Ninjas (and Ninjago)

 So, the biggest news of the week in our neck of the woods was the recent mass crash landing of eared grebes. As an amateur bird enthusiast, I found this upsetting, although I was cheered by the enthusiasm of local people to help rescue the birds.

But if you're not a bird-enthusiast (more specifically, if you are a soon-to-be six year old named Andrew), the biggest event of the week was the Ninjago themed birthday party we had on Saturday.

You can always track what's popular at our house by the birthday themes. This year, apparently, Ninjas are in. (And apparently next year, too: Evelyn is already requesting  ninja themed party for *her* birthday. Somehow, I don't think the enthusiasm will last).

 So, after delivering Ninjago invitations (like 3 weeks ago, because apparently I couldn't count how many weeks it was until his birthday party), we finally pulled together the party. I made cupcakes, thinking they would be easier than cake. They were, sort of. This was my first foray into fondant and I have to say, the chefs on Food Network's cake challenges make fondant look *way* easier than it actually is. I have a new-found respect for what they do.

 As appropriate for a ninja themed party, we had to have costumes. I found instructions on an easy ninja costume online (basically it's a T-shirt with the sleeves fastened behind the head) and some cheap t-shirts and voila! Ninjas.

Evelyn insisted on tagging along after the big boys and calling herself (in third person) "The Littlest Ninja." As in, "The Littlest Ninja wants to go next!"

 Then we did some ninja training: push ups, sit-ups, coordination activities (pat your head and belly at the same time), balancing, and spinning (as in circles, not the hard core gym activity). We finished off with several rounds of Red-Light, Green Light to practice stealth training, and then the Ninjas finally faced their mortal enemy: Lord Garmaddon (painted by yours truly on posterboard). I think knocking the poster villain off the chair was one of the favorite activities of the hour.

And of course, even Ninjas need to eat, so we had (with Dan's help) a fabulous Asian inspired meal: chicken katsu (nugget sized), edamame, and the less Asian mock sushi (swedish fish rolled in rice krispie treats--hey, it has rice and fish so it's close!) and carrot sticks.

 We finished with cake and presents (and of course I didn't take pictures of blowing out the candle). This was one happy kid.

Afterwards, we let the kids pain their ninja shirts, which was a little messy but better than having five tornadoes blow through the house (which seemed to be the other alternative). 

All told, a successful birthday.

I just wonder what he'll ask for next year.

This was the kids before church--only, of course, Evelyn didn't end up going because she still has this rattling cough and Dan has flu-like symptoms. So nobody got to see her lovely new Christmas dress. But she was happy in it, and I guess that's what counts. Right?

 

quick update

This is for my critics (here's looking at you Dan!) who accused me of failing in my duty by not posting today.

The highlight of the week was coming north to see Jake get ordained a deacon. He's the first nephew that has reached that milestone. (Full disclosure: Evelyn was sick so I took her home and missed the ordination. But I have it on good authority that his mom and grandmother were both wet-eyed.) But I loved seeing his beaming face up next to the bishop--he looked so grown up.

My mom and I got to squeeze in a little shopping and we also got to see my sister and her kids, so it was a successful visit on multiple counts.

It was a frustrating week in some respects. We missed Evelyn's big dance concert because she came down with croup Thursday night. And we've been struggling a little with Andrew, who has been more destructive of late. In the past week or two, he's cut holes in shirts, Evelyn's bedsheet, and the mesh canopy over Evelyn's bed. I'm not sure if it's excitement, jealousy, or just thoughtlessness, but it's been challenging.

We're staring down the end of the semester--finals this week. Then Andrew's birthday party, Sunday lessons (for some reason, I've agreed to do both the lesson in Young Women's and a Sunday school lesson next week, the day after Andrew's party and three days after finals end. I must be at least a little crazy). But we're looking forward to the Christmas season.

And maybe next week I'll actually have pictures.

Falling into the Season

Christmas season is officially upon us--and not just because we got past Thanksgiving. The tree is up (without any bad words this year! I think we're finally figuring this out), the house sort-of decorated, and piles of snow are on the lawn outside.

Our ward Christmas party was this Friday as well. And while we do love our ward, large group functions like that make Dan uncomfortable, Andrew only wanted to go play with his friends, and Evelyn just wanted to eat the candy off the table. We ended up leaving early, as per usual, to get the kids to bed sort of close to bedtime.

Last, but definitely not least on our list of Christmas-themed events, was the annual Dutch Christmas party (Trisha's mother was Dutch, so the Dutch Christmas gets celebrated by Trisha's half-Dutch siblings, their children, and grand-children). We were supposed to kick off our celebration by viewing the city's Storybook Parade, but the parade got cancelled. (I was secretly glad--I like the parade, but I wasn't looking forward to an hour in cold, snowy weather. Sitting on the curb to watch a parade is fine--except when you have to sit in eight inches of snow). Instead, we gathered at a local church, played games, talked, ate, performed, and exchanged gifts. I think everyone had a good time, until the witching hour hit and our tired children started cracking at the seams.

In between Christmas-themed stuff we spent a busy week trying to gear up for the end of the semester (for Dan, that meant writing tests; for me, that meant grading papers like crazy. This week I had two papers on aliens and one on Bigfoot--all intended to persuade me to believe. Either the papers weren't terribly persuasive or I'm a skeptic, but I remain unconvinced!) I also squeezed in a session with my writer's group.

Wednesday we had dinner with a lovely family who were friends in State College and now work at the same university we do. They have a four-year-old daughter who got along great with Evelyn; Andrew was less impressed, as he's hit the stage where most girls are suspect. (He told me that he doesn't like any of the girls with blonde hair OR red hair in his kindergarten class.)

Tuesday night was the Evening of Excellence for Young Women. My friend and I took on the decorating (the theme was "Becoming a Masterpiece). We had nice 8x10 black and white pictures of the girls, small art cards by women painters, and a collection of poems by classical authors. We covered the tables with butcher paper and crayons (ala the Macaroni Grill) and let the girls decorate their own spots. I was proud of us--I thought we delivered something nice without being cutesy. On the other hand, I thought my friend (an art educator by profession) might  have a heart attack at some of the things that were said in the presentation about masterpieces (my favorite: that Picasso was clearly lazy because the art he produced doesn't look like top quality art). Since I like both people involved (my friend and the speaker), I'll just say that their tastes in art are pretty different.

Whew! I'm tired just thinking about our week. We had fun doing it, but I'm ready for a break. Now we just have to make it past the end of the semester (this week) and finals.