Double Play date!

Littles were playing with Legos while olders were playing Minecraft. Now they're all 4 playing Smash Brothers together. Pretty cute.

Kindergarten Field Trip

This place is amazing but man I'm so wiped out trying to keep track of these endless bundles of energy! I have no idea how teachers do it, every day. Kudos to them for sure!

What a big kid!

Showing off his new retainer (with a photo bomb from Callum's Mixel named "Kuffs").

Happy 6th Birthday Callum!

My last series of pics to celebrate Callum's birthday today are these, where he's showing off a little "Mixel" character he made up. If you haven't caught onto the Mixel craze yet, they're little Lego monster characters that you can collect - he got about 15 for his birthday - no lie! And has been addicted to building them, one by one, since his party on Saturday.

I'm gaga over his smirks, his laughs and his smiles. So to me, this set of pics really shows off his vivacious attitude and colorful personality so well. How we got so lucky, with such a fun loving dude, and *especially* given everything he's had to go through, is beyond me. His smile makes me beam. He lights up the lives of everyone around him.

We love and adore you to pieces Callum. Hope you had a wonderful birthday!! 😘😘😘

School birthday celebration

Our school doesn't like to make a HUGE deal about birthdays (which I'm thankful for), but they do allow parents to stop by for a visit and read the class a book (from home, of the birthday kid's choosing). Callum had a really hard time picking which book I should bring to read, so I brought a few of his favorites to have him pick when I arrived.

Having multiple home books in the classroom however, made him want me to read them all. And, he threw a mini tantrum about wanting me to read another book (when the limit is normally just one), instead of moving along with the day. His teacher and I were in a pickle and she finally said she'd make an exception and allow a second reading...which he LOVED.

Afterward, he used a pointer to guide the class to chant a birthday song which was pretty cute. His teacher had made a birthday crown for him which he wore all day long, and still had on when I picked him up from his bus ride home!

I tried getting a pic of us together, walking into the house, with his crown still on, but he wasn't having it. *sigh* Even when he's being a stinker, he sure is cute tho. :)

A gorgeous sunny day

Excuse the super contrasty background while I was trying to snap pics of Callum as we walked to his bus stop. He was NOT being cooperative and tired of my picture taking, which didn't help. ;-)

However, it was a gorgeous day (at 8am, it became a very hot day later on!) and it was my little spunky Kinder's birthday! So, I felt the need to document it (as I do).

As he boarded the bus this morning, he whispered to Mr. Joe (the bus driver) that it was his birthday today. Mr. Joe decided they might have to sing a Happy Birthday song or two, as they drove down the hill, to school. I was a tiny bit bummed I couldn't join the ride for that!

A Skylander Birthday Party

We had Callum's 6th Birthday Party yesterday - it was such a blast!  The theme was Skylanders (his favorite video game), so I created 8 games to "restore" the 8 Elements found in the game.

I didn't actually spend as much time on this party as I have on party's past - so I was a little worried about how it would turn out.  But, the kids seemed to have a great time overall, and luckily the time flew by with all of the activities we had to run through!  ;-)   I'm pretty sure the kids all had a blast.  I think I was mostly running on fumes, because once the house was finally quiet and empty and the boys were put to bed (some of our friends stayed after the official party was over), the exhaustion just hit me like a crashing wave.  Whew!  This Mama is officially pooped.  :)

Since I was managing and refereeing the games, I only took pics as I remembered, and only with my phone since I wasn't carting around my nice camera.  So, these quick snapshots will have to do!  But, I think you can get the gist.  ;-)

Our welcome sign on the front door!

Our first game - restore the Tech Element!

The kids had trouble knocking down the cans, but loved it just the same!

I thought this one was hilarious when you take a look at all the kids' expressions in the background - Brady the toddler did LOTS better than most of the Kinder kids!  ;-)

2nd and 3rd Games - first, restore the Air Element by keeping the balloon in the air, with your breath only!

Then, restore the Undead Element by popping them all! :)

The 4th Game involved grabbing treasure (with a sticky hand toy) to restore the Magic Element

I was kind of surprised how many of the kids enjoyed this simple game

They kept wanting to come back and grab more beads! LOL

Even Brady caught on quickly - swirling his sticky hand around on the plate (vs. throwing it)

Sneaky Logan taught them that little trick btw ;-)

The 5th Game was all about restoring the Water Element

The kids had to break an ice block and free a blue sapphire gem 

The weather ended up being perfect and the kids were mesmerized with smashing an ice block with a hammer.

It was probably one of the more popular games for sure! 

Need up was our 6th game - restoring the Life Element by planting a flower (to take home). No pics of the kiddos planting since I had my hands full filling little pots with soil!  :)

While we were outside, we moved to play our 7th game - which was a little competitive frisbee toss, to restore the Earth Element.  This was probably the least favorite game of the kids', since they were tired and hungry by this point!  I also didn't realize that at this age, they still don't know how to throw or catch a frisbee that well.  Whoops! ;-)

We took a break after the 7th game to eat some snacks and pizza (lunch).  The kids had been DYING to try out the "punch box" game, since it was sitting out in the main area, just taunting them.  ;-)  So, we did that as well.....

The kids had no trouble at all smashing each hole to find their candy! 

They just stepped right up and went at it, without any hesitation!

See that sneaky look? That's Logan stealing more candy after he had already broken a different hole open.  *sigh*

A smashing success!  Hardee har har!

Every year I have my friend Bettina make us some sugar cookies - they're always a huge hit (even more so than the cake, I dare say) with the kiddos and she is always so creative! :)

She made a special birthday gift for Callum - a puzzle cookie of one of his fave Skylander characters! He was THRILLED.

Our 8th and final element game - Callum got to restore the Fire Element by blowing out his birthday candles!

I absolutely loved the cake this year - it just looked so cool!  Similar to the last couple of parties, a volunteer baker through Icing Smiles, Inc. provided us this amazing cake!! 

Here's a quick snap I took of Callum's reaction when I showed him his surprise cake (the day before the party, after I had picked it up).  He loved it of course! :)

Of course, he blew out the candles before I could really get a good pic of the event!  Dang it.

You saw the goody bags I had made a couple of nights before.... they had Skylander Character masks, among other things, in each bag.... so here's the Birthday Boy (right) and his big brother (left) showing off their masks after digging into their goody bags the night of the party.  

And that's a wrap!

It was the first time I did a much more structured party, with the entire time pretty much being devoted to games/activities.  Like I said, I was a little nervous about how it would all pull together, if the games would hold the attention spans of 5 and 6 year olds, and if the games would even really work!  But, several kids commented to me (without being prompted) about how much fun they had, so I figure that's the sign of success, right!?

Both Logan and Callum also had a fabulous time, and of course, that means everything.  :)