Lately: More Celebrations

Backtracking a couple of weeks, we all celebrated Will's Name That Book team with a party at Judson Park. It was the perfect day -- sunny but not too hot. The park wasn't crowded and the kids just ran and played and ate and had fun.

The parents gave me tulips and a gift card to Barnes and Noble as a thank you for helping coach the team. Will got so used to me reading the same books that he read that he keeps bringing me books to read (Fablehaven is on my nightstand now!).  

Will is always reading! He picked up the Five Little Pepper series that I read as a kid.

Henry had a final birthday celebration when Katy and Jaime came over for dinner one night. They brought homemade vanilla ice cream decorated just for the birthday boy!

And a few last presents from Heather arrived in the mail. Henry got a new puzzle and two ninja Cubebots! Thumbs up all the way around.

Nana and Pop delivered Portuguese sweet bread just before Easter. Delicious!

 

We spent Easter weekend surrounded by friends and family and board games!

Easter morning: we woke the boys up before dawn to get ready for early Mass. They were tired but we avoided the crowds! And they were excited to see what the Easter bunny brought them (CDs, books, chocolate and new games).

We spent most of Easter day with Nana and Pop. It was rainy and dreary, so the Easter egg hunt was inside this year.

The boys worked together to find eggs and then carefully counted them up and divided them equally.

Our spring celebrations have been a lot of fun!

Henry's Ninja Birthday Party

We celebrated Henry's seventh birthday with a kickin' ninja party! I found this invitation on Etsy and it was exactly what Henry wanted.

It wouldn't be a party at our house without costumes! Here are my two favorite ninjas.

Ninja Henry!

Before his party guests arrived, Henry helped me set up the decor. It was fairly simple this year.

Door sign (from Etsy).

Birthday banner.

Ninja pinata.

Black lanterns over the food table.

We served ninja swords (pretzel rods), edamame, oranges, PB&J "sushi," and cupcakes.

Henry requested cupcakes with his favorite ganache icing. Mmmm!

Once the guests arrived, we got started on some activities. The first was to find your ninja name. Henry's was "Rikutoshifu" and Will's was "Meikitata." They all made name tags. 

The next activity was making origami ninja stars. Once they were made, they kids had to knock balls off paper tubes.    

Then it was on to ninja training.

Obstacle course.

The ninjas-in-training had to stealthily steal a cup from Nana. They were so good that she never caught them in the act!

We threw rubber ninja stars at this target.

 The final activity was defeating the red ninja (pinata).

After all their hard work, the ninjas celebrated the completion of their ninja training with lots of food and some sweet cupcakes!

What a fun ninja party for Henry!

Lately: Scouts, Art Night, Stargazing and Some Ninja Moves

Here's a peak into what we've been up to lately:

Will earned his Bear Badge in Cub Scouts this month and received it during last week's den meeting. He was one of the first Bears to complete the badge requirements this year and it was a lot of work! We are so proud of Will!

Thursday night was Art Night at school. The boys worked on all sorts of art projects.

We've also been putting Henry's new telescope to good use. We checked out the moon's craters on Friday night. Both boys rushed in the house to tell me all about it! 

And finally, check out our little ninja. Henry has been wearing his costume non-stop, and he loves to practice his ninja moves.

 Up next: pics from Henry's ninja party!