The Ancient Egypt party was a blast! The kids wrote their names with the use of Ancient Egyptian writing called heiroglyphics onto peices of paper cut out into little tablets...very cute.
Here is a picture of the hieroglypic symbols we used:
Then they made little mummies to go inside an egg carton sarcophagus....another creative idea:
While they were making their mummies, we dined on Egyptian foods. Such as figs, dates, grapes, pomegranates, raisins & and other dried fruits.
The kids gobbled it up before I could take a picture of everything...but here's what was left:
Our activity was last and ended up being fun for all the kids. First we talked about the 3 different types of pyramids:
STEP PYRAMID
BENT PYRAMID
and TYPICAL or STANDARD PYRAMID
Then we discussed the structure of the pyramid and passed out our pretzels & marshmallows to begin construction.
Here is Dagyn's ...she's so proud of herself. It wasn't an easy thing to do...the pretzels didn't always want to stick to the marshmallows.
And here are Dyxon (left) and Devyn (right) making theirs. Notice Dyxon's concentration....tongue sticking out! He gets that from his Daddy. ;)
And here is Dyson in the lower right-hand corner concentrating very closely on his pyramid construction.
Denym is being held by my friend Aubree in the background on the left. She was so good for Aubree too. Which helped me out a lot since I was running around assisting the children with constructing their pyramids & passing out more marshmallows. For some reason they kept disappearing...hmmm?
And a party in the Arizona heat would not be complete without WATERMELON....YUMMY!!!
It would be OK to say that the kids had fun.
Next month we are traveling to ANCIENT CHINA!
A lot has happend over this past month...
...like for instance, Dagyn's birthay celebration.
Since Dagyn got a 'newly refurbised' bike for her birthday, we decided to celebrate by taking a bike ride to the nearby park (or should I say, water retention area). Chris had painted Devyn's old bike purple, added some bells & whistles (well a bell, a basket & some streamers) & I drew some silver pin-stripping decals on it ~ she loved it!
Devyn, unfortunately, wasn't home to join us (he was at football practice) when we got the spur-of-the-moment idea to go. Even without all of us there we still managed to have a great time.
Chris left me with the 2 little ones while Dylan, Dagyn & Dyson followed along with him to Mickey D's for some burgers & fries.
During that time Dyxon, Denym & I enjoyed playing 'chase down the mountain' (running down the slope/hill), hide-n-go-seek behind the trees (well actually, Denym just curiously watched Dyxon & I) & catch with the soccer ball that we brought along with us.
Afterwards, when Chris & the others got back & we had eaten...we all played a very short game of (one-base) kick ball. I think everyone ended up just kicking the ball 1 time. If Devyn was there, I know we would have had to drag him away from playing all into the night... Even if he had just finished practicing football for 2 hours.
The kids also enjoyed playing in the trees & running around while Chris & I got to chat for a moment or 2 in between all the action.
We all knew it was time to pack up and head home when Denym spotted the moon. Good night moon.
(more to come...)
This past week we have celebrated 2 birthdays, Dylan is now 16 and Dagyn is 6. 10 year gap and only 1 week apart.
I cannot believe that 16 years ago I would have been laboring on a hospital bed scared outta my wits not knowing for sure how any of this "baby stuff" works. No plan, no security, no choice but to push ahead. But that is my life. Life provides choices, I make choices, choices bring forth consequences, and I push through them. Thank goodness most choices have been good ones. Like Dylan; he is a good choice. Mind you, he has not been a very easy choice. You see, Dylan has Asperger's Syndrome.
He looks the same as other 16 year olds at first glance, he even comes off as (at times) behaving like other young men his age. But Dylan is different...he is special. He is hypersensitive, hyperfocused (at times when it seems most inconvenient to others) and hyperdriven...well atleast he used to be.
So we celebrated another year of his life with him this past Friday.
Dylan's thoughts: "today is [pretty much] the best day of my life".
If only we could all have that attitude about our birthday. I mean, really, how many of us approach a birthday with an attitude like this: "oh great, yet another year" or even better (or should I say even worse), "it's just another birthday, no big deal" or "I stopped counting at 29"... what is it with this 29? Is this some magic # that is supposed to immortalize our youth? Come on, we all know that we all grow older. It reminds me of that Primary song, "one year older & wiser too...happy birthday, to you!" Shouldn't we be celebrating that fact, "wiser too"? How wonderful for us that we have been blessed with another year here on Earth.
Ok, we digress...
And so that is how Dagyn feels. She is the epitomy of sweetness. She is so greatful to be blessed with another year here and to become 6 years old. To her that means, no more carseat, a bigger bike (with no training wheels ~ she might add), a bigger girl to help Mommy & Daddy, and yes...she feels much wiser too!
So, who would have to question that after labor with her, when still loopy from the whole thing, that when asked by my most wonderful OB, C.Hunt, if we were going to have more that I would respond with a resounding, YES!!!....you would too with a child like her!
So today, I take head of action to when my birthday roles around in a couple of months, that I may celebrate life as it should be and accept my time here on Earth and turn (dare I say it)...39...too late.
Happy birthday to any & all of you whose birthday falls in August! Know that I send you good tidings of joy as you celebrate yet another year (& become wiser too)!
I know I have mentioned I would post more pics from Devyn's birthday...but, I just had to share a quick picture that my 5 year old daughter, Dagyn drew for Christmas since I was cleaning off our Art Gallery (fridge).
Here it is...isn't it so cute?! It is her interpretation of Christ's birth. She included Joseph & Mary within the stable along with the night's sky & the Bethlehem star in the middle. So sweet. How can I (or anyone else for that matter) resist loving such a sweet child.
Having 6 children, more than 1/2 of them under 5, there was NO way we were going to be able to make it to Midnight. So, we decided to celebrate Mormon Style with sparkling apple juice & a countdown at 10pm (and that was stretching it). Towards the end, I wasn't quite sure if I was going to make it either. We may be shooting for 9pm for 2010's celebration.
As you will notice there are no pictures of Devyn. That is because he was not there. He was spending time with his dad, Wayne this year.
I was there however. I am in the last picture (well, my hand is). I was taking the pictures of our family's event so you will only get a glimpse of me.
Enjoy!
Splish Splash
Here are the 3 stooges. All three of them followed lead and ended up splashing around in this puddle at the park.
They had SO much fun!
After that, Dagyn caught herself a cricket...then we headed home on foot...paused only a moment to take a picture in front of a nativity...then made a stop at Grandma & Grandpa's for a snack
Sorry for not posting this (and other posts) sooner.
Some of you may not know that Dylan attends a special needs school to accomodate his special need, Autism. Every year the school puts on a Holiday Festival right before the break for the students and their families.
These are the things we did when we attended this year's Holiday Festival @ Dylan's School: We got to play on the playground, decorate cookies & eat them, visit with Santa, eat lunch (yummy hotdogs & hamburgers), play on the playground some more, play carnival games: ball maze (Devyn's favorite)/mini golf/tic-tac-toe bean bag toss/bottle rings/quarterback football toss (Dyxon's favorite)/hockey, sing Christmas carols with a live band (well, one guy on an electric guitar - good enuff), eat candy canes and all the while we managed to fit in one temper tantrum & a nap. And no, neither were me. Although I sure could have used that nap.
We hope you enjoy looking at the pictures as much as we enjoyed being at the festival. See slide show below.
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