A Very Harry Birthday

Happy 8th Birthday Mullin!

Mullin's birthday menu: Cauldron cake and chocolate ice cream to eat, and Butter Beer and Pumpkin Juice to drink. The kids also made their very own edible pretzel wands.

The boys liked pulling out the juicy worms from the bubbly green potion, and gobbling them up.

Games: Guess the Potion, Guess the Bertie Botts Bean, and Harry Potter Scene It.

Watching their faces while eating the Bertie Botts Beans was so funny!!! Mullin won that game!


Mullin and the boys had a great time, and now it is time for Mommy and Daddy to rest!

Can't Wait!

Well, Saturday is the big day. After breakfast, I will be dragging the kids to the store to pick up my very own copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I am on the edge of my seat to see how things turn out. I just re-read the 6th book, and I think I am convinced that Snape is good. I could be wrong, though. He just very well may have to give his life for Harry in the end, who knows? When one saves a wizard's life, I believe the saved one is bound to the saver in some sort of way--sort of like they owe them one or something. So in that case Harry has saved, Ginny, Arthur, Ron, Wormtail, Sirius(but he's dead already),and Dudley(but he's not a wizard). Am I missing any? I think Snape owes Harry, too b/c his dad saved his life. I wonder if one or more of them will have to sacrifice in order to help Harry carry out his quest????

Since we are on the subject of Harry Potter, I saw The Order of the Phoenix. It was a good movie, but boy it went by soo fast. I remember thinking surely the Centaurs couldn't already be carrying Umbridge away!!! A lot was left out, but it was good. Isn't Snape just great? I know the boys are itching to go soon.

Well, I am about to fall asleep, and I keep hitting the wrong keys, so night, night...

Knight Bus Pics

The day we've all been waiting for finally arrived and Mullin got to board the Knight Bus and make his 15 second video on why he likes the Harry Potter books.

My mom and I and the kids made it to Surprise, Arizona in just an hour and a half. We planned on at least 2 hours, so we were a bit early, which ended up being great because the kids had time to participate in the Harry Potter activities at the library.

The boys made Harry Potter glasses, and Shiloh had fun coloring pictures.
We didn't think Lincoln was going to be able to go on, but in the end he did. I think he was a little disappointed about it not being a "real" triple- decker bus.

Once we were in we just sat and waited for Mullin to do his video. Quite honestly the room was cramped and it was a bit warm, but all in all we had a blast. What a neat experience!!!

After all the Harry Potter fun, we had lunch at my mom's Aunt Lynn's house, stopped at Cold Stone Creamery, then drove home. We left at 6:40am and got home at 3:00pm. I am whooped!!!

Soon we will let you know where you can view Mullin's 15 second video.....

Knight Bus Tour

"Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go."

-----Stan Shunpike

Mullin entered a drawing at the library in hopes of winning a tour on the Harry Potter Knight Bus, and he won!!!!!! Woo Hoo, we are all so excited, but only one adult can accompany him. Looks like there will be a knock-down-drag-out fight between me and you know who!!

Can't wait to post pictures after July 3rd...

"Quote for the Day"

"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."


----------------Professor Dumbledore

July is Wizard Month

Well, I was already ecstatic about The Order of the Phoenix coming out on film in July, but now I will be able to finish the book series as well!!!! Yea, JK has announced the publication date for her last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as being July 21!! (And surely it's 2007 and not 2008, right?)

Thank goodness I will be able to read it during summer break!! No homeschool!

If you haven't joined the HP bandwagon, get on the ball and start reading the first installment of the best series ever! Beware: You will become hooked, or should I say "hoodwinked"?

Mullin is currently waiting for us to buy or get to a library so he can read the third book!!

Art Class

Another school year has begun. I am thinking the boys would love to change our school name to Hogwarts from Rivendell, but unfortunately I have absolutely zero magical skills. Well, come to think of it I am not an elf either, but anyway...Mark has offered to share the load this year and teach art, my least favorite subject.

By the end of the week I have no enthusiastic energy left to teach a subject that I am not very good at. Being the great guy that Mark is I know he will make art fun and enjoyable! In fact he has already come up with a few creative ideas, one being the title--Defense Against the Fine Arts. Made me laugh! And he does such a fine impersonation of the loveable fraud, Gilderoy Lockhart, who was supposed to be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

I know Mullin is anticipating his first lesson, and I am sure he is glad that I won't be the teacher!!