9th Birthday Kirby Party

Time seems to be flying by so quickly. Boogs recently turned 9-years-old. Where have the years gone? Boogs asked for a Kirby birthday party this year. He always has a few ideas about what should happen at his birthday parties. This year, he asked for a bouncy house, a scavenger hunt, a Kirby Pinata, and Pin the Hammer on King Dedede.

Every year I make Boogs a birthday shirt with his age on it. Kirby was very easy to freezer stencil on a shirt. (HERE is a quick tutorial on freezer stenciling) Boogs thought his birthday shirt was awesome!

Usually, I make the pinatas for Boogs' birthdays but I did not feel like dealing with the mess this year. So I went searching for a pinata I could use for Kirby.  I found this:

... a pink princess pinata. Boogs was not impressed when I brought it home. It was a nice shade of pink and a perfect circle. I bought a roll of pink streamers and cut up a bit of colored paper to turn this into a perfect Kirby pinata.

Boogs liked it and so did the other kids. Unfortunately, there was a light rainy drizzle during quite a bit of the party. We had to smash the pinata in the garage. The kids did not seem to mind. There was plenty of loot to go around.

The tables in the background of the picture of Boogs hitting the pinata, show our craft tables. We had pink shirts and fabric paint out on the tables so the kids could make their own Kirby face shirts. I was surprised how much they enjoyed it. One kiddo even wore his hand painted Kirby shirt to school this week. I forgot to take pictures of them working on their shirts.

Boogs helped me figure out how to make Pin the Hammer on King Dedede.

It was fun watching the kiddos try to place the hammer in King Dedede's hand. We play this classic party game every year with our different themes.

 

I spent quite a bit of time drawing Kirby faces on things for the party. I made these balloons for the kids to play balloon ping pong. Boogs asked if everyone could have their own balloon to hit instead of sharing with someone else.

 

The kids ended up playing a sort of paddle ball with the balloons. It was a good thing I made extras because several balloons went over the fence.  This simple game kept them entertained for a long time. Luckily, we had a break in the drizzle and they stayed dry during this game.

Boogs asked for a scavenger hunt game. In the Kirby games, Kirby has to collect things like stars and rings. So, I grabbed an old shape puzzle and individually wrapped some wooden shapes in pink tissue paper. My plan was for the kids to find each one, feel the shape through the numbered baggie, and use their Kirby notepads to write down their guesses for each shape. I did not hide them before the party because of the rain. Later, we ran out of time. I ended up putting the homemade Kirby notepads in each kiddos pinata favor bag.  The few kiddos who left late, had a chance to guess each shape. They really thought it was fun.

If you saw my post about Boogs' Skylander party last year, you might recognize these cans. I made them for the "Golden Can Shoot". We have played with them off and on during the past year. Last week, I took them out of the garage and taped Kirby villains onto them. One of Boogs' favorite Kirby games is Kirby Epic Yarn. We had to have something to go with that game. I wrapped a pink yarn ball around a small bouncy ball and tied it to a baseball hat.

We set the cans up in the backyard in two rows and let the kiddos take turns trying to knock them down without using their hands or dragging the yarn ball on the ground. It was harder than it looked.

It was so much fun to see the kids try to line up the yarn ball. It kept swinging in crazy directions. Everyone else cheered from the porch while they waited their turn.

Even some of the moms tried it out.

We kept having to dry out the bouncy house with towels because it was a bit dangerous with all those kids in there when it was wet. This is the only picture I took inside the bouncy house. Boogs ran in and jumped in it before his guests showed up. We love having bouncy houses at our parties. They always get a ton of use.

I freely admit that I am the world's worst baker. This is my attempt at a double layer strawberry Kirby cake. At least it tasted delicious.

After the party, Boogs thanked me for making it so much fun. He said he knew it was a lot of work to get ready and he was very happy about how it all turned out. He was glad his friends came over to help him celebrate turning 9.

I love my little boy so much. I can't believe that he will be in the double digits next year. It makes me a little sad. His father and I truly enjoy what a wonderful, goofy, sweet, funny, and kind little boy he is.

Of course, I had to make Boogs a Kirby lunch during his birthday week. I saw Anna the Red's lunch and had to copy her ham and cheese Kirby.

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School Carnival

My school had its annual carnival a couple of weeks ago. Boogs is going to be transferring to my school next year, so I wanted him to see the school. He invited his friend, M,  from down the street to join us at the carnival. The boys really enjoyed the carnival. We stayed for about three hours.

Angry Bird Knock Down

A local Karate school had sparring gear. Boogs was definitely interested in sparring.

These brave teachers let kids throw plates of whipped cream at their faces. Nope, I did not volunteer for that booth!

This bouncy obstacle arm thing was amazing! There was a high arm and a low arm that swung around, constantly changing directions. The kids had to jump over or duck under the arms. It was hilarious watching them try to avoid getting knocked off their platforms.

