Week in Review

Yeah, I know a little late on the posting. But it was a good week. We did get a fair amount of work finished.

I let him slack a bit on math so he could get caught back up with some other subjects: writing, grammar & geography. So really there isn't much to report. Next week we'll get back into ALL subjects, including science. We're doing some biology work and we'll get into our chemistry work soon. I finally got my order placed and should have all the materials needed by Wednesday. I think this week we'll get our solutions made up that we'll be needing for the first few chapters. The weather is supposed to be decent, so we can head outside to mix our noxious chemicals up without worrying about ventilation. lol Should be fun. :)

I've been finding some fun things on Pinterest lately. I've been doing good about not getting too sucked into it, but I can spend WAY too much time looking around.

I had a Mom's Night Out (MNO) craft party last week. Several friends from our homeschool group came over and we made tile coasters. It was a fun evening. I didn't get pictures of everyone's tiles (bad me), sadly. They all looked wonderful though. Here are the set I made.

I want to make some more, plus have a few ideas for other things to do with the tiles. It was fun and easy.

So anyways, short update. Hope to have more to tell next week. :)

100 Things to do in 2012

This took me a little longer to compile than I thought it would! But it is done, and now I can concentrate on doing as many as possible. :)
1. Blog more
2. Geocache more
3. Use the crock pot more often
4. Walk more often
5. Knit & craft more often
6. Go on more field trips/day trips
7. Organize craft stuff
8. Organize kitchen cabinets
9. Learn to bake bread
10. Garden (it was a small garden, just some zucchini, but it was still a garden)
11. Read more (by visiting my book shelves more often)
12. Visit NYC (completed on 4/25/12)
13. Play on the big piano in FAO Schwarz (completed on 4/25/12, well technically my daughter did for me)
14. Get together with friends on a regular basis
15. Do the local walking tours (from newspaper a year or 2 ago)
16. Walking tour of Philly
17. Visit DC (preferably near apple blossom time) (6/16/12)
18. Go to a stargazing event at Antietam
19. Visit the planetarium at least once
20. Go to the Baltimore Aquarium
21. Rewatch Lost :)
22. Knit Jake's Slytherin scarf
23. Facebook less
24. Do more science-y things
25. Go to the beach (9/13-9/16/12)
26. Eat more local foods
27. Visit more local places (shops, restaurants, historical places, etc)
28. Make my recycled newspaper tree
29. Help Amanda with her craft list
30. Update home décor
31. Buy better sneakers that don't make my feet ache
32. Use my cookbooks more often
33. Use our fire pit
34. Do some non-vandalizing street art, such as http://isaacgracelily.blogspot.com/2011/03/rock-on.html
35. Have a harry Potter party
36. Lose weight (boring I know.. But whatever)
37. Go to a comedy club/show
38. See a play (completed 3/10/12)

39. Visit the Hager House
40. Go to the farmer's market more
41. Make a new friend (Made a few new friends YAY!)
42. Take a carriage ride
43. Go to a drive-in theater
44. Send a message in a bottle
45. Release a helium-filled balloon with a message in it
46. Visit the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore
47. Go to Brookside Gardens in the Spring or Summer
48. Visit the DC Zoo
49. Go yardsaling
50. Organize photos
51. Hike up to Cunningham Falls
52. Picnic at more MD State Parks
53. Hike on the AT
54. See all the Bridges of Washington County
55. Make a late night run to Krumpe's Donuts
56. Host a Murder Mystery Party
57. Visit a winery
58. Go to maple Syrup making demo at Cunningham Falls
59. Eat Fastnachts
60. Go tubing
61. Play croquet
62. Pick strawberries
63. Watch fireworks
64. Play disc golf
65. Go on a ghost tour (no matter how lame it may be lol)
66. Find a better pizza dough recipe (technically the same recipe, just bought fresh yeast lol)
67. Watch a Quidditch game
68. Learn to cook some Greek foods
69. Visit College Park Aviation Museum (use CertifiKid coupon)
70. Visit State Museum of Pennsylvania (Use Groupon coupon)
71. Take more pictures
72. Organize recipe binders
73. Have a yard sale
74. Buy a new couch
75. Celebrate Christmas in July (just for something different)
76. Wordless Wednesday (on my blog)
77. Menu plan every week
78. Some sort of community service/volunteer work (hopefully not court-ordered hehe)
79. Play a game of pinball at the arcade
80. Go to the Great Frederick Fair this year
81. Eat something deep-fried at above mentioned fair (Not from the fair, but we had deep fried Oreos at teh beach)
82. Have a water balloon fight
83. See a movie in 3D (just to confirm that I do in fact hate 3D movies)
84. Buy a new board game
85. Go to a concert
86. Make candy
87. Go putt-putting
88. Get my passport
89. Watch all of John Hughes movies
90. Go on a scavenger hunt
91. Have a swap party
92. Eat at an Indian restaurant
93. Have dessert for supper
94. Grill pizza
95. Visit the Goddard Space center
96. Go to Dinosaur Land
97. Visit the Poe Museum and Poe's gravesite
98. Go on a train ride
99. Visit the MD Theater
100. Visit the Rural Heritage Museum

