 1 The plan - in case I completely lose it with all the boys running around. At last count there were 11 coming home from school with me! The little symbols on the side are medal-winning competitions. |
 2 Ben helping me frost the cake. He really enjoyed cleaning the spoon off. He'd lick it clean, then go rinse it off in his bathroom. He really did a nice job each time. (Of course I washed it with soap before reusing!) |
 3 Two spheres being sealed together to create a sun. This is attempt #2 at a sphere cake. I got good advice at the market - Town and Country - use pound cake. Indeed. It worked. |
 4 The spoon needs a little cleaning. |
 5 First layer is yellow - Sam's idea. They tinted the frosting for me at the market. |
 6 Then the red, and creating solar flares and coronal loops from heaps of frosting. Tell me it resembles a sun? Please? |
 7 This was the first attempt. An oblate spheroid, not quite spherical, and made from Rice Krispy treats in a mold. Very hard to do, but very very solid cake. If you want to put candles in it, you have to use a drill. Seriously. Good for structural elements in a cake, but not as edible...as you will find out later. |
 8 The sun hanging out in the fridge waiting for boys to come home! |
 9 They have arrived at our house. Sam wanted to show them one of Beethoven's symphonies, but when they all arrived we opted for Animusic as a brief entertainment between pizza and cake. If you haven't seen Animusic, just look for it on YouTube - it's very cool computer animated music. I had the camera in the back pocket of my jeans read to grab as many shots as I could! |
 10 Some of us singing happy birthday...They seemed to love this cake - asking for seconds and thirds! We turned everyone loose outside afterwards :) |
 11 There's the cake with all the candles. |
 12 On to the first of the events. They were SO eager to start tugging we couldn't get teams organized! They just started pulling! We are not sure which team won - it was a very "fluid" event. |
 13 Then some roping - this was fun. I got to work with each boy a little and get to know him. |
 14 This guy won! He roped my steer! I thought that hat matched the activity pretty well, but he informed me it was a gangsta hat. |
 15 The boys are now running around looking for treasure I hid in the woods. I told them there was a K made from sticks (our last name starts with K). The back of the k points north, directly toward the treasure box. This kept them busy for a little while... |
 16 They loved running around on the trails. I am so glad we cut those trails...I am remembering all the machete work. I did a safety check just before the party, too. Some nettles and blackberries are starting to grow again, believe it or not. |
 17 Ah ha! I think they may have found the big K! |
 18 Yup! Found their way back to the treasure! Little 3 1/2 yr old Ben is right in there with them all (see the yellow bat toward the middle right of the frame). |
 19 For the spear throwing contest we thought it would be fun to have a target. What better target then the failed cake? Whoever knocked it over, won. We kept moving it closer to give the guys a better shot. |
 20 Finally someone knocked it over! |
 21 Nice throw! |
 22 This caked quickly got speared savagely by the boys ("Let's kill it! Kill it!") and then turned into a soccer ball! Oh my that was funny to watch. The frosting is coating our gravel driveway and most of our shoes. it finally fell apart and went in the trash. They thought that was most unusual but fun. I can only imagine the stories that went home about this. |
 23 I tried a kick for the football competition - kicking to see how far it would go. Much to the boys' amusement, my shoe went flying 15 ft straight up in the air right after the football went airborne! |
 24 Everyone has gone home now, rosy-cheeked, tired and happy. We are thankful for all the fun with those boys. We had a very busy and wonderful time playing with them for nearly three hours of a what was essentially a loosely organized extended recess. They helped Dave build a fort, roped the steer, speared the cake, played chase, more soccer and football. And now Sam is already busy building Marble Run Mania - his most-wished for present. Thanks for a great day, and for being such a wonderful son, Sam! We love you! |
 25 Ben is becoming a robot - he thinks these are his robot fingers. He had a good time - mixing it right up with all those boys. He played with the younger sibling of one of the boys - a little girl - and seemed to have a nice time. |
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