Showing posts with label birthdays. Show all posts
Bountiful Birthdays
October is packed full -
and my birthday falls last.
Each year I feel to celebrate it differently..
sometimes in a big way...
sometimes small and intimate...
This year I spent the morning
with my delightful Cape Explorers...
Then searched Cape Town for some delicious
cheesecake and ended up here...
(oh yes, cheese and chocolate are my weaknesses...
and cheesecake - oh, it's a slice of heaven!)
and yes, this is what we wearing
at the end of October!
Summer will hit us
at the beginning of December...
Precious family time...
delicious cheesecake...
then dinner with dear friends...
and then a tea on Sunday
with Braveheart's family...
complete with THE cake
friends around me have been making...
I was inspired...
and delighted everyone with it!
Happy birthday me!
Tag :
birthdays,
Hero Party 2: King Arthur's!
(There seem to have been very few Hero Factory parties out there - so forgive me if there is TMI in this post, but my hope is it will help other moms who may be needing to create a HF party for their sons :) Be sure to check out Aragorn's Hero Factory Party too!)
Saturday dawned, and I was relieved to see the sun... then it disappeared for a bit and I'll be honest, I fretted, but by the time the afternoon rolled around, it was a stellar day! This is the first year Braveheart and I have had our kids' birthdays in the afternoon, and it's so much more relaxed! No more creating cakes near midnight on a Friday night!
On Saturday morning we decorated....(low key this day, too much wind!)
The happy birthday boy who had been anticipating this day for weeks...
I can't believe my firstborn is 8...
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| got to love his glee! |
The first task was to charge their cores - which they had to do by creating a fruit kebab of many different fruits (so that no two colors touched each other, and having at least one piece of each fruit on the kebab). I had marked two lines on the kebabs so they knew how full to make it. Some kids made three kebabs!
The next part of their training was to see if they could form "power cells" (the force field that keeps the Heroes safe from the Villains) by playing "mingle mingle". "Mingle Mingle" is a wonderful game whereby the kids just run around and you yell out a number - say 2. Then they have to form groups of 2, or shout out 5, and they form groups of 5 etc. Whoever is not in a group is out, and can either choose the next number and go back in, or you can whittle away the group until there is a winner. I shouted out 1 just for fun a couple of times, and 19 - the total number of kids we had on Saturday!
Then we had some target practice, whereby we split them into groups and they had to try and hit down all the cans within a short space of time - running and throwing, what more do boys need?
The final part of their training was to see if they could create backup should they need it in the field. Again, I split them into three groups, Red (Ferno), Green (Breeze) and Blue (Stringer). I gave each child in each group a number from 1-6. They then had to go and find a previously hidden packet with a corresponding red, green or blue number on it. These packets had a Hero broken up into 6 groups of pieces - namely two legs, two arms, weapon and head/helmet. So number one from Red team had to go and find a packet with a red number one on it - make sense? And the next person could only go and find the next part once the other team member had returned.
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| Sadly some of the packets were hidden only too well and there was a little bit of frustration! Then it was time for the Rookies to be rewarded for their hard work - with my first ever ice cream cake! |
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| I love their faces when their cakes are brought out - we try to make them a surprise :) |
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| Boys will be boys! |
Then the battle commenced! The Rookies graduated and now had to face Von Nebular (Braveheart) in war!
Again, we divided them into three groups (just so kids turns could come around sooner, otherwise waiting for 18 other kids takes too long!). The front three kids could run and hit Braveheart with water balloons, or try to, for 15 seconds. The others were encouraged to try and hold them down. When time was up, he would yell a number, and they would have to form "mingle mingle" groups, and whoever was left out got sprayed with a water gun! The boys were delighted!
And finally present time...
And the take home bags were Hero Defence Packs (with smoke bombs, water balloons and poppers)
A great party and well worth the effort to hear King Arthur say it was the best party ever!
Tag :
birthdays,
Aragorn's Hero Factory Party
My little boy is turning 6 this week...6! that feels awfully big to me! His heart's desire for this party has changed numerous times over the last month, but thankfully we locked off what he wanted before I left for Zimbabwe, and I returned with a few days to whip up something: a "Hero Factory" party was the request, and Brent and I had to watch the DVD just to bring ourselves up to speed and put our thinking caps on!
Braveheart was amazing stepping in and lending a hand wherever he could, and the day dawned rain free...
We set about making the party decorations - here's my attempt at a quick tutorial for crepe paper streamers. I used to make these as a kid for Christmas, and after making them for Belle's party I was addicted! Aragorn and I chose traditional Lego colours, with green thrown in for the Heroes and Villains!
The boys made some Lego containers for sweets...
My boys have succumbed to the craze of collecting cards - mostly Star Wars ones, so this year, we chose to print Hero and Villain cards and create games for the kids to collect these cards...we knew our boys would have hours of fun trying to trade and swap these cards with their friends.
