Piper Made Dog Treats

One evening at Granny's Piper was on the internet and found a recipe for dog treats and decided she was going to make some for our Siberian Husky, Tymbre. I thought it was pretty convenient that Granny had a cookie cutter shaped like a dog bone!

We brought them home and Tymbre approved!

Believe it or not, 7 is 6!

Seven turned 6 years old on April 11, 2013. When I picked him up from school that day, I asked him if he was gonna be 7 next. He replied, "I already am Seven!" with a big smile!

Seven requested a Darth Vader Birthday Party this year. He also wanted a pinata. I was looking for a soccer ball pinata that we could paint to look like the death star. I searched several stores and finally found one. I thought it was kind of small. I took it home and showed Jeremy. He agreed. I told him I had found a present pinata that was bigger. So, I took the soccer ball back and exchanged it for the present pinata that I had found at a different store. I felt it was a decent size. Jeremy, however, did not. He was thinking that Seven's pinata would be BIG. So, once again, I put the present pinata back in the car and took it back to the store. I went to one more store and found a BIG pinata. However, my choices were a clown or a pirate. I chose the pirate for Seven. I had Piper stand next to it so Jeremy could see the size and sent the picture to Jeremy. I didn't want to have to take a THIRD pinata back!

 Seven approved of his pirate pinata!

I got a black table cloth and put star stickers on it to make it look like the night sky for the Darth Vader themed birthday party.

I couldn't find any party favor bags that highlighted Darth Vader, so I got the next best thing...Yoda!

I also made light sabers out of swimming pool noodles and tape for each of Seven's friends to take home with them after the party.

 Then we hung the pinata in a tree and we were almost ready for the party to start!

A friend made this sign for Piper's birthday to surprise her last year. We have continued to use it as a way for our friends to find Granny's house for the parties. Seven put it on the front porch and wanted me to take his picture by it.

 The cake...Jeremy made a death star cake.

 And we had Yoda and Darth Vader there as well.

 The light sabers were a hit!

I love Seven's face on this picture...He's making the sound that a light saber makes.

They also played a game that had the same idea as musical chairs. They passed around the Death Star, which was a balloon filled with confetti and small bouncy balls. When the music stopped, the person with the balloon was out. This continued until there was only one person left. The last person left in the game got to pop the balloon. It exploded! The kids really enjoyed it!

After making the three Death Stars explode, it was time to break the pinata! I let them all use their light sabers to hit the pinata at first, knowing it wouldn't break it, but it was fun anyway.

Then we got out a stick and let everyone have a turn at the pinata. Finn finally beheaded the pirate.

 And Seven destroyed the head!

 Time for cake! 

I couldn't decide which smile I liked better of Seven's, so I included two pictures. In this one his eyes are looking at the camera.

"Happy Birthday to you..."

Digging into the yummy cake that Jeremy made!

 Seven thought he knew what this gift was...

 He had been wanting one for a very long time...

He was right! It was a light saber that lights up red! It was his favorite gift...Thanks Papa Rick!

I also made Yoda Soda for the party, but forgot to take a picture of it when it was in the punch bowl. I remembered when it was in the pitcher when I was getting ready to put it away.

It was real simple to make. You take a 2 liter bottle of sprite and mix it with a container of lime (green) sherbet. Everyone thought it was yummy and my kids have requested that I make it again!

Happy Birthday to my sweet six-year-old! You are very smart. You are funny. You are very full of life and love to joke around. I love you, Seven!

Easter

Easter...was a few months ago, but here is my post about it :)

The Sunday before Easter, my mom's church had an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids. It was cold that day! My kids were being as patient as they could, waiting to go get the eggs!

This year, we used Kool Aid to dye our eggs. We had blue, orange, green, purple (which turns out brown, but we didn't care), and 3 different shades of red. It was a neat and different idea, but I don't know that we will do it next year. The bees were really attracted to it and the kids were afraid of the bees! It took twice as long or even three times as long to dye the eggs because the kids were so afraid of the bees. We tried telling them that the bees weren't gonna hurt them, they were just thirsty, but they didn't believe us.

 Getting ready...

 Piper...

 Seven...

Finn...do you see the stripes on his egg? I put a rubber band around his egg and then he stuck it in the Kool Aid. After he was done with that color, I removed the rubber band and he put it in a different color. I would recommend waiting til the dye has dried before removing the rubber band because it smeared a little during the removal.

 Rilian...patiently waiting for his egg to become the perfect shade of color.

 Seven and his colorful eggs.

 Piper and her masterpiece. 

 Rilian and his pretty eggs.

 Rilian was a little messy and it got on his legs and feet.

 Finn and his eggs.

Easter morning...my handsome boys! I tried several times to get a good picture with Piper in it as well, but she was in a very bad mood and was not cooperative at all! I think it had something to do with a dress. I don't remember all the details at this point.

After church, at my mom's house, Piper was in a much better mood. However, whoever took our family picture unfortunately cut off the top of Jeremy's head :(

The kids were getting tired of picture time. Seven had already pulled his tie down and Rilian was done. Piper tried to get him to look at the camera.

 This one cracks me up because Finn was trying to get Rilian to smile!

 Time to hunt eggs!

Finn was not in a good mood. He was half way participating, but at least I got a picture of him picking up one egg. Must have just been something in the air that day!

 Sitting down with all their eggs after they found them all.

Rilian and Seven emptied all the plastic eggs and were OCD about the contents...I mean, lined everything up and sorted them according to kind.

 This is "Minky" on Jeremy's head. It is or was a real mink!

When my brother and I were very young kids, my grandma had a mink shawl or something like that. We loved playing with it so much that she cut off two minks so we could each have one to play with. My grandma has been in an assisted living facility for at least a year now and my mom had gone to clean out her house. She brought back "Minky" with her and now my kids play with it!