Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Tipton Quotes

"Lilli, dont' you want to do exactly what I tell you to do?" 5.7.07

"I'm half of a big kid, because I'm about to be 18." 5.13.07

Monday, May 07, 2007

Tipton's Birthday Party

Tipton's birthday party was at The Little Gym on Saturday, the 28th. He wore his new pirate t-shirt. It's black and has a big white skull & cross bones on the front. He wore his pirate costume from halloween, and wore his new sword. (The t-shirt and sword were bought with the birthday money from Great-Grama!) Lilli also wore her pirate costume from halloween.

I made Tipton a birthday cake that looked like a pirate ship. Complete with sales and pirates and a treasure chest full of gold! I was SO impressed with myself - it's the first time I'd tried to make a cake like this. (You know, one that looks like something other than just a plain ol' cake.) It turned out really cool!

Aunt Jenni flew in just for Tipton's party. She made balloon swords and balloon animals for all the kids.

The party was great. All the kids had fun. (Although I am a little disappointed with the gym instructors. I'd never met them before. I don't think they have as much experience as the other instructors. They had trouble controlling the kids, and they lost their patience with them several times.

The party ended with the kids going on a hunt for a treasure chest. inside the chest were the party bags. I made the party bags. I cut black cloth into rectangles and sewed up the sides and sewed a place for a drawstring to go through. Then I put in the drawstring. The goodie bag contained: a small plastic treasure chest containing some candy and a toy, a compas ring, gold foil wrapped chocolate coins, Pirates of the Carribean fruit snacks, two balloons, a balloon rocket, an eyepatch, a foil wrapped chocolate car and a party blower. The kids loved them!

After the party the family and Aunt Jenni went to Pizza Hut for dinner. A rare treat to have "american" pizza. It was soooooooooo good! They just don't do pan pizza at the 'regular' swedish pizza places. Then we dropped Aunt Jenni at the train station. Tipton fell asleep on the way there. Lilli fell asleep on the way home. We put them both straight to bed (in fact, we didn't even put Tipton into his jammies!)

I think the party was a success.

Happy Birthday to Tipton!

My little boy is FIVE years old! And he is very excited to be five. The day started with him "opening" presents in the living room. (We didn't actually wrap anything, we just laid them all out on the green couch.) Of course, the first thing he saw were the new Hot Wheels Acceleracers cars. After about 10 minutes of playing with these and ignoring everything else, I demanded that he 'open' his other gifts or we would send them back. That got his attention. (We were on a time schedule - he still had school and Daddy still had to go to work!) He had presents from the Killmeyers and Grandma Suzie and Lilli and Rowan & Niall. And of course more stuff from Mommy & Daddy. He loved it all.

He had a small meltdown when we got to school - we'd forgotten his backpack. That meant that he wouldn't have a snack. I assured him that I would bring his backpack as soon as I'd dropped Lilli at daycare. And I did. I also made a little sign that said "Happy Birthday Tipton! 5!" and taped that over his locker, with some balloons. And I brought cupcakes for his class to eat at snacktime. Pink strawberry cupcakes. With neon blue cream cheese frosting and bright green sugar sprinkles. They turned out MUCH better than I thought they would. Truth be told, I dreaded making them. Of course, you can't find a strawberry cake mix over here. But my Mom found a recipe for strawberry cake. She'd made it for one of my neice's birthday. I didn't have the exact ingredients, but "made do" with what I had. It called for a yellow cake mix, a box of strawberry jello and a box of frozen strawberries. You understand why I was concerned, yes? But they were so delicious and moist that Tipton's teachers asked me for the recipe.

After school the kids played on the playground for a bit. Then Tipton's friend Samantha came home with us for lunch. Then I loaded them into the car and we left to get Lilli from daycare. Then home for more playing. Adriana picked Samantha up and Tipton and Lilli and I headed off for Tipton's class at The Little Gym. I brought the rest of the cupcakes for his classmates to have afterwards. Again, they were a big hit. Several of the mommies asked for the recipe.

We got home and the kids played outside for a while, then into the tub. Tipton requested a pizza picnic for dinner, so that's what we had. No more cupcakes, so we put his birthday candle into a bowl of strawberry ice cream. Then we 'called' Grama and Papa on the computer. Tipton showed them all the new Acceleracers cars he has. They sang Happy Birthday to him. He LOVED it! (When Lilli saw Grama on the computer she said "Papa? Papa?" She knows they go together!)

All in all, it was a good day. Tipton had fun. I cannot believe my little boy is FIVE years old. It seems like only yesterday...