"Children are a heritage from the LORD...." Psalm 127:3

Birthdays are an exciting time in the Shullenbarger household. January sees Elijah turn 5 and Rebekah turn 8. Tradition dictates, wonderfully so, that we celebrate over Martin Luther King, Jr weekend when we have a 3 day weekend. Our friends from Pittsburgh come down on Friday and we par-tay. This year we attempted the unthinkable. Both parties on the same day. This was made possible by helpful revellers and a shared themed. Both birthday kiddies wanted a "How to Train Your Dragon" theme. Festivities honored the following dragons at the Shulldock Dragon Training Center:
Deadly Nadder: the brilliant blue dragon with a mouth pouch that can extend to scoop up sheep--whole. The game was a pie-eating contest with foil tart trays and whipped cream! We have an expert in Rebekah. Pretty sure she ate 5 in one lick each. Friends were not far behind.




Monstrous Nightmare: known for setting himself on fire; this dragon is large is cunning. Our monstrous nightmare lost his flame. Jessica outlined a head, printed off some fire that partygoers colored and then we played pin the fire on the monstrous nightmare with a very viking-esk blindfold.
Night Fury: Toothless spent much of the first part of the movie trying to jump out of the walled-in paradise area he fell into as a result of Hiccup’s contraption. Friends competed against themselves in a long jump contest.

Hideous Zippleback: Known for its two heads, one that produces a gas plume, the other that lights it. This activity had to be conducted at the outdoor facility due to its water use. Candles were lit and placed a fair distance away. Viking hopefuls took on the zippleback alone with a water gun attempting to extinguish the flames.



Terrible Terror: known for its small size and ferocious attack, the terror likes light and can be found in surprising places and surprising times. The birthday party followed reported sightings on a scavenger hunt for the Terrible Terror and its dragon horde (gum). The search began in Gobber’s shop where boots are kept (shoe closet) and moved to the silver pool where Toothless landed (kitchen sink). From there the party was asked to board Stotic’s large wooden brown boat (pool table) from which they sailed to dragon island where Red Death emerges (red bathroom). They are unprepared and sent to the dragon training theater (TV) which sends them to the place where one lit lamp burns (game closet light.) There they were greeted by the Terror and a gum treat for each party goer.
Cake for Elijah was Dragon Island surrounded and decked out with Dragons. Rebekah didn’t want cake (Jessica is doing okay with this fact) and instead the girls made their own sundaes and, tired from dragon training, were treated to a mini spa—facials, manis and pedis.

Fun was had by all and God's hand was clearly on our celebrations. Jessica did not stress over the cake after the original volcano design collapse resulted in dragon island au natural. The drawing of the Monstrous Nightmare was copied from the party plate as Jessica was blanketed by the Spirit. Something that would've consumed her took simple strokes of the pencil, outlining of the pen and no erasing. Only God! Paula's presence got Jessica through the spa part and Chris once again outdid himslef with pizzas for guests. Even the guest count helped us stay peaceful. The boys politely stayed off the first floor for Rebekah's activities. For Elijah, the girls stayed off premises but the older siblings wanted to take part and we sent them through in two independent shifts that ended almost at the same time.