Poindexter Derby

I put together a family Pinewood Derby race. It was a blast! I got each person who wanted to participate an official Boy Scout of America pine block and had rules and assigned food to each family and it turned out real nice. I had no idea what I was doing so I relied on the internet for help. A few main things I would change for next years race would be 1. You have to actually build a car for that years race. You cannot dig out your old pinewood derby car that is 30 years old to race. and 2. You have to be present to win. None of this dropping off your old school car and going to work business...ahem Josh! We had a good turn out with cars and not only did the kids have a blast (especially Ethan) but the adults did too. One thing is for sure, derby competition doesn't go away with age...that's for sure.

THE CARS:

























Raya and Malia were the judges and Ethan joined them eventually too. I think Ethan was the most excited about this whole thing. I don't think he realizes that he is going to be able to do this with the Cub Scouts next year!







I, being the crafty person I am, decopauged mine and titled it "The Grunge Princess". My dad helped Ethan with his car. It reminded me of the Batmobile but we had no black paint so it was painted red with a gold undertone:





Uncle Al placed the cars. He made sure they were as even as possible.



Others chilled:







Some got fake tattoos:



And the excitement was a little too much for the wee Poindexter babies:





We had different categories for awards. They were Best Theme, Most Humorous, Best Paint, Fastest Looking, and Strangest. Everyone voted which car they thought was best for each category but they couldn't vote for their own. I think I am going to change this whole thing up next year as the cars didn't really fit into these categories.



We did a double elimination round chart that became a little too complicated but eventually we were able to crown a winner...well, sort of.





As you can see, Josh was the winner, but since he wasn't present and his car was like 30 years old, we gave this:



to his mom (Aunt Patty) since her car came in second place. The trophy is going to be making its way back to the track each year and with it comes bragging rights for one year of WINNER at the Poindexter Pinewood Derby Race. Until next year...

Birthday Parties!

You're Invited to experience COLOR WARS!

I planned a Color War scavenger hunt birthday party for both Raya and Malia. I learned a few things the first time around and changed it up a bit once Raya's party rolled around. It was super easy, super cheap, and a total blast! I think the hardest part was making sure everyone RSVPed and having enough drivers to make up the teams. Each party ended up having 3 teams. Each team had a battle bag with items they may need for their different battles (scavengers). Each team gathered as a whole where instruction and rules were given and then they were off!

MALIA'S PARTY:

I blew up over 100 balloons to make a balloon garland. I found instructions on Pintrest. It was super easy to make, but very time consuming. I actually left it hanging up over the kitchen table for almost a month so that I could use it for both parties. I was happy when I could finally walk by the table without hitting my head on balloons.



Meet the teams:

Team Blue:



Team Yellow:



Team Green:



All ready to go:



There were a bunch of different tasks and the kids could pick and choose which ones they would do based on how many points they wanted to earn in the time frame given (90 minutes) These are a few of my favorite ones:

















































One of the tasks was that they had to find a photo booth and do pictures in them. Everyone chose to do that task:



We came back, tallied up the scores and since it has been so long since the party, the winner has left my brain. I want to say it was the green team, but who knows. We had ice-cream cake (another idea from Pintrest) and it was super yummy!







And the kids destroyed what was left of our trampoline safety net:



Each kid left with a gift card to Big Spoon...YUM!



Malia had a blast! She got a ton of nail polish and gift cards to Walmart, Target, Coldstone, and Jamba Juice. What a lucky girl!
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RAYA'S PARTY

I am so glad that I chose to do pretty much the same thing for Raya's birthday party that I did for Malia's. The Tuesday before Raya's party is when we ended up in the hospital with Malia for her appendectomy so thank goodness it was all planned out. I did change up the rules a little bit having learned a few things from Malia's party, but essentially it was the same.

Team Blue:



Team Green:



Team Yellow:



And they're off:



A few of my favorite shots:









































































We came back and had cupcakes:





which quickly turned into a cupcake fight planned out by the boys of course:





and the green team won by like one or two points:



Happy birthday girls! Phew! I'm glad to finally get this blogged! Until next year...