Homemade Pizza

Conall's reward for helping mommy clean his room tonight was getting to make homemade pizza. He was so excited that he was c-r-a-z-y. Anyway, I think the kids liked the pizza as much as they liked making it.

Eating their pizza -- Conall thinks he looks like he has a mustache in this picture.

They were so excited about eating the pizza that I almost forgot to get a photo of the pizza -- there was only half left here. I'm not sure you can tell -- Blogger has done something weird to the photo.

Rice Krispie Treats

Caitlin and I made Rice Krispie treats this morning. We had so much fun!

Recovering From Strep and Making Trucks

Conall got sick Thursday night and spent most of the night complaining of a sore throat and puking. We went to the doctor Friday and they tested him for strep throat, which turns out he had. Funny thing is, he never really ran a fever. Luckily, the doctor wanted him to have an antibiotic shot rather than oral antibiotics, since he had been puking so much. He was full of pent up energy and ready for school on Monday.

While recuperating, Conall made a truck for Caitlin out of some boxes that I had set aside to recycle. He taped everything together and drew pictures for the interior. They both were really proud of it and it was lots of fun until they started fighting over it. Needless to say, it went out with the recycling this morning. I'm waiting on the fit one or both of them throws when they realize it is gone.

Conall's Harry Potter Birthday Party -- Lots of Pictures!

We had to reschedule Conall's birthday party for a week later than its original date because of ice and snow. Conall handled it much better than I expected, but after a week of "my party this and my party that" we were ready to have the party and get it over.

Conall wanted a Harry Potter birthday party, so we did our best to make it so. He was allowed to invited 10 friends, which considering the size of our house, probably was too many! Ten loud boys excited about Harry Potter is quite a sight!

We decorated the house in Harry Potterish items and in crimson and gold for Gryffindor House. We used our miniature Sorting Hat to sort the kids as they came in the door. They colored Harry Potter coloring sheets and then we moved on to the exciting part -- Stu as Dumbledore leading the boys in potion making. The boy who guessed the right number of jelly beans in the "Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans" jar got to keep the jar of jelly beans. The dry ice potion told the winner -- Conall's friend Anthony.

My friend Mandy Shoptaw has started her own photography, print and video design, and event management business. She took the photos at Conall's birthday party. If you get a chance, check out Mandy's web site.

The cake Conall asked Aunt Amy to make

Conall's cake -- chocolate frogs jumping out the Hogwarts Express window

Decorations, cauldron, and potion ingredients

The Hogsmeade banner from Conall's Mary Godmother

Waiting on Dumbledore

Calming the boys down with Harry Potter coloring sheets

Conall and his Hedwig picture

Listening to "Dumbledore"

Stu as Dumbledore

Conall and Kanton -- Kanton's birthday is a week from Conall's and he has lived next door to us since the boys were 1. Since we had to reschedule Conall's party due to the ice, his party was actually on Kanton's birthday. We had Kanton's parents bring Kanton's cake to Conall's party so we could celebrate both boys' birthdays at Conall's party.

Potions class with Dumbledore

Potions

Dumbledore putting liquid "gold" into the potion

Caitlin looking totally bored with the boys

The "potion" bubbling over

The potion bubbling with dry ice

Conall getting ready to blow out his candles

Conall climbing onto the table to blow out his candles

Conall with one of his chocolate frogs

Butterbeer (rootbeer floats)

Cheers!

Getting rid of some energy by playing outside in our yard and Kanton's

Snow Days

Conall catching snow on his tongue

Caitlin "cheesing" as she calls it

Caitlin making a snowball

Conall, Kanton and August working on Conall's "snow penguin"

Conall and Kanton working on Conall's "snow penguin"

Conall playing at the back playground at his school -- he's carrying what the boys were calling a "shatterbomb"

Mommy, Caitlin, and Kanton at the back playground

Caitlin telling Daddy to look at her "pawprints" in the snow on the walking track at school

Caitlin's Pizza Discovery

Aunt Amy and Caitlin went shopping and out to eat pizza a few weeks ago. Caitlin has recently discovered that she likes Parmesan cheese, "sprinkle cheese", on her pizza. Of course, a little bit isn't enough and she has to put the sprinkle cheese on her own pizza. Here's a video Aunt Amy took of her using "sprinkle cheese".

