Father Daughter Dance

There are a lot of men that have no one to take to the ward Father Daughter Dance, but not Mark. He had four dates. What a lucky guy.

Easter Dresses and Fire Ants

My good friend Kat send the girls Easter dresses this year. The looked so beautiful all dressed in white that I decided it was time for a photo shoot. I had wanted to get pictures of the kids with the Texas BlueBonnet Flowers, but sadly we waited too long and they were all but gone. We drove around for quite some time and finally found this beautiful stop all covered in wildflowers.  Even though they weren't Bluebonnets we were excited... until...

the attack of the Fire Ants. Everywhere we moved they were there waiting and by the time we left only Colin was pain free. Poor Caitlyn received the worst of it. (Notice she was not pictured alone at the end.) Mark kept laughing at the efforts I was willing to go through in order to get a few good shots, but though the girls had to strip down and Colin had to take off his shirt and under shirt to provide non-infested clothing, I still think the pictures turned out good. For those of you who are worried the bites will heal in about 3 weeks. Ü

Hogwarts Part 3

Arriving at the Party...


When the guests arrived at the party they visited Olivanders Wand Shop (where their wands chose them) and then received their books and their own copy of the School Song.

Hogwarts School Song

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald
Or young with Scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling
With some interesting stuff,
For now they’re bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we’re forgot,
Just do your best, we’ll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot.

Due to the set up of our house, the Sorting Hat found it easiest to sort the children into their houses before they arrived at Hogwarts, so they were each sorted outside Platform 9 3/4 and then given a photo opportunity with the Birthday Girl (Austin) before they entered the school.

Once they entered the school the Head Mistress (Me) lead them in the school song, in which they each were told to pick their favorite tune.


Courses offered at Hogwarts School of Magic and Wizardry...


Spells and Charms


Professor Robert meet the children in a simple room with little more than a desk and a lamp waiting for them. He began by teaching them the simple charm “LUMUS” and how to swish and flick their wands. He reminded them that learning this spell will help them to keep Dimentors away and also help them on dark nights.

He then demonstrated. And with the help of myself who was standing in front of the light switch, the light goes out. He then invite the kids to come up one by one and try the spell. It worked for no one. Finally Professor Robert invited Austin to come up and again with the help of a partner in front of the switch, the light turns on for her. Professor Robert then invited the whole class to say the spell together and with a very loud "LUMUS" the light turned on.

Denfense Against the Dark Arts

The kids met Professor Colin, our Substitue teacher, outside where he decided to have a lesson in Dueling.  He began by first teaching the following magic words to the kids

Expelliarmus (This spell is supposed to knock their opponent off their feet.)

Rictusempra  (This spell is supposed to sent a silver light in the stomach of the opponent, again knocking them over.)

Finite Incantatem  (This spell causes the opponent to dance uncontrollably.)

Professor Colin then asked for 2 volumteers. He had them stand back to back and count off. When they get to five they were instructed to turn and cast their spell.

Meanwhile with a helper on either side, silly string was sprayed on the unsuspecting students. This was done over and over again, with some students dodging the spray and some holding themselves wide open for it, until every student had dueled.

Herbology

Professor Kat and Professor Emilie met the students at the Herbology table outside where they gave each of the kids a small clay pot. They asked the kids fill the clay pots ¾ of the way with dirt and then add seeds to their dirt. The kids placed their pots on the Table. Then they were directed to wave their wands over the pots and say "Diffindo" a spell to make the seeds grow.

The childen then left for their next class leaving their pots and seeds behind. While the kids were in History of Magic, flowers were planted in their pots.

History of Magic

Professor Sinicrope met the children back inside where he broke the students into 2 groups in order to have a Trivia contest based on the 1^st book Harry Potter and the Sorcer’s Stone. There was candy for all the right answers.

Transfiguration

The students then traveled outside beyond the Forbidden Forrest for Transfiguration where they were greeted by the following sign.

