Minions Know How to Party!

My son has been into minions for quite a while now (I think he saw part of the movie at a friends house, and then started asking to rent it from Redbox) so after being given several options for a do-able birthday party in snowy February, he decided on having a movie party featuring Despicable Me.  Which was kind of great because that movie has been around for a while that there are a ton of ideas out there already and it was fairly easy to put together.  Frankly, themed birthday parties are one of those things I never wanted to do as a parent, but I had to admit it turned out really cute.  And sometimes those things I vowed against five years ago just end up happening.

Theo doesn't really have a lot of favorite friends at school, but will pretty much play with everyone so we went ahead and invited the whole class and were glad for the ones who could come.  He kept saying he wanted to take cupcakes to anyone who couldn't make it, but I convinced him that we would send rice krispie treats to school instead (since the cupcakes had a tiny piece of peanut butter for the iris).  We even got to invite a few last minute church friends when they ended up calling a too-cold-to-go-to-school day, which meant the kids in our town went to school for one day the entire week.  And it was a two-hour delay.  Don't get me started on that though.

Decorations:
My husband used some table cloths, construction paper, and foil to make a door minion.  Cutest thing ever, and I can't get myself to take it down.

Balloons, crate paper, and this simple minion centerpiece rounded out the decorations.

Games:
After watching the movie, and again after eating lunch, we played a few games.

I used a few pieces of felt to sew together Gru's scarf so we could play "Gru Says" (like Simon Says).  We told the rest of the kids to act like Minions, and whoever was wearing the scarf got to be Gru.  In my experience, kids at this age can't get enough of this game.

 The most popular game though was set up like a carnival game in the movie.  We placed a print-off of a spaceship (from here) that we put a stiff backing and a toilet paper roll weighted with quarters to hold it upright on top of a stack of cups.  The kids had three chances to knock over the space ship with a birdie.

I didn't get a full size minion put together, but impromptly had Brian draw a large minion on our chalkboard and used it to play pin the goggles on the Minion.  Always a fun game with little ones.

Photo Op:  The kids enjoyed posing in the "box of shame".

Food:  I kept it simple here, and just did pizza, carrots, and strawberries.  And juice boxes.  But there are some really great minion themed food out there.  We did make these bags to serve popcorn out of during the movie.

 Favor Bags:  I had a little too much fun putting these together, but I have always had a giving love language.  We paired a minion bracelet bead kit, some runts (minions love bananas, if you didn't know), a glow stick, Despicable Me fruit snacks, and slinky in a cute bag.  I used this site to print off the eyes and g's that I used in most of the crafts.

Cake:  I looked at so many designs on pinterest, but thought this one was the most do-able for us.  I made them all on my own, and thought they turned out pretty good (though half the kids just ate the frosting and marshmallows off the top).

For his full-size birthday cake, to have on his actual birthday, Brian didn't need any of my pinterest finds, as he made this on his own.  It was too precious, and Theo was very excited for his minion cake.

 And, there you have it.  Our simple version of a minion party, that was just what my five year old wanted (or so he stated, several times).

Other helpful links:
Invitations
Popcorn Boxes
Thank You Cards

Or check-out my pinterest board

Winter/Christmas 2009

Picture of the Atlantic snowstorm:

Dec. 19. Saturday: I wake up early to find the entire complex covered in snow. It’s been coming down pretty hard for a few hours, and no one has really mussed up the streets yet. I make Brian get up to see it, and Cori loves bouncing around in the snow. The car dealership closes, so we can’t take our car in to get its oil changed like we had scheduled. We take our Christmas card picture with the windows open so everyone can see the snow. “The Blizzard of 2009” ends up being pretty substantial, definitely setting some records for the area. I see on facebook that our church has canceled services for the next day.

Dec. 20. Sunday: I bake pretty much all day… We get a call in the afternoon that Appo has already canceled school for the next day!! Get a lot of wrapping and letter writing done.

