Today, we hosted a birthday party in our backyard for Ezra. As we waited for guests to arrive I was hit with overwhelming gratitude.
While Cody and I hosted elaborate birthday parties pre-2020, the pandemic put these parties on hold. Then, just as our lives were returning to normal, Ezra was diagnosed with T-ALL.
Again, our family returned to quarantine life in order to minimize Ezra’s exposure risk.
But today, we threw an epic NERF gun party in our backyard. Cody and the boys spent the morning setting up the course, I prepared the cake, balloons and all the other party touches, and at 2 p.m. we welcomed Ezra’s school friends.
The whole thing was so redemptive. While we have been living a mostly normal life since Ezra’s last hospital admission, this felt like we were finally getting back to being us.
The Details
We invited Ezra’s friends using an customizable invitation template I found on Etsy. The invitation let our guests know we hoped to do the party outside and that we would be having a NERF gun battle.
Cody gathered large pieces of cardboard from the recycling bin at his work. He then got to work building a course using garden stakes, staples, cardboard and spray paint. He cut the pieces into various shapes and made two “home” bases for each team.
I built a piñata using cereal boxes and tissue paper. The kids enjoyed trying to bust it open. Before we got started one of the little boys boldly exclaimed that he was going to break the piñata in one swing. I told him he was massively underestimating my piñata-building abilities.
Finally the cake was also NERF-themed. As instructed by the birthday boy, the cake was chocolate and had a layer of chocolate-caramel buttercream between the cake layers. The blue vanilla buttercream icing was, well, very blue. This resulted in us sending all the kids home with blue mouths and blue teeth. A couple of them even had blue spots on their faces 🤪
There was so much excited laughter in our backyard today. It was truly a joy to observe.
Tomorrow we will more quietly celebrate our middle son on his actual birthday. Ezra has grown so much in the last year, and we are beyond thrilled to celebrate his (almost!) seven years of life.
When your ninja-loving four-year-old has talked about his fifth birthday party for more than six months, there’s a bit of pressure to deliver a memorable Ninja Turtle birthday party.
Combine that with the fact that we have planned large themed parties for the last couple of years (see our Super Hero party here, or our spectacular Dino-themed party here), and now I am not sure I can plan something small and simple ever again.
Good thing I love a good reason to craft, and at this point, the boys’ reactions to our hard work is worth all the effort.
This year we chose to plan a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle birthday party, with an everyday ninja vibe. The TMNT theme helped to guide party colours, and the cake decorations, but I knew I mostly wanted to keep the party goers busy with ninja-like activities.
Ninja Turtle Birthday Party Details
The week before the party I spent quiet time/nap time and the time after the boys went to bed at night to construct three different types of ninja weapons. I picked up some pool noodles and coloured duct tape and got to work making Donatello’s bo, Michelangelo’s nunchacku, and Leonardo’s Katana. My husband expressed disappointment that I didn’t attempt Raphael’s sai, but how does one make a three pronged weapon from pool noodles? If you find an example, please share it with me. Or don’t, ha because then my husband will have more reason to think I should have attempted to make one.
Now that the ninja turtle weapons were complete, I began working on simple costumes for each of our party guests. Thanks to Pinterest, I was inspired to create super simple costumes using large roasting pans, some ribbon, brown crepe paper streamers, a bit of hot glue, green spray paint, crafting felt, and elastic.
For the turtle shells I bought eight large roasting pans from my local dollar store. On a sunny day I laid them out on a drop cloth and got to work spray painting the shells green. I already had a can of dark green spray paint left over from another project in the basement. The paint I used was a primer and paint in one, so I did not prime my shells. The paint did scratch off of the roasting pans as the party guests used them; but, I did intend these costumes to be a one-time use thing, so I didn’t worry too much about longevity.
Once the paint had dried, I use some brown crepe paper streamers to decorate the shells. I then used a single hole punch to put holes in the top and bottom of the shells and attached a piece of ribbon, back pack style.
Next, I traced a mask template on some cardboard and set to work cutting out masks from four different colours of felt – orange, red, purple and blue, of course. I cut a small hole on the ends of each of the masks and attached a piece of elastic. I secured the elastic by hot gluing the ends. This momma cannot sew very well but, is an expert with the glue gun.
Ninja Turtle Birthday Party Games
Next up were the games and activities. We settled on a Ninja Turtle Birthday Party obstacle course. The first station was a sewer lid toss. I bought small tin pie plates and we used two metal garbage bins we already had. The party guests had to get one sewer lid into the garbage can before moving onto the next station.
Station two was a laser maze. Cody, my husband, took this one on. He used wooden garden stakes and a staple gun and constructed a frame. He then tied red yarn on the stakes.
Station three was a ring hop. Party guests were required to quickly hop through a set of eight rings. Once through, they then had to ninja crawl through a tunnel made from pool noodles and spikes in the ground. Finally, the party guests needed to expertly cross a balance beam.
