Hayden's 7th Birthday Mad Science Party!!!!!

Hayden and I started planning his party over a year ago. He never once changed his mind. We had so much fun over the last year putting his party together. Hayden loves science and wanted his friends to enjoy some fun science experiments. Daddy became a "Mad Scientist" and the kids loved it! We were so lucky to have help from family and friends--I know I could not have pulled this off without them. Gigi and Papa came from Texas and Grandma and Papa came from Indiana to help. My friends helped with so much at the actual party---I was actually able to enjoy myself and have fun too! This will be a party to remember! I purchased the decorations from The Celebration Shoppe! Below are some of the 342 pictures that were taken during the party!
When the guests arrived they were greeted by Hayden and Grayson and had to "check in" at the Scientist Check in Station. Grandma was there with a laptop to play a pre-recorded message that was different for each child. We found a website that changed your voice into a funky voice and the kids loved it. Gigi was there to give the kids Mad Scientist hair (spikes and lots of gel). Hayden conducted a retinal scan on everyone by using "the largest glow stick ever made" that we purchased at I-Party.

After each child was checked in-they were able to go to get their lab coat and goggles. We used Command Hooks to put up on the wall, we labeled each child's goodie bag, lab coat, and googles with their name "Dr. Hayden". On the lab coat there was a name tag that Steve created and it also said their name, "Dr. so and so". The kids really felt special. The orange bags were their party favors but we also used the bags to put their experiments in to make sure they could take home what they made. The goodie bag was filled with all kinds of neat things. Steve had the idea to give the kids take home experiments in test tubes. So each child left with four experiments to do at home. They also got to take home their goggles and lab coats. Magnifying glasses, poprocks, and an eyeball drinking glass completed the goodie bags.

After fully being checked in the children entered the "Engineering Station" were Papa South was in charge of the molecule creation station. We used the molecule station to keep the kids busy while everyone arrived. I was able to get (for free) styrafoam containers from my wonderful butcher at Stop and Shop. We used colored toothpicks and marshmallows to create the configurations.
I had the most fun putting together the decorations! I purchased all of the cut outs from thecelebrationshoppe.com. I ordered the cookies and paper goods from their website too! The cake was made by A Little Something Special bakery in West Hartford. Hayden wanted a beaker spilling goo all over the cake! They did an excellent job.

We made jello in petri dishes and put gummy worms on top. I thought these would just be for decoration but the kids devoured them. The day before the party I made a lot of the decorations using water, neon food coloring, and gummy worms and gummy octopus. I absolutely loved how the gummy items expanded overnight making for some pretty cool decorations. We had large beakers that we put water and food coloring in and for a special effect we placed a small amount of dry ice at the bottom of the beaker so they were smoking!
Let the experiments begin! I honestly think this party was so much fun and so easy for me because Steve did a ton of work. We purchased a lab coat for Steve to wear off of EBay. He had a lot of fun conducting the experiments with the kids. We "practiced" the day before with a few of the cool experiments. We purchased all of the science experiments from stevespanglerscience.com. We were able to get petri dishes, beakers, and all kinds of cool experiments from their website. Steve spent a lot of time researching which experiments would be best for 6 and 7 year olds.

SLIME-Oh my gosh! The kids had a blast with this one. Each child made their own slime and was able to take it home with them (parents-no need to thank me).

We had an "Invent your own Sundae Bar". The kids were able to make their own ice cream sundaes and could choose from mini mm's, rainbow sprinkles, chocolate syrup, etc. They liked this a lot. We tried to feed them pizza and fruit salad for dinner but they were so energized, they did not really want to stop to eat. We had music playing the the background to add extra "atmosphere" to the party--Kids Bop 19 was the music of choice! More party info in the next post. . .

Hayden's 7th Birthday Mad Science Party Continued

The kids did several experiments. Carbon dioxide bubbles were made using a "special" jar purchased from Steve Spangler Science. Steve had to use dry ice to make this experiment work. It was a big hit! The kids loved wearing the glove that made the carbon dioxide bubble not burst. The kids also did an experiment to identify the different density of liquids. They just loved seeing the magic of the colors separating!

