A Lego Party

This past weekend we celebrated Finley's 5th birthday a little bit early with a Lego themed party. 

Here are the super cute invitations I found online and sent out. I made ours out of regular white card stock paper and folded them in thirds because I couldn't find tri-fold invitations. I didn't end up cutting them into strips either. But I still think they worked just fine!

We hosted his party at Bricks 4 Kidz. It is a fun Lego place where they hold classes, after school activities, and summer camps. With inviting 20 guests we figured it would be best to not host it at our  own house! 

All I had to worry about was providing a few decorations, the food, and the goodie bags. Finley and I made his name and the number 5 out of his Duplo Legos (seen above on table). Then we also got some balloons and weighted them with some glass jars filled with Duplo Legos. That was pretty much all we did decorating wise :). The place had a happy birthday banner with Ninjago characters since it was kind of a Ninjago themed party. 

As the children arrived we had free play. The kids were able to play in a huge vat of Legos and build whatever they wanted. Finley made a cute airplane.

His cute little friend Shan made this super long race car. 

Then the kids could race their creations down the ramp! They also had a little kids section with huge building blocks and even a train. 

Once all the children arrived each person was able to build their own mini-figure to take home. 

We then rounded the children up to sit in a circle. Each child had the chance to say their name and something they enjoyed doing, and then they had to say something they liked about the birthday boy. Finley enjoyed all the attention. 

Most of his friends said something they liked about his physical appearance. 

And one little friend said he liked Finley's "butt". It was pretty funny. Next the children were broken into groups and had three stations to rotate through. 

Station1: Spin Art

Using these Lego made contraptions the kids put paper plates on top of a surface that would spin around and allow them to make cool patterns with the markers. 

Station 2: Spinners

At this station the children spun these spinners (tops) and battled each other. They could attach different weapons onto the spinners as they fought. 

Station 3: Pin the Beard on Sensei Wu

Last the children had a chance to pin a beard onto Sensei Wu's face while blindfolded. 

After the stations were completed the children did a few Lego relay races. They had to do various things like run/walk with a Lego on your head or do a crab walk. 

Once the races were over we sat down to eat our snack and sing Happy Birthday to Finley. 

I turned some yellow plates into mini-figure heads. 

For snacks we had club crackers which kind of look like Lego bricks, grapes, and some homemade fruit snacks that looked like Lego bricks and mini-figs. 

I made some cakes to look like Lego blocks by double layering the cakes and adding some huge marshmallows on top. 

Then we had cupcakes for the kids topped with brick candy and chocolate mini-figs. 

It was a really fun party and very low stress for me which was great! Most of my time and effort went into the food and party favors. 

Each child got a little Lego brick looking bag to take home filled with goodies. 

Here is a close up of Finley's bag. 

Inside the bag we had some crayons shaped like mini-figs, a Lego magnet which you can display your mini-figure that you made on, a Lego necklace, and then a bag of Lego candy. 

I also threw in some Lego stickers and coloring sheets to top it all off. 

Finley really enjoyed celebrating with his friends and playing with all the Legos! We highly recommend Bricks 4 Kidz! I can't believe my little boy is turning 5. Where does the time go?

Spring Cleaning

I love a good before and after picture. For a while now I have been itching to get some things cleaned around our house. I finally bit the bullet and hired someone to come and pressure wash our house, deck, and driveway. Our siding was put up about 5 years ago and it was starting to get a little moldy. And I am pretty sure our deck and driveway haven't been touched in two decades. 

So it was time to get things cleaned up a bit! 

Driveway before: 

Driveway after: 

 It seriously looks so clean I don't want to walk on it. Or have anyone park on it. 

I think our walk way gets the best before and after pictures award. 

The main part of our house that was bugging me the most was the trim. With the trim being white it was really easy to see all the dirt and grime that has built up over the years. 

 Siding Before: 

Siding After: 

 Now I know our deck is still in really bad shape. We need parts replaced and the whole thing re stained or painted. But while we are trying to figure out what to do next, this will at least make me feel a little less embarrassed about our deck. 

Deck Before: 

Deck After: 

It had a lot of black mold and skuz built up on it. It almost looks naked now. 

Even parts of our brick were moldy.

I can't tell you how glad I am we got this done! 

This shows where the cleaners stopped pressure washing near the road. Look at the difference! 

Overall I am very happy about our 'spring cleaning'. Now we just have to decide what to do about our deck!  On top of this we are also in the process of putting down new pine straw everywhere. I feel like we are on curb appeal or something. Things are starting to look nice and very spring like over here! 

Crayons

Well if you haven't noticed, we are a little Lego crazy over here. We are gearing up for little man's birthday next month and the theme of his party is of course Legos! 

As one of his party favors I decided to buy these mini figure molds to make some crayons. It is super easy to do, just a little time consuming. I have some wonderful friends who gave me a bunch of their old broken crayons. After finally pealing all of the paper off the crayons, we broke them up, and then popped them into the oven!

I put them in for about 10 min at 300 degrees. Then let them cool for 15 - 20 minutes. 

Sticking them in the fridge helped cool them down a bit faster. 

And then we popped them out of the molds! Walla! I was really impressed with how well they turned out. And we only had a few casualties (a couple of lost heads or feet). But that only happened when I didn't let them cool down enough or I was rushing to get them out!

Because we only had those two molds above and you have to let them cool for so long it does take some time. But it is the perfect activity for a rainy or sick day. Of which we had both this week. 

I think I might also try making some homemade fruit snacks for the party with these same molds. I am hoping those will turn out just as well. We also have a Lego brick mold which I am using to make chocolate bricks with. Those pretty much look like crap right now. It is really hard to get the air bubbles out and get the little bumps on the Legos filled. Oh well. At least the crayons look nice! We are getting very excited for his party over here!