Carnival Fun with PapaGranmaStevie

Last night we partied hardy with PapaGranmaStevie (what the kids call Dad, Mom, and Steve to differentiate which grandparents they're referring to). Every year the kids' school throws a carnival complete with Toilet Fishing, jumping castles, junk food galore, and a live band that loves the singers and songwriters of the 70s. This year, PapaGranmaStevie made the trek across town to have some fun with us.

In true Kirsten form, I forgot...no, forgot is the wrong word...I purposely left my camera at home because I thought "Hey! I have this awesome new phone with a great camera. I'll just use that." But, I didn't. I have nothing to show for last night except a mild ringing in my ears (yes, the music was LOUD).

So, I've taken the liberty of creating a few images from some pictures I took at last year's carnival, as well as some artistic renditions of the fun we had.

Let me preface this post with noting that since I started the weight loss contest with my fellow employees (which has now ended and I WON!), I have removed refined products from my house including all desserts, sugar, processed foods, etc. If I didn't make it, we don't eat it. (Which helped me lose 26 lbs to date, by the way.) I make it a big deal on Sundays to make a special dessert because if you have desserts everyday, it's no longer a treat; It's a staple.

(Stepping down from soap box) I had to note that because the kids also have treats on special occasions, such as the school carnival, which is why they went on a full cotton candy-nacho-soda-Eegee-popcorn binge. I don't think they even played games this year. All tickets went to junk food. (I've created sugar hoarders!)

So first, we did this:



Then this:


And some of this:


Then this again:


And some more of this:


And finally this:


Then we moved on to some fun while nursing ourselves back from the junk food coma.

(These pictures are from last year, but ask Steve...it looks exactly the same as this year.)

Here's my Ethan. Goodness how they grow in a year! This year Alex chucked them right into the holes. Tha's mah boy!


Alex and his fire hat he got from his school that day. (Last year)


Yay for prizes!


This picture is from last year, but I've added some "Where's Steve" features to it this year. Here's how the picture would have looked if I'd actually taken one.

There's mom and Kate popping up to say "Peek-a-boo!" Steve wandering around hoping no one he knows sees him there, and Dad and Alex sharing some smoochies.


Here are the boys on the jumping castle. Nice AIR Steve!


Inflation did some damage this year. The Cake Walk was 3 tickets instead of 1 like last year, so we had to bail a little bit earlier. But fun was had by all! Thanks for coming PapaGranmaStevie!

The Fairytale Ball

Every year, Alex's school puts on a family carnival called The Fairytale Ball. They ask all the kids to come dressed up in their favorite costume and bring something for everyone to eat. There were little princesses everywhere!

This was our first year going and Alex really wanted to be a tiger, but fleece Halloween costumes don't jive with 85 degree weather, so we opted for regular clothes.

When we arrived we received goodie bags and a treasure map. There were carnival game stations set up all over the school, the King's Great Dining Hall stocked with all sorts of yummy goodness, and a jumping castle in the parking lot. All of the teachers were dressed up spectacularly, not to mention at school on a Saturday! (Best preschool in town, if you ask me. Such a great bunch of dedicated teachers!)

Ms. Butterfly went easy on Alex in this "Pin the Smooch on the Frog" game. Instead of blindfolding him, she handed him the "big moochie" and told him to put it on the frog's mouth. He looked at her for a second like "Seriously lady? I got this in the BAG!"


Alex in his newly invented game: Kick-Bowling.


Ms. Bee trying to trick Nate with her super fast switcheroo!


Freshly won cupcakes from the cake walk. Mmmmm!


I'm pretty sure he just put the ball right in there. "Granny toss, Alex!"

Getting some grub in the King's Great Dining Hall.


Kate scoring some easy treats.


Time to go fishing!


This game was HARD! Had to throw a ring and land it on the duck's neck. We were there a while. Finally got a token goodie just so other kids could have a turn. :-)

Alex's teacher indulging his tiger obsession.


Humpty Dumpty sat on a spoon...Ready, Set, Go!


We had hours of fun. Towards the end of the carnival, Alex begged to go in the jumping castle. I obliged, but he was so tired he could barely stand up. Check out the video below. Takes him about 30 seconds to realize he wants a nap!



We decided to go at the very last minute this year, so we'll be sure to plan ahead next time and have grandmas and grandpas come!

Harry Potter and the Uncle Casey

I'm going to take a moment and throw chronological blogging out the window to bring you this brief update of current events!

Every night I take a half hour to read the kids a story while they lay in bed. We started to read the Magyk series, but quickly switched to a book with some REAL storytime magic: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It just so happens that Uncle Casey, another Potter freak, was hanging out at our house around bedtime, so he read to us.

