Volunteer Day!

(I'm catching up on a few pics/stories)

On Thursday, I had scheduled myself for a few volunteer jobs with Callum's class.

Before his school begins, he has been taking a "Math Wizards" class taught at our recreational center. Each week, a couple parents volunteer to pick up the kids after class and walk them to the nearest bus stop to see them off to school. So, Thursday was my day!

It was supposed to be pretty wet and rainy, so I grabbed a bunch of umbrellas on my way out the door, just in case. The kids were excited to each have their own! LOL and they looked so cute and colorful walking in front of me along the path to the bus stop, so I had to snap a few fun pics. :)

Blue Whale Report

Logan's first "Animal Report" is due next week. He needs a minimum of three resources, and at least one has to be a book. He lamented that the book he found at his school library didn't have much information on Blue Whales specifically (the animal he decided he wanted to report on), and it dawned on me that we haven't yet, but should've, checked out our local public library!

The other night I mentioned this to Logan (and Callum) and they were amazed - you mean our school library? No, I mean our town's library. We have a town library?!? Yep. :)

So we headed over to our local branch - which is super small but very nice!! While I chatted with the librarian to sign us up for a library card, the boys immediately found the pod of computers and other boys sitting playing games on them. Even in the library, I can't seem to get us away from screens! ;-)

It turns out, several of the books that Logan and I found, were not located in the branch, so we had to send out a request for them. One just arrived yesterday, so we had a chance to return and check it out.

You guys. The check out process is ridiculous!!

First you scan the barcode on your library card (see the 2nd and 3rd pics!). There's a little scanner on the left hand side of the screen to do this. There's a spot on the table in front of the computer where you stack up the books you're checking out (see the "place items here" sticker on the table). Apparently there's some sort of chip embedded in each of the books because once you've logged in - voila! A list of all books you've piled up suddenly appears on the screen!! You review it, select done, and email (or print if you're old school) yourself a copy of your receipt.

Amazing.

Seriously, I was totally blown away!! :)

Logan started reading bits of his new book on the ride home and started getting interested in the new facts he was learning - so we got home and he started taking some notes down, to prep for his report. Hopefully he'll have plenty to present on this next week!

Logan's first basketball game

Had a fun morning watching Logan play in his first basketball game! The atmosphere was loud and chaotic (several games going at once in the large gym, with teams filing in and out as their game time approached), but he did great and just went with it.

We bought him a basketball hoop for his birthday present (which won't arrive until Tuesday), but we (and he) are looking forward to setting it up and practicing some more at home so he can get better. He seems to really enjoy it out on the court! :)

A Christmas Carol

While Jon and I were galavanting up in the city, the boys were having their own fun hanging out at my parent's house watching movies, playing games and staying up way too late. About the time we finished brunch today and left to head home, my parents and boys were arriving in the city to see a matinee show, A Christmas Carol!

After the show, they walked around Union Square to check out all of the Christmas decorations and people watch at the ice rink. They decided not to go ice skating tho, since they wanted to grab an early dinner at Louis' Restaurant, everyone's favorite little diner overlooking the historical Sutro Baths! :)

Holiday Gala

Right after Logan's birthday party ended - my Dad came to pick the boys up and swoop them away, so that Jon and I could pack and get ready for a night out on the town, at his company's holiday party!

I always have trouble figuring out how to do my hair for these events, so I tried a new mobile service, where you can set up an appointment with a hair and/or makeup stylist to come to you!  They met me at our hotel room - I showed them my dress and some ideas I had for styling and then went to it!  I look a little tired in these first couple of pictures, but I think they did a great job with both makeup and hair.  I got a ton of compliments at the party as well  :)

Jon took a "selfie" of his suit and posted it to Facebook, so I had to do the same with my dress too (the lighting in our room was horrible!).  We look like a pretty cute couple, don't you think?

