar Store, for all of the stuff!

The Mystery Machine

Okay, so here goes my bi-annual post that chronicles the making of a cake....

Trev has recently become a fan of Scooby-Doo, and he said he'd love to have a birthday party full of Scooby-Dooish stuff. So we figured that a Mystery Machine cake would be perfect.

It went pretty smoothly. I just started with a 9x13 cake, and trimmed it a bit to look like a van. Easy peasy. The parts cut out for the wheel wells were turned into roof racks and fenders. Forgot to snap a pic before I began frosting, though.I got to have tons of fun with frosting colors, making sure to keep referring to the picture of the actual Mystery Machine (which I happen to think is completely awesome).
The wheels (and the spare tire) are Chips Ahoy cookies, covered with a ridiculous amount of frosting. Technically edible, but eww.
It turned out pretty psychedelic, if I do say so myself.
I'm not entirely sure if I make these cakes every year to delight the kids, or to prove to myself that I can actually do it. Maybe a bit of both... :)

While all of this caking was going on, Clara and Chad were getting decked out for a big night of YMCA and the Macarena at the Daddy Daughter Dance. These two are even prettier than my cake. :)Tomorrow, the house will be filled with eight-year-old boys. Party time!

Eight!

Trevi turned eight today. Big number. The banners, streamers, and balloons were all hung last night, so the birthday boy woke up to a festive house and a junk cereal breakfast (Chocolate Cheerios this year).We now have two hula-hoops in the house (and two pretty accomplished hoopers).The Legofest began right away. The excitement never fades for this boy when it comes to Lego.And here's the grateful hug for the sweet sister who's been almost as excited about this upcoming birthday as the birthday boy himself. She helped with the shopping, blew up balloons, and made the birthday crown. She even stealthily hung the streamers on Trevi's door last night, while he was in bed reading.After school, the Lego building began.We capped off the day with a birthday fire in the backyard. The beginning of a new tradition, perhaps? Here you see Chad, teaching Trevor that fires are to be constantly messed with; never left alone for a second. :) This beautiful boy is so fascinated by the world, so full of ideas. He's always thinking, building, creating. And he's one of the most loving (and lovable) guys you'll ever meet. He's sure to amaze us with the new discoveries he makes in his ninth year.....
Happy, happy birthday, Manny!

Art

Trevor really, really, really loves to draw. He'll sit for quite literally hours, and draw pictures relating to his current interests. At the moment, we've got lots of prisons with barbed-wire fences going on. And police officers chasing after bad guys. Crime and punishment.
At school, we're in the middle of one of my favorite art projects, which is an impressionist-style garden scene. By the end of the day today, I was covered in green paint. I love it.
Watching kids create just makes me so happy.

Green

We didn't really do anything at all in honor of St. Patrick's Day, except for the fact that Clara managed to wear an astonishing amount of green, and we went shopping in Dublin, CA. I remember years ago we used to make a point of getting Shamrock Shakes at McDonald's every year. Do they even still make those?

Lepricans and Leprican'ts

I've been very clear about the fact that I'm not a fan of all this belief-in-leprechauns nonsense, but I suppose I can at least be happy about the fact that Clara and Trevor joined forces for a solid hour today to put together a nice little trap for the mythical creatures. It was Trevor's idea to make one, and Clara kindly humored him, and helped him cut fabric to size and make little signs. I'm kind of happy that neither of them can spell "leprechaun". It's really a waste of space in the mental lexicon.

After all of the building was done, there was some shared reading, and a few peaceful rounds of Uno. Nice. So I tried to pose the kids for a couple of shots to commemorate this harmonious evening:

Trev's Favorite Restaurant

Trevor's big school project this week was to visit his favorite restaurant, learn about it, make a poster, and give a speech about it. Now Trev, who isn't usually super-enthusiastic when it comes to homework, was certainly willing to put his all into this assignment.

He memorized his entire speech, which detailed the deliciousness of cheeseburgers due to the fact that they have lots of "meat juice, which is basically just grease that tastes like hamburger meat".... ....and "cinnamon apples, which are basically a dessert, but you still get to have a cookie when you get home." Well put, Manny!We all learned a few interesting facts about Chili's in the process. For instance, we found out that every Chili's restaurant has one picture hanging upside-down somewhere on their walls.

Kind of a silly project, really, but hey, if it forces us to go out to dinner, I'm all for it! :)

Jimmy

One of Clara's stellar qualities is her work ethic. She puts in full days of top quality work at school, and then comes home and gets to her homework without a single nag or nudge from us. She is driven to do her best, no matter how big or small the assignment.

This latest project definitely falls into the BIG category. She had to research a president (she chose Jimmy Carter - such a cool guy) and make a rolling TV type thing to display her information.She went above and beyond in every aspect of this project, rocked the oral presentation part, and was so proud of the finished product. Almost as proud as we are of her.We are lucky parents.

P.S. Did you know that brother Billy Carter was allergic to peanuts?

Looking up through trees

It's the most gorgeous of days, and I'm a bit housebound, due to an afternoon-napping child ("sleep"over last night....), and the usual mountain of laundry. So I decided to go out in the backyard and look up through trees. Here's what I saw:Then I decided to look down into a cactus.
I also saw (and photographed) about 200ish other, similar sights.
Cut me some slack, I have a new camera. Restraint is not an option.