Manhattan and Ryan's Birthday Party

On Thursday I took Kim to her doctor appointments while Esther got to take Ryan and Ethan as well as their friends Doran and Amory to the top of the Empire State Building. Our guys have been there once before, but it was Doran and Amory's first trip to Manhattan.
They really liked the Subway.
The top of the tall building was cool, too.
Today was Ryan's 5th birthday party. He actually turns 5 on the 25th CLASSIFIED, but no real spy lets anyone know private information. He had said he wanted a spy-themed party, but changed it at the last minute to a Rescue Heroes one. He still got lots of cool spy gear including binoculars hidden in a football and a secret code book with decoder pad.

We made him a Rescue Hero symbol birthday cake.

He got lots of presents.
We had 3 rescue games for everyone to play. First we put a bunch of plastic balls and some crumpled newsprint into a tent along with 2 dozen parachute guys. We covered the tent with white sheets. (Thanks Karen for tent and sheets and Mik for the newsprint!) That was a tragic avalanche in which the parachuters were trapped! The kids went in with flashlights and rescued them though so all ended well.
Next we made cardboard flames and set the swing set on fire. Ethan and Amory were trapped inside! Luckily, we had some water balloons to use to douse the flames. Teo and Kyle were happy to aid in the rescue.
In fact, we found no shortage of volunteers.
Ethan and Amory were in no hurry to be rescued though.

Oddly, some people preferred air in their balloons.
Finally, we hung some small foam airplanes in the tree. We said they were having internal fires. of course you can't use plain water to dose a jet fuel fire. Since foam fire spray is expensive and dangerous, we settled for whipped cream.

Sam was willing to demonstrates good firefighting technique.
But really, who could have whipped cream and waste it all on some silly airplane fires?

Certainly not Ethan!

Nor Amory!
Piper managed to make a can explode.

Ryan was content to just play the gracious host, or is he taking them back to fill water balloons?
So, we had a very full week and now we have four sleeping boys and several slippery spots in the yard where the rain is busily washing away the whipped cream.

We also have a little bit of leftover cake.

Swords and Looms

Today we made swords from PVC pipes, foam insulation, and colored duct tape and/or making portable tapestry looms using wood, screws, and wing nuts. We had 15 kids and 6 mommies (including us and our guys) play, eat, make things, and have fun.


Sawyer and Beckett opted for the basic silver duct tape.


Silver was popular. Chloe, Tessa, and Teo all chose that. Deva went with full-on color.

We did get the adults to participate. Stephanie and Peg had never used power tools before.


Esther showed Peg how to use a saw and the drill! Stephanie learned, too, but I didn't get a photo.


I think Peg likes her loom. Karen has screws and wing nuts. She has a loom, too, if all the holes will ever line up.



Stephanie made a loom, too. She said it's picture perfect.

Ethan and Ryan and the other kids somehow managed to avoid having their photos taken. I'm not sure exactly how that happened. We'll have to photos of them when they take their swords out to battle.

Spelling and Friends

Ethan is thoroughly enjoying his spelling. He laughs when I go to him and say, "Pop quiz!" He is rocketing though the lists I have and only gets irritated if he gets a word wrong. I wish I had enjoyed spelling as much as he does. I detested it growing up. My mother would drill me on words and my overriding thought was: "I hope this will be over soon."

We had friends from Massachusettes here this weekend so our child count doubled. Doran and Amory go to public school. We met them because their mom buys beads from Esther and me. They had never been to our house before although we've stayed at their house several times. It was a weekend fun fest. Ethan played on his DS with them. Ryan jumped on the trampoline with them. They all played troll together which seems to involve building castles out of the large blocks we have in the living room allowing three of the boys to hide behind them while the fourth one attacks the castle and its inhabitants with a pillow while grunting. Big fun for the 4 to 10-year-old set.

For me the perk was hanging out with Jeff, Doran and Amory's mom, and getting all four boys to help move things from the basement to the third floor so Esther and I can sort them. Jeanne got to spend the weekend studying for the silly social work exam that Connecticut is forcing her to take because it won't accept her Louisiana social work license. She claims this was fun. I have my doubts.

Now all the house guests are gone and a nice cup of cocoa is calling me. I am incapable of ignoring the call of cocoa while the wind is rattling my windows.