Gabe’s Harry Potter party

  I love Harry Potter.  I always liked the books, but after reading them with my boys at night (we have read as far as Prisoner of Azkaban), I now love love love them.  I wanted to throw Colin a Harry Potter party for his 8th birthday, but as you may well remember, I was due with Carina on his birthday and I had a feeling that I really shouldn’t plan something big – a feeling that was validated when I had an eight day old baby to take care of on his birthday. 

So here it is, Gabe’s birthday, and I got to use my creative side, which is normally pretty untapped.  I had such a good time getting ready for it.  My top secret project, which was accomplished over several nights the week before the party?

I made a wand for every kid – our own little Ollivander’s.  This may sound like bragging, and maybe it is, but this picture doesn’t even come close to capturing how cool these wands were.  I really wish I had taken the time to make sure I got a better picture because I was so tickled with how well they turned out.   I used this tutorial, and while I wouldn’t say it was super easy, it was super do-able.  I am definitely not an artist, and it was not hard for me to make each one look pretty cool.  All you have to use is paper, Elmer’s glue, a hot glue gun (a project for you Roy!) and paint.  I added a wooden dowel  inside each one to make them a little sturdier but it isn’t necessary.   I would definitely make these again if the occasion arose.  They were well worth the effort.  Gabe didn’t see them until the party, and since he has been wanting a wand for a really long time, he was a happy guy.  Anyway, here are tons of pictures, because I love these things. 

   

I know that is not the most flattering picture of Mr. Ollivander, but I had to show you platform 9 3/4 right behind him….the kids walked through there to get inside Hogwarts.

 

Now for the second big surprise of the evening, brought to the kids by my wonderfully creative mom.  I gave her a plain witch’s hat a couple of weeks ago and asked her if she could turn it into a sorting hat.  I told her it just needed to look old and beat up, but I should have known she would go way beyond that.  Here is what she came up with!

 

This was her real gift to Gabe!  A labor of love.  Isn’t it awesome?

Each kid got to take turns being “sorted.”  The plan was to tape my phone inside and have my brother Bobby call it and talk into the ear of each student.  At the last minute the tape unstuck and the kids were getting really restless so we threw the phone under the stool.  In retrospect, at that point we should have just used a baby monitor because it would have been louder.  Ahhh, oh well. 

 

The kids mostly loved it – I had asked the parents if anyone had house preferences beforehand. However, I wrote Nolan’s down wrong (even through I knew long ago that he is a die-hard Hufflepuff and Levi reminded me – and see his scarf?) so he was disappointed when he was sorted into Griffyndor. The hat ended up saying he had made a mistake and switching him.  They I noticed that my birthday boy was sobbing because he was the only boy in Slytherin, and his cousin Santi (who I could just hug forever for this) kindly said he would switch from Ravenclaw to be in Slytherin with Gabe, so the hat switched him as well. Whew. It was intense. By the way, Bobby was awesome as the sorting hat – he has all the Harry Potter lingo down and knew what each house is known for.

The rest of the party we just pretty much let them play and eat pizza.  I tried to make butterbeer but it wasn’t that great due to not knowing where to shop for cream soda. Three stores didn’t have anything but IBC and I wasn’t about to use that for all 13 kids because it is so expensive, so we used a little cream soda, with butterscotch topping mixed in, with a lot of root beer and then whipped cream mixed with butterscotch on top.

We had a fire outside, the kids had a good time and we sent them with little goodie bags:

Chocolate frogs, licorice wands, and Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans (Jelly Bellies)

It was good, but I think it was a little too much for Gabe.  It was one of those “it’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to” type of nights.  Hopefully he won’t remember the good of it. I was exhausted by the end.  Preparing for the party was fun, but actually executing it made me appreciate the merits of slapping down a bunch of money to let Chuck-E do the work for you.

 

Just in case you are dying to know, Carina got Griffyndor :o) She was pretty pumped about it.

Gabriel’s birthday

 

Today was a perfect fall day – very much like the one six years ago when I gave birth to our Gabe.  Ollie, Carina and I brought lunch to Gabe at his school ( and let me mention really quickly that their new school is so gorgeous). 

Gabe was happy to have us there, and his little sister got a lot of attention.  It was very nice to see Gabe in his school setting and to set how relaxed and comfortable he seemed.  We had lunch with Colin too, and his lunch was before Gabe’s (doesn’t make sense, I know), so Ollie was pretty over the whole thing by then. 

I picked the boys up from school and we headed over to California Pizza Kitchen.  I know, I know…Red Robin is usually the Coleman birthday tradition, but they haven’t been bringing birthday sundaes lately, and we just haven’t been super happy with them, so we decided to try something new.  CPK gives a free kid’s meal and sundae for birthdays.  They didn’t sing when they brought the sundae, but Gabe was sure okay with that.