Dec. 21. Monday: The baking continues. I’m making up for last year, when I didn’t get any Christmas cookies made at all… I get another call saying that Appo has called the next day as well, and am officially on Christmas vacation! Get the Christmas letters mailed.

Dec. 22. Tuesday: Bake a few more things… decorate our sugar cookies! I normally don’t have the patience to decorate, but tried to make them cute this year.

Dec. 23. Wednesday: Wake up to find a tragedy in our fish tank. Apparently a bubble fish anemone has attacked our Nemo fish. Brian got it knocked off, but by then the fish was pretty much a goner. We hoped he would perk back up, but he never did. Good-bye Nemo fish.

Started on our way home. First stop is the Gap cheese shop, to pick up some extra aged gouda (Rembrandt) for Brian’s sister. We also add the following to our cart:
· Campo de Montalban (semi-hard Spanish cheese, made of cow, goat and sheep’s milk)
· White Stilton with Mango and Ginger (AGAIN! We always get this)
· And one of Bill’s Christmas Cheddars (Beecher’s Flagship Reserve, Seatle, WA)

We then decide to stop for lunch at the Gap Diner, since we always drove past it. We finally get going, and make the following progress, averaging 30 mpg. The cat and dog actually traveled very well together. No fighting, hiding, or getting sick.
· Left Newark at 10:17 AM
· Estimated Drive Time: 10 hrs, 43 min, Estimated Total Mileage: 627 miles
· Actual Drive Time: 12 hours, 33 min, with 2 hr, 44 min in stops, and actual mileage of 637 miles · Arrived Huntington at 10:50 PM

Dec. 24: Thursday: Spend the morning in Huntington, and head up to G & G B’s for our early Christmas. We then head to my old church for communion, and then up to Roanoke for a Lutheran Christmas Eve service. We sleep at Brian’s house. I’m too tired to make sure someone put out cookies for Santa.

Dec. 25: Friday: My mother ends up not having to work another shift, so we do get to have Christmas morning with my family when she comes home from being at the hospital from 7 pm-7 am.

We then head to Grandma Knight’s and see some of the family there. Little cousin Madison does a good job of leading Cori around like a steer and tiring her out.

Then we make it back up to Huntington to spend the afternoon with Brian's family, including Grandpa Eddie, excluding Mike and Ashley.

Our last stop of the day is the Banter Christmas that evening, where we get to meet baby Dylan.

Dec. 26: Saturday: We head to Ohio for Brian’s family Christmas. After a freakish car malfunction that left us sitting in a parking lot for about 45 minutes, we make it to the party. After eating, the Hutson aunts do an awesome job showering us with gifts for the little one.

Dec. 27: Sunday: Brian and I attend my church for worship, and then I have a “last super” (before one of us is a mother) with Mariah and Ashley. Following this we head to my second baby shower, hosted by my sister. She did a great job with it! We did the candy-diaper game, one where they had to guess my girth, a guessing game, and also the game where you lose your necklace if you say “baby”. It was cute, and pretty fun. My older sister in Alaska got to attend over the internet through Skype, which was really cool. I’m not much for video cameras, and this had the same feeling to it, so it took a while to get used to, but it was really awesome. Nephew Aydan acted like it was totally normal for him though. Good food and great gifts rounded out the shower.

(Pictures from the showers to come...)

Dec. 28: Monday. This was our first break in a while. We returned one double gift we got, went to the Bath & Body Yellow Sale (a personal favorite of my mothers, and a big surprise to Brian-“This normally costs $12????” Everyone in the store heard his opinion on the price for a bottle of lotion), and ate at Biaggi’s for lunch (you can now get refills on the soup!!! I have not had the chicken Florentine in years and was very excited). I got to read through most of “Hunger Games” and Brian spent most of the night playing poker with Matthew and my father.

Dec. 29: Tuesday. We ended up going to see my mother’s new hospital unit… see more in baby update posting. We then headed up to Huntington to have our official Christmas dinner with all of Brian’s siblings.

