Hello, Four

Look who's four today!

 The first words out of Reed's mouth after waking up this morning were, "Mom, am I four yet?"  And when I said yes, a very quiet but enthusiastic "YAY!" came from his mouth.

Yep.  YAY!  Four is going to be good.  I just know it. 

After yesterday's party, today was pretty low-key.  Our usual Sunday morning at church, followed by lunch at home.  Then it was time to open presents from Mom, Dad and Drew. (We did give him one gift yesterday at his party, too.)

 More enthused with the bubble wrap inside the box than with the gifts underneath it.  Typical. :)

 A new movie. {Disney's UP}

 Drew was just as excited, and animated, as Reed.

 Trio building block set.

And a few other goodies.

 We spent the majority of the afternoon building...

{even getting out the MegaBlocks

and Lincoln Logs later in the evening}

and then tested out Reed's new Kinect video game.

And as for the birthday boy's dinner of choice... McDonald's.  McDonald's.

OHMYSTARS where have I gone wrong?!?!

Joking aside, the kid is a McD's fan.  So his choice is no surprise, and given the guy is old enough to pick for himself, I had to let this non-Culver's-celebrated-birthday slide.  Maybe by next year he'll have come to his senses. ;)

 Because no Culver's ice cream would be had (neither boy asked for it at McDonald's), both boys got a Happy Meal...which is very very rare.  {Drew said, "We should get a toy this time, Mom, because it's Reed's special day!"}

The evening ended in the Play Place...followed by a really long, bubbly, soapy bath. :)

My monkey isn't my little monkey any more.

He's growing taller and slimming down.

He's going to preschool in the fall.

He's *this close* to no more pull-ups. (fingers crossed!)

He's transformed into this...

...and he's just so simply awesome.

And I'm so so glad God chose me to be his mom.

Yo Ho! Let's Go {Celebrate}!

Reed's birthday weekend celebration began today when we hosted a small gathering of friends to wish Reed a super happy #4.  Just last week Reed finalized his plan to have a Jake and the Neverland Pirates birthday party.  He has been convinced, since Drew's birthday, that he was going to have a Sonic party.  I wasn't against it, but Reed has no real excitement or interest in Sonic so I tried to steer him another direction.  He then wanted a Lightning McQueen party, but when push came to shove, he settled on Jake.  And that was totally the right choice for him and his current infatuation for said pirates.

Any good party needs to set the stage.

Pirate shirt?  Check!

Pirate bandana?  Check! 

Pirate patch?  Check!

Pirate ARRRRRGHH?  Check!

First mate?  Check!

This party was really fun to put together.  And while I would never call the party planning process "stressful"... this one was the easiest and most fun to pull together.

First up, the invite.

Kraft cardstock + Photoshop + Google search for Jake image + my Cricut.
Inspiration taken from HERE and HERE.

The cake & decor.

A big cake.  Just as Reed requested.

Inspired by THIS CAKE. 

If it looks complicated, it really wasn't.  A few layers, yes, but no fancy pants piping was required.  We had the Jake figures (Reed got them for Christmas) and I used leaves (cut using the Cricut) hot glued onto the Piroutte wafer sticks for the trees.  Strategically sprinkle on some brown sugar, and there you go.

Homemade banner & crepe paper.  I have mad streamer skills, ya'll.

I have learned that a lot of food just isn't really required, especially for a small mid-afternoon party.  Cake and ice cream will suffice...but it's just so fun!  And thematic!

We served:

"Scully want a cracker?" and cheese

"Catch of the Day" goldfish (chocolate graham and cheddar)

"Cannonballs" (grapes)

"Treasure Maps" (more Piroutte wafer sticks)

"Pirate Planks" (pretzel rods)

Water

The pirate booty & pirate games.

Patches, bandanas & tattoos for our guests.

Knowing that there would be fewer and younger friends coming to Reed's party, I thought that THIS would be the perfect activity to do together --- decorate your own treasure chest!

I picked up the boxes at Hobby Lobby and the pirate stickers at Target.

Along with the stickers, we used sequins, foam alphas & glitter crayons (all in my craft surplus) to decorate our boxes.

I think all of the kids totally loved it!  They were all super involved in decking out their treasure chests.

And what's a treasure chest without treasure to fill it up?

Time to dig for lost jewels and gold!