Boogs asked if we could have this bouncy thing at his next birthday party. No! It is practically bigger than our backyard.

I LOVE that Boogs closed his eyes every time he shot an arrow. His did hit the target a few times.

 Laser tag!!!

The were lots of other little game booths. I think these two visited every booth at least two times.

Of course, you can't go to the carnival without getting a bag of cotton candy. This carnival was such a great way to spend the afternoon.

I am glad both boys had fun at the carnival. Sadly, the next few days were not fun for either of them. Boogs woke up the next morning throwing up. He was ill for five days and weak for a few days after that. He lost almost five pounds and was put on prescription anti-nausea medicine. He was mostly back to normal by Easter Sunday, which also happened to be his birthday. I received a text from the M's mother the day after the carnival letting me know they had taken M to a clinic early that morning because he was complaining of a sore throat. He tested positive for strep throat. Luckily, Boogs did not get strep throat and M did not get Boogs' awful virus.

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Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday also happened to be Boogs' 9th birthday. We had a very low-key day as Boogs was still recovering from being ill the previous week. Every year on Boogs' birthday I "balloon" his door/room. Sometimes I cover his floor with balloons and sometimes I find ways to make balloons fall into his room when he opens his door. This year, I hung tie-dye balloons on his door and made several balloon animals to go with them. This was the first time I have tried to make balloon animals.

Boogs thought the red dog was the most recognizable balloon animal. He thought they were fun but was not too sure about the poodle or the crocodile.

 I even made him a swimming sea turtle hat... er... I mean belt. He was not impressed.

Look at that smile. Boogs loves singing birthday cards. This card had a dog barking and a cat meowing the birthday song.

The only thing Boogs wanted for his birthday was a Webkins Black-Footed Ferret stuffed animal. He is such a sweet boy. I love this picture of him hugging his Daddy and saying thank you.

While we were fixing breakfast, Boogs went to feed his hamster. She was no longer alive. He has had Winter since his 7th birthday. We had a very, very sad morning.

After breakfast, we had a funeral for Winter. Boogs said a few words over her grave.

We went to my Mom's house for Easter lunch. We had a little cake to celebrate Boogs' birthday.

All of Boogs' cousins were out of town, so Boogs was on his own for the egg hunt. It was raining outside so we had to have the hunt inside.

We usually do not put candy in the Easter eggs, we just put coins. My Mom put money in 12 shiny eggs and then hid 95 empty eggs as well. There are usually 5 to 9 grandchildren hunting eggs. She wanted Boogs to have lots of eggs to hunt but did not want to open a lot of eggs and fill them. Boogs had fun looking for the eggs but it was kind of sad that he had the hunt all to himself. It is times like this when I wish he was not an only child.

We spent part of our afternoon like this. That is the positive side of the cousins being out of town. We would have welcomed the chaos.

Thanks Mom for having us over and making it a fun day for Boogs!

Glow Run

Boogs' school held a really fun event a few weeks ago - "I Run My School In The Dark - Glow Run". It was the first time ever that running inside the school building was encouraged.

The kids ran the school by grade levels. Most of the lights inside the building were turned off. Glow sticks, black lights, and Christmas lights were hanging throughout the hallways.

After all of the grade levels had completed the run, it was time for the family run. Wow, was it crowded. Of course, I had to run the school with Boogs. That little stinker left me behind in his dust!

They had some other fun things to do at this event. Boogs can't resist getting his face painted.

Spring Break

Our Spring Break was a few weeks ago. We stayed in town and had a pretty quiet week. Our biggest outing of the week was a visit to Mayfield Park and Nature Preserve and Mount Bonnell. My friend, C, was in town with her two daughters and they joined us for a picnic at the park. C and I have been friends since the first day we met in kindergarten. It is really neat to watch our kids play together.

Mayfield Park is known for its peacock residents. The kiddos really enjoyed watching and listening the peacocks.

There are several small ponds to explore. Luckily, neither Boogs nor the ball explored the ponds too closely.

We wandered around the park area for about an hour before having lunch at the picnic tables.

Mayfield Park is surrounded by 21 acres of Nature Preserve area. We followed the trails down to the water and back.

 The kiddos all wanted to be the trail leader for our hiking group. It was a mad dash for 1st place.

We enjoyed the warm weather and nearly empty trails. I was surprised there weren't more people there on such a beautiful day.

 

This was a great climbing tree. 

After we finished our walk and took another look at the peacocks, we took a 2 minute drive to Mount Bonnell. Unfortunately, my camera stopped working while we were on the preserve trail. Reaching the top of Mount Bonnell requires walking up 106 steps. This site has a great picture of the stairs. While climbing the stairs, C and I reminisced about our 2nd grade field trip to Mount Bonnell. One of our classmates had a broken leg with a cast on. Our teacher, Ms. Keefe, carried her up and down all of those stairs. Our kiddos enjoyed running the little trail at the top and checking out the spectacular views. I wish my camera hadn't died.

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