Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree

Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree - The Andrews Sisters

"Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me,

with anyone else but me, 

with anyone else but me

no no no, Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me, 'til I come marching home."

Our neighbor's tree fell.  Quite a tall tree, maybe 30 - 40 feet?

Thank God it landed towards the street.

Is that root rot? I don't know.

Front Row Joes watching the city employee.
Good, wholesome entertainment.

Our neighbor's tree fell.  Neither the boys, nor I heard it.  So, if a tree falls in a neighborhood, and the neighbors are inside their house, i guess the tree DOESN'T make a noise.


Mom & I's unproved, somewhat educated theory: the tree fell due to last summer's drought and water restrictions. 


somewhat unrelated side note: I love swing music (referring to today's blog title).  I swear, I was born in the wrong era, but then again, I'm very appreciative of today's luxuries (air conditioning, power steering, and some synthetic fabrics.) 

Songbird

Songbird - Oasis

This school year, I declared the boys were having 'good old fashion birthday parties at home'.  We would play games, run around, open presents, and have cupcakes.  I refuse to participate each year trying to top the last.  That's just me...

So, we sent out evites, without even having a theme (gasp!)

Then, we got a new tv.  What does that have to do with the birthday party?  Thought you'd never ask.  I was having a bad day, and I wanted to kick the box.  I didn't - BUT it got my wheels turning.  My boys LOVE playing angry birds on our iphones.  What about a 'live action' Angry Birds game?  We could stack the boxes up and kick balls to try to knock the boxes down.  Next thing you know, we're having an angry birds party.

So, a trip to Target and $15 later, Angry Birds: live action game had been born. (I got those big bouncy balls from the wire bins ~ 2.99 each)

We set the boxes up on some boards so they would be steadied.  Then J re-arranged them for each kid.  They got 3 kicks (or so) during their turn.  ELEVEN of these six/seven year olds waited IN LINE patiently for their turn.  They had a blast rooting each other on, 

If I had more time, and wanting it to look pretty on Pinterest, I would've painted the boxes brown, blue and gray, but the kids didn't seem to mind, so neither did I.

Select the link for a YouTube video of the game in action

One of J's intricate box combinations.

Another 'good old fashioned birthday party game'

Pin the tail on the donkey, er, rather pin the beak on the Angry Bird.

I bought a red poster board, traced an outline of the bird.  Used  yogurt lids for the eye cut out, a bottle for the pupils, orange and brown for the rest of the bird.  We used duck tape to 'pin' the beak.
Next, blind fold the kid, and let them go.

Easy, fun, and has made a nice 'door' decoration since the party

Here's the birthday boy/Pig

Gotta love a party with a Pinata!

The party was a success by 7 year old party goers. those are the only opinions that count, right?

When Doves Cry

"This is what it sounds like, when doves cry." - Prince

My Christmas centerpiece lantern, has been re-purposed as a bird feeder.  It took the birds a while to figure out how to land and feed.  The squirrels figured it out first - go figure.  Guess word got out among the birds, because we have a pair of doves that hang out too.  I didn't think they would be able to fit inside the lantern, but apparently it's true what they say: Where there's a will, there's a way.