Ethan listening intently to the story of Harry speaking to the snake at the zoo.


I asked Casey to "do the voices" like I do, but he only gave us the British nanny look:


Nate and Kate snuggling up with their favorite Uncle Casey.


Uncle Casey and all his adoring minions. (Best storytime EVER! Apparently it just takes a Casey to make it so they don't goof off during storytime.)


(Please excuse Alex's skivvies. He had just taken a bath and was creamed down.)


We can't wait for Casey to come read to us again!

Put All Your Eggs in One Basket

This year I decided no more freebies. You want sugar, you're gonna have to work for it! So, the Easter Bunny didn't drop off baskets this year. I made mini cupcakes for the kids to decorate, bought candy molds for the kids to create their own chocolates, and left a note for the Easter Bunny(Darrick) to hide a bag full of candy-filled eggs in the backyard with the instructions "Make it so hard to find these that many are reported missing until Monsoons".

Alas, Ethan kept count of how many I told him there were and they hunted our small yard for a good 20 minutes before announcing the rescue of ALL the eggs.


Our good friends came over to share in our fun. They helped decorate cupcakes and track down the goodies sprinkled all over the yard.


The trackers mid-hunt.


And now for our Moment of Zen...

"'Sup..."

Alex Meets Curious George

Every year now, the U of A sets up The Festival of Books on the mall. Authors come from around the world to sign copies, free books are given out to kids, book stands are everywhere, and there's food, games, and kid activities. We decided to go this year and it was a blast! The kids scored some free reading material, some goodies, and had their faces painted.

First second we walked into the festival, look who we saw!


Alex still loves his tigers. Rarrr!


All the girls were getting butterflies and fairies, so Kate took the road less taken and opted for a Panda. So cute...


Nate really wanted his face painted but he didn't want to be made fun of "like he's a girl", so we begged for a fierce dragon. Looks a little bit more like a cute sea horse, but Ethan managed not to tease him for the afternoon.


Now, I don't know if you realize this but Ethan is almost 11. This means face paint and story time are soooo not cool. He was moaning and groaning about having to be anywhere near these childish activities. Color a book bag? BEEP. Wrong! Watch a puppet show? What if my friends see me?!

So alas, what did we find but the Chess Club tent! Eyes wide, he ran, neigh, flew to the battle to be! Thas BRILLIANT! (Says Kirsten in a British accent)


Do you see the joy? The Chess Afterglow. The best look, though, was when two graduate students from India sat next to them and finished 6 games in 10 minutes. Oh how those jaws dropped!


"Hi Mom. Yes, Ethan is beating me at chess but at least he's not teasing me about my sea horse."


We neglected to check the schedule to see if the kids' favorite authors were in attendance, so we'll definitely check next year!

Nate's Birthday

So, I went to Dad's tonight and they staged a blogging intervention.

"Why can't you be more like your sisters, Jami and Missi? You lazy, no-good-fer-nothin-non-bloggin daughter!"
"But...uh...sleep...kids...I...uh..."
"Come on, Kirst. The DOG blogs more often than you."
"But...but...you don't HAVE a DOG!"
"That's RIGHT! Now you think about that..."

Or something like that. :-P Either way, I walked my head in shame to the computer, uploaded the bazillion images I had sitting on my camera and am now sitting here bringing you some pics and quips.

A little over 3 months ago, Nate turned 9. We had cake. It was joyous. No, really. Because I have this thing with birthdays. My family never really made a huge deal out of birthdays growing up. When I say "huge deal", I mean petting zoos, mass of friends, loads of presents, open bar, jumping castle...you know? It was usually a family get-together with cake and ice cream, a few presents, but never anything that made you shout at your next birthday "Thirty-six?! But last year - last year I had thirty-seven!" (Thanks for not making us spoiled brats!)

So, I always offer the kids an option. "We can go throw a big party and have friends over, or you can have this $50 to spend and have a small family party/dinner." They ALWAYS take the family party and the money. (THANK GOODNESS.)

So here's our small family gathering. We had two more, one with each set of grandparents. He walked away with a small fortune and blew it all on Legos and books. :-)



In my hopes that one day I'll find out one of my kids isn't a Muggle, I bestowed the greatness of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on him. He's mastered potions. Next is goat sacrifices.


And here's our "one to grow on"! This was super cool like 5 months ago, now it is but a memory that I will share with you. 5 months ago, Alex was awesome and put all those puzzles together himself. It was awesome. 5 months ago.


Up next...Alex meets Curious George and other fun adventures from The Festival of Books!