Post 2011 Birthday Report

We made a giant Seal of the President of the United States so we could play Pin the Eagle on the Seal.

The guests colored their own eagles. There were lots of variations; the most memorable eagle was bright green and the most memorable shield had a pirate skull and crossbones on it.


We made a poster of Mount Rushmore. Originally, it was going to be mounted onto a cardboard box so kids could stick their heads through and have photo opportunities. It sort of didn't happen that way.

 President Lincoln didn't come out well, and we were at the eleventh hour on this project.

And then there was the cake.  The 2007 cake was a train.  The 2008 cake was a pirate ship.  The 2009 cake was chocolate cupcakes and a chocolate anvil cake as the Sword in the Stone.  Last year's Monopoly Extravaganza featured a catered ice-cream cake.


 

J had told A that he would make a White House cake.  This required carefully measuring out the ratios in the actual building and taking a tape measure to the store to get the right marshmallows.  And trimming out round parts with saucepans. 


 

The pillars were marshmallows on toothpicks. The collumns were the most coveted part of the cake during the party.... because... well, J got a little carried away with late-night baking and there was probably a timer-set problem and not all of the cake went in at the same time and... so... some of the cake was a little over-done.


The pound cake held together fairly well.   Thank goodness for toothpicks.

And then there was the icing.  It was an orange sugar-icing.  It should have been a butter icing.  It made the cake resemble the Casa Rosada more than the White House.   No pictures to protect the guilty.


Grandpa was a Very Good Sport, rented a costume, and came as George Washington.

Grandma came as herself.

J dressed as a Secret Service Man and "scanned" the guests as they arrived with his camera.

The guests came as presidents, with two pirate exceptions.





M shaved his moustache, kept his beard, and was the best dressed Abraham Lincoln there (and there was some pretty fierce competition).

In addition to pin the Eagle on the Seal, we played Pirates and Presidents (a variation of Cranes and Crows), and Elections (they had to pop balloons for the electoral votes inside).  The games went fast, so we added on a few rounds of Dragon's Tail (form a conga line, the front has to grab a hanky out of the tail's back pocket).




"Uh, what did that recipe say again?"

Weekend Photos

Ike LaRue at work.















We're not quite sure what happened here... but this is the end result of when one kicks croquet wickets. M thinks this might have been caused by a wooden stake, but the original story was that a wire wicket somehow bounced off of A's foot and jabbed him in the forehead.










Making piratical valentines with various family members.

Exciting and New...

Scene: The Living Room.

A (rushing in): "Aaargh! I'm a pirate!"

J: "Why are you a pirate?"

A: "Because I'm mean."

J: "Don't be be mean; love."

A (rolling eyes): "Ugh. No. No love!"

J (singing): "...the Love Boat, soon will be making another run ..."

A (holding hands like pistols): "Pshew! pshew! Pirates are shooting the Love Boat!"

J (indignant): "You can't shoot the Love Boat!"

Skeleton Pirate Ghost

Well... A said he wanted to be a Pirate Skeleton Ghost this year. And M, with that ability of his to find things, found a costume on Super Sale! I'm pretty sure that this costume obligates either M or J to wear a hat that has been super-saturated in phosphorus and then set it alight.

Moments after this picture was taken, M found A around the corner, in a very still heap on a couch, pretending to be dead. A was practicing: he says he wants to wait, partially hidden in a leaf pile, then jump out at Trick-o-Treaters and scare them so badly that he gets their Halloween candy.

And to think two years ago, he thought handing out candy bars was the best thing ever, and made us ring the doorbell on November 1 eve in order to give us more.

New Web Cam

Quck Update

The Pirate Ban is over. One of the clerks at the local supermarket helped us celebrate with Piratical Music.

A still enjoys playing Monopoly (tournament rules), but likes his new game, "Loot," which is sort of like "bridge meets The Golden Age of Piracy." A's strategy is to save all his cards (I think so he can see the trumping "captain pirate cards").

It's spring break, and M decided that we'd be better served if A stopped napping. So this has been an interesting week.