Poe & Pumpkin

So far so good... I've been able to do something Halloween-y every day so far. Although yesterday might be stretching it a bit, but who cares. LOL

Oct 4 - was our homeschool groups's picnic. I usually do a NBTS picnic sometime the end of August or beginning of September, but with the move this year I just didn't get to plan it. So the owner of our homeschool group suggested a picnic where the newer members can join in, plus dads. So it was sort of a combined picnic.

As for what I did Halloween-like yesterday, I ate "poison" brownies one mom brought. We had a lovely day outside with friends and enjoyed the crisp Fall air. And I even ate some candy corn last night. ;)

Oct 5 - Today I took 2 frames I had that I really didn't like the color of and sanded them down and repainted them black. I just used some acrylic craft paint as I didn't want them to look glossy like spray paint looks. I had printed a picture of Egdar Allan Poe in black and white, made a mat and then placed both into one of the frames. Then I added 2 googly eyes. :) It looks pretty cool.

And here is the pumpkin roll recipe I use every year. You can see pictures of one we made last year here: Pumpkin Rolls

Cake:

2/3 Cup Pumpkin (we use the pumpkin pie filling because it has more seasoning to it)

3 eggs

1 Cup sugar

3/4 Cup flour

1tsp each salt, baking soda, and cinnamon

Line cookie sheet with wax paper, spray with Pam. Combine all ingredients, spread evenly on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Let cool about 5 minutes or so, then cover with a dish towel, flip cake onto towel & remove cookie sheet and was paper. Sprinkle well with powdered sugar, roll up (in towel) and put in the freezer to cool completely.

Filling:

8oz cream cheese

2 TBS butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 Cup powdered sugar

1 whole tub (8oz) cool whip

Cream together. Unroll cake, sprinkle again with powdered sugar & spread filling over cooled cake. Roll (sprinkle more powdered sugar on the outside of the roll while rolling, to help from tearing) and wrap in foil.

I'm Back!

I can't believe I haven't blogged in so long. (Well ok, I can believe.. I was never that great at blogging regularly.) But I'll try harder. ;)

We've had many things going on since I blogged last. The major event was we moved at the beginning of August. We are now apartment dwellers. hehe That's been quite an adjustment. We were living at my husband's fathers place, we had a small house on his same property that was about 6 feet away from the main house. While it was "our" place, it was way too close. We had planned on moving 3 years ago but then Randy hurt himself at work and was unable to work at all for 2 years. So we were planning to move sometime this fall, then began having major issues with his dad. And we ended up moving before we had wanted to (or I should say before we were planning.) But we are moved and much happier.

Another event was my oldest turning 16 in August! I can't believe I have a 16 yo. She didn't want a big party or anything, but I kind of made her invite her friends over. She had about 10 kids here last weekend. Then girls chatted, played Guitar Hero and walked around the neighborhood a bit. The boys ended up playing a game of Risk. lol They all ate and ate (lots of pizza & cupcakes were consumed!). They all had fun, I had to keep quieting them down some. ;)

But anyways, I have LOTS of updating to do on school-ish stuff. So I'll be working on that this weekend. School started last week, so I hope to post soon about what we're doing weekly. :)

What can I say?

I just keep forgetting to update here. I'll keep at it, but I really don't think I'm cut out to be a blogger. LOL

So what's been going on with us? April went by really freaking fast! We had a lot of colder, yucky days with a few really nice ones and then a few ridiculously hot ones.