Care of Magical Creatures

Mark contacted the Austn Wildlife Rescue and talked to them about having a volunteer come out and talk to the kids about local Owls. They even brought an Owl that had been injured for the kids to meet.

Potions


Professor Christiansen met his students in the Potions room where they found ingredients like
dandelion root (baking soda dyed yellow), mandrake root (plain baking soda), phoenix tears (white vinegar), purified water (plain old water!). By combining these ingredients with a premixed mixture they ended up with bubbly green fun.

What a great time we had!

Hogwarts Part 2

The concept for this party was a day at Hogwarts. I wanted the kids to feel as though they had traveled into Harry Potter’s world for a few hours. With this in mind, I knew that I didn’t want to waste time watching a movie or playing a game. I wanted the kids to be very active.

After a little on-line research I found some very cute report cards that that someone had already made up and with just a little tweaking, they were perfect.

I now had a list of Classes that we needed to have curriculum for. I asked every friend I have for help and found a ton of willing volunteers to act as our Professors.

I made wands by sanding down different sized dowels, wood burning designs and staining them different colors.

We found Potion and History of Magic Books online that someone had already put together and Austin and I printed and bound them all together.

We rented a few capes and a scarf, purchased a couple different House ties and we were almost ready.

We only had the Refreshments and decorations left to go.

For decorations, I call my friend Beth, who loves Halloween and she let me once again go through her closet and anything that I couldn’t find I made. My friend Mariah was staying with us and she blew me away by offering to make a Hogwarts banner. The final touch was printing off tons of pictures from the internet and replacing all the frames in our home, with characters from the movies.

For Refreshment we wanted a Hogwarts celebration of Honeyduke’s Sweets. We had chocolate Frogs (gummy frogs dipped in chocolate), Gilly Weed (cotton candy), Blood Worms (gummy worms), Edible Wands (large Pretzels dipped in Chocolate), and Butterbeer. I also dipped Sugar Ice Cream Cones in Chocolate filled them with Gummies and then placed them on cupcakes for a witching treat.

The cake was my first attempt at a Sphere. We baked it in a bowl frosted it yellow (again with Mariah’s help) and them inserted wings I had printed off the computer with little sticks. A Snitch!

Hogwarts Part 1

This past Saturday we held Austin's 10th birthday party at our house. She told me over a year ago that she wanted a Harry Potter themed party and with an entire year to plan we had a great concept developed. It all started with the invitations.

We printed, tea dyed, and rolled them up like little scrolls. We then delivered them to the houses of all the invites. This was especially fun, because we had to be sneaky and not get caught. After all there can be no humans present when a child receives their invite from an owl. The cutest part ...?

Opening the door the next day and finding this owl and reply from one of the girls. Too cute!

Mariah and Natalie Come to Visit

We always love visits, but now that Mariah has Natalie we love her visits even more.

We love Katie Herzig

Have you heard of Katie Herzig? She and her band are very small. In fact almost no one has ever even heard of her, but she's amazing. Songs like Forevermore, Hey Na Na, Wish You Well, Beautiful Inside and Sweeter Than This, make me just want to tap my toes. Check her out and find out why it was worth staying out with Austin and Caitlyn until after midnight on a school night, just to see her perform. Along with our friends the Bushmans we may be creating her youngest fans.

Austin's Dragon

Written by Austin: Our school had a 4th grade valentine box competition. I decided to make a dragon and with my mom's help this is what he looked like.

 He was chewing on a heart.

I won my class room competition and my dragon was placed along with a few other in the front of the school. The entire school voted on which one they liked best. Here are some pictures of the boxes that my box was going against.

Finally the day arrived when it was time to announce the winners. I WAS ROBBED! or at least that is what my mom thinks. First place was the Effiel Tower(17), second was the LT basketball hoop(19), third was the tank (6). It doesn't matter... I get to keep my dragon and I named him Norbert.