Emma's Birdhouse

For one of her AHG projects, Emma had to put together a wooden craft of some sort. She really wanted a birdhouse to hang out in the yard, so we ordered one and helped her put it together.

 This one I found used screws rather than nails, so it was a little different putting it together.

 She'd never used a screwdriver before, so it was a good experience for her. The screws were a little tight to do all the way by hand, so I had to finish them later with a power screwdriver.

 Then it was time to paint!

 Beautiful!!!

We hung it in a place of honor on our woodshed. Hopefully we'll have tenants later this spring!

Olivia's Cake Decorating Class

When a local bakery announced that they were going to have a class for kids on cake baking and decorating, we thought it was a great opportunity to sign Olivia up for something fun. Savor the Moment hosted a 4-week class that taught her the basics like how to do things like bake a cake and cupcakes, do crumb-coating, frost cupcakes and cakes, use piping bags and tips... that sort of stuff. I would say the results speak for themselves.

She had a ton of fun! They're offering a more advanced class in a couple of weeks that covers stuff like flowers and fondant, so we're thinking of signing her up for that one, too. I need someone to take over the birthday cake duties. ;)

Surprises for the boys!

Usually, we wait until their actual birthdays to do something fun or get them something we know they'd love, but this year, a couple of shows rolled through Greensboro that we thought the boys would love to see, so we got tickets for them and told them it was their early birthday gifts.

The first was the Monster Jam monster truck show. Rebecca's been bugging me for years to take the boys, but I've resisted because I didn't relish the idea of an enclosed space with tons of people and extremely loud trucks and fumes. I finally gave in and I was pleasantly surprised. It was definitely loud and the place was packed but there wasn't a hint of fumes (whether that's because of the fuel they use or that there was plenty of ventilation, i don't know) and earplugs were enough to keep the noise level in a comfortable range. I did feel like I missed a memo about the dress code for an event like this, but since I don't own anything camouflage, it wouldn't have mattered anyway... ;)

I didn't tell them what we were coming to see... Once they figured out what we were there for, they were super excited.

 They loved seeing all the different trucks, dirt cars and 4-wheelers. There was a shark truck, a zombie truck and even a Wonder Woman truck!

While they loved the trucks, they both said their favorite part was the 4-wheeler races because they moved so fast!

The second event was the Marvel Universe Live! show. Once again, I didn't tell them what we were coming to see.

 And once again, they were very excited when they found out what it was. :)

 The show was a lot of fun, with all kinds of characters from the Marvel movies and shows.

There were all kinds of acrobatic tricks, lasers, explosions and even motorcycle tricks. They absolutely loved the show!

They even got to meet Spiderman on the way out!

All-in-all, they were super happy to go to the shows, though they have expressed a little sadness that their birthdays are over so soon. While they won't be getting the usual gifts, we'll still manage to make their respective days special when the times come. :)