        Chad met us there straight from work and the boys had a good time “sitting “by the fountain while we waited.

                       

Gabe was really happy with CPK.  He rated it above Red Robin and Golden Corral but right below Dragon Buffet (his all-time favorite).  We went home and did presents, which he also loved.  I could tell he had a really great birthday because he kept spontaneously hugging me, which is Gabe’s way of saying he is just as happy as could be.  We sure love this kid.

Tomorrow is his Harry Potter birthday party – stay tuned!

What I am up to today

Attempting potty training with a cute little three year old.

Making a super secret project for my almost six year old.

Getting my six month old used to sleeping in a crib (yes, a crib!)

Instagram photos from the past month or so

Bursting

 

Our days are full. 

Full of school, homework, piano, cleaning,  laundry, cooking good food, nursing, soccer, gospel duties, work, and more work of every kind.  Full of play and family time.

Our responsibilities have been non-stop lately, and I have been mourning our busyness a little.   Then a couple of days ago I realized that I don’t really mind, because I am truly using my time in the ways that I want to. I was reminded of this talk.

So, I could apologize for not blogging a lot lately, but it wouldn’t be sincere.  I do think blogging can be a good use of time (I love my blog and I can’t picture ever stopping), and I hope I will be doing more of it in the near future (maybe quick posts now and then rather than worrying about more significant posts).  For now, I will tell you that I have decided that October is truly my favorite month in here in Charlotte.  I am basking in its loveliness.

Carina is half a year old!

Length: 26 1/4 inches, 50-75%

Weight: 15 lbs 12 oz,  50%

Head: 44 cms, 75-90%

She is rolling, scooting, rocking on her knees, chewing on everything in sight, and playing with her feet a lot.  She is starting to have a little stranger anxiety, but most of the time she  passes out the smiles to everyone who looks at her, especially her brothers.  She never sits still anymore and is so delighted in exploring the world around her and trying to figure out what is going on. She has become anti-car rides since school started back up and fusses almost every day when we go to pick the boys up, until the moment Colin gets in the car and talks to her.  Then she is just fine and happy.  She also has a favorite song, Mindy Glendhill’s Anchor, which calms her down almost every time I play it in the car.  As soon as it is over she starts to fuss again until I restart it.  Luckily it is a favorite of her brothers too, so no one really minds.   Sometimes I hear her making happy noises in the car and I ask Colin if she is talking to him, and he says that she is just looking at Gabe in the back and trying to get his attention.  At night, she has started to flip towards Chad when she is ready to sleep, so she can get a little daddy time, and if she is awake at all, she will flip over and bat at him to play, and then flip back really quickly and laugh, teasing him.  We love our girl and I can’t believe it is has been six months!

(Oh, and her eyes are still blue! Who would have guessed it?!)

I am hoping to make this Carina week – maybe I will finally get around to telling you where she got her name and maybe, just maybe, her birth story (finally).

So You Think You Can Dance Tour 2011

 Audra and I went to the So You Think You Can Dance tour on Wednesday for the fifth year in a row.  It was a great show – they greatly improved the flow of it this year, cutting out all the lame jokes and talking, and working the choreography so that each dance flowed from one to the next.  Just a gorgeous show.  We went to dinner beforehand using a Groupon I had, and it was so bleh that I have been dreaming about Cheesecake Factory ever since.  We didn’t stay after to meet all the stars this year.  The crowd was getting younger and larger every year and we are getting older and busier.  Neither of us could really afford to stay up ‘til 2.  It was so much fun though that I really didn’t miss it, and it was nice to be home by ten to find my husband unfrazzled and my baby asleep (she hasn’t been dealing with me being gone very well lately  and will have nothing to do with a bottle, so I was worried).  Anyway, some of the highlights of the night:

• Melanie’s solo.  Brought tears to my eyes. 
• Laughing with Audra

• Talking about the dancing with Audra (we are of one mind when it comes to SYTYCD)
• Just being out on the town at night!

 

• So many of the dance numbers that I can’t list them all.

 

I had a great time and went home exhilarated but with a somewhat achy heart.  Sometimes I miss dancing and performing so much.  I want to be Melanie!

BTW, yesterday I showed said to Chad, “Hey I took a pretty cool picture uptown” and showed him the picture above.  And he goes, “Oh, you took a picture of my building?”  Yep, I took a picture of the building he works in without even realizing it.  They did just move in over the summer, so I guess I’m not a totally idiotic wife. 

Oliver starts preschool…and more

 

So, let’s see if I can catch you up on what has been going on around here in the month of September.  Oliver started preschool last week.  Like I did with the other two boys, it is a mom’s group – we all take turns teaching at our house.  I taught last week and Oliver was a model student.  I never started the other two this young, but Oliver has really wanted to go to school for awhile now, and he loves being around other kids.

