Superhero Birthday

Emilia has been into superheros lately, so she decided she wanted a "Supergirl" birthday party. I broadened it a little to "Superheros," but I don't think she minded. This party was a lot less stressful than the one I did for Mira's one year party and I think it turned out better. Win! Here are the details... When the guests arrived, they were greeted with this sign:

While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, the kids got crayons and were able to color on the mural I drew for the occasion:

When the kids got bored of coloring, we moved out to the garage. I was planning on doing this part in the back yard, but there was a 50% chance of rain that day, so it was moved to where the paper and the kids wouldn't get soaked if it did decided to pour on us. There was a sign on the door that said, "Superhero Testing Facility," but apparently I didn't get a picture of it. This was by far the best part of the party. The kids LOVED it and asked to do it over and over again. For the "test," I set up a small obstacle course for the kids to go through. Once they finished and proved they had what it takes to be a superhero, they got a mask that I made out of felt and ribbon. You can see a few of the kids wearing them in pictures later on. The first part of the obstacle course made them "fight" some bad guys. There were six balloons tied to rocks at different heights, three in each column. There was a path through the middle of the two columns for the kids to run through. They were supposed to punch or kick each balloon on their way through.

The next obstacle was balancing through a snake pit.  I just put a 4x4 on two bricks on top of a paper where I had drawn snakes.

Then it was on to pounding the bad guy.  I drew the bad guy on some newsprint (it was supposed to be Lex Luthor, but it just ended up looking like a bald guy in a suit) and hung it up on the door.  The kids got two bean-bag balls to try to hit the bad guy.

Next, they had to crawl under the folded up ping pong table.  Steve was smart enough to think of putting newsprint on the ground, so they didn't hurt their knees crawling on the cement.

And last, but certainly not least, was the brick wall.  They kids had to use their super strength and break through the wall.  For this obstacle, I just called around to shoe stores in the area until I found one that had extra shoe boxes.  I thought I was going to have to drive around to 5 different stores to get enough boxes, but I hit a jackpot at Journeys.  They had about 20 of the exact same boxes that they saved for me after I called.  They were PERFECT. We just stacked them up in a staggered pattern (like a brick wall) after each kid.

After everyone earned their masks, we went inside for dessert.  Megan made this amazing cake for us.  The kids loved the mini cupcakes.

All the kids eating

After eating, we headed back out to the garage where Grandpa and Daddy had hung the pinata.  Emilia and I made this together using homemade paste, lots of newspaper and some paint.  I love how it turned out.

Then the birthday girl got to open presents.  She was really excited about a My Little Pony hot air balloon that she got.

At the end, we lined up all the kids to take a picture.  Unfortunately, the only wall big enough was the one with all the windows, so it's a little hard to see all the kids.  If you look close, they are all doing superhero poses, though.  it was cute.

Mira enjoyed the party, but I think she liked the balloons best. :)

Pictures by Emilia

Emilia took some pictures of her favorite subject lately. I thought she did a pretty good job. :)

House hunting nastiness

As you all know, Steve and I have been looking for a house. In technical terms, that means that the girls and I look at a lot of houses while Steve is at work. By the beginning of July, we probably had about 40 houses under our belt. The girls and I were both sick of driving all over Utah county to see houses. The day these pictures were taken, the girls and I had gone to see a house in Springville (a few towns south of where we are now) and it was nasty. I forgot to bring shoes for Mira and the floors were so gross, I refused to let her walk on them barefoot, which meant carrying her around for 1/2 an hour. So when we went outside, I decided to let her run around on the cement for a minute so my arms could rest and she could get some energy out. Well, it turns out that the cement was at least as dirty as the floors because her feet were black after a few minutes. After we got home, I looked back at my girls and saw this:

I don't know if you can see how dirty she is (or where). But she had been sticking her feet in her mouth! EWWWW!!!! We have amazing bodies, because she didn't even get sick afterward. Silly kid.

Fourth of July

For the 4th of July we were invited to go with the Nelsons and Grandma and Grandpa to the Hogle Zoo.  To start things off right, we went to a bird show and then got on the carousel.  The bird show was really fun. (More than I expected.) Mira was even entertained.  Mira was not such a fan of the carousel, but Emilia enjoyed it thoroughly. 

It is really hard to get this girl to smile AND look at the camera at the same time.

I think Steve and Emilia are looking at otters here.  I love her in pigtails. :)

The family standing in the shade.  It was hot that day.  Who am I kidding.  It's hot every day.  We just purposely went out in it that day. 

Emilia and the tiger.  It didn't try to eat her so she can't become an internet sensation.  Dang.

After the zoo, we went to Nana's house.  LOTS of food, big bubbles, outside fun (in the shade).  Here is all the cousins.  Aren't they cute?