My Little Genius

It's that time of the school year again...Science Fair!!! This year Zenon gets his inspiration from the Mythbusters with a little twist on how to execute it from CoSi. 

As always Mom and Dad's roles are to make sure he works on it continuously so he doesn't miss the deadline, plus making sure he sticks to the criteria set which includes -- following the scientific process and keeping it neat and clean. He mostly needs help with the keeping it neat and clean. 

The only help he has needed in the past projects he's had are to make sure he is able to focus his ideas because I tell you this kid's brain is wired to explore everything and ask every question possible. As he does with everything else, we just need to help tone down the excitement but keep the enthusiasm up. 

This year we're also back to hand-writing everything...which is annoying because I never realized that he wasn't as familiar with a keyboard as I thought he was (using it for Minecraft doesn't count!). So last year when the school said typed text is good which is how I learned about the whole keyboard issue, I jumped to the opportunity of him sitting down and typing. 

I had to make sure of course that I sat by him because his hand-written notes are so neat he sometimes needs help reading it. Besides, I had him type it in an egg-shaped text box to keep with the topic/"theme" he had going.

I still remember the very first time he had to do a science fair project. It was also the very first time we went to Ohio thus our very first time going to CoSi. 

We came home and went through his binder and there it was, the science fair packet. We were sitting down and asked him what he wanted to do and he blurted out excitedly, "Sound waves!!!". 

Andrew and I looked at each other in shock and awe. We were very proud and quite confused. All amazement and all these questions in our head started popping up.

Where did he get that idea? Sound waves?? What does he know about sound waves?? Oh my god he's so freakin' smart! I always knew he was smart but this?? My god our son's a genius. Wait, science fair, sound waves...yes, awesome idea, but wait...how in the world???

So our brains processed all this a million miles per second and Zenon unfazed by the reaction we had simply continued explaining like everything was normal, "Yeah like the experiment at CoSi. I want to replicate that." 

Replicate. Did he really use the word replicate??? ...Okay, okay, calm parent. Remember, parent not child. Who's the parent??? Oh yeah...yay!!! I'm the parent!!! 

Okay, calm. Ask him how and if he can't answer we make him do a different experiment. One that he actually understands.

We got shut down by a 6 year old. He explained how to he was going to make his experiment. He was going to get speakers like the one dad has on his computer (old school! Haha!), then get a water bottle or tube then play his favorite song on Mom's iPad and go from there. 

Well, what do Andrew and I know, we're just the freakin' parents right??? 

Zenon has so far placed first in his very first Science Fair when he was in 1st Grade and 4th place the following year. Praying for a win again this year! 

Zenon is by no means aggressive even when it comes to sports but his competitive side comes out when it comes to this. He always goes for the gold. 

God my son is gonna make me so rich! Hahaha!!! No seriously, we have lotto tickets but I have a million times better odds Zenon will make us stinkin' rich than winning the lottery!

Zenon's First grade Science Fair project on sound waves won him First Place. 

His Second grade Science fair entry was on staining teeth using hard boiled eggs and the effectiveness of brushing your teeth. For a project that is not very original, he did a very good job and won 4th place. He got his idea from me nagging him about brushing his teeth. 

Zenon's Nerf Battle 7th Birthday Party

Zenon wanted to have a Nerf themed birthday party for his 7th birthday. Andrew and I were going to try to convince him to pick a more simple theme. We were planning our wedding and had so many DIY projects for it, and to top that off, we had also just moved a month and half before his birthday.

Whew! We had so many things going on back then. I think I channeled my event coordinator skills and prevailed!

I changed my mind about it though and Andrew agreed that we had to do this theme now because we had so many boxes from our move that we could use to make forts, etc. We had to take advantage of the opportunity. talk about recycling and reusing! looking back now, I'm so happy we did it.

Our very good friends were able to help us with the venue. We even ended up with an amazing bonus -- a private "movie theater" for the kids! Since the Lego Movie just came out and it was all the craze, we picked this movie for after the party. 

The kids went crazy with all the Nerf guns we had and the massive amount of ammo we had ready for them to use that they had ignored the huge firetruck bounce house we had setup outside!