We had 2 Earth Scout meetings, 2 book club meetings and 2 co-op days. They all went well.

With Earth Scouts, I'll be changing the schedule a bit for the summer months. We usually have a hard time getting enough kids there to make the meeting worth it, so we're going to cut back to once a month. And those will be outdoors. So this weeks meeting will be the last indoor meeting until Fall. If the weather is too nasty we'll come up with something else.

Book club is going very well. This weeks meeting, we'll be discussing the 4th Percy Jackson book, The Battle of the Labyrinth. I must say, these books are really good! The 5th book is released today, The Last Olympian. So we are heading to Border's this evening to grab it up. I really wish Amanda would read these, I think she'd enjoy them also. So, with the kids reading the Percy books, we'll be holding a Mythology Bee. This will be on May 15th, not our usual book club day. Some of the kids will either be on vacation or moving, so we bumped it up a few days so they can participate.

Co-op has ended for this school year. May 1st was the last meeting, which the kids and I missed due to some UPS deliveries I needed to be here for. :( I'll miss co-op, but also thankful for the break. I am not sure what we'll do come fall. I might just rejoin for Jake and I, and Amanda can come along if she wishes. Jake really likes it, and so does Amanda... but for her, its just so terrible to have to wake up so early. I think starting at 11am would be a good idea though. LOL Hint hint Marti if you read this. ;)

So we have some fun stuff coming up in May with Earth Scouts and Book club. Plus we'll be continuing with the Geo-Club, once a month.

Today is Cinco de Mayo, so we're having a potluck picnic at the park with friends. I really, really, really hope the weather cooperates with us today!

So that's what's going on in a nutshell (or a nuthouse?) with us lately. :)

Week in review

So I'm trying to get back into the habit of blogging more about our school life. :) So here's what we were doing this past week.

Math - Not as much math work was done as I had hoped, but they both did get a decent amount finished. Amazingly I think Amanda finished more than Jake. She's at the mindset now where the more she does, the sooner she'll be done (thankfully!!).

Geography - Geo-club is going well. We did miss the last meeting though. :( My kids are not super into it, but they do learn (and remember) some interesting things as we go along.

Reading - Jake has jumped ahead and finished reading the first 4 Percy Jackson books. He really got into them more than I thought he would. So I went ahead and ordered The Demigod Files for him also. The 5th book will be out sometime in the beginning of May. But I don't think we'll use that for the Mythology Bee for the book club. We might still read that but not sure if everyone will have it before. We'll have to wait and see.

We had another Earth Scouts meeting this week. We've been working on the Peace and nonviolence principle. So we talked about signs & symbols of peace. I showed the kids the symbols and we talked a little about them. Then one of the boys showed the group a bit about meditation, they did some yoga and got all stretched out. :) For the final activity they each colored in a peace Dove (of Picasso's) and wrote some words on their paper that they think of as peaceful.

After ES was the book group. We only have 7 kids reading the Percy Jackson books, and the group was small this week. 4 kids were there. But we still had a great meeting. It's interesting hearing what the kids think about the books. We did have a bit of an issue though. Some of them have read all through the first 4 books (my son included) and they are getting the books mixed up. Which I had a feeling was going to happen. (Mental note to myself: I need to email the group and have them re-read for next meeting.) So I had to keep them straight on things so they didn't give too much away for those of us who haven't read that far.

And on Friday, we had another co-op meeting. Co-op day is always fun, but as I've said, I come home with a terrible headache. LOL The things we go through for our kids. ;) First class is Wizardology. I have Jake (& Amanda but she just reads something else) in the class. We had a small group this week, just 3 out of 6 boys. So it was MUCH calmer and quieter. lol We actually finished the last 3 lessons in the handbook, which completes the Spring lessons. So now the boys can do the Summer lessons at home and they'll have completed the entire "course" on Wizardology. :) So for our next class, I think we'll view a movie. So I need to find a good one to show.

Then in the 2nd class, Jake had dissection. They did the starfish. That was pretty cool. I'll upload some pictures later. Jake had a medium sized starfish, so you could see things fairly nicely. Lots of digestive yuck. lol Amanda was in photography during 2nd period. Not sure exactly what she did. I know she needs to get some pictures printed up.

