Theo’s 9th Birthday Party

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Theo’s 9th birthday party theme was one that I’ve been excited to plan for awhile: LEGO! We had a wonderful party hosted by Play-Well, which is a brilliant concept for mobile Lego-themed events. Two party hosts arrived with bins full of hundreds, if not thousands, of Lego pieces and special parts for making actual moving vehicles: gears, chassis, meshing, arches, and trusses.

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The kids quickly got to work making a long bridge for their cars to drive across and designing their own vehicles using the available parts.

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My favorite part was that the two hosts were well-versed in entertaining kids (for 90 minutes!) and kept them busy and having fun the whole time. From bringing in the Legos, to having the kids willingly comply with taking their creations apart and cleaning up, they were a huge part of making the party a success. When they left, every single individual piece of Lego was picked up and put away, and we didn’t have to deal with the aftermath. Priceless.

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Thank you, Bobby and Cher, for being a part of Theo’s birthday celebration! All of the kids had a great time — and I know this for a fact, because I got an email from one of the guests’ mothers the next day saying, “He enjoyed building with his friends a lot. Thanks Christina for making Theo’s birthdays not just a place to have fun but also to learn.” (I swear I didn’t solicit this comment — but it certainly made my day!)

Since the kids were happily occupied, I was able to focus on my favorite part of planning parties — the decorations and themed elements. Weeks in advance, I got in the mood by creating some Lego builds of my own, using materials that we had in Theo’s big Lego bin at home. I actually had a lot of fun doing these and was reminded of how fun Lego-building is.

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I stuck to primary Lego colors and was so lucky to find Lego (or generic “bricks”) plates and napkins at the dollar store. I also found lots of brick-themed accessories on Amazon. For party favors, each kid got a box of “classic” Legos that they got to build at the end of the party.

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I used my familiar tactic of designing my own Costco sheet cake to my specifications so I could decorate it myself. I love the little minifigures holding the birthday candles!

It was a great party and I’m so thankful to Play-Well for contributing their talents and energy to a fun, educational, and playful environment (and for Theo’s swell Lego bowtie!).

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Gershwin at the Deer Valley Music Festival

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Earlier this spring, we attended the Utah Symphony’s Family Concert of Gershwin’s Magic Key. It was a musical biography of the composer George Gershwin and introduced us to many of his most famous works. When we saw that one of the events for the Deer Valley Music Festival this summer was a performance of Gershwin hits, we decided to go hear the full pieces in this wonderful atmosphere.

We have gone to concerts at the Deer Valley Music Festival before, and have always enjoyed getting a chilly break from the summer heat. We experienced a short cloud burst and afterwards it was the perfect conditions for a rainbow! This concert was great because one of the preeminent Gershwin pianists in the world was performing. The camera did close-ups of his hands while he was playing and showed it on the big screens to either side of the stage. It was mesmerizing!

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It isn’t always an easy trip to drive up to Park City and back to Salt Lake in the concert traffic at night, but we had a great time together as a family. On our way to the concert, we stopped for take-out dinner from Freshie’s Lobster Co. which was recently voted as having the best lobster rolls. They were delicious and tasted even better accompanied by the beautiful music and surroundings.

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Log Rolling

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Theo is taking swimming lessons at the Northwest Recreation Center this summer on Saturday mornings. We have enjoyed going to this pool in the past, but a good friend recommended their swim lessons. They are group lessons, but for his time slot he is the only student, so he gets a private lesson every week!

After his first lesson a few weeks ago, we noticed that they were setting up a log rolling activity in the pool. He was curious and we observed for a few minutes. When the instructor offered to have Theo give it a try, he immediately jumped at the chance. Continue reading →

Mother & Son Painting

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Theo with his mother and his mother’s mother.

For Mother’s Day this year, Theo and I went to a painting class at The Paint Mixer. It was a Parent/Child class where you each got a separate canvas to paint. The original picture that we were supposed to learn to paint looked like this:

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We decided to do something different, and each painted one half of the picture on our two canvases. Then we would have a larger painting when they were put together. Of course I painted the mama giraffe and Theo painted the baby giraffe. Continue reading →