Ryan and I posing in front of a huge vault door (sadly you can't see most of it).  The party was at the San Francisco Mint - and all the rooms had different types of foods, drinks, or activities (like a photo booth or karaoke)!  Pretty neat.  :)

I tried taking a number of selfies of the two of us at the end of the night, but after multiple attempts, gave up on Jon never smiling in one, so I posted a collage of his horribleness.  ;-)  Luckily, Ryan was great at capturing a nice one of us both smiling.  :)

We had a really fun time hanging out with friends, both during the party last night and then again for brunch today!  What a special treat to get dressed up and spend some adult time hanging out without the kids tugging on our arms the whole time.  :)

Number 9!

Yesterday, Logan turned 9!!  Kinda crazy to think I have a 9 year old in the house now.  We've warned him it's his last year in the single digits - he just sorta shrugs it off with a huff, as his pre-teen personality shines through more and more these days - but gosh!  if only he knew what a big deal it is!  Last year in the single digits.  Man.

When Logan and I started talking about birthday party themes a couple of months ago - he decided he wanted a "Clash Royale" party.  But, for the life of me, I really couldn't get behind it.  I had NO IDEA what I could do, to work with that sort of theme.  My (creative) mind was drawing a complete blank. When I asked Logan what he envisioned, he said oh you know Mom, I'd like to have everyone battle, like we do in Clash Royale (it's an iPad game where knights basically battle each other, using cards with special weapons or powers), with swords and bows and arrows and stuff.

And I said Uhhhh, No.  You're crazy.

I thought a Medieval Knights themed party might be something I could work with, so I started dreaming up what I could do with that.  And then, somewhere along the road of my (Pinterest) research, I thought a Pirate Party (complete with treasure hunt) would be really swell.

So, I read aloud some potential treasure hunt riddles to the boys one night, to see if they were too hard, too easy, or interesting at all.... and they both leaped on the idea of a treasure hunt with great enthusiasm, begging me to read more, so they could solve the puzzle!

Our Pirate Party / Treasure Hunt was born.

I put together a total of 8 riddles which would lead you, somewhere in the house, to the next riddle.  When you found the next riddle, you also needed to collect a piece of a map (to our house).

After you were done with all steps, you would have 8 pieces of the map to put together (like a puzzle).  Once put together, that puzzle would then spell out the NINTH riddle (because Logan turned 9 - get it?!?), leading you to the final treasure chest (with their party favors).

Because I didn't want the kids to team up and leave some behind, I mixed it up so that each kid would start with a different riddle in their rotation.  These were hidden in their pirate hook, that they picked up, alongside their eye patch, to get the hunt started.

The kids were crazy fast!  (and, many ended up teaming up, or showing each other where the next clue was, anyway)  So, our treasure hunt didn't last as long as I thought it might, but they had a ton of fun and loved the challenge!  :)

After, they played and ran around the house screaming their heads off and banging on walls and punching and kicking and basically being a rowdy bunch of boys (there were 18 kiddos creating chaos in our house!).

It was too rainy and wet outside (it basically poured the entire afternoon) to do the pinata we had planned - the only major disappointment for the kids.  But, I think they still had a good time, regardless.

Since it was post lunch / pre dinner time, I just put out a bunch of themed snacks to munch on.

And, of course, yummy cupcakes to decorate and sing Happy Birthday to the main guy.

Logan opened his presents while the kids screamed in excitement over his good fortune at all of the fun loot he scored.

And then I put on Pirates of the Caribbean for the last 30 minutes to try and calm some of the rambunctiousness down, as they waited for parents to arrive.

All in all, a big success I would say!  We're so happy to see Logan reach another big milestone and can't wait to see what this next year unfolds. :)

Birthday Dinner

Logan turns 9 tomorrow!! 😱

He opened family gifts tonight and then we headed out to his birthday dinner. He wanted a burger and shake so we stuffed ourselves silly at the Palo Alto Creamery. 😋

The second pic was after Callum climbed under the table to join Jon and Logan, since he wanted to be a part of the picture taking event. But then, wouldn't stay still (frankly, none of them would), so this was the best capture I could get!