Doctor Who, The T.A.R.D.I.S Room and Sean's Birthday Surprise!

Sean's Birthday, June 25th, 2013

A little back-story...
Mid-January we were attempting to catch up on a little show you may have heard of, Downton Abbey, and decided to sign up for Netflix to watch season 2 {since we had finished season 1 and season 3 was being recorded onto our DVR} before we got too far behind on season 3. Unfortunately only season 1 was available. But, we kept our subscription {and actually went to just Netflix and Hulu when we moved} and got hooked on a new show... Doctor Who!! {BBC (British) Sci-Fi show featuring a time-and-space traveling time lord.... in a very small nutshell!}

Oh my heavens!

It took a few episodes, but soon we were all hooked - Ethan included!

Fast forward to the end of June and we had watched the first six seasons of the newer series (Doctors 9, 10 and 11) and had started the 7th. We had cheered when the Doctor defeated the Daleks, Cybermen and Weeping Angels, laughed at his funny sayings and quirks, loved his companions and cried when, well..., I can't give it away! Sean's birthday was approaching and one night I was online and randomly stumbled upon info that there is a T.A.R.D.I.S Room/Fish-n-Chip Shop in Portland. I was just about to show him when I decided to keep it a secret and surprise him for his birthday! Mind you, I am not big on surprises. I'm too much of a control freak to like when they are done to me {it'd better be really good!!} and too much of a chicken {worrying that the other person won't like it} to do it to other people. But, I decided to stick with it and Ethan and I surprised Sean!

It worked out quite nicely that Tuesday night is also their Doctor Who trivia night... Unfortunately the topic that evening was the 2nd half of the 7th season, which we hadn't watched yet! No matter, we still ordered and enjoyed our food and all the fun Doctor Who decor!!

Ethan thought this T.AR.D.I.S lamp was SO COOL!! It even made "the sound" when you opened the doors!

Inside the T.A.R.D.I.S lamp.

Ethan and his favorite Doctor - #10, David Tennant

Exterminate!!

Sean's fish-n-chips birthday dinner!!

Doctor Who pinball

All the bathroom doors were painted to look like a T.A.R.D.I.S!

After dinner, we came home for birthday cake with friends!! I baked Sean's traditional homemade chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting... so good!!

 Happy Birthday, Sean!!+

Sean's Birthday BBQ

Sean's birthday was a two-parter this year... We celebrated a day early with some of Sean's family (his Dad, Lynnie, Cassie, Grandma, Aunt Shari and Uncle Monty) and some of my family (my Mom, Dad and Lizzy) by having a BBQ at my parents' house. It was so fun to have everyone all together and great for Ethan to spend time with his Nana, Papa and Auntie Cassie since he doesn't get to see them too often. There was lots of catching up and laughing and enjoying the sunshine. Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Chuck came by towards the end and brought some marionberry pies to go along with the from-scratch chocolate cake with chocolate frosting that Sean had requested...

After cake and presents, we had to say goodbye to everyone because, unfortunately, Sean had to be back at work the next day. It was a very quick visit, but still great to see some of our family!

Monday, Sean's actual birthday, he had to work most of the day, but Ethan and I surprised him with a visit at work and freshly baked cookies for him and the other staff and students. I also made Sean this birthday banner...

Look closely... Under each letter there is also the braille dot translation, though the dots are not raised like true braille. Just a little shout-out to Sean's line of work!

A couple months overdue (on the blog) but Happy Birthday to the love of my life!! 

Construction Party

To conclude Ethan's week-long birthday celebrating, we had a party for him and NINE of his closest friends from church!! Ahhhh... Nothing like a house full of 4-6 year olds!! :)

Clear back in January or February sometime, Ethan decided on a construction-themed party and he stuck to his guns... Right up until sometime in March when I opened my big-fat-mouth and mentioned an army/camouflage party might be kinda cool! Or maybe trains... Even though I'd already been working on the construction idea. Eventually we decided to keep the construction theme - especially after we found inspiration for the cake! [Thank you Pinterest!]

The day of the party I still hadn't made the cake... I know, I know! Luckily the party didn't start until 1pm, so I had a little time. I got the cakes made in the morning and then sent Sean and Ethan on a couple errands to get a prize for the goody bags and pick-up the pizza. {Side story: See, I'd been eyeing these 5-pack mini construction trucks that I'd seen at both Target and Walmart, but when I'd been at Target earlier that week they only had one pack, so I figured I'd wait and get both at Walmart but then didn't make it over to Walmart. So I sent Sean on a wild goose chase since Walmart only ended up having one-pack, too! Sean had to go back to Target to get the last pack that they had too! What does all that translate into?? Ethan was about 20+ minutes late for his own party! Ooops! But the kids had fun playing with his toys and running around outside.}

So Ethan and Sean got home with the pizzas just as the party kids and I were finishing up a construction-themed matching game {that Ethan had poo-pooed earlier, so I knew he wouldn't be sad about missing it}.

