Superhero Birthday Party

Our recently turned four year old is WAY into Superheros. He loves them all including Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Ironman,Greenlantern, Wolverine, Flash, Captian America and pretty much any other crime fighting hero that sports a cape or flies. To celebrate his birthday, my wife and I decided to host a Superhero birthday party with his little friends that he goes to daycare with. He loved it so much and we've received so many compliments on the party, that I decided to share what we did in case others wish to do something similar for their children.

First for the invites. To make them extra special, I used some of my Photoshoping skills to take a picture of some superheros and place our son's head on one of them. You wouldn't believe how much he loved seeing his likeness on a superhero and believe me it was the talk of his daycare class.

Now onto the party though. Every respectable superhero needs a cape so we decided to give each child who came to the party, their very own cape. Prior to the party, my wife cut a bunch of capes out of various colors of felt. Then she found some felt stickers sheets that she used to cut out each child's first initial along with other fun shapes including bat emblems, Spiderman emblems, horse silhouettes, crowns, stars and crescent moons. At the start of the party, each child got to choose a cape and then decorate it with their favorite pre-made felt stickers. To finish off the cape, we had little velcro squares that we attached to the sides to fasten the cape comfortably around the child's neck. These capes couldn't make the kids really fly but they sure had a blast running around pretending.

Next my wife read a superhero story to the kids while I took some small (maybe 3 inch tall) toy ninja figurines that we had purchased inexpensively from our local party store, and hid them all over the playground at the park we were holding the party at. My wife then told the kids that they needed to go find some little "badguys" hiding on the playground. It was basically an Easter egg hunt with little plastic figures instead of eggs but the kids loved it. They darted around and were so excited when they would find the little men. To make sure each child got at least one figure we told them they could only take one until everyone had one and then they could hunt down the rest. Of course some kids found them right away and then others had a more difficult time. Fortunately I had some hidden better then others and was able to guide these kids to the better concealed villains.

Once the bad guys had all been captured and peace had been restored to the park, we moved over to Spiderman pinata. Hind sight being what it is, it would have made more sense to have the pinata be a villain as well so that the kids weren't swinging a bat at a good guy but you live and learn. Once it was opened and the candy was pouring out, they didn't seem to mind what the pinata had started out as. Once all the candy had been picked up by the swarm of kids, we finished up the party with the traditional cake and ice cream and present opening. But before the kids left, they had had so much fun running around the playground earlier that they all wanted to do it again. I tried to add to the fun by chasing them around the playground and then letting them chase me. Once they caught up to me I let them "take me to jail" or a certain corner of the playground.

As fun as the entire party was, it was pretty special that my son told me afterwards that his favorite part was running around the park with me. That made my day and made me even more happy then all the parents of the kids who expressed what a fun and creative party it had been. Hopefully this will inspire you on how you can give your child a super Superhero Birthday.

Wishing I was more like Mary -- Daily Reading Thought

"Mary does something which only love can do. She took the most precious thing she had and spent it all on Jesus." (taken from rc.net Daily Reading and Meditation for April 2nd, 2012)

This line from my daily meditation reading, hit me today as I was reading it. Do I take the most precious things I have and give them all to Jesus? Not nearly as well as I wish. I certainly mean to and do try at times. But there are plenty of times that I am selfish with what I have. It's easy to justify that it's for my family, helping me with my job or a million other reasons, but the truth is Mary simplifies things in today's gospel reading. She doesn't think things through or ponder how everyone will perceive her actions. She just acts out of total love for Jesus. Hopefully I can become more like Mary and find my own way to spend all I have on Jesus.

Republican Presidential Debate: Ron Paul's the only one not sweating

I caught a little bit of the republican presidential debate last night and for the most part it just confirmed what I already know. These guys are all politians for sure, but amid all the mudflinging and accusing going on and scampering to explain why they voted a certain way, Ron Paul stood out as the only one not worried about how his answers would be percived. He always seemed calm and confident in what he was saying. I don't think I heard any of the other candidates call him out once. Admittedly that coudld be due to the fact that he's never been viewed as the frontrunner but perhaps it's also due to the fact that Ron Paul has continuously been very consistent in his beliefs and actions making it hard to find things to nit pick on. To be fair I don't always agree with him but I find his resolve to lessen the federal goverments involvment in our lives and to uphold our Constitution refreshing. He's obviously a man of conviction and not at all interested in pandoring to any groups in the way that Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich continuously do.

