If she had the proper words to say,

This morning was 'Breakfast & A Book' again at the boys' school. We all went, and while there, I also gifted their teachers with some cute, homemade goodies (to be shared about in a separate entry). I then walked the halls and gave the rest away to other teachers that happened to be milling about, as well as the entire office staff and the librarian. Then A.J. headed off to class, and Philip and I brought Jack home for a little bit.

The boys had their regular dentist check-ups yesterday, and Jack needed to go back this morning to have some sealants done. He's got the same substantial "grooves" on his molars that A.J. did years ago, and they want to prevent cavities in those grooves by sealing them now. I took him to that appointment, and then back to school before 9:30. While in the office, another teacher was asking me about the goodies, saying she'd already heard about them from several folks. Fun!

Then I went back at 11:00 for my regular Wednesday lunching with the boys. I'd forgotten to look at the school menu, so I had all my fingers crossed that it was something good... TACOS! I can always support tacos. ;-) A.J.'s group of friends was particularly talkative today, and that was fun. I had put a special, sealed bag in his friend Jade's desk early that morning, and she was BEGGING me to tell her what was in it. I shook my head, and promised her it was worth the wait! Then Jack's group of friends is always so much fun, and I love knowing all of them by name, and continuing individual conversations with the kids from week-to-week. Today, I let his friend Noah Dettmer know that I had *just* spoken with his mom and RSVP'd for the fun 'Mystery Theater' birthday party he's throwing this Saturday. He was very excited, and was *fist-pumping* the air. :-)

As I headed to the office, I was stopped by a few more folks, asking about the goodies. I apologized, saying I was now fresh out, but they still wanted to know how to make 'em. Then it became a baking jamboree discussion in the office, and I love that so many are so interested!

A.J. asked if we could head to Borders after school, and I've got a Bath & Body Works birthday giftcard burning a hole in my pocket, as well as a birthday giftcard to Wheatfield's, so... sounds like a plan to me!

The hours spent at the Amazing Pizza Machine were incredible! Jade really picked an awesome place for her birthday party. We dropped A.J. off in the party room (they have seven of them, by the way), and then Jack, Philip and I set off to explore the place for the next 2.5 hours while A.J. was in the party. We paid for our buffets and PlayPoints first, and then set out to find a place to sit. There was a "Car Toonery" dining room, featuring booth seats made out of the back of cars, and of course, cartoons playing on a gigantic screen. There was a "Johnny Sprocket" dining room, which was more the typical '50s diner style of decor and had four smaller TVs situated throughout the room. There was a Sports Bar room, but I didn't catch the name of it, and it had a big screen TV as well. We decided on the Italian-themed "Luigi's Cafe," with stucco'd brick walls and bushes and trees with little white lights under brightly colored Tiffany lamps. There was also a big screen TV in our dining room, and the Husker game was on (naturally).

The buffet was monstrous. Pizza, breadsticks, pasta, salad, tacos, mexican entrees, soup, ice cream, brownies, cookies and more. For drink choices, there was water, soda, milk, coffee and tea, plus every sweetener and creamer imaginable. I had some wonderful spaghetti with meat sauce, macaroni & cheese, and pizza (pepperoni, ham & pineapple, and bayou chicken). We ate slowly, and finished in just under an hour. Jack was anxious to get to playing games and riding rides!

He rode the bumper cars first, and it was his first time driving a car by himself. He picked the only orange car, of course. I was really wishing that we'd brought our camera with us... alas, all we had was our phone's camera. He figured out the controls quickly, and he gave it all he had to knock all the other folks around the bumper arena. He had so much fun! He rode the Frog Hopper as well - a ride that goes straight up in the air along a crane slowly, only to drop quickly and "hop" back and forth between different heights for a while. He even allowed another boy to go ahead of him and take the last seat so that he could have first pick of the seats on the next turn (he wanted the seat where the frog was wearing an orange ballcap). He laughed and giggled the whole time, and he was joined by a trio of other preschoolers - definitely the perfect ride for that age!

