What-What?! Week of May 9th

 Happy Mother's Day! <3

This last week was Osric's birthday -- he is now nine!  We hung out at home this year, playing video games, reading books, and generally just hanging out.

This year, he chose to have ice cream sundaes rather than cake.  His had nine toppings: two types of ice cream, banana, peanuts, chocolate sauce, strawberry sauce, whipped cream, a cherry, and candles (of course!).

Big breath!

You can actually see the smoke coming off in this one

He was very excited for presents

I didn't realize how big this crocodile toy was going to be when I ordered it... for some reason I expected it would be big enough to hold just one pirate, but it actually carries four!

These are some collectible Legend of Zelda cards I got him; the leather booklet is a case for them

Lego Mario accessories!  This was one of the first toys to get played with

Oz was really excited for this book -- the Dungeons & Dragons episode of the show is one of his favorites, and this has a story that plays on that same theme

Donky Kong video game -- this has gotten a lot of play!

What-What?! Week of May 10th

Happy Mother's Day!

This last week was Osric's birthday! He turned 8 -- he's gotten so big now.

The cake turned out delicious -- red velvet and strawberry frosting.  Oz helped me make the frosting, and now has successfully used the stand mixer (oh my!).

Wound up putting some Warhammer 40K minis on the cake -- he wanted orcs, and this was the closest/easiest thing we had available.

He was pretty excited about his presents :)

This is a discontinued Lego set that the husband managed to find -- Oz has asked for it for a good long while now, he's very happy to have it.

Some miniatures of his own

Pictures for this one and the next came out terrible -- it's an Iron Man and Thanos mech Lego sets.  These are actually quite cool for being such little sets -- they are well articulated, including hands, so you can do all kinds of action poses and create accessories for them too.

One of the other gifts -- this is a car where you can take apart/put back together various pieces.  When he asked for it, I was a bit surprised since it seemed kind of simple, but it's had plenty of play, both from him and his siblings.

The last big thing we got for him was this new scooter -- it's a larger-wheeled one than most scooters you see around nowadays, and just a bit big for him.  That said, he loves this thing; he has gone out and played on it around every single day.  We've been lucky that the weather has cooperated.

What-What?! Week of May 12th

Happy Mother's Day!


Last week was Osric's 7th birthday -- we celebrated on Sunday, so that way we could all be home for it.  The weather up until today has been lovely, with temps in the mid- to high-70s, just beautiful sunshine and warmth.

Oz was extremely excited for his presents

Corwin got him a Hot Wheels creepy bat manor thing.

Saffron got him a Pokemon handbook -- this has gotten a ton of use in the last week.

Lego shark set -- this one comes with three different sets of instructions; one for a shark, one for an angler fish, and one for a giant squid.  So far he hasn't made the shark yet, but he's done the other two creatures, which came out very cool.

He was very excited over this set too -- especially for the dinosaur with the laser guns!

This is a book full of experiments and explanations relating to physics and chemistry, etc. -- we had picked it up from the library once and he really liked it.

He has been begging for these yeti action figures for months; unfortunately, the manufacturer no longer makes them, so we had to pick some up off of ebay.  The sets are pretty cool -- this one features a "yeti" trap, which works like a bear trap.

And now he has a gameboy, like his siblings -- they've been having a good time playing together on these.

The first thing he did afterwards was get out all of his yeti guys, and his snow castle, and have a big battle.

Osric and I worked together to make a cake and cookies, and decorate them both.

It was pretty simple chocolate cake with blueberry filling and vanilla buttercream frosting.  The cookies are basic sugar cookies with flood icing.

In my opinion, one of the best things this Lego set that Osric got is that every single one of the characters can hold the coffee mug -- including the dinosaur!

What-What?! Week of May 13th

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

We're not doing anything special, other than just sitting around.

In other news, my youngest has turned six!
 

Osric asked for battle mechs for his birthday cake

Excited for his gifts!

 

This is the first year that I haven't had to read his birthday card for him.  He's gotten so grown up!

  Monster truck toy, with foam car to crush

 

He specifically asked for this book -- "The Truth About Hippos".  I am so glad that our kids love reading as much as they do.

 

Board game -- Let's Go Fishing.  I remember playing this as a kid and liking it.  Unfortunately, Osric is not quite coordinated enough for it yet, so it's a bit frustrating.

 

And another game -- Yeti in My Spaghetti.   This is a bit like Ker-plunk or pick up sticks, where you have to pull out the noodles without letting the yeti fall in the bowl.  The kids and I played a few rounds of it, and it is actually quite fun.

An Imaginext AT-ST.  He has very much wanted this one -- he's gone and looked at it nearly every time we're gone to Target for months now.

Playing with his new toys

We used the sparkler candles again for Osric's birthday.   It took a lot of work to get all the candles blown out!