The Birthday Party of the Century!

The Academy Awards come and go, but Hannah's 8th Birthday Party (and the preparation for it) will forever remain in Sweazey lore...

The buildup to the party paralleled that to the Olympics or Mardi Gras.  Plans began in early June for what would prove to be the biggest family gala in modern history....Mom worked at a feverish pace including weekends and long evening hours to ensure that everything went off without a hitch.

The guests show off their new cooking ensembles

The weekend dedicated to Hannah kicked off with a children's birthday party...invitees were Eleanor, Chihiro, Rayal, and Shriya.  The party began with the children making their own pizzas...of course, the children couldn't simply make pizza; they needed new and personalized cooking ensembles to go with it, complete with personalized aprons, chef hats and oven mitts!

Hannah seemed to like the new Wii game

After pizza eating and general merriment, it was time for the guests to shower Hannah with incredible gifts such as jewelry, hair adornments, jewelry box, a party light kit, a friendship book and other wonderful surprises such as Mario-Sonic Olympics 2012 for the Wii.  (see reaction to the left)


 (To see all exciting gift-opening pictures, such as this one, click on the here!)

Another brilliant idea from the Craft Nerd

After enjoying present time and running amok, it was time for the next sugar-injected activity: make-your-own-cupcake time!  (cleverly timed to take place about 30 minutes before the scheduled parents' pickup time)  The children all created gorgeous cupcake creations -- 1 of which, they enjoyed at the party and the other 2 they were able to take home...in a completely homemade box...created by who else!?

Owl bags ready to be handed out

After a little more revelry, it was time for the honored guests to go home.  Of course, they weren't going anywhere empty-handed.  And I'm not talking about the chef hat, apron, oven mitts, cupcakes, and custom-created cupcake boxes, of course!  The children also received a momento which was a perfect momento for a day of baking joy: a homemade Owl Purse, designed and created by Heather herself, completely accessorized with take home candy as well as a box (homemade and customized, of course!) of recipes!


So, all in all, it was an event to be remembered and a Birthday Party for the history books!  How will Heather top it in the '13!?  Stay tuned!

Update:  My husband is not a funny man.

Back from Paris!

Hannah moving the Eiffel tower.

Back from Paris and what a great time we had.  Lots and lots of walking.  We spent 3 days touring around and visiting some of the famous sites.  Highlights included:

-seeing Mona Lisa's smirk and Venus de Milo at the Louvre
-eating Macarons at Laduree
-viewing Paris from the Tour Montparnasse
-eating yummy crepes, croissants and tarts (can I admit that for lunch once we just had tarts).
-watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle each night
-seeing Monet's Water Lilies at the Musee de l'Orangerie
-walking up the Tower to the second level (we had no choice only one elevetaror was working!  But, we did get to ride an elevator to the top)
-playing in the fountain at the Palais de Chaillot
-taking a ride on the River Seine
-taking endless tours aboard the L'Open Tour

What fun!  Check out the pictures to the right!

Legoland - Denmark

Our summer travels have officially begun!  Our first little day trip was to Legoland in Denmark.  This was our second visit.  What made this time so exciting is Hannah got her very own Lego driver's license.  We also went on many of the rides and our favorite (I think) was the pirate boat.  It was a fun day!  I posted some pictures in the album to the right if you want to take a gander. 

Disneyland - Paris

Over Hannah's spring break back in April (yes, it does take me awhile getting stuff posted :) we surprised Hannah with a trip to Disneyland Paris.  It was great fun playing this trick on Hannah.  We drove down to southern Germany where one of our military bases are, spent the night, then drove to Paris the next day. We spent two days exploring both parks and had tons of fun!  Our favorite ride was Buzz Lightyear (Hannah pictured left)!  We also enjoyed "the Cars ride" Race RALLY as well as watching Ryan shove himself into rides that were too small for him, but Hannah insisted he go on :)  What a good dad!  Check out our pictures on the right.

Thanks for flying by!

Medieval Times Party (post by Hannah)

We had a medieval Feast at school.  We got to throw our chicken bones on the floor!  I accidentally hit Patrick with my bone and he hit me back!  It was a lot of fun so why don't you check out the pictures!

P.S.  I put up some old school videos that I found.

I am totally on a roll!

Thanks to Stephanie, I got my act in gear and actually updated all the photos on the blog (thanks Steph :).  Oh, wait, I have some school pictures I haven't added yet.  But, I have added a ton today!  Hurray for me!  Two more photo albums are waiting to be ooooed and aaaahhed over...one is Sweden (an anniversary gift...a real Swedish massage) and fun we had throwing ice into our somewhat frozen Elbe river.  I know, winters around here are exciting.  Hope you take a look and enjoy :)

Too many pictures!

Over our Christmas holiday we visit England for 9 days!  We had so much fun exploring London and the surrounding areas.  We went on 4 tours as well as several self propelled exertions.  Needless to say we had a lot of fun, but were extremely tired after our English adventure ended.  As a matter a fact, I am just recovering that is why I am so tardy in posting pics.  Here is a run down of the craziness...

              (12/23) Arrived at London Heathrow
Day 1     A Winchester Christmas Eve
Day 2     Christmas Tour of Canterbury,
               WhiteCliffs of Dover and Greenwich
Day 3     Boxing Day Bath
Day 4     The Cotswold
Day 5     London Magic Tour
Day 6     Jane Austen extravaganza
Day 7     Lion King
Day 8     Another trip to Bath since everything was closed on boxing day :(
Day 9     Ice Skating and Riding the London Eye
Day 10   Depart

I will post pics as soon as I go through all of them which should be soon :)