Canyon's 5th Birthday Party - Star Wars

Happy 5th Birthday to our little Canyon-land.  I can't believe Canyon is FIVE YEARS OLD.

Time passes way too fast.

For Canyon's 5th birthday party he decided to have a Star Wars party which was great for me since I've already done 2 Star Wars parties.  He wanted black & green cupcakes with storm troopers & BB8's in them.  (He was really specific for a 5 year old which cracked me up.)

He was very happy how his cupcakes & decorations turned out.  He was such a happy little guy.

I just can't get over Canyon's eyes.  Have you ever seen anything so beautiful in your life?  And those lashes.  What a cutie pie.

I made some storm trooper balloons for our jedi training obstacle course.  Canyon thought they were hilarious.

And of course we had a BB8 pinata.

Each of the guests got a goody bag with some bubble wand light sabers.

And the table was set up about as Star Wars as you can get.  Canyon loved it.

The Jedi obstacle course was super cute too.  They had 12 storm troopers they had to defeat with their homemade light sabers.  The boys really had a great time with that.  It was their favorite part of the party.

I made some homemade light sabers out of pool noodles & duct tape.

I love this kid.  He drives me crazy 90 percent of the time, but I love him to death.  He's really growing into his little personality & it's been fun seeing him grow up.  He's hilarious, sweet, cuddly, & just loveable.

Once all the guests arrived, we started by making our lightsabers.  I let the kids use sharpies to decorate their lightsabers with buttons, levers, pictures, & anything else they wanted to throw on there.  They were SO cute.

Then all my new jedi's got to pose in their favorite jedi stance for a picture.

After we made lightsabers, it was time for Jedi Training.  We did flips, rolls, somersaults, & all sorts of neat things before we headed outside to defeat the stormtroopers.

Then they practiced their flips & tricks more on the trampoline.  They were all so cute.

After they were completely worn out from the heat & jumping around, we came inside to do some star wars legos.  I swear, little boys & their legos . . . they would have played for hours if I had let them.

Canyon's favorite part of any party is the piñata.

After the pinata fun, we went inside for cake & ice cream.

Finally, we opened presents & said goodbye to friends. 

Jacob gave him a really cool lego pop up book.

Josh & Jason gave him his favorite thing in the world - MARIO
in nightlight form.

Josh gave him a really cool lego set.

And Andrew, Lilly, & Thomas gave him a super huge water
gun for the summer.

It was a really great party.  Happy Birthday Canyon!

Lorien's Choir Concert

Lorien also had her final choir concert here at Crittenden Middle School.  She is REALLY going to miss choir, glee club, show choir, & musical theater.  She's really had a blast here & has learned so much.  She loves to sing, dance, & act on stage & it's been so much fun watching her the last 2 years. We are truly going to miss the music/drama program here in Mountain View.

Lorien performed with the glee club & show choir at this particular concert.  She even managed to surprise me with a SOLO in Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious!  

Click the links below to watch her perform:

Glee Club - Play That Song

Show Choir - Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious

Show Choir - Footloose

All choirs - Just One Heart

Great job Lo.  We are SO proud of you.

Lorien's Orchestra Concert

May is the end of the school year which means concert season at the Potter house.  Cadence had her symphonic orchestra concert earlier in the week & now it's Lo's turn.

Lo has really enjoyed playing her cello in Advanced Orchestra this year.  She's done an amazing job & ended the year as the first chair cello.  She played amazingly & I just love to see her talent grow.  The cello is such a beautiful instrument.  I love it so much.

Click the links below to hear her performance.

Plink, Plank, Plunk

Relay Race

Carol Ann's Theme from Poltergeist

Alley Cat

Great job Lo.  We are SO proud of you.

Outstanding Musician

The high school music department had a fun awards banquet BBQ luncheon at a park here in Mountain View instead of having a big boring assembly at the school.  I kind of loved this idea.  All the kids got to get together & eat & chat & just have fun.  It was a great atmosphere, the kids enjoyed it, the food was great, & the musicians still got to be recognized for their hard work during the school year.

We were totally surprised when they announced Cadence's name as Outstanding Musician for Symphonic Band.  She was pretty excited since it was a student voted award.  She's worked very hard this year & we are very proud of her.

Young Women Girls Camp Fundraiser Fun

Every year our church offers a girls camp for girls ages 12-18.  Both Cadence & Lorien love it.  But it can get pricey.  Our congregation always puts together some sort of fundraiser to help assist with the funds of girls camp.

This year they did a dessert auction & I got to bake all sorts of fun things.  My countertop was a mess with 8 eight inch round cakes.

I baked 12 mint brownies & 12 chocolate chip cookie brownie bars.

But the highlight of my baking experience was making my Reese's peanut butter fudge cake, & this year I tried my hand at making a cookies & cream cake.  It turned out DELICIOUS.

I also made 24 smaller versions of each cake to sell at the treat station.

It was a blast.  It was a TON of baking, but it was SO fun.  And we raised enough money to cover both my girls' girls camp funds.  They are SO excited.

Cadence's Symphonic Orchestra Concert

Cadence had the opportunity to be part of the Mountain View High School Symphonic Orchestra this year.  The orchestra consisted of both string & band instruments.  She played oboe.

They played one song for their concert, my favorite song of all time:

Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin

Unfortunately, I didn't get a video (as the full song lasted over 20 minutes), but they did an amazing job.  And two thumbs up for the senior boy who managed to play the song on the piano.  He was absolutely AMAZING.  

I'm really proud of the musician Cadence is becomming.  She does such an amazing job.

Mother's Day Leis

Mother's Day was wonderful this year.  It fell on Canyon's birthday (May 13th) so we got to share our day.  Trek was great & made sure I had a great day.  I got a bouquet of chocolate dipped strawberries, some camera lenses for my iPhone, & a cool Mickey wall decal for our new house.  It was a lovely day.

A few days before Mother's day, my dear friend Luti Gallahar taught me the art of making leis.  Luti is from Tonga & is the most wonderful & generous woman you've ever met.  She sat with me for 3 hours & taught me how to braid tea leaves with rafia & then showed me how to tie flowers to the braid to make a beautiful lei.

I got to make my own Mother's Day lei & it actually turned out really well.  It was beautiful.  I will forever be grateful to her for sharing a little piece of her beautiful culture with me.

One of my favorite parts of mother's day is all the cute cards the kids make me.  My favorite card ever came from Bladen this year.  Look how hilarious this kid is.

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful moms out there.

May the 4th Be With You

You know how I love to celebrate random holidays with my kids.  Being a HUGE Star Wars fan, I of course had to do a fun May the 4th dinner.

I made some Han Solo in Carbonite jello (which the kids thought was hilarious!)

some Han Burgers, Hoth Dogs, Vader Tators, & Tie Fighters for dessert.

It was silly, but fun.  The kids loved it.  After dinner we watched Star Wars together.  It was a blast.