Jonathan's Construction Birthday Party, August 2010

Then came Jonathan's birthday. Daddy gave him a Swiss Army knife at breakfast. Daddy also made french toast, and we put a candle in Jonathan's stack. He thought that was a gas!

We had a construction party! What a fun time! I sent out invitations that were written on paint color chips. You know, those cards in the hardware store that show paint colors? Each box had a sentence..."Jonathan is "fixin" to turn 6! Construction site: our address. Shift: 2-4pm, and the date. RSVP to site boss, Darla, and our phone. Dress for mess!" When each of the 8 kids arrived, they were given a tool belt filled with a paint stir stick, a carpenter's pencil, a tape measure/level, a foam paintbrush, and a painters disposable hat, all of which was theirs to take home. Michael had made a house out of a refrigerator box, complete with windows and a door (with a milk jug handle doorknob!) Half of the kids started painting on the house, and the other half demolished a tower of boxes using a wrecking ball. After that got old, they had a wheelbarrow race. Then the teams switched places so everyone got a chance to use their paintbrushes to paint. Thankfully, some of the moms stayed, or this mom would have been a wreck!

The cake I made was sort of the one shown in the magazine for this party. I decided to use chocolate zucchini cake instead of a pound cake. I DID go to the store hoping to find 4 mini chocolate-covered doughnuts, 4 Twix, and 2 Twinkies. Note to self: don't leave things like this until crunch time. I bought a bag of about 24 mini chocolate-covered doughnuts, a huge bag of Twix, and a box of 12 Twinkies. ugh. Had I thought a little longer, I would have gone to a convenience store, right? Right. Then I wouldn't have had to eat the rest of the doughnuts and Twinkies. Jonathan saw the picture of the cake I was going to bake and said, "That's not an excavator, it's a backhoe loader." He wanted tracks, so we rigged up some Twizzler twists around the doughnuts. The cake was a hit.

Now, if you think that I think up all these things by myself, well, you have another think coming! This came straight from a Family Fun magazine, circa April 2008. (I saw it then, was fully aware of the little boy I was raising, and thought to myself, "Self, you ought to pull this one out and keep it. You're going to want it one of these years.") I am glad I kept it. I went into our local lumber yard to see if they had free nail pouches, paint sticks, brushes, anything I could get free or cheap as I was making a dozen. I had the pages I had torn out of the magazine with me. The lady helping me saw in the list of things to pack in the tool belt "Small measuring tape, $1, Home Depot" and promptly sat to her computer and ordered me a dozen for $1 each! She did everything she could to give me discounts or freebies. We live in a cool town.