Boston's 12th Birthday Party

Last year Boston decided to not have a party and took the money instead.  I was happy that this year he wanted a party.  We had it in our backyard, and it was the same type of party Aubrie had.  Just come and hang out and do  your own thing and enjoy yourself as young preteens, hanging out together.  The key to this type of party is letting them invite boys and girls.  I really feel that its good to get them together in controlled fun environments so they know how to act around the opposite sex.    Otherwise when they start dating at 16 they are social awkward.  We didn't have that problem as kids, but with social media kids really need that face to face interaction...with parental supervision:)    I'm so glad we have the type of yard to throw that type of party.  All the kids have a great time, and feel a little more grown up being able to just "hang" out.  They have fun going between the baseball court, tether ball, trampoline, pool, hanging out around the fire pit, hanging out in the hot tub, playing soccer, or coming in for some X-Box Kinect.
Boston's party was full of variety, when it came to the kids.  He had almost his whole soccer team there, along with his friends from church (including girls) and friends from school and his best friend from West Wing.  He did very good at spreading the love around, and socializing with all the groups of people.  He is quite the social guy, and very friendly to all kids.  We had a wide spread from the more "studios" kids with all his rubix cubes, to the jocks, to the socially inept kid from school who Boston so graciously accepted as he crashed his party uninvited.  I'm proud of how he treats all kids, and doesn't make anyone feel inferior.  I think thats why people love him so much.
All the kids had a great time, and some of them who had committed to other parties and had to leave early, were sad to have to leave.  For Ben and I, these parties are easy.  They basically run themselves.  The only thing we didn't prepare for was how much food twelve year old boys eat!  We ran out of food quick, and Ben finally made a Taco Bell run!
Boston scored big time with the presents. Everyone was so generous. I was really quite overwhelmed by it.   He ended up with over 200 dollars in cash, and over a 100 in gift cards.  Way better than his 200 dollar party cash out he did last year!  LOL   The great thing is that last year he was super generous at Christmas, and always is.  So I know that money will be spent wisely and generously!  What a great kid!

Ethan's Midevil Fun!

Ethan just had his Middle Ages festival.  I  planned on making him a costume, but I just ran out of time.  I was at Walmart and saw a rack of 50 percent off Halloween costumes.  I said a quick prayer that I would find something, and the second to last costume on the rack that I looked through I found this, and it was his size!  I sang my praises and gave thanks for that tender mercy!   

For this festival I helped in the classroom.  The first round of activities were in the classrooms.  Ethan's classroom had fun games.  I was in charge of helping the kids learn how to play the games.  The first few minutes were crazy, but after that there was plenty of time to talk and get to know the Mom's better.  I always enjoy that.  The other classrooms had crafts and a round of Jeopardy.  Their crafts were Goblets, and mini catapults.  

Afterward I had to help with reading in Sophia's classroom, but I quickly went to sneak a peak at the cafeteria.  We have some pretty amazing Mom's that have the most creative ideas, so I had to see what they came up with this time.  Pretty cool.  

 After I was done helping with reading, I took Sophia out to check out their outdoor games.  This one was Ethan's favorite!   He had a great time! 

Sophia's first Shiner

Yesterday I came home from picking up Aubrie and Boston to finding Sophia with this!

I hadn't heard from the school and honestly was quite livid that no one called.  It was really upsetting for  me to  walk in seeing her so banged up and swollen.  She is my little girl...and without a head up it was a little emotional. After some conversations with the head of school, it didn't look like this when
she had the accident.  She had run right into a pole on the playground and came in with only a small scratch on her eye.  She had an ice pack on her eye when she went to the classroom, and everyone else after that had assumed the office had seen her condition.   Sophia was super brave, and didn't complain of any pain.  However, she didn't want to go out in public and she was wearing sunglasses in the car when it was dark out, because she didn't want anyone looking at it.  She didn't want to go to school the following day because she said, "I'm going to get sick of everyone asking me about it".    I made her go and she survived.

Halloween 2013

This year for Halloween was a realization that my family is getting old.  Gone are the days when we all go out as a family.  Aubrie went trick or treating with her friends, Boston and Ethan went out on their scooters so they could go as fast as they could and collect as much candy as possible with their THREE costume changes.   And Ben took Sophia up and down our street, and then she was done!  She had just thrown up the day before  so I'm sure she was a little wiped out.     However, she did have fun  helping me scare people....more than collecting candy, for sure.
This year I spent dressed up in a witch costume sitting in the shadows.  I put the bowl of candy on my lap, and lowered my head and tucked my arms behind my back.   People couldn't figure out if I was fake or not.  As they would reach for the candy, I wouldn't scare the first victim.  After a few grabs at the candy, and people started to relax thinking I was fake, I would strike at the third or fourth victim by jumping or grabbing their hand.  I scared the life out of our neighbor by just moving my head up!   I also scared a bunch of teenage boys, which they tried to play off, but their girlish screams said otherwise.  That really is my most favorite thing to do on Halloween....scare!  Sophia loved it just as much, and she said she can't wait for next year...she has all types of ideas on how to scare people!
The other three kids scored big time with candy.  Ethan came in as champion...his candy weighing in at 15 lbs!  I'm glad the boys went with each other...good memories for them.  And I'm thrilled that Aubrie finally has established a good social life...a huge adjustment for a retired gymnast whose social life is at the gym!
Unfortunately the kids were out the door so fast, this is the only picture I got of the evening.   But for memory sake...Aubrie was a butterfly, Ethan was ninja, Boston was the Stay Puff (Which he got runner up for Funniest costume at this school dance), and Sophia was an Egyptian Princess.

Ehtan's Candy Organization! 

Boston's stash!

Sophia's Halloween Soccer Practice.  What a fun idea...she went with a Tinker Bell costume for this one!