Dec. 30: Wednesday. Hung around in Huntington all day… I finally finished this needlepoint for baby Alison. I almost had it done with she was born, but it took me forever to get the last details done. Picked up “Chasing Fire” to start reading.
Cori had a lot of fun playing with Gus, most of the time. She had more energy to play than he did though, and he got grouchy about it a few times. Here they are in her cage together.... they both went in together on their own.

Dec. 31: Thursday. We had a busy day, having breakfast with my grandparents, and then eventually heading over to Megan and Ben's for a late lunch. She made us really tasty chilly, and we enjoyed some time with them. My sister thinks she is moving to Germany soon to live with Ben while he is still in training, but I'm not thinking about that until I see the actual orders in her hands.

We then have a quiet New Year's celebration with each other. For TEN years (!!!) Brian and I have visited the Marion lights every New Year's eve. We continued that again this year, and then headed to Ivanhoe's for tenderloins and ice cream. It was fantastic, and a nice little quite night together. We then headed to my parents where Brian worked on cooking meatballs and I fell asleep long before midnight. Brian missed waking me up to see the ball drop, but we said our "Happy New Years" a few minutes later.

Jan. 1: Friday. We partipated in my cousin Joel's 8th Annual Meatball Contest. There were 13th entries.  Even with crumbled bacon on his, Brian was not able to pull out a win. Afterwards we spent over an hour packing the car, getting almost all the Christmas and baby gifts in the car. We finished with dinner at BWW with Kari & Josh and Mariah & Kory. Even though it was absolutely FREEZING out, we finished off with DQ ice cream. My ribs hurt quite a bit after today-I think it was all the giggling.

Jan. 2: Saturday. We attended our last Christmas party in Toledo at Brian's grandpa's. Afterwards we drove straight through for nine hours and finally arrived home. Unpacking and getting our house back in running order will be on the agenda until we go back to work on Monday.

Thanksgiving 2008

This Thanksgiving was the first one we spent in Indiana in a few years. Well, Indiana and Ohio. It was a very quick and whirlwind trip.

First, we woke up early on Thanksgiving, and headed for Toledo. We drove diagonally across Pennsylvania, and then across northern Ohio. It was a very pleasant drive, hardly any traffic, and though there was snow on the ground, none was on the road. I was impressed when we passed Penn State's football stadium-a huge fortress in the middle of nowhere.

 

We then spent the day with my husband's paternal side, before traveling on home to Indiana.

On Black Friday, my sister and I went out to make a purchase, and then did a little more shopping around Huntington. It really wasn't very crowded at all. Then, another of my sisters met us to see Twilight (the movie). The one had saw the movie already, and I made the other read part of the book on the drive there. They were each so loud during the movie-asking questions and making comments-I was about to kill them-but it was still fun to see the movie together.

That night we had dinner with my maternal side. After the delicious meal we participated in many rounds of corn-hole tournament. Apparently, my grandpa saw the game recently at a festival and decided to build his own. A couple years ago we were racing Matchbox cars on a track he built-we are a very competitive family. I was unofficially the worst player throughout the first few rounds. I did finally start doing good, and actually got three or four in the hole in a row.

We then headed back to Ohio, this time down toward Columbus, for my husband's maternal side. The game at this family was Quiddler-a word forming game based on cards. It was kind of a cross between Scrabble and Gin. We then traveled back to Delaware, stopping overnight in Morgantown, WV. The drive back was much slower, with rain, fog in the mountains, and more traffic. We did make one stop, trying one of the many wineries, Frederick Cellars. It was an okay place, nothing really stood out to me though. We did get the following:

-Chardonay "A lightly-oaked Chardonnay with delicate notes of pineapple. A nice compliment to just about everything."

-Rose 2007 "A dry Rose in the Rhone tradition; summer in a botthe with hints of strawberry. PAirs with fresh fruit, mild cheeses and grilled salmon."

-Merlot " From Annapolis, a smooth, full-bodied Merlot with flavors of blueberry and blackberry; pairs exceptionally well with hearty or spicy foods.