So why is Ron Paul seen as an extreemist with no realistic chance of being ellected? He obviously has a lot of supporters and I for one think his stark contrast with President Obama may be the most realistic chance for the Republicans to take back the White House. That probably scares a lot of people in the media who favor bigger goverment and more goverment programs. Even the other republican candidates I think are a little frightened by what Ron Paul stands for.

Now I need to be honest, if Ron Paul were ellected president it wouldn't magically fix anything. And I suspect that any of the other republican candidates would actually act very similar as comander in chief and would work to reduce goverment. Ron Paul however, represents a desire to return to our hertiage and what made this a great country in the first place. That's what makes him different. When Ron Paul speaks it never seems to be about him but instead is all about upholding the constition. I like that in a candidate and that's why I like Ron Paul.

Giving up radio/music for Lent

It's Ash Wednesday once again and another season of Lent begins. Everyone always wonders what us Catholics are going to give up it seams so I figured I'd post my Lenten penance here. For a number of years now I've been giving up listening to the radio on my commute to and from work as well as listening to music on my iPod. I listen to a lot of talk radio (mostly sports and news) and love cranking the tunes on my iPod so giving them up for 40 days is not that easy. Especially since sports talk radio is just starting to have more programming about my favorite team, the Minnesota Twins.

Many people give up sweets, soda pop or try to kick a bad habit so why do I give up something that isn't really harming me? The answer is that while it doesn't harm me to listen to music or the radio, it really is just a luxury that I enjoy. Everyone's different and for some people this wouldn't be a sacrifice at all so you have to know yourself. I think the whole idea of giving up something is that by purposefully setting something aside from your life you can have more room for Jesus. Really giving something up is only half of the deal. The other half is replacing it with something that helps you grow spiritually in your relationship with the Lord. So my hope is that I will take some of that time that I would have been listening to music and the radio and pray more, read the scriptures and just listen to what God is saying in my heart.

As difficult as I find Lent to be at times, I don't remember a year that it hasn't helped me grow and to be honest I find I really need it to refocus my life and priorities on what is important. Sure growing can be a painful process but the renewed joy and peace is totally worth it. And I do have plenty of room for growth, so here's to hopefully another successful Lent.

A New Era: Sans Blockbuster and Light Rock Radio

Our local Blockbuster is closing it's doors soon. My wife was quite bummed. Sure we can use the online service or subscribe to Netflix, or use the Redbox vending machines at our local grocery store but there was something special and perhaps now even a bit nostalgic about browsing all the videos together at the local video store. Of course the real surprise is probably that we still had a local Blockbuster store to visit. Time are certainly changing and it's been a bit of a rough transition for my wife.

In addition to our movie store going away, my wife also was a bit melancholy lately when her favorite radio station abandoned it's Light Rock format in favor of Country. Just as the way society watches movies has changed, so to has the way we listen to music. I get it that there are just so many other option now that more specialized radio stations have a harder time making it. But the world (or at least our area) doesn't need another country station.

I guess we are getting to the point where we can say, "Remember the good old days when we could listen to light rock fm radio and peruse the local video store?" Seems like we are too young to be saying that but we are certainly entering a new era of media and entertainment. I remember my Grandfather telling me about how he went to the local store to replace his broken TV set and was frustrated that they didn't have any black and white televisions anymore. Seemed funny at the time but I guess I'm starting to understand his disappointing a bit. We get kind of comfortable with the way we go about our lives and it's kind of sad when those routines and familiarities change. No doubt my wife and I will adjust I'm sure and be just fine. Who knows we might even break down and get an HD TV or iPhone one of these days.