In this game we had a relay where two teams had to rebuild their Heroes before Braveheart's time was up - I was so impressed with how the teams pulled together and got the job done!
And the successful Rookies were then told that they had managed to save Planet "6" and that a special Hero was coming to say thank you....and I just love Aragorn's delight as he saw his Planet 6 cake!
Thanks to windy Cape Town, we moved the cake in doors for candle time...
and the happy birthday boy licked off the Nutella icing from his new Hero's feet!
be sure to check out King Arthur's Hero Factory Party here
Braveheart was amazing stepping in and lending a hand wherever he could, and the day dawned rain free...
We set about making the party decorations - here's my attempt at a quick tutorial for crepe paper streamers. I used to make these as a kid for Christmas, and after making them for Belle's party I was addicted! Aragorn and I chose traditional Lego colours, with green thrown in for the Heroes and Villains!
And this is what they look like when hung up...(just do note, the wind does untangle them very speedily, so only put them up outside just before your party starts!)...
The boys made some Lego containers for sweets...
and then we were ready for the Rookies!
Braveheart helped me mark the Heroes' base...
My boys have succumbed to the craze of collecting cards - mostly Star Wars ones, so this year, we chose to print Hero and Villain cards and create games for the kids to collect these cards...we knew our boys would have hours of fun trying to trade and swap these cards with their friends.
They each had to find a hero card to begin the game, then catch Braveheart to receive a villain card...and so on and so on! Each game was a little different, and the "Rookies" loved collecting their cards!
In this game we had a relay where two teams had to rebuild their Heroes before Braveheart's time was up - I was so impressed with how the teams pulled together and got the job done!
And the successful Rookies were then told that they had managed to save Planet "6" and that a special Hero was coming to say thank you....and I just love Aragorn's delight as he saw his Planet 6 cake!
Thanks to windy Cape Town, we moved the cake in doors for candle time...
and the happy birthday boy licked off the Nutella icing from his new Hero's feet!
Happy Birthday Sweet Special Boy!
be sure to check out King Arthur's Hero Factory Party here
Switchfoot....Seriously.
Were you one of those teenagers who had posters of famous actors/musicians/bands stuck up all over your walls?
Me, I think the pastors in my life had all read the books about drugs, sex and rock 'n'roll, so there was no way I was going to have any "Ãdols" on the walls in my room! And so this is where my ignorance about famous actors and musicians springs from - to the extent that now I am still absolutely clueless about who is in what, who sings what, or even the names of songs etc. Clueless. Head in the sand type thing. Yes I can get away with big bands and epic number 1 hits of all time, but any more than that and it's laughable! Now, hold that thought whilst I remind you I'm married to man whose calling it is to take the world of media by storm, to write and direct stories of character; who follows every movie as it is released, who is passionate about edifying lyrics and songs that grow the soul, and can answer almost any trivia question on cinematography.... and now... chuckle! Seriously. Poor man!
Roll on Braveheart's birthday this year (three days after Belle's!), and two dear friends who gave him a ticket to see this band:
You can well imagine how the conversation went in the car on the way there, and even as we were finding our seats.
Me: What do they sing again? Oh really? How does it go? Can you hum it? etc etc.
Now let me tell you something else. I have in my life - apparently been to 2 concerts before this one. I say two, because one I don't remember at all much to Braveheart's amusement (it was right in the early days of moving to Cape Town, and possibly everything was just so overwhelming I cannot place it..or it was just nothing to write home about...go figure), and the other was the U2 one last year. And I was bitterly disappointed. Perhaps our tickets (the cheapest ones - which were still "gasp" expensive!) meant we sat right at the top of the stadium, and the sound was terrible: I couldn't hear any of their words and it was so loud it was awful...(I may also be getting too old!). But that's me. So there was a certain amount of apprehension on my part as I sat down and started to absorb the first opening act.
And then God started. As I watched the first opening act, a children's choir singing out their hearts, slightly off pitch and in places a little jarring, God began speaking. Caressing my heart. It's been so significant for me that this concert coincides with meeting a few new people in the last few days who have each asked us about "where we fellowship". And it's got me thinking a whole lot about church (enough for a separate post to come). But sitting there, listening to the beautiful unpretentious faith of these young boys and girls, it made me remember how sweet the sound of worship is. How stunning it is when God's people come together and sing. And there is something holy about music, something sacred. It is music that undoes us, music that entices us, music that can soothe us. And music belongs to God. I sat there, covered in goosebumps, in the hands of the Spirit.
