"I Built It" Project Day at Lowe's

This weekend we went to Lowe's for the "Build and Grow Kids' Clinic!" The boys, including Daddy, had such a great time building the "Lowebot," a car that transforms into a robot!

The boys recieved aprons (that they got to keep), a hammer, and a kit with supplies and instructions! We found a spot in the lumber section and set out to work building. Colin wasn't much help, but he sure was ADORABLE in his little apron! Just getting started!

Working hard.......but having a great time! Hammer! Hammer!Break time for a photo op!

Helping Daddy with the directions!

The carpenters and their finished product!Colin was very impressed with the handy work!

They even received a certificate and a patch that can be sewn onto their apron. I am so glad that I got a sewing machine for Christmas for such occasions.

WE'RE DONE WITH THE RAYS.....

...NOW WE CHEER FOR THE A's!!!!Uncle Gabe signed a contract with the Oakland A's this season, so, for his birthday, Unlce Gabe, Aunt Kelly and Cousin Allie sent Gehrig this awesome A's jersey!! Can't wait to (hopefully) go watch him play some spring training games in AZ!!!!

On Friday Gehrig wore his new jersery to school for "Show & Teach." "Show & Teach" is similar to "Show & Tell," however, his teacher wanted the class to not merely bring in a toy and tell about it, but to bring in something that they could "teach" the class about. So Gehrig wore his new jersey and decided to teach his classmate about the positions on the field, So he learned all the names of the players on the field and where they stand. Of course, becuase I am "that" mom, I went to watch his presentation, and he did SUCH AN AWESOME JOB!!! Below I have a video of him practicing his presentation at home, but I just wish so badly that I would have taped his actual presentation to the class. He was talking about the infield in the outfield, who catches grounders and who catches pop flies. At the end, he got a big 'ol smile on his face and ask, "Questions????" Not once did he sit down, ask mommy if that was right, or announce that he "had to pee so badly" (you'll see on the video, LOL!).

Afterward I saw little Shaylee walk over to him, give him a big hug and tell him that he did such a good job on his presentation!!!!!

Bible Verse Friday

Ok, we re-shot the video after school. Here is a much clearer version...and you dont have to turn your computer on its side to see it. This week his Bible verse is "Before a word is on my tongue. You know it, O Lord! " Psalm 139:4

A super Super Mario Birthday Party!

This past weekend we celebrated Gehrig's 5th birthday with a party with his preschool friends!

Here is the invitation that we sent out. Since Gehrig was Mario for Halloween, I included a picture of him in his costume on the invitation that I made on my computer. Due to the large number of invitees, we decided to hold the party in our neighborhood community center. The decor was a little outdated, so the cloud balloons were the perfect decoration to draw the eye away from the drab curtains and couches.

As each guest walked in, they found this table with these reversable Mario/Luigi hats that my mother-in-law and I made using a tutorial I found on coolpartyblog.com. To complete the look, I made chocolate mustaches. At the end of the table was a mirror, so they could each admire their "new look" before devouring their delicious stache!Don't these look just like Mario and Luigi's mustaches????Of course, I tried to snap a picture of each of them. Here is the birthday boy! And here is a little montage of the little Marios and Luigi's proudly sporting their hats and chocolate mustaches!

The community center had a gaming room, so we had the Wii set up and the guests played, what else, Super Mario Brothers and other Mario Wii games!

We only played one game, but the Yoshi Egg Smash was a success. I also got the idea for this game from coolpartyblog.com. Each egg was filled with confetti. Two "special eggs" also contained gold stars.
The guests took turns throwing their egg at this Yoshi poster, smashing them opening to see if their egg held the gold star. If so, they were the winner!!! The two winners won a Wii remote filled with candy. Unfortunantly, I didnt get an pictures of the kids playing the game.

I really, really wanted to make Gehrig's cake, but never, ever having worked with fondant before, I was very intimidated. So, I cheated (a little). I ordered a two-tiered cake from Mary Newell of Sweet Cakes that was merely covered in blue fondant, and I did the rest. Here is what it looked like when I picked it up.

I made the fondant from scratch and colored it myself using this tutorial/recipe. I ordered the Mario character figures on-line. And here is how it turned out!

He looked like he loved his cake, so I was thrilled! As each guest left, Gehrig gave them a Yoshi favor bag and thanked them for coming to his party! I made the Yoshi favor bags using this tutorial from coolpartyblog.com. Yes, I used this site a lot!!!! Each bag had a favor tag that read, "Thank you for making my birthday so special."

I filled the Yoshi favor bags with these adorable personalized chocolates. I purchased the choclate wrappers from E-bay seller Linda Carlton of My Treasures Today. The wrappers had various Mario images on the front and a personalized message on the back that read "Happy 5th Birthday, Gehrig!" They were super easy to wrap around the Hershey Miiniatures. I also found these Mario Kart candy dispenser for the favor bags.

And how cool are these Mario band-aids for the favor bags?????

All in all, I would say that it was a pretty succesful party. The guests and the birthday boy had a great time. So hard to believe that my little man is 5 years old already!!!

Now onto planning his little brother's Doggie Birthday Party!

Grandma Joan and Grandpa Dub Visit!!!

We were so excited to have Grandma Joan and Grandpa Dub come for a visit. As usual, they came bearing gifts. Both Gehrig and Colin LOVED their Lego sets! They arrived on Valentine's Day, so we took them to one of our favorite restaurants here in Clovis, Shogun. Colin gave us a lesson on how to use chop sticks!
Chop! Chop!

I sure hope that Joan comes back. We put her to work baking, baby sitting, making reversable Mario/Luigi hats and painting. She helped me paint Gehrig's entire room cream and then we added the red stripes to one wall (so far). Eventually this will look like baseball stitching.

We did't get to see too much of Dub because he was visiting schoosl in the area, but when he came back, he of course brought more loot. I know that he and Grandma Joan had such a great time picking out all this T-ball "gear" for Gehrig. Colin loved his Legos truck and Astros jersey.

Inside his bat bag was a bat, some baseballs, two pair of baseball pants, two batting gloves, two Under Armor shirts, socks, a belt and cleats....I think I got it all! Let's just say that he is beyond ready for T-ball.

Colin of course had to pose with his little plastic bat (and no pants).

Doesn't he look like a real ball player?????

We were so sad to see them head home, but we are looking forward to their return in April for Opening Day and Colin's 2nd birthday party. And we are really hoping that Chris gets his leave approved so that we can meet up with them in Phoenix to watch Uncle Gabe's spring training next month!!!