8 Year Old Birthday Party x4!

Grace and Juliet wanted to have a party for their birthday, and really wanted to have it with their BFFs.  Since Zoey's birthday is at the end of April, and Kennedy's is in May, we decided to have a quadruple party!!!

Since we hosted, we ended up making a lot of the decisions for all the birthday girls, and the twins wanted cupcakes instead of a cake.  So, we made yellow cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes. = )

Once we had some snacks and cake, it was time to open gifts!! Everyone had fun opening and watching each other open gifts. = )

I think all four girls (and my other children) had a wonderful time celebrating four of the best 8-year-olds that I know!

later days

Grace Answers Her Birthday Survey: 8 years old

Okay, full disclosure, it's been over a month since their actual birthday.  Thankfully, it's still not the longest span between birthday and survey.  

I am 8 years old.

My favorite color is: black
The coolest person on earth is: you [mutti] and daddy 
The thing I do best is: help mutti
If I could change my name, it would be: gacabella
My favorite toy is: the American Girl ice cream stand
When I grow up, I want to be: i don't know yet, but i probably want to be a normal person or a doctor
I like to watch: Hello Kitty
My favorite song is: Don't Play with Fire
My favorite book is: Hello Kitty book "Hugs"
3 words to describe me are: smiley, helpful, whiny
When I was little, I used to: call William "wiwam"
My favorite season is: Winter (no bugs) & Summer (warm) 
The food I like most is: cookies
One food I really don't like is: onions
My best friend is: Zoey
For my birthday I want to:  get more Hello Kitty stuffies
My best memory is: Flying on a plane, playing my game.

So, a little late, but totally worth the wait.

later days

you can see her answers from last year here.

Juliet Answers Her Birthday Survey: 8 year old

If you've seen Grace's you know that this post is over a month late.  If you haven't now you know!

I am 8 years old.

My favorite color is: yellow
The coolest person on earth is: Grace 
The thing I do best is: Color
If I could change my name, it would be: I don't know
My favorite toy is: cuddle bear
When I grow up, I want to be: a school sub teacher.
I like to watch: My Little Pony
My favorite song is: Stick Together
My favorite book is: Twig
3 words to describe me are: twin, smiley, jumpy 
When I was little, I used to: eat everything
My favorite season is: birthdays
The food I like most is: cake
One food I really don't like is: olives
My best friend is: Kennedy
For my birthday I want to: unwrap presents
My best memory is: when we moved here.

Also some wonderful answers, and I think worth the wait.

later days

You can see her answers from last year here.

Grace and Juliet's 8th Birthday!

Yesterday, we celebrated our "babies" turning 8!!  We took a few final night as 7 year olds pictures.

We had cake for breakfast, and since it was a Saturday, they were able to immediately open their gifts!

The night before, they came in and begged me to ask if Abby and her sisters could come over.  I sent a quick text off to Nicole, so see if we could secure their company, on such short notice.  Luckily for the twins, Aubrey accepted their invitation, and was able to come spend the day with the birthday girls.

Grace wore the clip on earrings that she picked out and received for her birthday. It is unbelievable how much older she looks!!

I asked what they wanted for their "special dinner" and they said McDonald's.  We are trying to eat out less, so I made up some homemade burgers and fries and Billy coined our meal NotDonalds's.  = )  The twins were very happy, and that's what I was after.

It was a nice day, and we are looking forward to celebrating again, later this month, with some of their other friends!

later days

You can see what we did for their special day last year.

2nd Week of November

246th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was only 43F, but it was sunny, so we went out to the cross country trails by the high school to take some Christmas pictures.  I'm not convinced that we got "the" picture, so we will try again during Thanksgiving week, maybe.

We might end up with one of these, depends on how the next ones turn out.

For dinner we had leftovers, with fresh made green beans.  The green beans were a big hit. = )

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245th Day of Quarantine.

The high today is staying chilly, at 49F.

For dinner we had Bob Evans chicken tender meal.

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244th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was warmer than yesterday, but there was frost on the ground and it was a cold 51F.

We finished out our first week of term 2, after 4pm.  I'm trying to help Alice play catchup in math, and we are finally to new material, so it is rush, rush and push push.

