Harry Potter Birthday

Whitney requested a Harry Potter party for her 9th birthday.  I think the party went well and she said she had fun.  Thank goodness for Pinterest for most of my Harry Potter ideas.

We started off with our traditional activity: coloring pictures and then decorating goody bags.

We gave all the kids a list of items that first years needed from Diagon Alley and some gold galleons and sent them searching.  They all needed a wand and some sea shells and rose petals, etc.

Then when they collected everything we went to several classes.  Our first class was charms.  Using their wands the kids had to keep their balloons "flying" while saying "wingardium leviosa".  Good swish and flicking.

Then was care of magical creatures.  Everyone picked a creature and got to decide its magic powers and name and all that.  One girl was so surprised that we were letting everyone keep their magic creatures.

This was potions class.  This might be Harry Potter's least favorite class but I think all the girls loved this one the most.  We got to make some Exploding Filibusters and Fleeing Spider Eggs.  It was pretty awesome.

For History of Magic we did two teams and answered Harry Potter trivia questions.  Whitney was a whiz at this one.  I was a little surprised that most of the kids didn't know anything about Harry Potter.

Our last class was Defense Against the Dark Arts.  I made a dementor pinata and the kids went to town with it.  Unfortunately, with all the snow we had to do the pinata inside and that messed things up a little.

But none of the kids cared about that as soon as the candy came out.

Whitney is not a huge fan of cake so she chose rice krispy treats.  I made it into a shape of a snake to be Nagini.  It was a lot easier to form than I had been afraid of and it all was eaten quickly so I might start doing something like this for all future parties.  I think Whitney liked being the center of attention as we all sang Happy Birthday.

And drunk butterbeer - which was really a mixture of whatever kind of ice cream and soda pop flavor you wanted.  I tried cookies and cream ice cream with cream soda and it was delicious.

And present opening.  Whitney got a lot of Harry Potter items - like this alarm clock from my mom. 

Phew...I am glad the party is done and my next isn't until the end of August.  Unfortunately, Megan has requested a Harry Potter party.  Aaagh!

Battle of the Books

This is Whitney's Battle of the Books team.  They are all third graders.  It is a state wide competition where the students read 16 books and then battle other teams in the school.  The books can be all elementary levels.  Mostly fourth and fifth grade books.  The team practiced during recess and had a practice at one of their houses.  Then it is a double elimination. So Whitney worked really hard to read all the books.  A lot of them multiple times to be ready for the different competitions.  Then their team got second in the school championship.  First place team gets to go to districts.   So we are super proud of her hard work.  I think the team wants to do it again next year.  I like the competition because it encourages kids to read all kinds of books; they had everything from Among the Hidden to The Lightening Thief to What Was Ellis Island?  So it is pretty cool.  Good Job Whitney!

Kids Safety Expo

Once a year in Pasco is a huge kids safety expo with all kinds of exhibits meant to teach kids different safety tips.  This year we were able to go with my dad and a couple of cousins visiting from Utah so that was fun.

Cut outs are always a hit with my kids.  We could pretend to be aliens.

Or doggies.  My girls begged me to get one of the dogs up for adoption.  They were super cute but I stayed strong.  No animals while I still have kids in diapers.

There were a lot of games for kids where they could win lots of little prizes.  This big Connect 4 was fun.

This was a neat way to try to teach kids some safety skills.  They used Disney movies to show that sometimes people try to manipulate us, including on the Internet, and we need to stand up for our rights.  I might try to use something like that in the future.

Some of the exhibits were just there to sell - like the house painting company that let kids paint rocks.  While the parents get the advertisements.

Being healthy and having fun being active.

There was this big foam toy area where kids could build cool structures.  Rachel made a huge one.

Riding on a "horse".  All my kids really liked this and didn't want to get down.

We watched the Big Top the Clown show.  Rachel was one of his helpers for one of his tricks.

And right when we were getting ready to leave they announced over intercom that all kids five and under could go on stage for a music time.  So Megan and I went up.  I think Megan was the oldest kid there but it was fun.

Anyway, we enjoyed the expo.  I could tell all the people that I lived in Hermiston and that is why I didn't want to sign up for their different programs.  The perfect excuse.  My kids had lots of fun and we came home with balloons and books and pencils and candy and all that good stuff.

Random

So Will and I recently joined the rest of the world and got smart phones.  I was trying to hold onto my flip phone as long as possible but it just wouldn't work after Adam dropped it in a wagon full of water.  Can you believe it?  Having these phones has meant that my children take a lot of random pictures.  So here we go at their most important "don' t you dare delete" pictures.

Whitney has learned how to take selfies.  A most important skill.

More selfies. 

And I have discovered a lot more pictures of our stuff.  See...stuff.

And we own a vacuum.  Important, huh?

These drawers are actually now forbidden.  The baby likes to pull out the pizza cutter and that seemed like a bad idea.  So there is now a broom handle stuck there. But we have drawers - impressive!

And this game.  I don't even have this game on my phone but a picture was taken of the ad.  And we shouldn't get rid of pictures.

One perk is that I can take more pictures of the baby.  So here is Hannah in all her glory.

Red ring pop - need I say more?

She learned how to climb the steps at Burger King.  And didn't want to come down.  

So it has been nice having a smart phone.  If only I could convince Adam it isn't a toy.

Finishing 2018!

So just a couple pictures to finish 2018.

Hannah's birthday is the day after Christmas.  She will probably hate it when she gets bigger but it worked out nicely this time.  We went to McDonald's for breakfast to meet up with one of my high school friends.  Hannah loved playing in the toys.

I made brownies and peanut butter frosting.  We had to keep the cake treat away from Hannah while singing.

She went to town with her brownie and ice cream.  There was a very messy girl when done.

Hannah had lots of practice opening presents from the day before. 

This phone present has been a hit - just not by its intended owner.  Adam has claimed this phone as his own and even calls it 'Johnny'. 

Then a few days went by and it was New Years Eve.  Will had to work during the day but we went to the stake family dance that evening.

Dancing with some friends from the ward.  It was super cute watching the girls dance with their friends.

So this was technically on New Years Day, but it is tradition for New Years Eve to play the candy bar game.  You roll dice and try to get doubles so you can get a candy bar and then hide yours so it won't be stolen.  Everyone had fun and got plenty of yummy candy.  Thanks for the fun game.

It is hard to believe that 2018 is over and we are well into 2019!  It was a great year.