Jonah's Harry Potter Birthday Party

For the past 3 years we have had Jonah's birthday party early before the busyness of the holidays. This year he wanted a Harry Potter swim party. So last weekend we had a magical experience at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The invitations had the above picture on them and they said

Dear____________,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been invited to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for special mid-term classes in honor of Head Boy Jonah's 7th birthday. Please take the Hogwarts Express Train Saturday October 1st at the stroke of 11:00am to Hogwarts Academy currently disguised as the Muggle home at _____________. There you will find the magical gate visible only to Hogwarts students, friends and family. The password is flibbertigibbet. The surrounding area is well protected by memory charms so it will be safe to practice magic outdoors where we will be swimming in Hogwart's Black Lake. Bring your swim suit and towel. And don't forget your broom for our quidditch match! Please respond by OWL or Muggle telephone system to _________ with a yes or no response. Midterm classes will adjourn at 1:30pm. We look forward to your arrival at Hogwarts.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonogal (Deputy Headmistress)

These were the yummy cupcakes I made for the party with lightening bolts on wizard hats.

These are some of the yummy treats that I made for the sweets trolley as they boarded the train for home at the end of the party. There were pretzel mummies, chocolate frogs, and Bertie Bott's every flavor beans.

I dressed up as Professor McGonogal of course.

Ever since my surprise party for my birthday this year Jonah has said he wants a surprise party for his birthday too. So although he knew he was having a Harry Potter party sometime "soon" he didn't know what day it was going to be. He still doesn't pay attention to dates. So after his soccer game and going home to change clothes daddy brought him to Grandma's house and we shouted "Surprise!" He was very surprised and he loved it!

The first activity was swimming. This was a hit of course. The boys played "Harry Potter" instead of "Marco Polo". It was cute.

Then we had lunch...

...and birthday cupcakes. Jonah got two cupcakes. One with a hat on it and one to hold the seven candles. Happy Birthday to Jonah!

Next was our quidditch treasure hunt to find the golden snitch.

I didn't get a picture of it but it was a gold plastic egg filled with Rolos for the kids.

I just had to add a picture of two of my best friends. Love you Megen and Melissa!

Next was the Defense against the dark arts class where the boys had to slay a dragon!

Candy for all!

Presents came next followed by the sweets trolley to end the party. Notice Jonah does all closed mouth smiles due to self-consciousness about his missing front tooth. Cute boy!

After the party I drew lightening bolt scars on Lea and Jonah and they played with magic wands and Jonah's new toys.

Lea tried on my costume that evening and she makes a very cute witch doesn't she?

Indulgence or Gluttony?

Fenton's Ice Cream is the BEST! Daniel and I went there tonight with friends to celebrate my good friend Melissa's birthday. This jumbo ice cream was bigger than we had thought it would be but we dug in anyway. Delicious!

Jonah Lost A Tooth

On Friday Jonah's front tooth was super loose. He was making funny faces with it and I took a couple of pictures of him.

Sure enough he lost the tooth that night. I'm having fun calling him "toothless".
:)

Soccer Star

Jonah is having a lot of fun playing soccer this year! And we are having so much fun watching him! This year Jonah is playing goalie and he is really good at it. He loves it! It has been fun to watch how he and his teammates have improved from last year. They have a really good team and they have a great time. Jonah loves playing soccer!

Go Bandits!

Napa Valley Ragnar 2011

This is Daniel's team, "Team Shell out of Gas", for the relay race he did last weekend. It was a total of 186 miles from San Fransisco to Calistoga. Daniel ran and 11 others divided those miles between them. Their team placed 80th out of 300 teams overall and 36th out of 152 in their division. Not bad! It started Friday morning and went non-stop until Saturday afternoon. Daniel was definitely sore the next day but he had a lot of fun!

This was Daniel waiting for his first run. Each team member ran a total of 3 times throughout the race.

Costumes are a big tradition with Ragnar, here Daniel is posing with Captain Morgan

Coming back for the exchange after his first run which was 3.2 miles and uphill a total of 700 ft and then 2.3 more miles of down and flat. His calves were definitely tight after that leg of the run.

Another tradition with ragnar is to record how many runners you pass as you run you leg. It was referenced as a "kill". On his first leg Daniel "killed" 8 runners. And wasn't killed himself. He said it was motivating to see a runner ahead within striking distance. So much so that he says he pushed himself a little too hard and almost left breakfast at the end of his first leg.

Some friends of ours ran with Daniel. Brent Olsen is the one who got Daniel to run in Ragnar. Brent and his wife Anissa both ran, but on different teams. They are big runners. Below is Brent with Beth, a neighbor and friend that ran on Anissa's team. Their team name was, "does this skirt make my butt look fast", they were all in running skits and had made "skirts "for their vans as well.

Brent and one of Anissa's good friends, Beth. It is really neat that Beth ran with Anissa's team. She is blessed to be able to run at all. A little over a year ago, Beth and Anissa were running when they came upon 3 dogs literally killing another jogger. They yelled and screamed at the dogs whereupon the dogs attacked Beth. Two neighbors were able to shoot the dogs, stopping the attack. Beth was injured severely, Anissa wasn't bitten, and the first jogger was critically injured. Here's a link to the original story. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bb6_1284307520

Above is Daniel either pushing the van over or stretching. Link to a good video on the subject: http://youtu.be/9045Sod3mZs

Our friends Brent and Steve taking turns as crossing guards.

One of the runners they saw dressed as wonder woman.

Run, Steve, Run!

Good job Brent!

On Daniel's 3rd and final run he dressed in a Superman running outfit. He was quite a sight!

Good job Daniel! Your family is very proud of you!

Labor Day Kayaking Trip

On Labor Day we went to Lake Solano with our good friends the Anderson family. We picnicked, we went kayaking, and the kids played on the playground at the park. It was a very relaxing and fun day to rest from our "labors". :)

Megen and I have a lot of fun together. We see each other every day lately with working out together, trips to Target, playdates for our kids, BYU football games, and church on Sunday. I'm so blessed to have great friends like her!

Cookie Pizza

This is a DELICIOUS dessert pizza that our family thoroughly enjoyed this week! It is chocolate chip cookie dough rolled out onto a pizza pan covered in a chocolate ganache and sprinkled with chopped up Milky Way Bars. To complete this masterpiece drizzle caramel sauce over the entire pizza. So yummy! Finger-licking good!

This was my personal favorite way to enjoy this cookie pizza - al a mode with extra caramel sauce.

Dont you want to take a bite!?! This was heaven in my mouth!