Egg Hunt in Parma

Last week, Amber (McKinley)Munt came over and hung out with me for a day. She briefly mentioned her dad was in town and they were getting together on Saturday, for an Easter egg hunt and lunch, in Parma. She casually asked if I would be interested in coming. Initially I almost dismissed it, but then the more I thought about it, the more I decided I WOULD like to come.

My kids and I had not seen Dennis for a long time. He currently lives in Florida and I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to see him, while he was in town. Abree didn't know him, but the older 3 knew him as "Grandpa McKinley".

As we talked about our plans to go to Parma, the kids got WAY excited. Rylee of course had the most memories of Grandpa McKinley. Taylee could remember him too. Treyson's memory of Grandpa was, "He always had a BIG mug of SODA...I think it was rootbeer." --No, it was Diet Coke most likely, but of course he would remember something food related. :)

So Saturday, around noon we headed to Parma. Great Grandpa (Carl) McKinley and Grandpa (Dennis) McKinley, were outside as we pulled up. We greeted each other with hugs and pats (for those of you that know Great Grandpa, you'll know what I'm talking about).

After a little visiting, introductions and a hug from Great Grandma (Lucille) McKinley, we went outside for an egg hunt.

The kids found out that being on the farm, there were lots of good places to hide/find eggs.

Jordan doing her part to find the eggs.

Since my kids are older, some of them got to be hiders and some finders.

Abree was glad she was a finder, not a hider...cuz that meant CANDY!

Rylee an honorary hider.

Translation: a big kid who was too old to find, but didn't get to hide either, because there were already enough hiders. :)

Treyson a finder.

"Look mom, it's a real egg! I didn't know that there were REAL eggs out here."

Funny story- Abree found a real egg that had been colored blue. When she was told to pick it up, she would NOT. She was sure it was a bird's egg and that she should not touch it. We hadn't clued her in that there were real eggs, as well as plastic eggs to find.

Taylee a super-duper hider. She tried to make some impossible to find.

After the egg hunt, the real eggs were quickly turned into deviled eggs and we enjoyed a lunch of sub sandwiches.

It was a nice afternoon. I'm glad we decided to go to Parma to visit. Great Grandma and Grandpa McKinley were gracious and welcoming. It was nice to see them.

Dennis promises that if we are ever in Florida, we can stay at his home and he'll hook us up with Disney World tickets..... CHEAP! :) We just may have to take him up on his offer some time.

Taylee's Night Owl PJ Party!

And finally we get to the PARTY...

We welcomed all NIGHT OWLS with a sign.

Notice Taylee's new pj pants. They are orange (her new favorite color?) with an owl print. She also received an awesome owl necklace, from one of her Activity Day leaders. So cute!

Friends started arriving around 5pm.
While dinner/breakfast was baking and being prepared, the girls jumped on the trampoline and hung out.

Breakfast for dinner...one of my favorites.

Ham & Cheese Breakfast Casserole, mini muffins, bananas, grapes and orange juice.

Yum!

By this time, almost everyone had arrived.

(Several girls had sports after school, so they came when they could.)

Things were quite calm at first, but then from no where GRAPE GOOFINESS broke out.

Maddie as a bunny rabbit.

Sage as a monkey.

Lauren as.... what do you think?

Next, the girls "hatched" their owlets and started stuffing and decorating.

It surprised me how much they enjoyed stuffing, decorating and sewing their owls.

Every owlet needed a name, so BIRTH CERTIFICATES were filled out.

Rachel and her little owl FREEDOM.

Taylee & Courtney

Bella & Sage

Maddie & Lauren
Check out the "nerd glasses" , sunglasses and guitar. So funny.

Kristin & Brittany

Maddy & Bailey

All the goofy girls and owlets.

Next we played "I have never____" or some call it "Never, have I ever___".

Someone starts out by saying, "Never, have I ever water skiied or gone fishing or seen a buffalo, etc". Then if you HAVE done that thing, you have to put a candy in the bowl. Some girls picked on their friends so they were the only ones putting the candy in the bowl, others said funny/outrageous things no one had ever done. All were good sports and SO fun to be around. Some of these girls are hilarious!

Next, Taylee opened gifts.

She received lots of great things; bottle cap necklace with interchangeable magnet pictures, scrapbook set, bracelet making set, ceramic figurines, purse, lip gloss, candy, gift certificate, and more.

Thanks friends!