The GRANS FINALE of experiments was the DIET COKE Geyser tubes. Every child had a tube and got do do this awesome experiment on their own (also purchased from Steve Spangler Science). What a great time the kids had doing this. The kids all counted down from "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 BLAST OFF" for each other!
In between experiments we let the kids play in the backyard and run around while we set up the next experiment. Baby Landon finally joined the party after the loooooongest nap ever. My mother in law sewed his lab coat so it would fit him! He was adorable. The very last thing we did was open presents. This was a STAR WARS birthday! Hayden only wanted Lego Star Wars and that is exactly what he got. Daddy spent a lot of time putting Lego's together.

Pinewood Derby 2011

Pinewood Derby was held on Steve's 41st birthday. It is something I had been looking forward to for weeks! Hayden and Grayson were very excited and the possibility of not winning was not an option. The entire way there we talked about how everyone has done their best and will try their hardest, but I knew my talk was something they were not interested in.

Sometimes I am so happy that Steve has an engineering mind. He helped the boys build their cars. He didn't spend as much time on it as I thought he was going to and we were a little worried that the boys would not place and would not get trophies.

The first race of the day was Hayden's den. Hayden is in the middle (yes with the big smile). That is because he won 1st place!!!! He was so excited. After four trials he had the fastest time. Hayden now gets to move onto the regionals. March 19th is our next big day!

Hayden kept the fastest time until an older boy beat him in the last race. Oh but wait. . . there is the Sibling heat. Yes, that is GRAYSON's car winning! Grayson beat everyone. It actually was a little embarrassing because he is not even a Cub Scout. But he was so excited. Not only had he beaten the bigger kids he had finally done something better than his bigger brother! It was an exciting day in the Chilcote house! Both boys did GREAT!

Right after Grayson won!

Grayson with the rest of the siblings. We are so proud!!!

First Birthday Carnival!!!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY LANDON!!!

Landon is a precious child that is always happy and smiling. We know that we have a lot to be thankful for. Landon's first year was full of mostly ups but there were some difficult times as well. When Landon was five months old he was diagnosed with severe hearing loss. Knowing that our baby could not hear us was devastating. Together Steve and I researched, researched, and researched about infant hearing loss and we can tell you pretty much anything you need to know. Thankfully, we do not have to use this knowledge anymore because we met a wonderful doctor that helped to cure Landon's problem. After Landon had surgery in September he was able to hear again! He can hear us talk, he can hear the leaves rustle, and of course his rowdy big brothers! Getting thru this big hurdle gave us even more reason to celebrate.

Landon is our last baby and we decided to celebrate his birthday with a Carnival! I planned it exactly the way I wanted it to be for him. Below are some pictures of how we celebrated Landon's birthday!

This poster greeted guests as they arrived at the party. Steve took the picture during Landon's first birthday photo shoot and then he made the poster.

Tails the clown was wonderful. She came at the very beginning of the party and was here before the other children arrived. She started entertaining immediately. I was very impressed and the kids had a ton of fun! Landon really enjoyed watching her. Several of the adults laughed out loud so I would say she was a big hit. She played her guitar, told jokes, and of course made amazing balloon animals. http://www.tailstheclown.com/

Landon's birthday t-shirt, hat, bib, and sippy cup were made by: BloomingBabies on Etsy. All of the streamers, pennants, etc. were made by Dimple Prints.

The Cake Table! The cake was made by http://www.alittlesomethingbakery.com/

Decorated water bottles! My friends in Texas would understand why I decorate everything including the water but some of my friends in Connecticut think I am over the top!!! I had fun doing it!

Adult beverages!

I found the idea of making a banner for each month of your child's first year while I was researching ideas for our party. I loved this so Steve and I worked on putting together a banner. This is something I am so glad we took the time to do because it is a memento that we will have forever and something for us to cherish. The flags were a printable from Dimple Prints.

