Mallory's Birthday Downtown Photo Scavenger Hunt

For Mallory's 10th birthday we had a sleepover at a hunting lodge in the middle of our little town. The main activity I planned was a scavenger hunt.  Paul and I each took a team of six girls. 

Paul's team named themselves the Angels. It was Cachet, Kelsey, Chayse, Lyndi, Alyvia and Maryn. 

My group was Team Minecraft. We had the birthday girl, Mallory, and Ryanne, Emmy, Natalie, Makayla and Tanner. 

The groups were given a list of 25 things to do and a time limit of one hour. The winner would be the team who either finished first or the one with the most items done within the hour. I made most of the stuff up myself knowing what landmarks and locations we had to work with but I also got some help from the internet and some friends at work. Most were things like "take a picture pretending to brush your teeth in front of the dentist's office".

Here's a rundown of some of the highlights. 

Take a pic of your whole team opening a door for a stranger:

Your whole team building a pyramid:

Your team pretending to drink out of the fountain:

Your whole team on a slide at Doyle (the elementary school):

One member of your team in a tree:

Your whole team pretending to wash their hair in a car wash:

Your team with a police officer (here they both got the dispatcher at the police station):

Everyone on your team in a booth at K.C.'s convenience store:

Your team pretending to read a newspaper at the Eagle office. There were no papers in the rack so they improvised:

Your team making a train in front of the red caboose in the middle of town:

The whole team touching the flagpole in front of the fire station:

Your team making a 10 in the gazebo:

Your team with the Beauton's Pharmacy delivery van:

There were some that required a video which I'm not sure how to post here. One was all the girls had to sing a song to Michael and Matthew, our music pator's son (Michael was staying with them for the night). Another video was the girls oinking like a pig in front of a bbq restaurant. 

When I was thinking up the events I thought of having the girls do a muscle pose in front of the health club but forgot to add it. I still had my team do it:

I also thought I had had them do the parade wave in front of the town mural:

Paul's team found a "guy with a hat" but we missed that one:

There was also dance the hula dance in front of the Tropical Sno snow cone place which we both videoed but I happen to snap a pic of also:

We had a few other things but you get the picture!:) Paul's Team Angels won. They were there at the lodge waiting for us when we got back:

It was lots of fun and probably the highlight of the night. I'd do it again with different items next time. All the girls seemed to have a good time and ol' Dad might have had the most fun of all!

Pumpkin Carving!

We were heading home from school a couple of weeks ago and the kids asked if they could carve their pumpkins. I had no reason to put them off so I let them go for it! I supervised a bit and did cut the tops off with a knife but they did the rest all by themselves. Michael went for a classic jack-o-lantern while Mallory used one of those patterns from the carving books you get with the kit. They used the little tools that while sharp are pretty harmless and worked away! I thought they both did wonderfully!

Way Down Yonder in the Pumpkin Patch

I took the kids to our local family farm/pumpkin patch a week ago and we had a big time. Only downside was that it was sooooo hot that day! But we didn't let the heat slow us down too much. Two years ago Mal had her birthday at this particular place and we were all very cold! 

I treasure these times with my kids and tried to soak in every activity, even checkers on one of those huge boards. Mallory wanted to play and was even willing to wait for another pair to finish their game so I played along with her. I'm no good at checkers and she beat me pretty bad! 

We took the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch where the kids each picked huge pumpkins. I had already bought a couple of pumpkins at Aldi for 2.29 each ( quite a steal. I love Aldi!) but I let them get a couple more on our outing. 

It makes me a bit sad to see the kids growing up so fast. Mallory will be 10 tomorrow and I just can't believe how quickly the years are flying by. 

All in all the afternoon was a wonderful time of making memories with my babies. A bit pricey when it was all said and done but worth every penny!

Cake Week

This past week I had three birthday cakes  (one was cupcakes) to do. Thankfully they were all due on different days so I was able to get them done. I really love making and decorating cakes but they do take so much time. I always feel guilty when I'm working on cakes and can't be attentive to the kids. I wish I could just stay home all day working on cakes and be available to the kids when they get home!

This was the first one I did. It was for a first birthday. I made the fondant for the decorative pieces and the rest was buttercream. 

I also made a smash cake for little Barrett. 

Mallory was sick on Tuesday, Paul's birthday, so while I was home with her I made Paul a chocolate cake for his 55th:)

I also had time to make these cake pops for our last cheer practice. 

On Thursday I made these hedgehog cupcakes for my teacher's daughter. She loves hedgehogs and even has one for a pet so Leslie asked me to do some hedgehog cupcakes:)

Then on Friday I made another birthday cake. 

It was a busy week in the kitchen. I'm glad it's over. It was a bit stressful! This week I'm making another smash cake for Barrett's one year pictures. Then next week I'll make Mallory's birthday cake but hopefully that's it for a while!!'

My Little Flag Football Player

Michael played flag football this year for the first time. He really seemed to enjoy it. Yesterday was the last game and it was a make up game so a couple of the players were missing. I'm not sure but I think we won. And the best part was that Michael got a couple of flags which he hadn't done before. So it was sweet. 

I've been coaching the red team cheerleaders for midget league football so it was fun when Michael got put on the red team for flag:)

I couldn't find Michael's team shirt yesterday. Who's surprised?

It was fun watching him play and learn. Paul was a big flag player in college and won the championship for intramurals three years in a row. 

We always encourage the kids to just have fun. In this case I'm sure Michael did!