Ryan's Bday Party

 Dan gave Ryan a proposal. Big Party or Big Gift. He chose big gift. Which meant a home party. I stressed a great deal over this soiree, until I decided that really it was just a glorified play date with special treats.

 Ryan wanted a Lego Ninjago party, that was blue and green. I was thinking a lot bigger when I started, but I didn't have much time so this simple party is what we pulled together.

 I made these skeletons. The green ninja actually fights snakes, but these skeletons were awesome, and are Ninjago relevant so I got away with it.

 We served Ninja-Ade and those boxes are for the pinata goodies.

 Even Pippen got involved in decorating.

 Ryan's party plan was to play soccer, teach TKD, eat, open presents, and open pinata. We managed to get all that finished in the first 40 minutes...

 Ryan taught the boys how to defend yourself in a knife attack.

 On the mat are Ryan's two buddies from Kinder.

 Ryan taking down his friend.

 I love that I can fit everyone around my table.

 Lego Ryan.

 Ryan is so enthusiastic about everything. He loved all his gifts.

 This card had a drawing of him and his friend playing at recess. Love it!

 I made this very simple pinata and for our ninja party you had to hi-ya the bag.

 Macey was very much into it!

 Dan got some good movement on the bag so that there was a challenge for these boys.

 The weakness here was in the top. The bag broke from the hanger instead of being busted open. I'll have to work on that if I do another one.

I joked with Alex that he should put on his blue ninja costume. And he did! What an awesome brother.
Ryan's big gift came in a BIG box. I don't have a picture. The camera battery died. You'll have to check Dan's facebook page maybe. Anyway, we got Ryan a Razor Flash Rider (Spark). It is a stunt tricycle that rides low to the ground and you can spin in a circle in if you have practiced. It also has a spark bar, but the bummer being you can't see the sparks you are making. Ryan will probably flip trying to watch it! Ryan loves it. I wish we had a very safe place to ride it. Maybe we'll go over to the school parking lot after hours.
We have already started praying for snow in AZ. Feel free to pray with us. We want snow! We want snow! I just hope Ryan remembers that we already had a birthday party and that he won't expect too much on his actual big day. And that he won't be too disappointed if there isn't any snow...

Random

 I was looking through our Picassa folders and found some random pictures I need to put up. Here is Macey all dressed up and ready to go... to the D's if I remember right... on a cold winter afternoon.

 Ryan earned his green belt at the last TKD meeting for the year.

 He is awesome!

 I am managing a Destination ImagiNation team this year for Ryan. He loves it. We have 7 kids that meet at my house once a week for creativity and team building.

Speaking of creativity... I think they were waiting around and killing time... at least not each other. :)

Update

 I wanted a twilight shot to capture all the colors, but I went out too early. But here is the essence of our house decorating. Weird to not have two giant trees out front.

 Here is the wreath.

 And here is our tree. We got a new pre-lit tree this year. This picture makes it look so small! But it is 7.5' and fills this tiny front room perfectly.

 Ryan doing homework, in the background is his volcano pre-paint.

 Finished volcano. The next day Dan took the kids on the back porch for a massive red lava flow.

 Alex earned his Bear rank last month.

 I love this cute kid! I do love being in scouts with him.

 Our 6 year old finally lost 2 teeth. But it was deja vu to Alex's first lost teeth. The dentist did it for him. The tooth fairy comes anyway. Too bad she didn't put $100 under Dan's pillow to cover the removal cost.

 Macey was determined that our family had to have a gingerbread house.

 This was a kit from Target. It had everything we needed. I added some Halloween candy to the pile.

This holiday is still filled with innocence. I am so thankful for my children and their sweetness. I hope they enjoy this year. Pippen the elf has arrived. They have written their letters to Santa. All is going well so far!

Thanksgiving holiday

 We stayed in town this holiday. We stayed home (well, except for the Wal-Mart run) this year as well. We ate at our own house this Thanksgiving. It has been a long time since we spent turkey day with just our tiny family. It was a fabulous day. We did miss our families, but we found joy in our situation this year.
Dan got on the roof to put up holiday lights. I know it is early, but since we will be gone for the end of the holiday season I wanted to get a jump on it. Ryan snuck on the roof and got put in roof time out until Dan could supervise him down to the front of the house.

 Our yummy dinner. When we went to set the table Alex asked if he should get out the china. To tell you the truth, I didn't plan Thanksgiving very well this year. I didn't even shop for it until the last minute. (Next year I will not buy the turkey the day before!) No china, no full length table cloth. No one showered (and a couple were in their pj's).

 But we did have each other and a delicious meal otherwise.

After our turkey lunch the boys went back up to finish the lights. After Dan got all the lights turned on, a fuse blew. He had to change those tiny fuses at the top of a TALL ladder that was shifting in the crooked side yard. An extra extension cord fixed the problem.

 Our neighbors also stayed home this year. The kids went and played in the evening over there. We women made pies and shared them. Yum!

 Something I had planned to do was build a puzzle. We started it after our pancake dinner (thanks Dan for cooking). We didn't finish until the next day. But we all worked together; a fun, simple activity!

 Here is Dan and Alex putting away the dishes. A clean kitchen at the end of the day... awesome.

 Now we hit the highlight of the weekend. A new science museum opened in downtown Dallas. IT IS AMAZING! We are members and good thing too because it is entirely too huge and fantastic of a place to see in one visit. I didn't get any pictures from the other 4 floors, but these shots are from the children's museum.

 The kids were happy to play in this one tiny section for an hour.

 Alex was heading up the construction crew.

This is a beautiful building and a fabulous experience. I can't wait to go back... by myself!

Happy Halloween

 Pumpkin Math Day. Dan drove this wagon load down to school to help weigh, carve and count seeds of Ryan's monster pumpkin.

 Dan said the other kids had 7-9 pound pumpkins. Ryans topped the scales at 18 pounds. Nice.

 Ryan counting his seeds. I love this picture because of the Dad in a shirt in tie. Maybe he doesn't know how messy pumpkin carving can be?

 This is Ryan with his teacher. She is super nice and he loves her.

 Dan drug this beast home and I finished carving for Ryan.

 Our ward only does a Trunk-or-Treat on Halloween night. All 3 wards meet at 6pm for easy candy swapping.

 Here is our Ninjago crew. Another year without us in our complete costumes. Oh well, we had a good time anyway.

 We made it by dark to get out for neighborhood t-or-ting. We brought Asher with us and were joined by the D's and another family. We were a long line of kids, parents, and one Chinese Santa (as Dan was labeled).

 Macey has the shortest legs and the slowest walk, so getting her caught up was a big part of Macey patrol.

 Here is our crew spread far and wide.

 Nice.

 Ahh, what a cute couple.

 Some of our neighbors really get festive.

 Here is one cul-de-sac with the neighbors grouped together.

 Getting home to see the goodies.

 Our gourds all a-glow.

The candy haul. I sorted it all this morning before anyone could get into it. Yikes, that is a lot of calories and cavities in one spot. The stuff in the bowl is free reign pretzels, fruit snacks, etc, even an orange.