Mary Godmother Gifts

The Mary Godmother sent Conall and Caitlin their birthday gifts via delivery truck since the weather kept her from driving down to see them. Conall was ecstatic over his "Harry Potter" broom and seemed to believe me when I told him Hedwig delivered it!

Unfortunately, this did not curb the use of my broom -- it is now used for Caitlin, aka Hermione, when they play. However, it did stop Conall from sleeping with my broom in his bed!

Opening the broom delivered by Hedwig

Conall with his "Harry Potter" broom

Caitlin with her new "dolly", a Raggedy Ann doll. Isn't she cute?

Sledding on Conall's Birthday

Kanton, Conall, Caitlin, Tim (Kanton's dad), and Fred (dog) sledding on Conall's birthday

Conall and Kanton pulling Caitlin up the hill in the sled

Kanton and Conall riding on the sled

Caitlin being very independent and refusing help climbing the icy hill

One of the few times Conall stopped that day

Tim (Kanton's dad), Caitlin, and Conall sledding down the hill

So Very Busy ... So Behind on the Blog

Things have been insane here this past month. We have been so busy with birthday parties, school stuff, and snow, snow, snow! I'm going to try to catch up the blog -- probably by just posting lots of photos. That is, if anyone still reads this ...

Sleepover Proof

Snow, Ice, Canceled Party, Sleepover

It has been one heck of a day! Woke up to icky, wet, rainy, sleeting, freezing weather and schools closed. Stu's work was one of the few places in town that was requiring employees to come in.
Conall began to get worried about his birthday party, scheduled for tomorrow. We'd talked a few days ago about the possibility of snow and ice and what that would mean. He had one small meltdown, but luckily Kanton came over to invite him to play. Then, they went with Kanton's parents to play with some of the kids up the street who have sleds. They got to sled up and down the hill and had a ball!
Stu and I watched the weather and waited, trying to decide what to do ... then it became obvious that the weather wasn't going to get better and was probably going to get worse. Stu's work sent everyone home early because the weather and road conditions were getting worse. We decided to reschedule the party for next weekend and start calling parents.
After playing next door for a few hours, the kids headed over here to play. The boys started asking if they could have a sleepover and after talking to Kanton's parents we agreed to give it a try. It really did help with the disappointment of the birthday party being rescheduled. The roads weren't too horrible yet, so Stu headed out for pizza and a movie.

Daddy got "special Hogwarts candles" -- they blow out, relight, blow out, etc.!

Conall still trying to blow those candles out and Kanton asking "could I get some of those for my birthday?"

The boys playing with Conall's early birthday gift -- a miniature air hockey game.

Later, Caitlin beat them all in every game she played.

The kids enjoyed pizza, ate some early birthday cake, watched a little of their movie, played for awhile and then were ready to put their PJ's on. Caitlin had a meltdown about wanting to join the boys for the sleepover, but otherwise things went smoothly.

The boys "read to each other," came and got me for a drink, got up to potty and generally stalled. Conall informed me that we could skip hugs and kisses tonight (sniff, sniff).  Kanton told me that he thought he'd stay for breakfast. He said "I've never eaten breakfast here before." We started talking about what Kanton liked to eat and he said "do you think I could have a menu?".

the surprise photo

posing for a photo of their "first sleepover"

A little later the boys came into Caitlin's room while I was rocking her and trying to calm her down. Conall said "Mommy, can ghosts really travel through walls?" I told him that they could in the stories. Conall started looking around and turning in circles, looking for the ghosts who were going to travel through walls. Then both boys asked "Are ghosts real?" I sent them to talk to daddy.

The boys convinced daddy to put sleeping bags and pillows on the floor and to let them sleep there. Then, they got daddy to tell them ghost stories for quite some time. Sometime after 9:30 they started to quiet down. We'll see if we make it through the entire night! I better get that menu ready just in case!