Father's Day

When Corbyn was born right before Father's Day, we thought it was super fun that Corbyn was Rog's Father's Day present that year. But now as the years go by, it's not as fun. Father's Day is completely overshadowed by Corbyn's birthday and his birthday actually falls on Father's Day about every 6 years. I mean, it could definitely be worse. Father's Day isn't the hugest holiday, but still it's a bit of a bummer.

I had planned to make a special breakfast for Father's Day (can't remember what now), but we had a bunch of cinnamon rolls leftover from Corbyn's birthday (and that was what he wanted anyway), so cinnamon rolls it was!

I swear this happens every year - uncooperative kids for a Mother's Day picture, but totally cooperative kids for a Father's Day picture. 😂

He requested a blower, so that's what he got. (I took this picture at Home Depot and sent it to him to make sure I was buying the right one because I'm completely unqualified when it comes to buying tools.)

We also made him a Pinterest-inspired gift. I cheated and added the letters in Photoshop after taking the picture because I knew it would turn out better that way. Call me crazy, but I didn't think it would go very well to write on the kids' feet (especially Logan's).

(He also got a coin/key holder made out of popsicle sticks that Corbyn made at school.)

Rog wanted his Grandma Phillips' spaghetti for dinner. I never want to make it because I know it's never going to taste just like when his grandma made it. Whenever we've ask for the recipe, it's totally unspecific (it calls for a jar of spaghetti sauce - what brand?! what size?! 😜). But despite my grumpiness in making it, based on this picture, I think it was a success.

We had skookies for dessert and based on this picture, those were a success too!

Corbyn got this game for his birthday from a friend and the kids were dying to try it out. We played after dessert and before baths and it really was very fun.

Diana, Jared, and I decided to make this DAD frame for our dad (Papa George) for Father's Day. I cut out the letters and mailed them to Diana and Jared. Then each family took a picture holding the letter and emailed it to me to edit. (We totally lucked out when we got our family picture on the second try! Apparently it took Jared more than 150 tries or something crazy to get his picture.) I emailed the edited pictures to Diana, she printed them off, and put them in a frame for Father's Day. We decided to do it at the last minute, so it was a little stressful getting it done in time, but I'm glad we did it. I think it turned out pretty cute!

And that was Father's Day in all its overshadowed-by-Corbyn's-birthday glory!

Corbyn's Birthday

Here in Oregon it's not a given that Corbyn won't have school on his birthday. This year school went until June 21st with all the snow makeup days they had to do! (It was originally supposed to get out on June 16th.) But this year his birthday was on a Saturday, so he didn't have school.

We let him open one present the night before his birthday - Mario pajamas, so he could wear them to bed and wake up in them on his birthday.

He got a Nerf gun (want)...

A Pokémon binder and some cards (need - he had acquired a pretty big collection from friends and needed a place to store them)...

A Mario shirt and the Mario pajamas he had already opened (wear), and An Elephant & Piggie Biggie! with Elephant & Piggie stuffed animals (read).

He requested cinnamon rolls for breakfast (and Rog was mad because that meant I wouldn't make them for Father's Day the very next day).

On birthdays we let the kids watch as many shows as they want, but all he wanted to do was play Mario Chess (a present from his friend party the day before) all day.

The pizzas from his t-ball fundraiser were ready that morning, so Rog and the kids picked them up and took them to the people who ordered them while I went to yoga. (I had done my long run on Thursday, so I wouldn't have to do 20 miles on his birthday, but I needed to do something.)

That afternoon they had a Lego thing at the library and Corbyn wanted to go, so I took him and Peyton while Rog stayed home with a napping Logan.

A little later we went to see Boss Baby at Mt. Hood Theatre. It's an old theatre that only has one screen, so it was only playing at one time and that time wasn't the best, but we made it work.

Corbyn had requested Sweet and Sour Meatballs (the meal my friend Megan brought us when he was born!) for dinner. We knew we were going to be hungry and ready for dinner as soon as we got home from the movie, so I cooked them earlier in the day and put them in the crockpot on "keep warm" while we were gone. They weren't quite as good as they would have been if they were fresh out of the oven, but Corbyn was happy with them.

Grandma and Grandpa Ririe were coming the next week and we had decided to have his cake while they were here. So we put a candle in some ice cream (with sprinkles), sang to him, and called it a day!

And what a fun day it was, celebrating our big 7 year old!

Corbyn's Birthday: Party

I had fun throwing a Mario party for Corbyn's birthday. Since we don't live by family anymore, I'm only throwing one party per kid per year. This one had a lot of little details that took a long time, so it was a really good thing I was only throwing one party! 

We decided to have his party the day before his birthday right after he got home from school.

(I bought a big pack of Mario clipart on Etsy for like $2 and I used it to make the invitations and so many other things for the party.)

I ordered Princess Peach hats for Peyton and Kinley and made Mario hats for the boys out of red foam visors and sticky white foam. I thought I'd be able to cut out the M on my Silhouette, but the sticky foam was too think, so I cut them by hand.

We started the party out with some refreshments. For drinks we had Mario and Luigi Juice. I made the straws using this Chomp Plant Heads file. I cut them out (again by hand) and taped them to green straws.

For a cake we had mini mushroom cupcakes.

Then we played Pin the Mustache on Mario. I printed out a big Mario at FedEx Office and I cut the Mario mustaches on my Silhouette using this official Mario mustache released by Nintendo. 

I had purchased some sticky Mario Mustaches for the boys and after they took their turn pinning the mustache on Mario, we had them put them on. Unfortunately they were really itchy, so they pulled them off right after taking this picture. I wanted to get a picture of all the boys, but only got one of these 4 - Kingston Yates, Corbyn, Emery Martyn, and Sebastian Locker (not pictured - Owen Sullivan and Chayse Yates).