And that was our week. We have nothing NOTHING!! planned for next week. But I do need to figure out a day to have some kids over for a going away party for one of Jake & Amanda's friends. His family is moving to Australia soon for 2-3 years. But that's about it. Let's hope the week is a calm and quiet one. :D

This weeks schedule

I know it seems as if this has become a blog for Lost. LOL But with everyone being sick so much lately, there hasn't been a ton to post school-wise.

So for this week we have to do the following:

Math - Get caught up through at least book 3. Amanda has a lot more to do than Jake does.

Reading - Finish reading The Lighting Thief (Book group on Wed.)

Science - we're going to skip science this week so we can focus on math mainly.

Geography - Finish up Region 1 work in Trail Guide to US Geography notebook.

Then I need to get materials gather for Earth Scouts on Wed. We make peace flags on paper, and this week we are transferring these onto material for a hanging flag. The kids will then be able to use a metal clothes hanger to display their flags on.

Jake has some work to finish up for Wizardology for Friday's co-op. Amanda has some photography homework to do.

Thursday the kids are having some of the homeschool teens over for a game day. I think they'll mainly be playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

So we have lots of things to do this week, not much time spent at home, or at least home alone. LOL

Plans for the week

We have some assignments to do this week for our book club and co-op. So with our regular work, we'll be keeping quite busy.

I am going to just list by subject. I'm not doing so well with the daily schedules. if something comes up, then we get behind and I feel like a slacker. *sigh* So anyways, here's what will be keeping us busy this:

Math - Both kids have their books and what pages need done by Friday. They've been slacking a bit on this, so this is the week they need to get caught up. By Friday, they'll be finished book 2.

History - We have some more worksheets to finish up for the explorers/Lewis & Clark. Then we'll be starting in with the Pioneers.

Reading - We have the first 11 chapters of The Lighting Thief to read. Plus work in their reading journals for that.

Science - I want to get at least 5 lessons completed by Friday.

The kids both have a research paper on Orca's for our co-op's Wizardology class. So they need to get their data sheets filled out and prepare to get those typed up.

Things I have to do: Get Pioneer pages printed up; Read over the instructions for the Trail Guide to the US manual and get a date schedule for our Geo-Club meeting; Read over the instructions for the Journey North Mystery Class project.

Tuesday both kids have dental check-ups. And then that evening is Game night at the local game store. So we'll be heading there in the evening to meet with some friends. I'm making a big pan of brownies to take along. Mmmm

Goodbye 2008!!

This year seemed to go by really fast. I dunno, maybe it was because the kids and I were involved in more things this year. We certainly weren't bored! Here is a look back at some of what we've done:

Homeschool co-op: This is an ongoing group that meets the 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month (aside from summer months). We've had so much fun with our co-op. We've done science classes, cooking classes, gym classes, a Wizardology class, the kids have had plenty of time to just hang out and chill, they've made some really funny videos. I've been able to watch all of the kids grow, not just my own. I've watch the babies go from just newborns to toddlers. I really love our group of homeschoolers. The new semester starts in a few weeks. YAY!

Earth Scouts: We got this group up and running in April. We met twice a month on Tuesdays at a local library. We've had some members leave and have gained some new members. So right now our group is staying at about 8 families. We did a lot with the Respect for Nature principle. Some things we did include: made field guides and went on a nature walk along the C&O canal; made bird feeders & nesting bags; made glass lanterns & some of us braved the cold and went on a nighttime stroll around the local park during the Christmas lighting; Trick or Treated for Unicef - the kids raised almost $200!! There were a lot more we've done since April, and it has been a blast facilitating this group.

Parties: Oh so many parties & potlucks!! In April we celebrated Earth Day with a huge potluck. We had a speaker come in from the recycling plant, the kids & parents enjoyed that. Our food spread was to be only earth friendly foods (meaning organic if possible, using the least amount of energy as possible to make it, etc); We had a park potluck for Cinco de Mayo, everyone brought lots of yummy foods; in September, we had our annual "Not Back to School" park picnic. As always TONS of food and great time being spent with each other. Then the year ended with our Geo-lunch international holiday party. There was lots of food, gift exchanges, games, and just some fun hang out time for kids and moms.

