Family Carnival

Last week we had company....grandparents and great grandparents....the best kind of company to have!  Of course, my kids love to entertain....and we had yet to have a Family Party for the month of May.....so their creative minds came up with a carnival.

Complete with every stray piece of something they could drag out to the front yard......8-10 giant orange highway cones,  partial pieces of a LL Bean croquet set, some plastic milk crates, various balls, frisbees, bats, bottles, and tons of recycled prizes for the guests!!! :)   Recycled prizes from our garage and toyroom.  For instance, Grandmama (83) and Grandaddy (82) played two carnival games and each won a pair of roller skates.  Well, let me take that back, Grandmama won a pair of white roller skates trimmed in pink with pink wheels and butterfly designs.....and Grandaddy won a rocking pair of black and blue roller blades.  Roller blades.  I bet they are on the wish list of every elderly person, right??  :) 

The guests were offered free admission, but had to purchase their supper plates, drinks, and snacks from the carnival concessions.  Money makers.  The manager (Middle Child) said he had to charge for something because he had "hired" out various acts to perform for all of us. Oh, the joy of waiting for those said performances....we were all waiting at the edge of our seats!!! :)

• The Carnival manager.  Nemo cup = the bank vault.  Numerous quarters and a few dollar bills are inside the colorful clown fish.

• Our first act....a show stopping gymnastics performance starring Baby Girl!!!

  

  
  

  
  

  • Act #2---Elder Son gave an awesome Yo-Yo show!!!   

  

  
  

  

  
  

  And these folks couldn't have had more fun if Barnum and Bailey would have pulled into the front yard.
  

  

  
  

  In fact.....I'd bet a 1000 to 1 odds those folks at our family carnival would call our evening under the stars....the absolute GREASTEST SHOW ON EARTH!!!

February Family Party!!

So, last month we started our newest family tradition....monthly home parties.  Celebrations, just because.  Nothing attached, no birthday, holiday, life altering event.....but rather, just because.  And as February was winding down, I reminded Elder Son (whose turn it was to act as host) that he needed to be thinking about his party.  I told him I thought he should take advantage of the Olympic time and incorporate into his party.  We all love the Olympics, why not?  So, on Sunday afternoon we all received invitations to a "Milkshake and Fries Olympics 2010" party to be held after church.

We broke out some festive colorful party cups:

And some yummy ice cream:

And Elder Son and I went to town on blending up some milkshakes.

It appeared as though the party was going really well, just a relaxed evening all huddled together with:

Milkshakes

Fries

 (Elder Son even added cheese and bacon bits to kick them up to party level)

And the Olympics.

Then, as with all parties, some drama had to ensue.  Baby Girl asked where the dessert was, and why didn't we have to change into our party attire, and none of us were really even supposed to be there as Elder Son had announced that you couldn't get in without showing your invitation and clearly none of us had thought to bring our invitation.

Elder Son sat on the couch sipping his milkshake unphased by her feeble attempts to bring this party down.  He just ignored her and kept watching the ski slopes. He loves a good competition.  

However, Middle Boy decided it was time to explain a few things to the sibling beneath the food chain from him.  So he piped up in defense of his brother and stated that

A) not all parties have to be alike and

B) why are you complaining, we didn't even have to bring any food to this event and

C) if you remember correctly at your party we all had to bring the snacks and

D) I happen to like having the milkshakes and fries and

E) it doesn't matter what you wear it can still be a party and

F) if you are so concerned with dessert why don't you go get some for all of us.  

That piped her down for a little while, but she still couldn't stand the thoughts of no dessert.  A girl after my own heart. So she scurried into the kitchen to come back bearing a plate full of oreos. Double Stuff.  Is there any other? :)

However, Elder Son, having not said a word, slipped in the kitchen as well and returned with a real dessert. Granted it was the leftover from a few days back, but nonetheless, it is Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball with Animal Crackers....a real live homemade dessert.

And all was well at the party in House of Bowling again.

Look, we even dug around and found some oreos that represented the Olympics.....

The two younger party goers left shortly after their shakes went dry and the fries were gone. The Olympics couldn't hold their interest as Middle Boy has a fixation with Apolo Ohno and Shaun White, and neither would be appearing on the big screen, so they ventured off to find a taped episode of Cake Boss to watch instead.  Their loss was Elder Son's gain, as he bellied up to the Olympic coverage with the entire plate of chocolate chip cheese ball all to himself. Life is good when you're the oldest.

So, no party attire, no decorations, no fancy conversation.  Just a simple Olympic Viewing right in our living room, with Milkshakes and Fries.....GREAT JOB, Elder Son.  We enjoyed it immensely.

January Family Party!!! (an inaugural event)

I thought I'd give y'all a break from all the sick and afflicted posts.   And what better to break it up, but with a PARTY!!

Tonight we began a new family tradition.  A tradition that was created in the mind of the youngest member.  Baby girl....loves entertaining, decorating, party foods, etc.   A girl after my own heart.  

Early Sunday afternoon, Baby girl made her rounds through the House of Bowling to hand deliver her invitations.

All our invitations were handwritten, but please notice this was her Daddy's invitation....he was the chosen one to bring Middle Child upstairs for the event.  And I do hope you will also notice her ingenuity.  While she does state that there will be a table set up, she graciously suggests we should each "Bring Snacks".  Smart girl.

We arrived and were greeted by a great hostess, who had changed into a nice summer zebra print halter dress, even though it's January.  But what's a party without a cute dress, right? 

She had various chairs and seating arrangements all around the middle of her room, and as we all took a seat, she directed our attention to the decorations she had spent all afternoon applying for that special party touch.

Ribbons taped to the wall.  (See T-5, there is a reason I need all those 4 crates of ribbons in the closet. Never know when a party might occur and decorations are needed.)

As we sat and had our party food, she expressed how she had decorated, her theme, her thoughts on parties, etc.  A good hostess always keeps the converstaion going....and she was such a good hostess. :)

Now for the best part of her party decor, and one that caused her Daddy to question how, exactly, she had achieved this look.....safely.

Again, Baby girl is smarter than the average bear. She stood on her bed and gently reached out to place a shaker on each arm of the fan. Then she would spin the fan to the next blade and place a shaker....so on and so on.  Look out, Martha Stewart, Baby Girl's about to take over your empire!

Even the stuffed kitty was decorated with color coordinating hairbows for the occasion....

The invitation was true to form....she did indeed have a table set up for us....and we did as we were told....we each brought a snack.

That's right, most made some semi-homemade morsels of goodies (sandwich bites of ham, turkey or peanut butter/honey---sliced cheese, crackers and summer sausage---mozzarella sticks and cranberry almond wafer cookies) and one member took the easy road and brought up a bag of oreos.  But fun was had by all.....rest assured of that.

Middle Child had fun....see that coke laden smile?  And doesn't he look cute in his glasses?  He won't wear them except at home because he doesn't like for people to see him with them on....in fact, he asked me not to put this pic on the blog, but I assured him that he looks fabulous in his specs.

And look here at Elder Son....he's enjoying his turn at picking out a party favor provided by the hostess.  She let everyone pick one silly band from her stash. Sweet.

All in all, the party was a huge success.  Two thumbs up, kind of success. Good food, great fellowship, even some leftover Christmas ambient lighting....thanks to her tree that has yet to be put away.  We laughed, giggled, I may have even snorted a time or two.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely at this first ever House of Bowling random party scene.  In fact, so much fun was had, we decided to make it a monthly adventure.  Stay tuned next month when Elder Son takes his turn at hosting our family party.

But for now....this gal right here is definitely taking home the title of hostess of the month!! Thanks Baby Girl!