Callie's Bouncin' Birthday

Callie turned 7 years old on March 8th. She requested a visit to Bounce-it-Out and P.F. Changs for dinner. 

The day of her birthday happened to be a half-day at school, so it worked out quite well for us. She brought some goodie bags to share with her friends at school, and then came home after lunch and we were off!

There was a high wind warning issued throughout the area, so we saw a lot of tree branches in the road on the way out. The wind was so strong, in fact, that it broke the door off the hinges at Bounce-it-out. Hopefully their insurance will cover that!

The kids had a blast! It was the perfect situation with Callie's school being a half-day, but not all the schools in the area. There were no crowds and no lines!

Unfortunately, the giant wind storm had not only knocked down trees, but knocked out a lot power for the area, including the traffic lights. It took a really long time for us to get back to the house after Bounce-it-Out because of the traffic. When we did get home, we found that our power was out!

We were meeting Dad back at home for presents, then heading out to PF Changs together. We were worried that the restaurant wouldn't have power either, but luckily they were not affected.  Also luckily, our power came back on shortly after Dad got home and everything went smoothly from there. The storm ended up being one of the biggest ever in our area and thousands of people lost power for several days. We were extremely lucky that we did not!

Callie was unaffected by the power outage and still very happy about her birthday. She got some very cool presents, ate a super good dinner, and then enjoyed her chocolate cake!

Callie chose Pikachu and Squirtle to be on her cake, along with some flower and bumble bee candles she picked out at the store. 

Callie is an amazing little girl. She keeps her silliness a secret most of the time, so anyone who meets her might not know, but she has a very creative imagination and loves to act crazy with her brothers. Her teachers would not believe that we do have to ask her to quiet down sometimes at home! She is very shy, but so loving and sweet. We absolutely love having her in our family! 

"Kids Make Dinner" Nights

We had a second round of "kids make dinner" last month. This is when each child (the older 3) is in charge of planning, cooking, and serving dinner and dessert. They have to pick a main dish with a side or two and at least one vegetable. They also get to pick out a dessert, which is always super exciting for them.

Jack was up first. He wanted a whole bird for dinner, so we got a chicken. He also wanted fruit kebabs, carrots, and peanut butter chocolate bars for dessert. 

Everyone was pretty happy with his choices and enjoyed their meal!

Callie had the next night and she chose steak as her main entree. The kids were introduced to steak and A1 sauce early on, and they all love it! It makes for expensive meals, though! 

Before dinner, each child got to decorate their own fruit pizza- a thin, sweet crust, cream cheese for "pizza sauce" and fruit on top.  Then we had rolls with cinnamon honey butter and broccoli. 

For dessert, Callie wanted rainbow swirl cupcakes with yellow frosting and mini gummy bears on top. Also, sprinkles. Admittedly they were kind of a pain to make, but the kids loved them very much!

Ryan kept it simple and asked for homemade pizza, breadsticks, and corn. He wanted Dunkin' Donuts for dessert. After the first two days of more intricate, time-consuming meals, pizza and donuts sounded great!

The kids love helping with the meals and feeling important on their very own night. Hopefully they will learn how to really cook on their own and gain some important life skills!