Field Trips: In March we had a trip to the local PetCo. My kids have done this before with another group, but they never pass up a chance to hang out in the pet store. It was a crazy day, we had the store totally overwhelmed with kids. The manager was a little crabby due to a misunderstanding on her part. But all in all, the kids had fun so that's what matters; April brought around a trip to a local Martin's grocery store. The kids learned about eating healthy and making good food choices; We also headed out to Philly for a day in April. We went to the Franklin Institute to see the Star Wars traveling exhibit. This was great. We all really enjoyed seeing the actual costumes and props from the movies; June brought a very impromptu field trip to Winchester to the Discovery Museum and Sonic. hehe It all started with a discussion of the Sonic drive-in's, so of course to make it educational, we went to the Discovery Museum which the kids had to themselves for the most part. Half of our group worked in the "apple orchard" business, the other half worked in the "hospital" business. LOL Of course, my kids were in the orchard. No big surprise there, since we live in one. ;) But they had a great time!; We headed back to Philly in October. Again to the Franklin, but this time to see the Pirates exhibit. It was nice, but I was pissed because we couldn't take photos. But the kids still had fun.

Geo-lunches: one of the moms in our group decided to start monthly Geo-lunches. Each month we'd have a different country, everyone would bring a dish from that area and if the kids wanted, they can share something they've learned about the area. We attended a few and had a great time. The kids were bummed we didn't get to them all. They'll be continuing in the new year, but I *think* we'll be doing the US this time around. We ended the year with an International holiday potluck/party

Losses: In June we had Amanda's cat put down. He wasn't very old but had a lot of health issues. I had really put this off for way longer than I should have. I don't think he was suffering, but he was getting worse. And it would have been way more traumatic if she found he died rather than just putting him down. And then if that wasn't enough, either on Halloween day or the day after, something killed her bunny. We are pretty sure it was a fox as we've had one stalking around all summer. But whatever it was, took the bunny. we couldn't even find any trails of fur; And not as sad & upsetting as the pets, but Amanda had her wisdom teeth removed in Sept. She did WAY better than I ever expected. So either she is really tough, or everyone else is wimpy. hehe We had planned to start back with school that week, but that was put on hold. Jake didn't mind one bit. ;)

Fun & Entertainment: I like April sometime I had won tickets from a local radio station to see John Mayer playing at Merriweather Post. So a friend and I headed off one icky day in July. Yep, it was storming something terrible on the day of the concert. We still went, in the rain. And wouldn't you know it, the rain stopped during the last song of the night. Aww, how kind of you monster nature. LOL We also saw a few movies throughout the year. Not as many as I had planned on. But oh well.

Birthdays: Amanda turned 15 in August. She just invites some kids over anymore, they hang out and chat, play Rock Band, etc. This year though they did Henna tattoos. This was fun, but stinky. lol I am glad the evening was nice and they could go out to the patio. Jake turned 13 in November. So know I have teens in the house!! He had some boys over, and of course, they played the Xbox & the Wii all day. lol Parties get easier & less expensive as the kids get older. :D

Work: Randy FINALLY got back to work in July. He was off for 2 years with a work related injury. He likes the job and it seems to be going quite well. So keep your fingers crossed for another raise next month. LOL

That's our year in a nutshell. I am sure I forgot to tell you something really exciting. But I figure this post was extremely long as it is. ;) Have a wonderful and safe New Years!! We'll be staying home as usual. I don't like going out on New Year's Eve anymore. We're ordering Chinese food for dinner tonight. YAY!

Brrrr!

It is so freakin' cold here right now! Winter certainly has slammed into us hard here in MD. Monday it was almost 70* and now this morning it is a toasty 11* (-7* with wind chill).

I am sick. :( Started feeling bad Thursday evening. It hit me all of a sudden. I was fine all day, then by about 8:30 that night I started with a bad sinusy headache, the major nose drippage. then when I woke up Friday morning, I felt horrible. I was feeling much better yesterday, but I guess being out grocery shopping wasn't the smartest thing to do, but hey ya gotta have food in the house. So this am. I woke up and my throat is on fire, I can't talk but a bit of a squeak (tried talking to the cat because no one else is awake). So I am downing hot tea today. Getting ready to make my 2nd cup here in a second.