I had seen this idea on a couple different blogs, but they had been outdoors and used sand as the medium with which to bury their treasures.  Not so much indoors.  So I came up with the idea of using shredded paper in a really big box.  I just asked for paper bags during my weekly errand to the grocery store, ran them through our shredder, and tossed them in the box.

Minus the whole shredded-paper-all-over-the-floor, it turned out great!

Each kid had to dig for their own treasure, and they could fill their box with two necklaces, one ring, and as much "gold" candy as they could fit in their little hands.

We also fashioned a plank similiar to this one, and we had a bunch of black balloons blown up to be cannonballs.  The kids liked chuckin' the balloons at each other more than walking the plank...and I'm not gonna lie - so did the two dads that were here!

After all that excitement, we ate.

Reed placing his candles.

Being sung to.

So shy!

And then gifts.

We are so blessed to have found friends here.

We are so blessed that they are as excited as we are about birthdays.

We are so blessed to have this little big guy.

Good-bye, three.

Hello, four!

Tidbits

I have yet to post pictures from January, and now February, that will be included in our Project Life album for this year.  Until I finally get my poop in a group and get that crossed off the to-do list, here's just a snippet of what's been going on around here lately...

*** We had another snow day this last Wednesday.  It snowed throughout the night, and I think we got somewhere around six inches (I have no idea, really...I don't see much for news around here), but I think it was the mixed rain/sleet/snow/ice that was the determining factor in calling off school.  So it was a nice mid-week break for Drew, but come on already.  The third snow day in a month's time.  Ridiculous.  I couldn't have Drew thinking we have too much fun around here when he's at school, so we put both boys to work.

Let me just say, it was Reed's idea.  And Drew just attacked it.  He was like a little Ironman.

Then, of course, he wanted to build a snowman.  Brad was off to work and I dressed enough to shoot some pictures but not to play so I said we'd come back out later.  He decided he'd start on his own.

That snow was wet and heavy and when I finally went over to help him roll that snowball over to where he wanted it, I could barely move it!  Such muscles for a little guy!  I helped him (quickly) make the middle and top section, and there you go.  Snow day snowman.

In other news, it's March 1st.  And I'm so over the snow already.  Come on, spring!  I've already started making plans for summer.  It's gonna be a long couple of months!

*** Reed and I are making monthly trips to the library, and I am still working on reading the books from these lists {HERE and HERE}.  Last week, we read I Remember Miss Perry.  Oh golly.  Who knew picture books should be previewed before reading them aloud to your kids!  It's a book about death and loss.  Miss Perry is a teacher and halfway through the book she dies in a car accident. (!!!)  I spent the next 24 hours worried I had scarred my children for life when, much to my surprise, both boys requested it again the next night.  Drew asked a few good questions, and made some inaccurate assumptions ("Nobody really dies in car accidents") that needed some gentle explaining.  But whoa.  It was a little heavy for a bit!

Right now the boys are loving their Cars Storybook Collection book, the VeggieTales Mess Detectives series, and the Kevin Henkes books we just brought home from the library this week.

*** Reed has pretty much given up naps, and any notion of any kind of quiet time.  Things are definitely different with the second child!  About once a week, he will look and act tired enough to warrant laying down in bed.  We'll snuggle in bed and read a few books, then we'll lay quietly and 9 times out of 10 he'll doze off.  And quite honestly, sometimes I do, too.  I won't let him sleep for more than an hour, however.  It can mess with bedtime pretty significantly if I do.

I could eat him up.  So delicious.

*** We had pizza for dinner seven times during the month of February; from four different pizza joints, our freezer, and homemade.  Oy.

*** Despite the OD on pizza, I am still attempting to make meal-planning work for me.  I just don't enjoy deciding what's for dinner.  I am also trying new recipes to broaden our menu, and our taste buds. I am making THIS baked potato soup for the first time for dinner tonight.  I'll let you know how it goes.

*** Brad was gone last weekend on a retreat with 19 of our junior high youth (and three other adults).  They went to Spring Hill, which is this ginormous camp about 60 miles northwest of us.  They host several gatherings like this one, and Brad said there must've been upwards of 800 kids there.  I think he had a good time, and it sounds like things went well.