On the other side of the balance beam the party guests donned their ninja turtle costumes and selected a weapon. They then climbed onto the trampoline where, suspended on yarn above, dangerous balloon ninjas that needed to be defeated. This was the boys’ favourite activity and it kept them busy for a huge part of the afternoon.
The Food
This year we kept things simple with typical birthday party food, burgers, hot dogs, chips, and watermelon. For an extra measure of fun, fitting with our ninja turtle birthday party theme, I made individual dishes of green slime, AKA lime jello. We then offered water and green ooze as drinks. The green ooze was a hit amongst the youngest party goers, and was accurately described as tasting like sour patch kids. It was sweet and sour, a mix of green apple Kool-Aid, pineapple juice, lemonade, gingerale, and water.
Finally, I made a camo cake for our Ninja Turtle Birthday Party using my favourite chocolate cake recipe and my new favourite white cake recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction. Seriously, if you haven’t tried this cake yet you need to. It’s so good! I then decorated the cake using dairy-free buttercream with the image of Leonardo. For Elijah’s actual birthday, I did the orange ninja turtle, Michelangelo, I guess. Ha, obviously I am not the ninja turtle fan. Anyways, I was told that while the cake was beautiful, Michelangelo was not the best ninja turtle and I had to choose a different one for the party day. Well, that’s why I did a practice cake, I guess.
About the Birthday Boy
Elijah has always been, well, full of life. He’s loud, enjoys a good laugh over a fart, and never sits still. In the last few months I have noticed him growing up, becoming more aware of the feelings of others and more independent and firm about what he does and does not like. He also very much enjoys “activities” like LEGO, crafts and colouring, and play dough.
Elijah has a dairy allergy, that we continue to live with. He is also allergic to peanuts, but can successfully eat two peanuts daily thanks to an oral immunotherapy trial we participated in. It is our hope that he will eventually out grow the peanut allergy.
Elijah is the best big brother. I think he genuinely loves to play with his younger brothers, and is particularly delighted when he can make his baby brother, Elliott, laugh. My husband and I joke that Elliott is eager to crawl, jump and walk so that he can start playing with his big brothers. But, I believe Elijah may be just as eager for Elliott to start crawling so that he has another playmate.
Elijah starts Kindergarten in September and talks nearly daily about “when I go to school…”. I was excited for his to start going to school as well, because let’s be honest, three very busy boys is a handful and has been an adjustment. Especially after a year of working full time. But, now that the back to school day is just a couple of weeks away I want to soak up every bit of my little boy I can. These last five years have disappeared and it feels like my five-year-old is going on 10. So, for the parents of older children, does the time ever slow down?
For now I will leave you with a selection of photos from the last year. Collecting these photos helped to remind me on Elijah’s affinity for hats and gloves, gardening and helping me in the kitchen. Pictures truly are just as good as a thousand words.
Elijah is now four and Ezra is two and the best way to celebrate was with a roaring dinosaur birthday party!
Elijah has been asking for a dinosaur birthday party since about my birthday, which was in January. I wouldn’t say he’s a dino-crazy kid but that’s what he wanted and so, that’s what he got.
Before I get into the details I want to spend some time recording a bit about the boys, because this space is as much for my readers as it is for me as a form of record keeping.
Elijah – Age 4
Elijah has always been our more challenging kid, but in the last year we have seen huge advances in his mood swings and tantrums – he doesn’t have so many anymore and when he does get upset he is more easily comforted and calmed down.
He loves learning new things. I sat down and had him trace the alphabet on a piece of paper where I had written each letter. You should have seen how proud he was of the finished product. We had to show Daddy, both Grandmas, as well as anyone else who came to our house.
His favourite foods are soup, waffles, bread with (soy) “butter and sprinkles,” cucumbers and sweet peppers, and just about any fruit – especially watermelon. But ask him to eat a potato and you are in for the fight of your life.
He’s no longer napping at daycare, but he does usually fall asleep on his way home. He also naps on the weekends, but that messes with bedtime. So perhaps we should be cutting out the naps on weekends too …
He’s funny and animated when he talks. Moving his eyebrows up and down and making his eyes as wide as possible when he wants to tell you something particularly wonderful.
I think it’s interesting the things he remembers lately. These things are usually events or activities we did several months to a year ago and it’s curious to me that he brings them up after so much time. For example, when talking about this birthday party, he told me he had a monster party last year, but this year he was having a dinosaur party. He wasn’t wrong, there was a monster party last year, but it was Ezra’s party, his was a superhero party, which he apparently does not remember.
I am looking forward to seeing what four has in store for our Elijah. He’s sensitive but tough, funny and full of hugs and snuggles.
Ezra – Age 2
Ezra is our tank. He’s wearing a size 3 in both pants and t-shirts and, while shorter than his brother at the same age, he is definitely wider. He is starting to thin out (although only Cody and I would notice that, to everyone else he’s still a solid little boy), but I doubt he’ll ever be thin.
