Yes, you read that title correctly. For Valentine's Day we had a Valentine's Earthquake Party. We told Jack that we could do a Valentine's party, and since he is thoroughly obsessed with earthquakes right now, it naturally had to have an earthquake theme. Oh my. So we put our thinking caps on, and together we made decorations that reflected this [absurd] theme! We had hearts with fault lines on them (aka broken hearts), houses that showed earthquake damage, and even signs warning about earthquakes. We had planned the party for the day after Valentine's, and when Jack came home from preschool on Valentine's day, he was obviously coming down with some sort of bug. Sadly, we had to tell his good friend that was supposed to come to the party that he probably ought not come. Instead, we did what every 4 year old in 2013 would do -- we Skyped with Grandma and shared our party with her. It was pretty hilarious. We also took copious amounts of photos, so as to document the earthquakey-valentineness in all of its splendor . . . Oh, and lest I forget Jack's most favorite thing about the party -- we did CAKE MOVEMENTS. What? What's that you say? You don't know what "cake movements" are? Ahh, well, you must not have a four year-old obsessed with earthquakes [and I just might envy you]. Well, for the uninitiated, "cake movements" is a process by which you take a three layer cake (gluten-free, of course) and slice into it and then use two pieces of cake to slide against each other like the tectonic plates do in an earthquake. The idea came from a book he has that's about dinosaurs, earthquakes/volcanoes, and bugs (it's quite the book). Jack saw the little "make your own earthquake at home with cake movements" page inset in the book and has been talking about it wanting to do it for months. He loved it, and he and Eli both loved eating the cake. It was my first attempt at a gluten free cake (and a three-layer one at that!), and they thought it was great, even though I felt like the recipe could use an improvement or two. Good thing kids will eat anything with sugar in it!
Ok, so here are the pictures from our little party. I've also included some shots from January when Mike's sister Melanie and her family came to southern California. We got to spend some very fun time with them at SeaWorld and at a condo that his grandpa and aunt had rented (with the most incredible view of the beach up in San Clemente). Highlights: Jack and his cousin Katie holding hands at SeaWorld and the boys exploring Grandpa's condo and its 25+ dolphin decorations (!) and sun room and deck. We had a grand time! We are always so excited to be with family, and this time around we got to see Mike's mom, aunt, grandpa, and sister and fam. It was FANTASTIC!
Ok, to the pictures, since they are the main event here :).
This is a link to the photo album. If you click on one of the photos, it will bring up a slideshow, and you can see the captions (i.e. me telling you how cute and bizarre our children are):
https://plus.google.com/photos/103879774977912516893/albums/5849401957927583681?authkey=COPbzuyymszuAQ
11 years ago
2 comments:
You know how you can have children the same ages as your friend's, and therefore they grow up at the same rate, but when you see the other person's child you think "Holy cow! When did he get so big?!" Yeah, that's how I felt about Jack. He looks so old! I still think of him as a 14 month old. Which made realizing the other big kid in your pictures was Eli that much more mind-blowing. What a cute party though, you're a great mom for thinking up all those things and fulfilling your little boy's dream! (And many other reasons, of course. I still think the kiddie olympics you did in C-ville was such a cute idea.) I think Jack is definitely a California kid - I don't think Calvin even knows what an earthquake is! Someday we WILL visit you guys!
Haha, that's funny Erin! I totally know what you mean. It is always such a physical shock to see that other people's children have continued to grow since you saw them last! We would looooooove to have you visit!
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