After that the kids ate their pizza and apple slices and drank juice from their personalized (party favor) cups and then we played the classic children's party game:  "pin-the-scoop-on-the-excavator"!! But you may know it better as "pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey". Obviously, we changed it to match our theme!

 

Next I had Sean take the kids outside to play while I busted my butt calmly worked on frosting/decorating Ethan's cake.

 

  

Last three things on the agenda were pinata, presents and cake... We barely squeezed them all in! In fact, I got pictures of the pinata, but went back to finishing the cake while Sean oversaw the present-opening - so we don't have pictures of that. But Ethan got some great presents!! [Construction trucks, Nerf gun, CARS 2 cars, money for movie date with Mom and Dad, Transformer legos, Zhu Zhu pet "ninja" hamster, baseball/bat]

 

I finished up the cake just in time!! And this is the only picture I got before it was devoured!! Not sure if you can really tell, but the excavator is supposed to be actually digging into the cake - I ripped some of it off to give it that look. Then there's chocolate rocks on the site... There's more I wanted to do with it (crushed Oreo dirt, etc.) but just ran out of time. Ethan was pleased, though, and that's all that matters! Oh, and it was a triple-layer silver-white (homemade) and strawberry (box cake mix) cake - per Ethan's request. It worked out well that Ethan has 5 letters in his name because I didn't have time to try to write on this cake with icing!

It was a little crazy and rushed at the end, but a fun birthday party overall! We sent everyone home with a goodie bag full of their pinata candy, mini construction truck and personalized (with vinyl - thank you Jenn!) cup.

Oh, and check out the birthday banner I made:

Quick tutorial: I took 12x12" cardstock and cut it down to 4x6" {I just recently bought a paper cutter and I love it!!} so you get 6 pieces per sheet. In a Word document, change your paper size to 4x6", adjust margins as needs, pick your font and make it as big/bold as possible. Put one letter per page and then print by putting your cut cardstock in the photo slot of your printer. Two hole punches across the top and some ribbon, twine or string and you've got your banner! For minimal twine showing, go in from the front on the left side and come back out through the back on the right side. Make sense? From there you can "fancy it up" a bit by cutting out part of the bottom, using special scissors, etc. For Ethan's I just made a mark in the bottom middle, an inch up and then cut from the corners to that point. The construction cones I did by hand. I was pretty happy with how it turned out - particularly because it was an easy and inexpensive decoration that showed the party theme well.

April 9th, 2012: Happy 5th Birthday, ETHAN!!

Pretty sure this is the latest I have ever done Ethan's birthday post... Yep. Just checked. It's a whole month later than I usually post it. Oh, well...
Ethan got to celebrate his birthday this year for about a week and a half:

1. With just Mommy, Daddy and Mickey Mouse in Disneyland!
2. With Nana, Papa, Uncle Todd, Aunt Muffy and cousins in California.
3. With Grandpa Greg, Grandma Julie, Aunt Christine and Aunt Lizzy for Easter.
4. With just Mommy and Daddy again on his actual birthday.
5. With all his friends at his construction party... that post still to come.

I'm going to focus on #3 and #4, i.e. April 8th and April 9th, 2012.

{Have I mentioned that Easter and Ethan's birthday fell exactly the way they did the year he was born?? Easter was on Sunday, the 8th, and his birthday was Monday, the 9th - kinda cool.}

Anyway.

April 8th, Easter:
After Easter dinner/clean-up, Ethan got to open presents from Christine, Grandma Julie/Grandpa Greg, Grandma Sandy/Grandpa Chuck and an Easter bag from Nana and Papa. He was pretty excited... New clothes, new game for his Leapster, new books, Star Wars mask (still on the Star Tours rebel spy excitement) and lightsaber.

 

I don't know.... I'm not sure he looks very excited in that last picture!

Just before my family had to leave, we did a quick round of "Happy Birthday" with candles in the pie... even though we were all still too full from Easter dinner.

April 9th, Ethan's Birthday:

Kind, loving parent that I am, I ditched Ethan on his birthday for a little while. While in California, I received an email from a company wanting to interview me for a job I had applied for. Since they were kind enough to postpone the interview several days for me while we were out of town, I decided not to push and let them schedule the interview for Monday. {Sidenote: Turns out it was not the job I was thinking it was - low pay and more hours than I wanted to work. I didn't get the job and wasn't sad about it!}So I dropped Ethan off at a friend's house and he got to hang out with them for a few hours - this included a trip to IKEA and an ice cream cone. Pretty sure Ethan didn't feel neglected!

That afternoon Ethan and I went shopping for party decorations and supplies - with a pit-stop at Trader Joe's since we were right next door and I realized I hadn't been since before we moved!

