Get your Nerd on!

 For Sareny's ninth birthday, she decided to have a nerd party. I got us some awesome nerd outfits at Goodwill, and just put on my old glasses. Yep, I used to wear those.

 Nerd sissies.

 Sareny invited a bunch of friends, who mostly showed up in full nerd regalia. The first activity was seeing who could build the tallest tower out of city blocks.

 Then we went  outside and the kids did a water relay. They had to take a sponge and run across the yard, where they squeezed the sponge into a little water bottle.

 Everybody seemed to have a lot of fun with this one.

 Sareny running her fastest!

 Lexi was a way good sport, and went all out in her nerdiness, complete with lipstick on her teeth.

 We went inside and played another relay game, where they had to balance paperclips on plastic knifes and carry them across to a jar.

 Here is her friend Christella.

 IJ was pretty good at it.

 Sareny dropping the paperclip into the jar.

At some point, we went back outside and dropped mentos into various 2 liters of pop to see which one went the highest. Out of the selections we had, diet Coke was the winner. (But we didn't have Pepsi, so who knows!)

Inside we did an experiment with balloons filled with baking soda that we fitted over jars filled with vinegar. When you dumped the powder from the balloon into the jar, it would inflate the balloon. It was pretty cool. We also tried an experiment with a boiled egg that didn't go over so well--we didn't have the right size of container.

 The balloon is getting larger!

 Rhys, Finley, Ally, Sareny, Amelie.

We did a pinata, and I was pretty ticked off at the cheap quality and have made the determination to NEVER purchase a pinata from Walmart again. It is worth it to drive to a decent carnicaria. We lined the kids up and the birthday girl got the first whack at the pinata. She was also the only child to get a whack at the pinata. Lame. But apparently it was the most exciting moment of her life, and she kept gushing about how exciting it was to be the one to break the pinata open.

 We took a few group pictures of the nerdy friends. They were so cute!

 Sareny selected peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes, which turned out really delish.

Most of the kids never would have known that, however, as they just licked the frosting or picked the candy off the top and then threw the rest away. What the what??

 She made a wish and blew out the candles.

 Then it was on to birthday presents.

 She got some really nice, thoughtful gifts.

 I think it's safe to say this was one of the best days of her life!

As soon as the party was over, we loaded up into the van and headed over to the drive-in, where we saw The Croods. Holli and Rhys came along for the fun, but John had to stay home to grade papers. We had such a fun time!

Weddings and Cupcakes Galore

We had a final wedding event for Lexi, which was her Arizona open house. Several months ago, I somehow found myself volunteering to make over 200 cupcakes for the event. That's a lot of cupcakes. Especially when you consider that I made 70 red velvet cupcakes that I just didn't like how they turned out, so I had to scrap them and make something else instead.

We made an assortment of chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, Oreo cupcakes, and snickerdoodle cupcakes. I really thought all three varieties turned out so yummy and cute.

 Here I am with KeeKee behind the cupcake display table. I was honestly surprised when I ended up liking the snickerdoodle cupcakes the best--I was worried they wouldn't be able to compete with cupcakes gobbed up with Reese's candy and oreo cookies, but I think they held their own.

Here is our family at the venue. The open house was held at Verrado, a planned community in Buckeye. It was a really pretty area.

Lexi and Scott headed over to sample the cupcakes before everybody arrived. They must have known they would get busy, because Lexi said that was the only cupcake she got the whole evening.

John had flown in because of some family medical emergencies, and he took a break from the hospital to come hang out with us. It was really nice to have him there!

The kids had lots of fun running around with their friends.

I have to point out here that I actually did Sareny and Finley's hair, since it seems like usually if it looks fancy or exceptionally cute, somebody else did it. Sammy and Sareny.

Cute little IJ Isaac.

Sammy, Sareny, Scott's cousin Grace, Finley, and Sydney.

 Lexi came over and stood on the wall with the little girls.

The bride and groom by the fountain.

And a more closeup shot of them.

It was a really beautiful reception, and a really beautiful night. Apparently I didn't get any pictures, but Grammy Jo and Bampa were there as well. In fact, Keith and my dad went golfing the morning of the reception and Grammy Jo helped me finish up the cupcakes by attaching the mini oreo, chopped Reese's, or cinnamon sugar as I frosted them.