He is funny, so funny. He loves to penguin walk when wearing his penguin pyjamas, and he has this full-bellied giggle that makes everyone around him smile. All of the staff at the daycare remark to both Cody and I how fun Ezra is. He rarely has a bad day, so when he does you know something is not quite right.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a normal two-year-old and can throw a good tantrum. He’s super quick to say sorry though, and usually moves on quickly after a short time-out.
Ezra speaks very well, or at least we think he does. I’m loving all the variations of the words he says, like daddy-whore (dinosaur 🤣), dum fruck (dump truck…the “r” in fruck isn’t always pronounced 😳), na-night (bedtime or lay down), loooooooove you (love you, always said very drawn out), and mama for Grandma.
Ezra loves to be outside and now that the weather is gorgeous again it’s hard to keep him inside. For example, first thing in the morning, he gets a new diaper and can hardly wait to be dressed – he’d head outside in nothing but a diaper if I let him. He also loves the tub. All we have to do is mention a shower or tub and he’s running for the bathroom. Once there, he immediately starts pulling off his socks and pants, getting ready to hop in.
We’re not potty training yet but I probably should start soon. He does say “me poop” or “me pee” and want to sit on the toilet, but never actually does anything there. We had him outside in only his bathing suit a couple of weeks ago, and he peed. He was so angry that his leg got wet but had no clue how it happened. So, there might be a confusing and angry few days of learning before we make any actual progress.
His favourite foods are pizza, just about any fruit, Cheerios, and milk. He’s starting to be a bit pickier with his food but in general remains a fairly good eater. He also loves to help me in the kitchen, with the dishwasher and the prep-work. And, when we’re all done he’ll grab the broom and sing, “mean-up, mean-up (clean-up).”
Okay, now on to the dinosaur birthday party details …
Dinosaur Birthday Party Games
We had a joint party for both boys and invited a few families over. With kids of various ages, I wasn’t overly concerned with having games for one age group, and was just determined to have activities to keep kids busy.
We had four stations where the kids could do different kinds of activities.
Dino Dig
The boys got to try out their brand new sandbox with a dino-dig. Cody and I formed salt-dough (4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1.5 cups water) fossils and, when they were dry, I buried them fairly shallow in the sand. I picked up a box of seven cheap paint brushes from Home Hardware so the kids could dust off the fossils they found.
This activity was a huge hit with kids from 2 to 8. When all the fossils were found I just buried them again, creating a couple of hours of fun.
Dino Hatch
The next activity at our dinosaur birthday party was a dinosaur egg hatch. I found instructions on Pinterest (really, that’s where I find all my ideas. Check out my “Little Boy Birthday Parties” board for all my inspiration)
I made a paste of baking soda, water and food colouring (three boxes of baking soda and just enough water to make a putty-like paste, not too watery, makes about 15 small eggs), and hid small plastic dinosaurs inside.
I then set out spray bottles with vinegar and the kids were able to spray the vinegar on the eggs and watch it foam up and reveal the dinosaur inside. This is definitely an outside activity as it’s messy, but aside from the wind causing a bit of misted vinegar to go into a child or two’s eyes (oops, also not a windy-day activity), most of the kids loved seeing the dinosaur emerge. One even exclaimed “this is science!” So, fun and educational = a winner activity in my books.
Feed the T-Rex
This next dinosaur birthday party activity was really made awesome by my talented husband. Cody is a bit of a closeted artist, but ask him to paint or draw something and he delivers!
I showed Cody a picture of what I wanted and he pulled through. He grabbed a scrap piece of plywood we had leftover from previous projects, and some paint and away he went. I think he secretly loved doing this project because he was able to sit down and watch TV while doing it. No need to stand out in the hot sun or listen to the sound of drills and saws … which is usually required with all the other projects I’ve asked him to complete. Cody’s amazing. I probably don’t say that enough, but he really is. I have all the ideas and he delivers quality work each and every time.
But enough about Cody … back to the party!
When he was done painting he cut a hole in the T-Rex’s mouth and stapled a cloth grocery bag to the back to catch the bean bags, or dino-food. We propped it up against our fence and that was it. Dinosaur birthday party activity number three 🤗
Dino Jump!
This next game was just us using what we had and giving it a name. Cody looked at our trampoline and said it was too bad we couldn’t do something dino-themed with it. That’s when he got an idea and told me to make another sign. Dino Jump definitely made the trampoline even more fun.
There it is. Our dinosaur birthday party. To conclude, I’ll leave you with some photos of the boys together. They really do play well together *most* of the time.
Calling all Superheroes! In the month of May we celebrated two birthdays. Cody turned 30 and Elijah turned 3. Since both of these guys are super in my eyes, I decided to plan a Superhero Birthday Party for them.
I can hardly believe it. One year has already disappeared and our little boy, affectionately called our little monster, is already one. We celebrated the his first birthday with a Little Monster Birthday Party, twice, because around here birthdays are a big deal.
But before we get to those details I want to share a bit about our little monster, Ezra Terry.
Our Family Chatter 