For dinner we had hamburger helper.  

I made my annual Mops apple pie, and logged in to the live feed this evening.  My table leader brought by the ingredients and recipe, and Billy grabbed the oats for me at the store when he went out for lunch.

I watched the penultimate episode of Supernatural.  I watched live, again, since I couldn't get into the MOPS virtual zoom.

It was a a bit of a let down, I hope the end of series does not disappoint.

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243rd day of Quarantine.

The high today was a cold (and usual) 46F.  Brrr.

Avia came over to eat birthday cake for breakfast with our birthday boy!  She stayed through most of our morning so that they could play with silly string during recess.

After math, they all played with a slime 'assortment' that William received as a sub part in a present for his birthday (from us.)  The kids all played in the bathroom, on an old shower curtain, and it still made a huge mess!  We ended up with impromptu showers for all. = /  I do not like slime.

We did set up tea and poetry this afternoon, but I told the kids that they are going to have to contribute more to set up and clean up if we are to continue.  I made a list for them to help out next week.

For dinner William requested teriyaki chicken and rice, so that is what we had.  No one else seemed to care for his twizzler cake enough to have some for desert, so hopefully he likes it a lot!

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242nd day of Quarantine.

The high today was 74F.

We finished the trebuchet in science, and it worked!

During reading time, we made the rain stick that Aunt Wanda sent, since we learned about the Hopi tribes and their rain rituals!

And we had shrimp and rice for dinner.

We also made William's 8th birthday cake, since this is his final night as a seven year old!

When we were decorating, Billy accidentally popped the giant 8 balloon, but we still put up many of the rubber ones, so it looked festive.

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241st Day of Quarantine.

We broke a weather record set in 1977 with a high of 78F!  It was nice enough to be out without a jacket.

Avia came by during recess today, to pick up some boxes of returnables and say hi.  I also sent her with the remaining meatball meal that Billy made last night.

We worked ahead a little in science, making the base for the trebuchet that we were not scheduled to make until tomorrow.  This gave it time to properly dry before we start using it to fling rocks.

After school Grace and I went to pick up her replacement glasses frames, and get a new screw put in William's frames.

For dinner we had Tikka Masala, complete with naan and hummus from horrocks! = )  

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240th Day of Quarantine.

Today the high was a lovely 74F.  We opened the window, on November 8th!!! because when I went to take out the trash it was warmer outside (71F) than inside (68F.)

After online church, I went to a later than usual appointment, since my regular timeslot was already taken! = (  It wasn't awful, I went at the very beginning of my time.

For my "birthday" dinner, Billy made a Gordon Ramsey meatball recipe, with fresh ingredients we picked up at Horrock's.  It was soooooo good.  He served it on giant noodles, which are not my favorite, but made it better for the kids. = )

I spent my extra time (not cooking) working on William's birthday shirt. I'm still waiting on the actual shirt, but it should be here soon!  I cut out the old adidas logo, and I'll do my best to make it look like his roblox avatar! = )

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later days

William Answers his Birthday Survey: 8-years-old

William's survey was another casualty of 2020. So, this post, just like Alice's 11th, is delayed several months. It is currently March 2021. I'm posting it to November of 2020, so that I'm able to find it to link back to this year. = )

He typed is own answers this year!  I translated, and commented in the brackets.

I am 8 years old.
My favorite color is:g [green]
The coolest person on earth is: me
The thing I do best is:nofing [nothing = ( ]
If I could change my name, it would be: fid
My favorite toy is: [nerf] gun
When I grow up, I want to be: plis [police]
I like to watch: youtob
My favorite song is: sans [Undertale - Megalovania]
My favorite book is: max [Maximum Boy - Dan Greenburg]
3 words to describe me are:will sad mAD [He had stopped typing halfway through, and I had to beg him back, so I'm hoping he is talking about how is is feeling right now.]
When I was little, I used to: eat
My favorite season is: sumir [summer]
The food I like most is: baq sawit [Barbeque Sandwhiches]
One food I really don't like is: nodos [Noodles]
My best friend is: muting [mutti = )]
For my birthday I want to: have fun
My best memory is: sliping [sleeping, despite the fact that we just went snow tubing today!]

