Happy 9th Birthday Tyler and Bryce!

May 8, was Tyler and Bryce's 9th Birthday. It had been several years since they had had a "friend" birthday party, so I wanted to try and do something special for them this year before we left. Being a single mom in the middle of the move and trying to execute a party was a lot harder and took way more time than I had anticipated. But, things turned out in the end and it was definitely a party to remember. 

It started around the cake. I had learned a few things that I would do differently after making Lexi's castle cake, so that helped this time around. I ran into a few hiccups with it here and there, but for the most part, building, frosting, and decorating it didn't take as long this time around. And the kids helped too. 

Here's Bryce and Lexi putting rock candy on all the trim of the cake. 

 Tyler and Isabel decided they wanted to help to. Isabel would pick off rock pieces very sneakily, she was definitely more interested in eating the candy than putting it on the cake

 I asked Bryce to build the lego compartments of the cake. He was more than happy to oblige! Here's the finished product. I love how legos added so much to the cake to really make it Hogwarts:

 A work of love for the boys I love!

We got the cake all finished, but I still had to finish so many things for the party. I was running out of time and my stress levels were sky rocketing! Marc was coming home for the weekend, but he wouldn't be there until after the party was over. I was kind of complaining about how much I still had to do. I left to go get pizza. We came in the door, and I got a text that said "How can I help?" I was like, really? Your 100's of miles away, you can offer moral support, but that's about it right now. And then he walked in the door. I've never had one of those surprises that made me bawl like a baby until that moment. I was so shocked and so absolutely delighted and needing to see him my heart just kind of exploded in all sorts of emotions. He quickly helped me finish up what I needed to and was there for the whole party. It was one of the best surprises ever!

When the kids all showed up, we sorted them to "Team Tyler" or "Team Bryce"

Even Isabel got sorted :)

We made "Have you seen this wizard?" posters, I took a video of them moving around inside the frame a little bit and it turned out really cool. 

Next we went to school. We took different classes. First, it was potions class. We did some cool chemical reactions in the flasks. 

 After potions, we had a divination class. The kids got to pour sprite into their cup and whatever color appeared was their fortune. We had wealth, sickness, lots of kids, and early death to name a few. 


Then we had a defense against the dark arts dueling contest. The kids were partnered up and got to duel with silly string. They loved this part! I only wish I had bought the "real" stuff and not the dollar store crap. 

 Everyone came inside for dinner, treats, and butterbeer. We had licorice whips, Olivander Wands, wizard hats, Dumbledore's lemon drops, and pizza. 

The boys opened presents:

 Then we went outside to do charms with giant bubbles. It was a windy and took a little while to figure out how to manipulate the wands, but some of the kids were able to really get the hang of it.

 Then we did cake and icecream:

 We did things differently this time and sang to the boys at the same time. They had trick candles and both couldn't blow them out.At one point, everyone at the party came over to help them out. 

 In the goodie bags I had chocolate frogs, Harry Potter Glasses, homemade wands, and Bertie Botts every flavored Beans. 

The cousins got to stay a little later and play after the other party guests left. They watched "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and enjoyed eating their crazy flavors. 

It was a really fun night. The kids had a really fun time. I loved watching their excitement and their eyes light up and the fun things we did. We were exhausted afterwards! I was so grateful to have Marc there.