Last week started our Christmas/winter break. Monday was our homeschool groups holiday party. After much craziness, we made it there. I had invited my mom to come along, but then she ended up not. So that left us without a ride. So we were bummed about having to miss the party. Then after some emails & phone calls back and forth we had a plan. :) One mom would come pick up 1 of of us (Jake) and another mom would come pick up the other 2 (Amanda and I) because she had 2 seats left as her littlest one was sick. :( So she stayed home with her daddy (and he ended up missing his Christmas party so the rest of the family could have theirs). This is what the holiday season is all about... being with your loved ones, lending a helping hand, and making others happy. So we have several people to thank for helping my kids and I get to our Christmas party: Mindy & Kim for the rides; Jim for giving up his party to stay home with poor little Maggie; Marti, Krista and Pat for their offers of help. I love my group of friends.

So then on Tuesday we had our Earth Scouts meeting & book group scheduled. But the weather was totally the opposite of Monday. It was cold, snowing/raining/sleeting. So I went ahead and canceled. The roads were most likely ok, but I didn't want to take that chance. So the kids and I finally got to decorate the tree. And Amanda and I baked some oatmeal raisin cookies.

The rest of the week we had nothing planned until Friday. Which was our co-op's last day for the Fall semester. We were going to build gingerbread houses, but of course we missed that because I woke up sick. But Marti's oldest dropped off our house before taking her sisters to co-op. So another thanks goes out to Emilee. :)

So I was hoping we could have done the house over the weekend with Randy, but I just didn't feel good enough to. I am hoping maybe this afternoon or at least tomorrow I be feeling better. I have a TON of baking to do also. But I did get the grocery shopping and Christmas shopping finished. Our ham is ordered, Randy will pick it up tomorrow evening. So we'll at least have food, maybe not too many cookies though. But I'll at least get a batch of chocolate chip cookies made. hehe

Updates and plans

Last week well, school wise. The kids finished up a lot of work. Grammar and math are finished until January, YAY! We have a little history and science to do yet, and well get that finished up this week. Hopefully by Thursday at the latest.

We didn't have an Earth Scouts or book group meeting last week. Our Earth Scouts had planned to go to a local nursing home to sing and spend some time with the residents. We didn't make it because I had some kind of yucky sinusy thing. I had a constant headache for almost a full week, couldn't sleep, and anytime I tried to do something I just felt horribly tired. But all better now.

Friday we had our co-op. Pretty much it was the last session of classes for this semester. So in Wizardology, the boys worked on understanding wizarding codes. Then they each had to write something in code. 2 of the boys wrote out what they wanted for supper, the 3rd used a form of pig Latin to tell me goodbye. LOL Then in science we used baking soda and vinegar to blow up a balloon. Place the baking soda in the clean bottle, vinegar in the balloon. Attached the balloon to the bottle and pour in the vinegar. The reaction of the 2 will puff up the balloon. It was simple and quick. The kids had fun.

Now, for this week, we'll be finishing up Unit 1 in our science book. We didn't get to work on this today any. We have 3 lessons to do, so we'll have this finished by Thursday. For history, we are behind in our Lewis and Clark unit study. But by the end of the week, we'll have at least 5 lessons out of 9 finished. So once we pick back up in January, we'll be finished that within the first week. Then we're moving on to Pioneers.

The kids are having some teens over Friday for a game day. They wanted to do something before Christmas, and I wanted them to do so before we put up our tree. LOL Otherwise, our small living room gets smaller. And I don't want anyone knocking into the tree.

Happy 13th Birthday jake!

Can you believe November is almost gone! Today Jake turned 13. Wow! I now officially have 2 teens in the house. He had his party on the 23rd. Does anyone else think having 6 teenage boys in your house is worse than 6 teenage girls? I do! They are louder, they argue & wrestle, they're just plain obnoxious at times! LOL But they had fun, nothing was broken, no one was hurt. Ok so, that's a lie... apparently my old broom I keep out in the patio was used to whack Jake and it was bent. Jake said he wasn't hurt (must have been numb from being outside in the freezing temps).

He got some gifts cards to Best Buy & Borders and cash. Cash.. the perfect gift, especially for a teenage boy with a terrible game addiction. hehe

Here are some photos from the party and one of him tonight, now that he is officially 13.

Jake, the 13 yo, playing some Xbox.


Jake, the day of the party -

From l-r: Levi & Ben sitting on the couch; Jake, Alex, & Zack -

Jake, Alex & Brian playing on the Wii -

Zack, Alex, Levi, Ben & Amanda -

The cake, a chocolate cake with PB icing (no I didn't make this, it was bought) -