The Big Party

I need to give myself (and Chad) props here, for managing to throw what was, undoubtedly, one of the most frugal birthday parties in the history of birthday parties. Oh ya, and it was tons of fun.

The boys built Lego cars out of Trevor's Lego....
Then they raced the cars on a track Chad put together from old plastic boards...
They blew up "The Death Star"....(Chad even put baby powder inside the Death Stars, for a dramatic explosion...so cool!):
And they dissected the owl pellets that have been showing up on our lawn for weeks.....
R2 was a hit....
But, in Episode 7, he was destroyed by a pack of hungry Padawan.....Happy, happy birthday, Manny!

R2 D2

So, Trev is a Star Wars nut these days. This we know. And I had a feeling he would request a cake for his party that had something to do with Wookies or Death Stars or Jedi Knights. We consulted a lot on this, and checked out a million pictures of the internet (some very daunting, by the way....Who are these crazy cake people who make the spectacular 3-D fondant sculptures???), before we finally settled on the cutest little astromech droid on the block: R2D2.

Here's how the day went:

What do you do with 3 old bananas early in the morning?

Much to the shock of my children, who rarely see me preparing anything that involves measuring, I made some muffins. Clara thought such a rare occasion deserved to be immortalized. So here I am.

One thing is clear

Trevor was here.

Happy Birthday Trevor!

We've really got these birthday traditions down now. There's special cereal for breakfast (Chocolate Cheerios this time):
A couple of presents before school:
A sweet and excited sibling:
Some candles to blow out (seven today!):
Lots of love for the birthday kid:

And more sugar than usual:
P.S. Despite appearances, please note that Trevi did not stay in his Lego Star Wars pajamas all day long. Wearing PJs to school is not one of our birthday traditions. ;)

Kathy!

At long, long last, we worked up a plan to get together with Kathy, our beloved friend and babysitter who took care of both Clara and Trevor starting when they were babies. We always joked about how these two could be Kathy's kids...and Trevi actually bears a striking resemblance to her youngest son....It was so nice to finally catch up, and we'll be sure not to let four years go by until the next visit!

Later on, we lounged in jammies, and Clara (Miss Studious and Responsible) knocked out a few pages of her latest research project....While Trev sat on top of the coffee table (his newest thinking spot) and drew.
His "original invention" is a machine that takes tree leaves and knits them into multi-purpose garments called "Thmes".Hmmm....sounds kinda familiar....I smell a copyright infringement lawsuit.......

In Bloom

Forgive me if I've blogged to this effect before, but I feel so connected to the seasons since we moved to this house. The neverending cycle of bare branch, to blossom, to leaf, to fruit....the greening up and browning down of the city and surrounding countryside as we move through each year....well, it's just amazing to watch. My commute through the vineyards this year has even taught me about viticulture. I should probably start drinking more wine to show my appreciation.. :)

The blossom stage is the shortest, and I try to take in the view every day during this time.
Clara likes to become one with the blossoms. :)

Just in case you remember the eighties....

....you can forget what you heard back then.

Real men DO eat quiche. And they make it, too. :)

Monkey

Chad's pull-up bar in the tree has attracted a very cute monkey.

Kids are just funny

Clara has recently become quite a fan of Photo Booth, to the tune of around 400 pics between two computers over the past week or so. And there's video, too. Here is Self Portrait With Cat:
Meanwhile, over in the bathroom, Trevor got clean while doing a piece of performance art: Han Solo in Carbonite:Thank goodness for bubbles.