He is still 8, and not as far into the year as Alice, so I'm sure his answers will change by the time this November rolls around. = )

later days

You can check out his 7-year-old answers here.

March 2nd

Today the high was 47F!  The wind was still bitterly cold, but compared to last week, this week was 'warm!'

Sam's was on my agenda today, so after dropping off my dear ones and picking up my mom (with a recycling drop off mixed it) we headed that way.  We both had checks to deposit at the bank, but there was no cash back available on a Monday morning.

After leaving Sam's my mom was recounting a story about a nearby chocolate shop that she had patronized with her friends. Of course I tuned the car around!  I bought a 1/2lb box, and all of mine were so good! (I bought a handful for Billy too!)  = )  The lady in the shop made fun of me because I didn't' even make it out the door before I taste tested one.

Once we were safely in the car with our chocolate boxes, we headed to Jessica's to drop off her groceries. = )  Next stop was returning Avia to Sarah's.  Then I had to dash home, toss the groceries in, and head up to the school to help gauge auditions for the talent show.

Alice and Emily were both auditioning today and did great!  Alice is doing a magic act, Emily and her friend Abby are dancing to 'Shake it Off.'

I had some time afterward to look for dry ice at Carl's without luck.  By the time I finished sorting and storing groceries, it was time to collect my children.  = )

For dinner we had chicken in Ramen with peppers as a side.

And after dinner, we snapped Emily's final pictures as an 8 year old!

She is so excited that she is having trouble falling asleep tonight, but she'll be one happy girl when she wakes!

later days

Emily turns 8!

At the beginning of the month, we celebrated our newest 8 year old. = )

She went to bed as a seven year old...

And woke up as an 8 year old.

We had more cake.  Everyone around here is a fan of birthdays!

Bill and Brenda sent money earmarked for a birthday trip to chuck e cheese.  It was a nice 2nd birthday party outing for all.

They do cards with unlimited play now. When Juliet lost hers toward the beginning of our visit, the manager kindly turned hers off and issued a new one.

I think Emily had a great time, and is really excited to enjoy all the perks of being 8.  Namely, the extra cookie afforded by our family cookie rule.

age/4 (rounded down to the nearest whole number) + 1 = how many cookies you are allowed.  

So all multiples of four in this house are exciting milestones. = )

Happy Birthday to our lovely Emily!

later days

Emily's 8th Birthday Party

At the tail end of the last school year, Emily attended a birthday party at District 5.  She had so much fun that she wanted to have her party there this year. = )

The invitations were a PDF file, which is an unusual style for us.  She passed out the invitations during her valentine's party (which I had intended to do, then ended up celebrating with the twins. = ))

Her cupcakes were chocolate with purple vanilla icing and cute little fairy toppers.

She handmade the tags for the lollipops she gave as parting favors*.  I love the caption on this one.  She varied what the message was.

They were expecting us, but it took a while to check in, since I had to redo the waivers that I had filled out (over a month ago) and even had a confirmation email with barcode that did not redirect appropriately in their system.

Aside from that one hang up, everything was ideal.   The room was ready to go and the kids were out to bounce from the word go!

Some of my shots could best be described as 'artistic' and worst described as 'awful' but I managed shots of all the party guests. = )

 

Big Emily & Alice about to battle!

Juliet threw a ball at me!

William had a hard blow at the party.  One of the trampolines was for 7 and up.  This translated to almost all of the party guests (except the twins and Aubrey) getting to do something he wasn't allowed to do.  He managed to find fun elsewhere though.

Emily's birthday tiara lit up!

Emily had opened the card backward and thought it was particularly funny.

Tyler was the only one who got a hug.  Maybe it's because he gave her Robux?

It was a good time.  I think everyone enjoyed bouncing around.  The only thing I would have changed would have been more time to play.  = )

Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate our favorite almost 8 year old!

later days

*I don't like giving people "stuff." I want it to be intentional or utilizable.  In this case consumable was acceptable, especially since my little Emily was so excited to personalize them. = )