We encouraged guests to bring their own Nerf guns aside from the ones we already had to make sure every kid had a Nerf gun to use. 

There were 11 kids who attended Zenon's birthday which is amazing considering we only had 1 kid attend the year previous. This the challenge that every parent has to deal with when you have summer babies!

Here are some pictures of the big event!  

The birthday invitation!

DIY birthday banner and Nerf banners.

DIY birthday banner and camo cake from Walmart. The cake isn't the best but it turned out very must and tasted pretty good.

Give-aways! Tons of candy and random toys including crazy straws inside! 

Table setting. We bought small red and blue tin pails and glued Nerf logos we had printed out and stuffed all the candy and small toys we could in it for give-aways! They turned out pretty sweet! We also glued Nerf logos to the camo paper cups.

We found vests at the Dollar Tree. We got lucky that they had them at that time and luckier that they had 2 designs available. We were able to divide the kids into two groups to play a "Capture the Flag Nerf Battle"! The kids had so much fun! Behind the kids table were all the parents tables and behind those was the "game area" where we set up forts, etc. This set up allowed the parents to sit down and relax while still able to watch the kids run around and play. Some of the parents even got in on the action and started "shooting" at the kids with the extra Nerf guns!

DIY sharp shooter game using the box our dining table was in and some painted soda cans. 

The box was pretty big wasn't it???

Tiny trophies for the kids!

The forts and the tunnel in the middle. All our moving boxes that we spray painted! 

Kids hiding in the box tunnel!

DIY signs. So much ammo!!! The safety glasses were 3D glasses that we were able to ask for for free from the local Cinemark. They were brand new and still sealed in individual bags! Thank you!!!

Another DIY sign, this time for the banana split bar! Yay for ice cream!!!

Piñata!!!

So much candy!!!

Did someone say private viewing of The Lego Movie and popcorn??? 

The birthday boy!!!

As if that didn't spoil him enough, we also went to the local water park the day before his 7th birthday. His actual birthdate last year was a Monday so we had his party the Saturday before. 

What's a birthday without big party poppers??? Birthday celebration part 3 of 3, a.k.a. his actual birthday. 

Merry Christmas!!! I mean, merry birthday...happy birthday!!! Spoiled much???

After all the excitement, we stayed at home on his birthday for some quality Zenon- centered family time. 

Happy 7th Birthday Zenon!!!! 

Zenon's 8th Birthday

This year Zenon had a simple, all store-bought, no Mommy DIY birthday party. Since I had just given birth to Zayden two weeks prior to Zenon's birthday party, we had to go the easy route.

This year's party theme is Jurassic Park. Zenon wanted a Minecraft or a Skylanders birthday party but because our little town didn't have anything and we were preoccupied and too exhausted with last minute baby preparations, we didn't even think about ordering birthday supplies online. The local party store had Jurassic Park and since Zenon loved the movies he was happy with it.

It has always been so difficult to have guests at Zenon's birthday since we don't have family here, and most of his friends have military families like ours, his friends are usually away during the summer. We are always so grateful when even one kid shows up! This year Zenon had 3 friends attend his birthday. For a last minute party that's almost 3 weeks early, I think we did good by our baby. 

Zenon wanted to have his birthday while Grandma was visiting, thus the early birthday. 

We reserved a couple of tables and a lane at the bowling alley and had Zenon's Jurassic Park themed bowling party! 

Zenon and his newborn baby brother, Zayden who did very well at the party despite all the noise. 

Zenon has been wanting a brother for so long! Now you do love and you're such a good older brother! Happy birthday love! We are so proud of you!!!

2 weeks later, we had the chance to travel to Ohio to visit family so Zenon had a second birthday party that doubled as a bbq meet and greet the new baby, Zayden. As always, Grandma spoiled the kids and prepared a Skylanders themed party for Zenon and baked the cupcakes herself! 

Since we travel takes two days, we ended up on the road on Zenon's actual birthday. To make up for this, we planned a special stop at the Will Rogers Archway in Vinita, Oklahoma. There's a McDonald's there that's built over the highway so all the cars and tucks are passing under you while you're having a quick fast food break. It was pretty cool. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!