He played tons and tons of games: Dunk the Alien, Skee-Ball, glow-in-the-dark Dinosaur golf, night bowling, Jurassic Park with Daddy as his partner, Spin the Wheel (like Wheel of Fortune, kinda), and many, many others. He also rode the bumper cars two more times, just to use up his last PlayPoints. When we fed all his tickets in the Ticket Eater, he had 248! For his prizes, he picked out a glowstick, an oversized rainbow slinky, an orange hand-clapper, an orange car and a real Whoopee cushion. He promptly managed to drop his glowstick somewhere and lose it, and we weren't able to find it again (it was still in the package!). Oh well. It was exactly 5:30pm then, and time for us to pick up A.J. from the party. We'd been looking for him or any of his classmates the whole time we'd been playing games, but the place is so large that in 1.5 hours of both him and all of us playing games, we'd never run across him! We found him after the party, and learned that he'd gotten to ride two rides (the Frog Hopper, plus the 'Wild Ride,' one that Jack had been too short to ride), and he'd played a few games but not won any tickets. Though he had fun at the party, I don't think the kids really got a chance to do very much, and I felt kinda bad for him that Jack had gotten to do so much and had so much to show for it.

Philip and I decided that since we aren't throwing big birthday parties for the boys next year, the Amazing Pizza Machine would be a great place to take both of them for their birthdays and to spend several hours there with just our family - make it a really special day to celebrate both of their birthdays at once. We'll buy food and 250 PlayPoints (we'd only had 100 today), and we'll all just enjoy the afternoon together. Jack should be tall enough to ride a third ride by then, and A.J. will have grown the extra inch that will allow him to ride the fourth and final ride: the Coca-Cola Grand Prix Auto Race. And he will also get to experience much more of the place. :-)

Jack fell asleep on the way home, but he woke up when Daddy brought him inside the house. And he and A.J. proceeded to play with the Whoopee cushion for a few hours. Boys will be boys, right?

*shakes head*

We went to a birthday party on Saturday for Jack's preschool friend Lucas at Papio Greens, and it was the very first time that either of the boys had played miniature golf. Since it was a "first" time, of course I had my camera. (But then again, don't I usually... even for second and so on?)

It was a HOT day. Lucas had just come from a T-ball game, and he was beet-red before the party even started. The kids jumped around in a bounce house for a little while, but I honestly think they were getting too hot in there. Jack was the one to begin asking to play golf, and then everyone else followed. He and Lucas led the line for playing putt-putt, and they had a good time. One hole was quite difficult (the ball had to go up a metal cone - nearly impossible for kids), and everyone after Jack just skipped it. He tried it forever though, and I even took a video clip of him.

After playing putt-putt, the boys all shared some birthday cake. It was too windy outside (we were on the patio) for his candles to stay lit, so Lucas had to pretend to blow them out instead. Jack and A.J. were more interested in drinking as much as possible than cake - they were thirsty from all that heat!

( Pictures. )

Jack had a birthday party to go to today, and he was super-excited about it. The party was for Logan, a preschool classmate, and it was held at Kassebaum's ATA Black Belt Academy. He could hardly wait to get there and practice some karate!

I still don't know the differences between the types of martial arts, but this place was Taekwando, not Karate. Still, it was lots of fun! The party began with the kids taking a simple class. They started with warm-ups, moving on to learning positions and learning to say, "Yes, sir!" with each instruction. They learned punches, and then practiced them against a kicking stand. They learned kicks next, and practiced those against the stand too, as well as taking turns breaking through a brick in the Master's hands. They also kicked hand targets, and they practiced blocks (the Master would try to hit them over the head with a swimming noodle, and the boys had to block it). After the class, there was Star Wars cake and ice cream, and Logan opened his gifts. The boys then ran back onto the floor, and the played in elaborate obstacle courses, on exercise mats (of which Jack was so excited to tell everyone he had one at home as well!) and in a bounce house. Logan gave out Star Wars gift bags, and the Academy also gave each boy a bag filled with things (guest pass, pen, Asian bracelet, balloon and candy). The boys all got to keep their special belts as well, and Jack wore his until bathtime tonight.

He really enjoyed the time there, and he was smiles from ear-to-ear for the whole time. I'm glad he had so much fun, and I'm glad that I stayed to watch, too!

( Pictures! )