Legos and a Lego Cake...Oh and a nine year old

My baby turned 9 this weekend. Nine. 9. As all mommies say, the time sure has flown. His first day as a nine year old began with Legos. Hmmm...no different than his days as an eight year old, seven year old, six year old and so forth, er back. Opening some pressies and then onto some cupcakes for breakfast!

Yes, that is the Dangerous Book for Boys, book. It's fantastical.

And, that black box...it's a voice chAnger. I know exactly what his nine year old alien voice sounds like as well as his nine year old monster voice. As well, as my six year old's and two year old's monster and alien voice. As well as what my thirty six year old husband's monster and alien voice sounds like. Now multiply that by 1,457 and that is how many times I've heard that wonderful musical charming gadget. Well worth the $5.96 we paid for it. Though, I may be accidentally throwing it in the street where a white minivan may or may not run it over while backing out the driveway. To be honest, I think even the boys got a little tired of it because I haven't heard it in a day. Phew. Hello human voices.

Checking to make sure the frosting matched the lego...two bottles of food coloring worth!
This is not a tutorial. Well, maybe just a little one.
I greased a muffin tin and made the cupcakes for the actual cake without the cupcake holders so that they would be line-less. Then I sliced off the tops
[which you can see unfrosted below.] Then, I smoothed some of the red frosting on both the cake and the cupcakes. I was sure to insert toothpicks into the cake where I would place the cupcakes so they wouldn't slide on top of the cake. I then put the cupcakes upside down on the cake. And, did my best to smooth everything out with the few cake decorating tools I have.

Waaaalllllaaaa...a Lego Cake.

Powder Ranger

Do not think that you can watch the news as your four and two year olds quietly walk in the other room.

My house was so fresh smelling for weeks. But, it took two vacuums and much help from my mom to clean it up. NEVER buy an economy size anything once you have kids! I learned this lesson through not only my Powder Ranger and also the infamous Tums-eating extravaganza on Easter Morning '03.

Tea...no COCOA TIME

Last week, after reading an article from Beth at Pages of Our Life...I decided on a new thing we'd do...I made a tea time with the boys. So, I set up all candles on the table and told them about it--they were surprisingly excited. To make it dirt-like and boyish, like Beth suggested, I'd make them cocoa instead of tea, but they love when we do candles on the table.So, I make a plate of food--cheese and crackers, goldfish, etc. And, their part of the deal is to come in and discuss something they've read and share. So, it's all set up and I'm thinking oooh weee they are going to love it. Hunter sits down and says, "hey, he has more marshmallows than me!"Of course! So, Rachezz asks to go first. He explains this series he's been reading and we go back and forth and I ask lots of questions. My head is spinning cuz I'm thinking how the heck does this kid read this much and keep all these details in his brain. He was showing me maps and giving a history on the series and everything. Finally, he finishes.Suddenly, Hunter lifts up a stop watch and clicks it and says "twenty-one minutes and twenty seconds, boy, you talked for a long time." Hunter then told us why he liked Dr. Seuss and read one page of it. Done. Slurpppppp
Oh my gosh, I know they enjoyed this time. I loved it more.
We did of course, have to do this during JC's nap time. Hopefully, soon, he'll be able to join us.
As for now, "deep discussions" are random with this little bundle of energy and noise!

At their desks and drawing with...popcorn?

The boys are using "I Can Do All Things" for learning to draw. So, I made some fresh popcorn and let them snack while they penciled away. Today, they went for a trial at a local art place and did a wonderful job on some Van Gogh-like paintings which I'll post soon.

Here is a copy sheet for the boys' Bible notebooks--these pages contains scriptures that they can memorize. JC wants to do everything his big brothers do, so he gets a copy as well. He just calls it, "yellow." Yellow means...well, it's his favorite color and I think he calls every color yellow, though he can pick it out.