Luke's 11th Minecraft Birthday Party (Part Two)

Luke invited a few of his buddies over to help celebrate his 11th birthday.  He loves that video game called Minecraft.  I know nothing about it, so he explained a few of the characters to me and I decided to go with the easiest guy (The Creeper) to design as the theme of his party.

This was the front of his invitation.  I went with a simple postcard style.

This was the backside of his invitation.  Apparently, the Creeper hisses...

I made some sugar cookies to resemble The Creeper.  I got the idea on Pinterest.

I only planned one official game.  I found it on Pinterest and it's called Tape Ball.  I wasn't sure if it would be a blast or a bomb, but the boys ended up LOVING it!  The game lasted about 15 minutes and they were engaged the whole time. 

The idea was for one kid to unravel the saran wrap and as they did each layer held at least one piece of candy.  At the same time another kid is rolling two die trying to roll a double.  Once they rolled a double the kid unravelling the saran ball had to stop and pass it to the next kid.

 

When the game was over I gave each boy an empty Creeper gift bag to hold all of their candy.

 

Skyler made Luke a custom Minecraft card... too cute!

Noah gave Luke this awesome candy maker!

My Creeper cake ended up looking more like a beaver, but nobody seemed to mind.

After the party was over we all relaxed for a couple of hours and then Hayley, Luke, Wes and I headed out to a Mariner's game at Safeco Field.

Happy Birthday Luke!  We love you man!  Let's schedule a hair appointment for early next week, k?!

Luke's 11th (Part One)

Can't believe my Lukey Bear just turned 11!  It was a great couple of days of celebrating for him.  On Wednesday night we had a backyard family party.  It was a fun, casual evening spent with his Washington cousins. 

Luke's favorite desserts of all time are donuts and Creme Brulee, so in lieu of a traditional birthday cake he chose to go with both of his faves!  It was definitely a sugar overdose on this evening!

Posing with his cousins.

Miss Madylin

Dylan

Ashlie, Tatum, and Lauren

Luke, Hayley and Cody

Grandma and Grandpa gave him a cool Monster Lego set.

Cody, Dylan and Ashlie gave him a Gamestop Gift Card.

Tatum, Lauren, and Madylin gave him a personalized moto-cross shirt with his favorite number on the back. 

Taking time for a quick photo with mom and dad... we love you Lukey Bear!

Luke ended his fun evening with a sleep-out with Cody in the treehouse!

The Zoo + Friends = Fun

We got together with our good friends, The Kein's, last week.  We let the kids decide what we should all do that day and believe it or not, they chose the Woodland Park Zoo!  We had a great day together.  We celebrated Luke's upcoming birthday and Darlene and I relived our memories of zoo trips from when the kids were babies!  Our kids were definitely the oldest at the zoo that day... time flies by too quickly!

Can't pass up a photo op at this amazing tree in the children's play area.

Maxi in a fox hole.

My baby is getting tall!

Can't believe they still fit in this tiny little den.

We stopped in to feed the birds.  This was so fun!

Dippin' Dots!

Garden Goodness

This is my third summer of gardening and things are starting to look good.  I continue to learn something new each year and I'm hoping that next year it will finally sink in with me that more is not always better when planting from seed.... I keep throwing in a couple of extra seeds when it only calls for one and then my plants get crowded out and don't grow to maturity like they should. 

I planted everything from seed with the exception of these gorgeous cabbages and the butternut squash.  I had initially planted the squash from seed, but after they started coming up it looked like a critter made a meal of them, so I had to buy some starts.

My beautiful snap peas... delicious right off the vine.

This is the first year that I planted Snow Peas.  I did so because I love them in salads.

I've planted radishes every year, but this is the first year that they've really grown to full size.  This is one crop that the seeds look so tiny that I always think that throwing a few extra seeds in will help... well, it doesn't.  It just crowds them and makes it so they won't grow to full size.  Luke and I were so pleased with these beauties!

I found this recipe on the Williams-Sonoma website and it was really yummy.  It was so rewarding to make a complete salad from home grown ingedients.  The dressing was really light and fresh.  I will definitely be making this Snow Pea and Radish Salad again.

Fourth of July Cookies

Well, our cookies are dry, so I thought I'd post a few photos to show you how pretty they turned out!

The final product!

Close-up of Jill's favorite cookie.

Close-up of a fireworks design.

I loved how this one turned out that Luke made!

Edible Stars and Stripes forever!