 

We celebrated that night by going to Red Robin for dinner - Ethan's choice.

After dinner we witnessed a miracle... Ethan is always begging to do those silly claw machines that are a waste of money because no one ever gets anything. Yeah, we let him do it one time since it was his birthday. Sean helped him line it up and... he got something!! Not sure what it is, but Ethan was thrilled.

 

Hard to believe my baby boy is 5 years old!! Such a smart, cute kid and growing up so fast - off to kindergarten in the fall, learning to swim, learning to read, etc. He's a keeper and we're sure happy he's in our family!

Can't I just have a few more years in my twenties?!

You can take it away from, uhhhhh..., my 60s... I promise!!

Well, it has been a month and a half since my 29th birthday and I am slowly coming to grips with the fact that it was my last birthday in my twenties. How can this be?! Where did the years go?!? Sigh... I guess I'd better make the most of this year! Really the only thing I would change would be having more kids, but that's a blog post for another day...

I actually had a great birthday! I started the day with a yummy breakfast made just the way I like it - because I'm the one who made it, ha ha!!Bacon, eggs, wheat toast and a fruit smoothie - and, of course, I used the "You are Special" plate, because, let's face it - I am special. Ha! {Please keep all "short bus" and "special ed" comments to yourself. Resist the urge. Fight it, I say!}

Most of my day was pretty low-key. I got lots of birthday wishes on FB and via text. Ethan and I went and got lunch and discovered we share a love for cheddar and sour cream Ruffles. Then we went to 7-11 for a slurpee for Ethan and soda for me {and we picked up an extra Dr. Pepper for a good friend who'd had a long day}.

Dinner that night was not my #1 choice {Sweet Tomatoes - we finally live close to one and haven't been in almost a year!} but I didn't want to battle Ethan, so we did Red Robin instead and I got my free birthday burger {terriyaki burger, I think - it was ok. Believe it or not, I am actually not a huge fan of Red Robin burgers. I prefer their chicken sandwiches and salads}. I also ordered a cherry limeade {yum! I usually just have water}.Unbeknownst to me, Sean had tipped off the staff to it being my birthday right when we walked in the door. At the end of the meal I was subjected to wearing "balloon years" {SO GLAD there is not a picture of that!} and being sung to. At least I got a free ice cream sundae for my humiliation {though we only ate a couple bites because we were full from dinner and I knew there was cake to be had with our Vancouver homies later that night}.Oh, and this was Ethan after he'd finished. The secret to a non-stressful dining experience. We don't let him start out with it and he doesn't know when we'll have it (we don't always bring it) but breaking out the portable DVD player and headphones towards the end of the meal, right when he starts to get really antsy, is most helpful!
Fast forward to about 10pm and that's when we were able to round everyone up once kids were in bed. The McLauchlins, Vicki, Jenn, Cassidy and Steph all came by (all other husbands were either out of town or home with little kids). We drank Brazilian lemonade {sooo good! Recipe is from Our Best Bites and is perfect for summer! Try it!!} and chatted while waiting for everyone to arrive. And then dessert was this bad boy from Cheesecake Factory via Costco. $15 for the whole cake (12 slices) vs $6 a slice at the restaurant.

{Photo from http://lightinthesphere.blogspot.com/}

"Layers of moist vanilla cake filled with a light lemon mascarpone cream topped with streusel." Very similar to the lemon cake at Olive Garden and absolutely delicious! It's a seasonal item at Costco and I highly recommend it.

Birthday presents trickled in over the next few days and included lots of fun "luxuries"! New bath stuff in my favorite scents, new romantic comedy DVD, my first iTunes card, new books, fun new jewelry, etc. My friend Jenn made me this for my kitchen and I love it! Apparently I have gotten quite the reputation around here for my baking, so I loved that she made this for me. It hangs on my baking cabinet, right by the sink and kitchen window. Pretty sure I've never had art in my kitchen. Most notably missing, that I am unable to take a picture of, is our new camera! My parents bought Sean and I a new camera as a combined birthday present and I LOVE it!! Our old camera was good, but it was definitely time for an upgrade - most buzz-worthy improvement being the leap from 5 mega-pixels to 14 mega-pixels! Oh, and the touch screen is pretty sweet. I can not get over the how much better the quality is - even with just the automatic setting.

A few weeks after my birthday, I was at Kohl's shopping for Sean's birthday and father's day and was able to spend some of my b-day money/gift card on a pair of sweet new kicks. On sale and I had an extra 20% off coupon! Love a good deal. And aren't they stylish! I haven't had new running shoes in 2, almost 3, years - so these were long overdue. :)
And... I think that's about it! Can you believe there are NO birthday pictures of me? Not a single one. And we didn't even do candles on the cake, so no one sang to me. Lame. And kinda sad, really. But, there you have it. My final birthday in my twenties. Yeah... still having mixed emotions about the whole thing!