Next on the agenda, was the movie "Tangled". The girls each got a bag of popcorn and added candy, pretzels, raisins, chips and cookies for their NIGHT OWL MUNCH MIX.

After the movie, we sang Happy Birthday and had cake/ice cream.

By then it was late and parents were arriving to pick up their girls.

On their way out, they grabbed some COOL silly socks as a favor.

Taylee bought these with her own money and was SO excited to give them out. She loved the neon colors and weird prints.

What a FUN night. Happy 12th Birthday Taylee!!!

More Party Prep

I didn't think that one cake would be enough, so I wanted to make owl cupcakes. This is what I ended up with.

Does it look more like an owl or a Jim Henson Muppet?

For the actual cake, I wanted to make a "log", so I decided to do it jellyroll style. This was my first time ever attempting a jellyroll type cake, so I was a little worried how it would go.

It came out of the pan and rolled up while it was warm, just fine. When it was time to fill, things didn't go as well. As I unrolled the cake, it cracked and broke apart several times. (I think I needed to let it cool more and maybe use a different recipe. I just used a cake mix.) But because it was going to be a "log" I didn't let that stop me. I slathered on the fudge filling, kind of gluing it together, then carefully rolled it up and put it in the freezer.

The morning of the party, I took the log out of the freezer and frosted it with chocolate frosting, going for the bark look. I also used some large stick pretzels covered with frosting for a branch.

Next I stuck wooden skewers into the styrofoam owls and popped them onto their log, along with candles and Taylee's name.
Voila!

Taylee and I made extra owls using the invitation template. I used them to make a banner.

Rylee bought this balloon for Taylee. It was a perfect addition to the party.

This was one of our first ideas when planning the NIGHT OWL party... a bed table.

I like how ours turned out, but check out our inspiration party...amazing!

My "crazy" doesn't even compete with her CRAZY. :)

Project #1

Taylee wanted to MAKE something, with the girls at her birthday party.

I found a stuffed owl pattern on the Internet, dug up some fabric scraps and started cutting. Taylee LOVES the eclectic, homemade look, so we put lots of different combos of fabric together to make each owl unique. Taylee had invited 12 girls, but I ended up cutting out about 16...for options. I felt crazy at the time, but soon discovered that cutting would be the least of my problems. Sewing the owls proved to be a little challenging. Taking something flat and sewing it into something curved or 3-D is not all that easy.

The hardest part was tail in back, not pictured.

Once cut out and sewn, we carefully folded them and put them into eggs.

Our plan was to give one to each girl and let her "hatch" the owlet.

When "hatched" each girl stuffed their owlet, added buttons for eyes and felt shapes (stars, flowers, guitar, sunglasses, etc.) to further personalize and decorate. Some also added ribbon bows for the CUTE factor.

They also filled out Birth Certificates for each of their owlets. They got to choose a name, date of birth, place of birth and put their own name down as "mother".

I wasn't sure if everyone would be into making something, like Taylee, but they all seemed excited to create their own owl. I heard girls say, "This is SO much fun.", "I can't believe we get to MAKE these!", "Your family seems crafty...and that's a good thing." :)

Each one was very unique and personalized. I think the funniest accessories were the sunglasses/guitar and the "nerd glasses". One of my favorite names was "Lemon Drop".

So cute!

Project # 2

From felt, a styrofoam ball and googly eyes.....

to cute little owls.....
to Taylee's birthday cake decoration.

I loved how they turned out!

What a HOOT.

Pinewood Derby 2011

The Cub Scout Pinewood Derby was this week.

Jason, helped Treyson, execute the "Cubola Crayon" derby.

Pretty cute, don't cha think? ...or cool, I mean.

The night of the Pinewood Derby, we discovered that our irrigation pipe, in the back yard, had broken. Gallons and gallons of water sprung out of the back corner of the yard. Jason, and a team of neighbors, worked on getting the water shut off and investigated the problem. Somewhere, some how, there was a broken pipe or valve or something.

As Jason was working on solving the problem, Pinewood Derby time was approaching quickly. I had been sick on the couch, most of the day and still had several details to attend to for Taylee's party. I had not planned on going to the Derby. At the very last minute, it was decided that Jason couldn't go. So I dropped Treyson off at the church and asked a favor of a ward member to bring him home. It was a bummer we missed the Derby, but Treyson came home all smiles with a "Jamba Juice" in hand. I don't think he missed us much... or "Jamba Juice" made it all better. :)

He was happy to report, that his car came in second......

at least once. :)