The prize tent. This was a super fun way of displaying all of the prizes that the children could chose from when they were done playing the carnival games.

As far as my six year old and my five year old are concerned you can't have a party without Goodie bags!!!

Happy Birthday Banner!

Candy Table. . . yes the children had a ton of energy!

The Popcorn machine ended up being a big hit at the party. The boys keep asking if we can get it out again. We will soon.

Our magician was fantastic and kept the party going. The best part was the kids trying to figure out how he was doing his "magic"!

The party hats were put together the morning of the party by my mom, my mother-in-law, and myself. I am not sure how many times we stapled our own fingers but they were adorable and well worth the pain!

Each child that came to the party left with a gumball machine.

We transformed our basement into a game room for the kids. We "hired" two of the older children to run the games and to hand out tickets. There were several games to choose from. I think the ball toss and the duck pond were huge hits. Each kid came away with a ton of tickets and got to choose their prizes at the end of the party.

Thank you to all of my friends and family for helping us put this party together. It turned out perfect for our wonderful little ONE YEAR OLD!!!

We Are BACK!

We have made lots of trips, had a ton of parties, Cindy has gone back to work more than full time, and most importantly we had a BABY! That is why there was such a break from the blog. We are ready to start keeping a blog again, if nothing else for us to have a place to journal our memories. Enjoy!

2011 and I am Back!

After taking a year and a half off from the blog, I am back!

And I am still in Connecticut!

New Hampshire

Geez-----we have been in the car too long!

The boys were troopers and did such a good job. We have been on the road a lot lately. New Hampshire isn't that far from us about four and a half hours is what it took for us to drive. I am amazed at the beauty, none of the pictures do it justice but this is a place I would like to go and spend 4 or 5 days. We were only there two days and I didn't get to do all I would have liked.

Look at the beauty!

Grayson doesn't want to pose for pictures he just wants in the water!

Flying Fish ride! Hayden loves ride and speed-the faster the better. This child screamed with joy the whole time we were there.

This ride is a barn that goes up in the air and spins around-thought they would freak out a little but didn't!

This is a joyful look on Grayson's face!

New Hampshire

My two good friends Carolyn and Sue have made a seroius effort to make sure we experience as much as possible while we are here. I had been hearing about this place called "Storyland" both of them have been but we decided that our three families needed to go together. I am so glad we did. We stayed at a wonderful inn that had a heated swimming pool. It poured on Thursday and they even had two tornados near us in New Hampshire (tornadoes are unheard of in this part) but we managed to have a lot of fun even though it was raining. There is a positive side to rain at an amusement park, NO LINES!!! They let us just keep riding whatever we wanted to ride over and over again-for Hayden this was riding the roller coaster five times in a row.

Storyland is a place for young children and famlies to experience fairy tales. All of the rides were appropriate and parents could tag along with their children. We spent a day and a half here and I am ready to go back!

Hayden and Mommy in the swan boat!Larger swan boat.

Grayson in the pumpkin coach!

This treehouse was amazing. Once you climed up inside of the tree trunk and into the house there were different interactive toys. It was magical.

Hayden sitting at the Little Miss Muffet display.

Steve and Hayden driving an antique car.

We stopped for a break during the rain.

If anyone wants to come to New Hampshire next year for their family vacation let me know-I will be more than happy to meet up with you!

Grayson's New Preschool

On Monday this week we hosted a playdate for Grayson's new preschool class. Most of us had never met before and the kids had not met so this was an opportunity to get together. I must say that I think we are really going to enjoy this year because all of the moms and dad(!) seemed to be VERY nice and easy to get along with. We are looking forward to starting a new preschool.

Mini Me

The last several times Steve has mowed the lawn, Hayden has wanted to "mow" with him. Hayden is right along side him every step of the way. Steve only wishes the little mower really worked because it is taking him forever to push mow all of this yard!