The Big Science Birthday Party!

On May 9, 2009, we had Ryan's birthday party at my mom's house. We had the best time and Ryan rates this the best birthday party ever! He really wanted a science party (or skating party) and I spent the last few months trying to come up with really great ideas that wouldn't do me in. I tend to go a little overboard on Ryan's parties (I know, you are surprised) but I was determined not to do "too much."

Friday night my mom, Amy, and I pre-assembled beaker name badges to have the kids wear when they first go to the party. We also made a great jell-o mold with red jell-o and giant bugs in it. It turned out so cool.





When the kids arrived we had them write their name on the name badge. Then we gave them their own scientist bag with safety glasses, a bug collector case, and bug tongs. We sent everyone out on a bug hunt while we waited on everyone to arrive. I was amazed at the bugs they brought back. I also learned that Becka Schmidt is such a good bug catcher!









Next, we made green slime from corn starch and green water. The kids really enjoyed measuring things and mixing together the ingredients. We had a few zip loc bags tear, but all in all we kept the mess under control. It also helped that everyone wore their own lab coat.







All of the kids were STARVING by 5:30 so we took a break for chili dogs and chips. The kids ate their food in 3 seconds flat and were ready for more action. I had to beg to get to eat one chili dog! The kids loved the bright green and blue cupcakes and Ryan loved all of the gifts! He was extremely blessed.







I have learned the way to a kid's heart--BINGO. Who knew? We played Christmas bingo at Emerson's 1st birthday and tonight we played Nature Bingo. The big kids were so kid to help the little ones out. We offered a choice of two prizes for the winner of each round--bubbles or an extra Diet Coke to shoot off with Mentos. It was nice to take a little break and sit down for a couple of minutes before MENTOS TIME!



The big event of the party was Diet (H-E-B) coke and Mento's. It started out nice and calm, but once the first bottle shot out the kids were wired! They were all screaming and carrying on. We let each kiddo take a turn with their 16.9 ounce bottles and 4 mentos. Once all of the kids had a turn we decided to get creative. I thought it would be fun to shoot two off at a time. I love good intentions; they always get me in trouble. I handed Kyle Kahl one bottle and Kallan Christopher another. I don't know what happened to Kyle's bottle but the pin came out and it shot straight up. Kallan got caught up in the moment and pulled the other pin out and shot his bottle straight at my Jeep. The weather was so nice that I had all 4 windows down. It never occured to me that I might want to consider moving it before we started with the mentos. It is amazing that the Mentos managed to shoot diet coke through the entire vehicle and out the other side. Now that's force! Not 2 minutes later Kason Christopher was asking me what to do with his that he had just shot off when I managed to fumble a ready to go launcher off the hood of the Jeep directly on to Cody Christopher and myself. I laughed until I cried. I told Cody that I would have been better off telling Kason to pour his bottle out on my feet.









We ended the night by trying out the wind tube. Mom had gotten it at a workshop and hadn't gotten to try it out on a bunch of kids herself. She asked all of the kids who was full of the most hot air. Of course, they all immediately chimed, "Ryan" in unison. I wasn't surprised and had warned mom the night before. Ryan had to try to blow up the tube using the fewest puffs. He puffed about 10 times and realized that it wasn't filling up. We had the kids take turns doing the same thing. They all thought it was hilarious. Then it's my mom's turn to show them how it's done. She opens up the opening of the tube really wide and blows about 3 times and fills the entire tube up. The kids were amazed!











I can't write an entire post without talking about Emerson. I am so proud of my little 16 month girl. She took two naps today and was so well behaved. She spent the evening playing with her daddy, Brittney, Chad, Chris Ferguson, and anyone that would have her. I can't thank everyone enough for entertaining her so that I could focus on the other 13 kids at the party.







We actually finished the party 30 minutes ahead of schedule and everyone was ready to go home. I think that everyone was beyond exhausted--I know that I was. Amy was so awesome and had cleaned everything up while the party was going on so I was able to get out of their before 8:00. Ryan was croaking off to go to Target to spend his gift cards so we headed to town. Emerson fell asleep before we left Quail Country and didn't wake up until we were back home almost an hour and a half. Ryan still had a lot of energy, but I told him we had to go home before I fell asleep walking through Target.