We went hiking at the local arboretum. A recent big-cat scare insured that all four boys on the hike grabbed sticks for a re-enactment of "Peter and the Cougar." Or was that the chapter from A.A. Milne, "In Which Tigger is Unbounced" ? I'm pretty sure all the wildlife in a three mile radius fled.

We saw "Dora the Explorer" for the first time the other night. A wants to be... (wait for it)... Swiper, the tricky fox who steals everything. Thanks, Dora.


Oh. Right. The Dinosaur Phase has officially started (since sometime last week). There would have been a blog posting about it, but we're too busy learning the difference between the Cretaceous, Mesozoic, Triassic, and Jurassic. A wants to be... (wait for it)... Tyrannosaurus Rex, and routinely walks around with his hands held as claws next to his chest while asking, "You want to see my scary teeth?" Already he's cornered face painters at two separate events and demanded they paint most of his face as huge dino-teeth and then holds up his hands to get a claw treatment. I can't decide if they're happy to not be painting Yet Another Rainbow Butterfly on some kid's face, or if A's Secret I-Am-A-Blond-Blue-Eyed-Four-Year-Old-You-Are-Getting-Sleepy Powers are still working.

Son of Master Thespian

Scene: The Living Room. A & J are "rehearsing" a Pirate Play. A is a pirate. J is a pirate ghost. Opinions have been aired that J is an un-scarey, silly ghost...

J (with a white bedspread half over his head):

"Ooh! Hear my sad story, you aspiring pirates, and repent! I have been sent by the Spirit of the Sea to warn you: Turn Back from your Pirating Ways! Oh yea who have yet to take the first steps in that dreadful life called piracy, take heed!

In life I was once a fierce pirate who enjoyed the fruits of piracy. I was mean and pillaged and robbed from those poor sailors I found upon the ocean Oooh!! That I had not reveled in my wickedness! I grew in such infamy that Admiral Maynard and his crew set sail to find and pull me and my pirates down. There, on the high seas, we fought fiercely and long. But Maynard had slew Blackbeard, a greater pirate that I, and we were taken. For my wicked crimes was I taken to the courts for trial? No, not I; my crimes were too horrible. I was thrown overboard into the ocean, and I sank down. Oooh!

And as I sank, for every one of my hideous deeds, a shark came and took a bite of my body! Biting off parts for each one of my sins, until I reached the bottom, and appeared before the Spirit of the Sea with no body left at all. And the Spirit of the Sea said I could only be whole if I repented my evil ways. (Holds up arm with the hand hidden under the bedspread.) So I am DOOMED to roam the sea, warning would-be pirates to turn away from their bloody ways, until I am a man again. Ooooooh!"


(By this time, A -- whom J has failed to notice has been backing away since the sharks appeared -- runs away to his room. Several reiterations of "I'm sorry; I got carried away; that didn't really happen; I was acting; I made it all up" follow over the next hour.)

Latest April Photos

I asked him to imagine that someone was stealing his treasure.















M was helping him to swing. I think A is wondering just how high in the air he is.








A enjoys hiking with his friends.

















Probably not the best picture of A, but he looked like a painting with the sunlight bouncing into his hair.

Quote of the Week

A: "Oh no (very sincere face of horror), we were practicing 'team work' and Johnny Depp fell in the duck!"

Translation:

"Team work" is what the Wonderpets say.
"Johnny Depp" is a (currently armless) lego pirate.
"The duck" is a laundry hamper.

So, yeah, the child threw a toy into the hamper. M had to work extra hard to find it.

J and M: "The phone / the phone is ringing! / The phone / we'll be right there! / The phone / the phone is ringing! / There's a pirate who's in trouble! / There's a pirate who's in trouble! / There's a pirate who's in trouble somewhere!"

How Would Pirates Sing It?

Instructions for making any piece of music a "Pirate Song."

1. Say "argh!" instead of "la" or any actual words. It is permissible to add phrases such as "we will make her walk the plank when she comes," or "we will all put on eye patches when she comes" or "the pirates on the bus say 'shiver me timbers' all over town."

2. At the end of the song, fire a cannon.