Minions come gather -- Jack is 8!

Themed birthday parties is a beloved Decrow Family tradition. Year after year we find a theme that will allow us to be creative. We enjoy developing fun games to play during the party, trinkets to hand out after the party, but most importantly the 3D Cakes! The greatest part is all I have to do is bake the cakes and Jake constructs and decorates! The family has dubbed this "Jake's cakes".

For years I would spend hours months in advance of the parties to find creative and clever ideas. Now Pinterest has really made the development of themed birthday parties so much simpler. It only takes a few hours of investigation the week leading up to to the invite and Whola! I have more ideas than I can possibly complete for the amazing party.

This year Jack had many different themes he wanted to carry out. The most elaborate was a Pinewood Derby theme (next year) but on the heals of just moving into the new house, and his sisters CLUE Murder Mystery Sleepover, I encouraged something simpler. Despicable Me theme it is! Now, I've never seen the movie, but the kids had lots of things they wanted to do for the party. My first thought after searching Pinterest was to have minion cupcakes all around GRU's 3D head. This idea was a bust for two reasons: That would require 5 boxes of cake and Jack really wanted a 3D minion. So, 3D Minion is was.



The kids had a great time playing games: shooting darts at the balloon minions, archery at the minions, ping pong toss into the minion's mouth (game developed and created by Grampy & Abby).

The kids parted with cute minion themed trinkets. First, I want to say "I HATE GOODIE BAGS!". Who ever schemed up the idea that every child leaves a birthday party with a goodie bag should be tarred alive! That said, I was on the hunt. Since minions love fruit , RUNTS were a good choice. Bananas being minion's favorite fruit, we had banana flavored Twinkies in minion wraps. Lastly, I had to do something that was not junk, a minion themed frisbee. That brought Jack's 8th birthday party to a close! See all pictures on our Pinterest board.

Abby's 11th Birthday - CLUE slumber party!

1920's Gangster

1920's Flapper Girl

Is it murder or just a mystery?

 Abby really wanted to have a themed slumber party this year so she decided to step of the theme from a traditional character to the board game theme CLUE! This was absolutely a wonderful party to get ready for. We sent invitations to all the participants with a color and suggested they RSVP with their character name. She encouraged them all to come dressed for a fancy dinner party in their respective color. Here is the list of attendees: Stella Black, Jack the knife, Piper Purplecious, Madam Sour Lemon, Ms. Hot Pinkilcious, Ms. Alabaster Pearl, Penelope Pinkerton, Madam Sour Lime, Madam Crystal Crimson,  and Professor Bleu Marine.

Once the guests arrived, they all got themselves ready for the party and I was able to take their pictures and make the playing cards. I have to say, this was my favorite part. Recreating all the pieces. PINTEREST had lots of ideas and many people offered free templates.

The matter of playing CLUE. Every player had a score sheet and a die. Each player rolled and paced through our house the number on the die, just like the real game. The first time through the suspects turns as great, but we soon realized that there is a reason that there are only 6 original players! IT TAKES TOO LONG to get through to your next turn. If we play again, TEAMS! I highly encourage limited the number of players to 6.

The last matter was the 3D cake. As usual, the cakes are best developed by dear old dad! Jake really has a great skill when it comes down to making the best 3D cakes. Abby and Jack were pretty set on the Roaring 20s look with their outfits so a Flapper Cake it was. The feathers were just what we were looking for to top off this beautiful cake.

We ending the night with a Slumber Party with the girls watching the 1985 CLUE movie. This I would not recommend either. The parental rating for this movie was made in much looser times and the girls did not find it appropriate (Shame on me for not pre-screening). They did however enjoy the 2010 Jackie Chan movie, The Spy Next Door!

Lego Robotics!

Today I spent the day with a group of people from all over Maine looking to get into Lego Robotic with their children. This fantastic programing was offered by the Univerisity of Maine Cooperative extension and MaineRobotics.org was facilitate by Tom Bickford - Robotics Instructor, Ben Goff &
Sarah Sparks - 4H Science programming.

July 4th fun

First weekend in camp this summer. Temperatures were in the mid 90s everyday. The lake water was refreshing, yet warm. Lots to be thankful for and enjoy. We arrived mid afternoon Thursday and put the dock in the water. Usually a 2 hour job too Jake and I the better half of 5 hours - heat.  Jack jumped off the dock for the very first time! Looking back, Abby too jumped her first time at age 7 on July 4th weekend. Jack and Abby both have taken well to kayaking on their own. Jack fished too right from his.

Mario Brother's Birthday

Jack decided to have a Mario Brother's birthday party for his 7th birthday. It was  alot of fun researching on Pinterest the different ideas people have. First we needed to get the gift bags together.

Toad's Treats!

Abby helped get the decorations in order. She free-handed Yoshi and painted it - Isn't that great!

Abby's First Day Jumping Off the Dock

July 4th 2010 was the first day Abby decided to jump off the dock in Upper Lead Mountain Pond! After that session of swimming, she decided to jump off the back of the boat in the middle of the lake. She even swam to shore! Approximately 250 yards! Big water weekend for Abby.

Josefina Jayne Decrow - Josie for short

We have a new baby! She is a black lab who was born on August 22, 2009. We have had a couple of great weeks with our little lady. Abby is enjoying the training and Jack can't stay far enough away. I have spent my nights reading the "family dog" the Monks of New Skete and internet resources on training our little pup. Thanks to our neighborhood girls, Josie is able to get out and play after they get off the bus.