When I went back to Armenia 2 years ago we kept hearing about the parties they throw when children lose their first tooth. We saw balloons and plates and cups all devoted to these parties, and we were lucky enough to walk into one of these parties. (If there is any Armenian reading this, please remind me what this party is called in Armenian) The party hadn't started but we saw the whole set up and the honored little girl who had lost a tooth, who was probably pretty confused as to why there were two foreigners in her house.
At that time, I didn't think I would throw one of these parties for my kids but finally Charlie lost his first tooth and it seemed like a great time to celebrate some Armenian culture! So that is what we did. Since I couldn't remember what the party was called, his cake just says Shnorhavor (congratulations) Charlie invited some neighbors and friends to celebrate and eat cake with us.
Dzmerook, and soak (Watermelon and juice) I also, got to bring out my Armenian cup set! And check out those flowers, cut from our property where the tenants are switching, Max had to trim back some wild rose bushes and made multiple flower arrangements with them....one of his many talents!
It was super low key, lots of sugar and room for the kids to run free!
We pretty much let the sugar filled kids run wild, ride bikes, climb on the hammock, eat more sugar, climb trees until the sun went down. It was perfect and they all got along pretty well. The grown ups were also involved in some pogo sticking, so that was fun. I think we can keep this tradition going, as long as my children lose their first tooth in the summertime.
We toned down the pace for Questival this year and decided to enjoy the process instead of doing a 24 hour sprint. (It helped that the prizes weren't as good, and scoring was based more on quality rather than quantity this year) But we fully enjoyed having a weekend to hang out with other adults (and pretend we were kids) while our kids were having the time of their life with grandma.
Our theme was "where's Baldo?" and Max was supposedly hiding in the
background of every picture and video we submitted so people could find
"Baldo."
So I got there a little late after dropping off my kids but we had an opening ceremony at Sellwood park at 7pm on Friday.
We were each going to have a specific weird personality in each photo....I was supposed to be sleeping. It ended up being really hard and didn't last...except for "baldo" hiding!
I didn't really put these in the right order but here are a couple challenges...
"Tandem Cartwheel with a team mate for at least one full rotation"
"As a team hold a wall supported/or not wall supported handstand contest as long as you can."
"Come up with your very own fitness challenge"
"Fake laugh hysterically until someone else joins in our you actually start REALLY laughing because of how ridiculous it is"
"Creatively take a photo with your favorite piece of street art that you find during Questival"
"Give one of your teammates a piggy back ride up 3 flights of stairs"
"15 second video on how to tie your favorite knot"
"Recreate that awkward family photo"
"Waltz across a cross walk"
"Allow a stranger to throw a healthy handful of flour in your face"
"Recreate a scene from a movie of your choice with an animal other than a human" (Thanks Marie for sharing your chickens!)
"Call this number and dance to one of the options 719-266-2837"
"Trade an item from your backpack to another person/participant for an item from their backpack" (I had a diaper in my backpack, haha!)
"Put an item of food in a transparent plastic bag and slurp the contents through a straw as quickly as you can. Eat like an astronaut"
"Eat a sandwich"
"so 15 push-ups, sit-ups, or jumping jacks in an aisle of a grocery store, count 'em outloud. Dare you to get a stranger involved."
"Hold a staring contest with a stranger not participating in questival while casually eating a piece of fruit...don't break eye contact. 15 second minimum."
"Video a 15 second scary story around a campfire" "BALDO'S WORST NIGHTMARE"
"Balance a broom on your chin for 10 seconds"
"Decorate your team mates face like a cake and then lick it clean" Viewer discretion advised!
"Create your own Random Act of Kindness" They mowed the neighbors lawn!
"Go to your local fast food place and sing your order" We made the worker so happy she threw in 5 free frostys!
Catch the largest spider you can find. Not from a store/terrarium" This beast almost crawled on me in our car!
"Find the park that features statues of characters from Beverly Cleary books"
"Identify 5 native plants species in the area by their scientific name" We ran into a sustainable agriculturist and she taught us about all the plants and made us eat most of them.
And we really did so much more but it's already taken me forever to get this many on my computer. instead of staying up for 24 hours, we decided to sleep for a couple hours in our own beds and it made it that much more enjoyable. the final closing event was roller skating and we had so much fun, then went out to a tasty Italian restaurant where it took too long to be seated (but it was delicious) and then tried to get ice cream at Salt 'n straw, but we had no desire to wait in the long line so we went home and enjoyed a good nights sleep! So much fun with such great friends!
This may not be super original or anything but for the last couple of years on Mother's Day we've tried to spend the evening as a family in a beautiful location where I am guaranteed to be in at least one photo for the year. (Instead of behind the camera) We've been meaning to explore the Rhododendron gardens for years so we finally made it happen. (even if it was likely to be the busiest day of the year) My own mother also informed me that I had been there many many times as a kid. haha, it all seemed new to me though. But I really don't have much to say except we wandered and explored and it was the perfect evening.
...and there was a bunch of twirling....I may be an old lady now, but I still can enjoy a good twirly dress.
Edwin....unamused
He saves his smiles for daddy. Funny story...when Edwin says dada...he says it all loving and endearing, when he says mom...he grunts it like an impatient New Yorker... That is 100% true. Happy Mother's day to me!
A kind woman gave my boys some bird seed and Charlie took it upon himself to keep it all to himself and ration tiny portions to his brothers.
More photos of Charlie's back...for the video I made of the hundreds of photos of Charlie running away from me. I really did make it at his last birthday but I think I forgot to post it on his birthday blog post....
"These are cookie flowers!" -Miles
And more of them being sweet...well, Edwin is trying really hard to get away!
Bahahaha...we tried a round of Ring around the Rosie....they always fall down as soon as you start singing.
Charlie's photos... he only has a split second to take them until Edwin runs out of sight.
I was going to leave this one captionless, to keep it more of a mystery....but the truth is, Miles was sitting really still trying to hold his poop in.
We realized Edwin would be still for a second if he was sitting on a bench next to his brother.
The purpose of benches....
He's staying pretty calm for just having touched a spider web.
We finally met back up with Max and Miles after a bathroom break and we found a beautiful spot to let the big boys take some photos. Charlie went first while Miles and Edwin sat on the bench.
Then they switched, as I was setting Miles up with the camera, a man walked by and asked if we wanted him to take a photo. I told him no thanks and that Miles was really excited to take photos. I'm so glad we let our kids do it. I know it is a gamble if anything will turn out but more and more often they are turning out great. I didn't crop or align any of the images and only lightened them and sharpened them a tiny bit.
Charlie was bummed he didn't get to do a kissing picture. haha! I plan on giving him lots more chances. Oh wait...I did crop the one below. ha!
All day I was treated like a queen. Max made a wonderful breakfast of Paleo Pancakes. He stayed home with Edwin who had a fever while I went to church with the big boys. Diet Coke and candy bars were passed out at church as mother's day gifts! Max gathered a beautiful bouquet of flowers from our yard and folded the mountain of laundry while we were at church and we had a restful afternoon together.
Anyway, this motherhood stuff is rough but wow these children are amazing and pure and wonderful. Just this evening as I was putting the big boys to bed I was talking to my children about how we make good choices to please our Heavenly Father and to prepare to live with Him again. Miles responded with "Mom, you're always like Heavenly Father and Jesus!" Oh how I wish that were true, but sadly it isn't. I do try hard everyday and it joys me that my boys can see that in me, and will hopefully make the same efforts. And if that's the one thing they get from my mothering, I think they may turn out alright!
And if you are a faithful reader of our family blog here are our previous Mother's Day photos. 2017