He is about the cutest kid in the world, isn’t he?  I took this picture on Monday. 

On Tuesday evening after dinner, I heard some horrible screams coming from outside, where the kids were playing.  You know those screams where you can immediately tell one of your kids is hurt, and hurt badly? Colin came running inside with Oliver, and as soon as I saw Ollie, my stomach dopped. 

 

I don’t think this picture comes close to capturing how swollen up he was.  Colin was in the backyard throwing a ball up into the air and swinging at it (with one of Chad’s bats)  and didn’t hear Oliver walk up behind him.  Ouch.  I felt so bad for the tiny little guy.  He was perfectly coherent and with it, and didn’t even cry after the first half hour or so, but he wouldn’t let us put ice on it or anything.  We let him stay up a few hours so we could be sure he was okay, but he hasn’t even complained about it since then.  I was pretty ticked off at Colin.  He a typical, implusive eight year old boy and sometimes….I get very frustrated - especially since he actually gave one of his friends a black eye with a bat a couple of years ago.  All serious bats have been put away again. I think I have been mad at him mostly because I feel like a really bad mom every time I look at my little boy.

Here he is on Thursday, and on Friday.  It really had a lot of color to it – it just started fading a lot today.

The winner of the birthday giveaway is……..

 

My brother-in-law James, who actually teased my sister Ashley about stacking the deck yesterday. I am happy you won, James, for many reasons….but mostly because it meant I got to put a tiara on your head. I hope this means your luck this week is improving!

As a side note, Ashley had more than 20 entrances in the drawing.  Can I tell you how much I love my sister for always reaching out by commenting? I don’t blog to get comments, but it is always nice to know that someone out there is reading.

Each of your comments from yesterday’s giveaway was put on a heart and left on my mom’s lawn in the dead of night last night for one of her classic “heart attacks.”  Thank you to Sabina for cutting all the hearts out.

Thank you so much to everyone who has commented and contributed to this celebration of my mom.  Every word written will be cherished!

Today is the day – Let’s celebrate with a giveaway!

My Mom Is……

An Ice-Cream Lover.

Any time she came to visit us and wanted to treat us to some junk food, she would stock our freezer full of ice cream.  Yum.  So today, on her birthday,  I am giving away a $20 gift card to…..

How can you win this delicious prize?  Just join us in a party here on my blog by leaving  a comment for my mom with your birthday wishes.You will be entered in  the drawing once.  I will draw one name as the winner. Here are a few rules.

1.  Each person who wrote a post for the “Who My Mom Is” series will be automatically entered once. 

2.  Each person who made a comment on one of the “Who My Mom Is” posts before this post was published will be entered once for each comment.  Yes folks, rewards for past comments.  You liking that?  I sure am.

3.  Anyone who leaves a comment on this post, before 10 pm MY TIME TODAY (that is 7 pm for you west coasters) will be entered once.  Please leave your name and if we don’t know you that well, tell us where you are from. 

4.  The first 20 people to comment on this post will be entered TWICE for that comment.

5.  Since I want the kids to be involved in celebrating my mom, kids may dictate birthday wishes to their parents, who can then enter on their behalf.  And don’t feel like this is cheating.  I really really want their wishes. There are some advantages to having lots of kids, right?

I know, sounds a little complicated, but it comes down to this, please leave a comment here with birthday wishes for my mom before 10 pm tonight, with your name, and one of you will get free ice cream.  Even if you have never met her in your life.  Even if you have never met me in your life.  I am blatantly pandering for comments here folks and I fully encourage you do to the same with your friends and family.  Post this on facebook.  Email it if you need to. My goal is at least 100 birthday wishes for my mom.

Last but not least, let me mention that you don’t have to have a google account to leave a comment on my blog.  Just click the “name” bubble underneath the comment box and write your name in.  So no excuses, right?

Winner will be announced tomorrow, Sept. 16.  And then I can take a nap. Whew.

Who My Mom Is, Part XXXII

This post was written by my father, Bob Jeppson.

What can I say?

Linda is my companion and sweetheart.

It was 40 years ago this week that we went on our first date. We will be forever partners. Linda has always been the rock in our family. When it came to gospel standards there were no gray areas. Joshua’s theme was hers, “As for me in my house, we will serve the Lord”. If everyone put in the time and effort into their callings that Linda does, we would truly be a Zion people.

“Blessed are those who do hunger and thirst after righteousness” is another scripture that describes her. Linda’s trips every year to Education Week weren’t just for our teenage kids, she really loved to go to reenergize herself and grow as a person. These trips really strengthened her and our children.

Linda’s companionship is one of support and love without criticism. Linda continues to meet these new challenges with dignity and courage. Her intelligence and creativity are unaffected. She bears her testimony with her love and example.