Minecraft!

We thought that since the Wii dance party had been a big hit, we'd try another technological interest! As soon as I floated the idea of using Minecraft for the next church family event, the girls were all in favour! Their enthusiasm was promising and I talked to Julie about it and she was immediately on board as well and found some great table decorations plus a great big wearable creeper head! A friend of mine had used a Minecraft theme for her son's bday recently so I got some good ideas for party snacks from her and looked to Pinterest for decorations!

It was a lot of work and I may or may not have blown the budget but the room looked fabulous when the kids all arrived! I got there early and started putting balloons and things up. Julie & I had done a bit of decorating the night before but there's always the last minute stuff plus the food to set out.

Everything was awesome! One mom asked if we had any other games/activities lined up and when I admitted we didn't, she said "that's great! My daughter only wants to play Minecraft and she was afraid you'd make them stop to do other stuff!"  Until the kids all fired up their iPods/Pads/androids and could NOT get their games to join up. It was instant panic and stress! (and the kids were upset too!) THIS was NOT my department. THIS was the part that was supposed to take care of itself. I'd talked to my IT guy about having so many devices on the church wifi at the same time, no concerns there, and checked that off my list! We had more kids at this party than any other that I can remember! It had looked so promising, and did I mention the fabulous food and decor???? It was supposed to be fun and everything perfect!!! Everyone was going to go home and say our party was lame!!! The horrors!!!

Eventually Murray and Dale got things working so they could play but connections kept dropping and it didn't go as planned. I was upset but Dale cheered me up when he told me he overheard one little guy say:

"This minecraft party is awesome!!! I wish they'd have one EVERY week!!!"

and another boy had to leave early so the mom could get his sister to dance lessons and he was almost in tears he was so upset to go before it was over!

I talked to the kids on the way home and they all said it wasn't what they'd imagined but they'd still liked it and had a good time and would like to do it again. By the next day the sense of dismal failure had passed and I decided that our record breaking attendance was nothing to be disappointed in. Teena pointed out that to those who didn't know exactly what to expect were perfectly happy and it only seemed worse to me because I'd had a plan in mind. Those that didn't know the plan didn't care! and that's why she's my BFF! She fixes everything!   mmmmmwah!

Showtime!

Violin week was last week and Lovey had 3 performances. She ended up with 1 first place & 2 second places. In the end she was disappointed at placing second. It was especially bothersome to her that the first place violinist was only 6 and it stung a little to be outdone by someone younger. All 3 played the exact same piece so the level of difficulty was the same and I thought Lovey's had been just as good as the first place girl. Murray thought Lovey's had more feeling to it and the other sounded a bit stiffer. It hit Lovey pretty hard. She was very quiet and stared out the window the whole drive home as she thought about it. We'll see if it motivates her to work harder and take less breaks next year or not!

One of the highlights was that she got interviewed and had her picture in the newspaper!

waiting to go up for her final piece!



all done for another year.

 and posing for me because she left after her piece before I could take a pic!

                                

She made careful notes on the suggestions from the adjudicator on the first day to prep for her last performance.

Fashion Faux Pas

I had helped Lovey put her hair up in a high pony tail and it stayed there for most of the day. At bedtime she took it out and was surprised at the resulting style. She came out of the bathroom, laughing incredulously.

Lovey: MUM!!!!LOOK at my HAIR!!!! DAD LOOOOK!!!!
Me: oh wow, it looks nice!
Murray: yeah, it's great Lovey, I like it!
Lovey: (collapsing into giggles) MUM! DAD! It's NOT the 80s!!!

Easter!

Easter morning found new footwear and chocolate galore! It was a quick hunt but yielded good results, they're just getting faster. Unfortunately Sweetie had been ill with flu and fever for a few days and wasn't really feeling up to looking for or eating treats so we knew she was still really sick! It took over a week for her to feel better and be able to eat food again!

Someone brought in cupcakes for Sunday School just in case there wasn't enough sugar at home?

Exploring with Honey

Honey and I made our getaway one Saturday afternoon to go check out a waterfall. It had been a long week with a very sick Sweetie and Honey was feeling a bit neglected. This outing put some wind back in her sails! We had to park off the highway and hike in a bit to see the falls, but you can hear them as soon as you stop your car. With all rain and melt, these were roaring! We had a fun excursion and got a treat at Bulk Barn on the way home, unicorn bacon, yum!