 

At this point we attempted an obstacle course. It didn't go exactly as I had imagined/hoped, but it was still fun. I got most of my ideas for the obstacle course from here, here, and here. First they went through this "Warp Tube" (borrowed from a friend).

Then they had to weave through the "Piranha Plants" (I cut green noodles in half, threaded a red dot balloon through the hole in the noodle, and used skewers to stick the noodles into the grass).

After that they had to "Stomp on a Goomba". (I cut the faces out of vinyl scraps on my Silhouette using this template as a guide for the shapes and super glued black plates to the bottom for the feet. These were a labor of love and I was so happy with how they turned out.)

Next they went down the slide into the brick wall. (The brick wall was also quite the labor of love! I ordered a bunch of 8"x8"x8" boxes, printed off bricks from these printable block templates, cut them out, and glued them onto the boxes. I made 16 bricks and covered 5 sides of the boxes, so do the math - that's 80 bricks I had to cut out and glue on! I was also very pleased with how these turned out.)

Then it was time for the final battle with Bowser. I ordered Rog a Bowser costume on Amazon and (SPOILER ALERT!) it's going to make another appearance at Halloween.

The "Fireballs" were tennis balls covered in red, orange, and yellow plastic tablecloth squares.

At this point, some of the boys were dying to play Super Mario (the actual video game), so we let them go up and play for a few minutes while the rest of the kids gathered "Gold Coins" (gold dessert plates) on the tramp.

We ended the party with a Star Pinata.

For favors the boys got a Mario cup, a Mario Kart fruit snack, a Mario pencil, gold coins, a Mario skateboard keychain, and homemade Mario tattoos (made with leftover temporary tattoo paper from Peyton's party). 

And the girls got Princess Peach rings, homemade Princess Peach tattoos, gold coins, a Mario pencil, and a glow stick wand.

After the party we had some pizza with the Yates (Corbyn's request) and then they took the kids home with them for date night swap. We had ambitiously planned on going to the temple, but weren't feeling up to it, so we just used the time to clean up from the party and get stuff ready for Corbyn's birthday the next day. (Banner from here.)

It was a fun party for our Mario boy!

7 Years

Here we are 3 months past Corbyn's birthday and I'm finally getting around to posting about Corbyn at 7 years. 🙈 And I thought 2 months late was bad!

There's no official 7 year well child visit, but he was at the doctor a few weeks before his birthday for his skin issues and then a week after for a terrible stomach bug that lasted a week, so I'm including a combination of those stats. 

Corbyn's 7 year stats:

Weight: 54 pounds, 13 ounces (70th percentile)

Height: 51 inches (92th percentile)

Corbyn at 7 years:

*Is always saying, "Right?" (in the cutest voice) after he says something.

*Is a very good student and is always very well behaved. I got nothing, but excellent reports from his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Christensen, who we knew from the Sunnyside Ward.

*Loves playing video games. He has a bunch he rotates between. (Megaman, Pokemon, Mario, and Disney Infinity are some of his favorites.)

*Learned to play chess during all the recesses they had to stay inside due to rain.

*Has become a good reader. This summer he read all 9 of the Ricky Ricotta books.

*Wasn't playing with his Legos too much when they were up in his closet, so we moved them down to the family room in the built-in cabinets and they've gotten much more use again.

*Can tie his shoes like a pro.

*Doesn't really have any friends in his grade, but has a bunch of friends in the grade below him. For better or for worse, he doesn't seem to need friends to play with at recess.

*Has mostly grown out of his picky eating habits of past years. He pretty much eats anything I put in front of him (even things that used to cause him to melt down when they appeared on his plate).

He's quite the little fish (even if he's been stuck on the same level of swimming lessons for a couple years now - he just can't seem to glide on his back far enough to pass).

Wearing Grandma Lori's CPAP mask.

Grandma Lori has these cute beds for the kids to sleep on when we visit. Corbyn's already too big for them, but doesn't mind - even when I find him like this in the middle of the night.

Tricky, tricky! (I didn't crop this one very closely because Peyton is picking her nose. 😂)

I was not happy with his school picture when he brought it home, but we were at Disneyland on retake day, so it had to do.

Soccer was not his sport, but he loved having his dad be his coach.

The rest of the family did a Toy Story theme for Halloween, but he was adamant that he was going to be Iron Man.

Baby Corbyn.

Looking so big riding one of the Toon Town cars.

Big hugs for Pluto. I hope he's never too old for this.

He usually plays with the Lego minifigures or builds his own creations with his Legos, but occasionally he'll pull out an instruction book and build one of his sets.

Exhibit A. Corbyn is by far my messiest eater and it drives me bonkers! I feel like he should be able to eat without getting himself messy by now. Or at the very least, he should be able to wipe off his face after he eats, right? He just doesn't care.

Wearing Logan's clothes. Lol.

On more than one occasion, he's told us he wants to be an artist. I seriously doubt this will last, but it'll be fun to remember someday.

Corbyn and Logan traded jackets on New Year's Eve. I don't know which is funnier, Corbyn in Logan's tiny jacket or Logan in Corbyn's huge jacket.

He finally lost his first tooth in January and this is the face he gave me for his picture!

Luckily I got a cute one too!

I've already posted this picture, but it's one of my favorites. My gray men!

#4 has my heart! I loved watching him play t-ball this spring!

He was pretty excited that he got a trophy - his first one!

Exhibit B. Messiest eater ever!

He would stay inside playing video games all day, every day if we let him, but he seems to love hiking and playing in waterfalls too when we get him out.

Corbyn reminds me a lot of myself which I think is mostly a good thing. He's such a good kid and seems so grown up most of the time! I can't believe he's going to be 8 next year and will be old enough to be baptized!