Then, Switchfoot came on, and as the concert unfolded, seeing this band in the flesh made me able to make a connection to the songs I've heard Braveheart play for years. The concert was incredible. It was unlike anything I've ever been to before (ahem, those two concerts and all the churches I've been in). It honestly felt more like an authentic representation of what church should be like in today's world - it was Christianity at its most real, without any mask of religiosity. Here were men who love God and who clearly know him, living their lives without being boxed in by modern Christian dogma, and it was exhilarating for my spirit. In fact, writing this make my spirit actually hurt in my chest. It. was. so. real.
And as per my nature, I came home to google this band that I hadn't really paid that much attention to, and having seen them, watched them - being at that concert felt 'intimate' in a sense. As though you were on holy ground. I can't quite put my finger on it. The lead singer, Jon Foreman, was absolutely free to be with the audience, and moved right through us, singing and touching people's hands...there was something so beautifully down to earth about him. I've loved some of the things that have been written about him, and that he's written, and I'd love to share them with you...and I've also included some links to their songs. Please do find the time to listen to them - the lyrics are so profound...it's like drinking food for thought!
According to Jon Foreman, the name "Switchfoot" is a surfing term. "We all love to surf and have been surfing all our lives so to us, the name made sense. To switch your feet means to take a new stance facing the opposite direction. It's about change and movement, a different way of approaching life and music." Switchfoot has struggled with being labelled as a Christian band, and I loved what he had to say in response to that, "For us, it's a faith, not a genre," says Jon Foreman. "We've always been very open and honest about where the songs are coming from. For us, these songs are for everyone. Calling us 'Christian rock' tends to be a box that closes some people out and excludes them, and that's not what we're trying to do. Music has always opened my mind—and that's what we want" (source: Wikipedia)
The Huffington Post picked up Jon Foreman's blog ( do click on over, it's well worth reading it all) and these two paragraphs blew me away:
There is no way out. We were born into the fight. Every noble pursuit will cost you: justice, wisdom, strength, marriage, children -- you will pay for these with your breath, your tears, your blood, even your life. We're all in this together -- fighting to make sense of the madness, to make our lives count. All of us are on a journey of desire. Longing, yearning, hoping, dreaming for a better day. But these dreams of ours are held in tension by the obstacles between where we are and where we hope to be. We are suspended in mid-air like a still life, a photograph. Frame by frame, we live our lives, forever stuck in the ether of the frozen now. Frame by frame we are frozen in the present between yesterday and tomorrow. Frame by frame we step forward towards the infinite unknown that only tomorrow can bring.
Recently, my friends and I recorded an album about the the struggle that we call life. We wanted a record that would speak to the polarity of our existence, the darkness and the light, the despair and the hope along the way. These vices of ours, we wanted to make 'em sing. We wanted to make a musical world that was held in tension by the poles of darkness and light. Maybe my songs have always come from the tension, the things that terrify me, the things that stretch me thin and keep me up at night. As much as I want to run away from these things, I can't. The strings of our hearts were not made for safety. No, these strings are made to dance. I cannot to hold the temporal too closely for the final freedom I long for was never hers to give. Safety cannot be found in the transients. I struggle to look beyond all of this. The transcendent alone can give meaning to the tension, purpose to the release. So I give up hoping for safety. I've given up hoping in the overstuffed pockets of the powerful and well fed. I've given up hope that I could ever buy what I truly need. Indeed if the world knows no justice, we're better off staying maladjusted. Stretched thin.
The Huffington Post has a list of all his blog posts they've featured - go on over, it's such food for thought!
May God do something in you as you listen to just some of these:
"Dare you to Move"
Learning to Breathe
This is Your Life, Your Love is a Song, "The Shadow Proves The Sunshine" (inspired by CS Lewis), Meant to Live....
And really, I could go on. Just get your hands on some of this music. Seriously!
Belle's 4th Birthday
My beautiful daughter turned 4 this week...something I'm having a hard time getting my head around. 4. She can no longer be considered the baby of our family at all. She's a real little girl. This week has been wonderful, remembering with her just what a blessing she is to us and our family, and how different our days would be without her. I am so thankful that God gave us this special, precious little girl...
She initially wanted to have a party in the snow at Ceres, then wanted to take everyone to Pringle Bay, then wanted to have another "God, Jesus and the Angels" party like last year, then a Jake and the Never land Pirates party...so eventually Bravheart and I decided we'd make a call, and loosely themed it around fairies! This was our most low key party in years, as I've been snowed under recently, but it was good for me to see how simple things can be such fun for kids!
We iced some fairy biscuits...
Played "fairy fairy pixie" (Belle's adaptation of "duck, duck, goose"!)
And a treasure hunt to find Belle's birthday cake which a bad fairy had stolen! Here they're trying their repertoire of magic words to open the gate ( it was "please!")...
And once thy had found their wands they could wave them and magically her cake appeared...and with another wave of their wand the cake became a rainbow one....
So filled with love for this special little lady...Happy Birthday my girl!