The boys and I were on our own then, and despite my lack of sleep (I just don't sleep well when I'm here without Brad... lots of anxiety with my over-active imagination), we had a good weekend.  Friends of ours offered to take the boys for a few hours Saturday afternoon so I could take a break.  I shopped, by myself and for myself, for three hours.  It was nice. :)

*** Brad is preaching this Sunday.  Our church's website can be found HERE, and under the "Sermons" tab, you'll find audio and video versions of our Sunday mornings.  Feel free to have a listen.  :)

*** When the heck did he get so big?!?!

*** We are very slowly working on things around the house.  We have gotten a few small projects accomplished, but need to carve out some serious time on the calendar to attack some pretty large painting projects.  I just finished making these shelves for the living room and the boys' room, and now just need to get them hung on the wall so that we can finally get some pictures unearthed from the moving boxes!

*** Reed's birthday is in nine days.  He just finally decided what kind of party he'd like to have, although he has had his opinion on everything else about it.  For example, he wants to invite all the friends that came to Drew's party (meaning, Drew's friends from school) and he wants a really big cake, like Drew's Cars cake from last year.

*** Reed has been "accepted" into the preschool program we wanted for this fall.  He's quite excited! But nervous.  But excited!  And so are we!

*** The boys won a trip to Disney World.  But not really.  Blog post coming soon!

A Super Sonic 6th Birthday Party

{Past mid-February...darn time I posted this, huh?}

It is usually about a week after the New Year when we start talking about Drew's birthday.  Specifically, his party.  Specifically, the theme.  Cuz this Mama likes to plan.  So we started talking about some ideas and then I tried to narrow it down to which ones I could actually pull off - as in, which themes I've seen plastered over Pinterest to be able to copy all of everyone else's ideas to pull this baby off.  We had it narrowed down to three: a Lego party, an Angry Birds party, or a Sonic party.  Well, four ideas, actually: Drew also threw in the idea of having an Electric Company party.  Not sure where that idea came from.  I mean, the kid loves that show, but what kind of party was he thinking this was gonna be???

I knew which theme I wanted him to pick, but I bit my tongue and let him decide.

He chose Sonic.

This was not the one I wanted him to pick.

This was the last one I wanted him to pick.

This wasn't my favorite theme for two reasons: 1) there aren't a lot of Sonic party ideas floating around out there; and 2) I know next to nothing about the little blue guy.

But after doing a bit of online research, and peppering Drew with 20 questions to learn something - anything - about the hedgehog, I channeled my inner minimalist (yes, I do occasionally remember that less is more), and we were able to pull of a pretty fantastic Sonic birthday party.  If I do say so myself.

So the details.  For those even remotely interested.  And for me, 20 years from now.

Sonic party supplies aren't the easiest to find.  I finally found some Sonic items at the fourth party supply store that I stopped into in town, but even there the selection was minimal - plates, napkins, tattoos, and balloons was pretty much it.  After not finding much locally, and not wanting to take the time to search online, I focused on Sonic's primary color - blue - along with yellow, to pull together party paraphernalia.

The invitation:

Inspiration taken from HERE. 

The cake:  

Idea found HERE. 

Chocolate cake, white frosting, coordinating M&Ms.

Throw on a small Sonic action figure that later becomes a toy he can actually play with...

So simple.  So absolutely perfect.

 

We also whipped up some white cupcakes with yellow and blue frosting.

Idea found HERE.

The food, table & decor:

Drew's party was mid-afternoon, so we served snacks, along with the cake & ice cream.

Blue corn chips & salsa (because Sonic is blue).

Pineapple rings (because Sonic races for rings in the video game).

Skittles (because a few of the inspiration blogs I looked at used these as "chaos emeralds," another part of the video game that I don't understand).

Water.

Popcorn.  Primarily to add color to the table with those cute popcorn boxes.  

(See?  Everything has a purpose.)  :)

The decorations consisted of the birthday banner, made with my Cricut, yellow & blue streamers and yellow & blue balloons.  Drew is a firm believer that it isn't a party unless there are balloons.  I splurged on those yellow Sonic balloons strictly based on his belief. 

The party theme was complete when Drew opened his new Sonic shirt from Grammy & Papa that morning.

The games:

Having actual party guests, aside from grandparents, I thought I should have a few games on hand and ready to go for the kiddos.  Ideally I wanted to get some ideas from the Sonic video game that would translate into some fun and easy hands-on games, but I still understand very little about it.  So with Drew's help, we pulled together a few ideas that sufficed.

1) Pin the Tail on Tails {an idea I saw on a couple different blogs}.

Tails is Sonic's side kick.  Giving him another tail just makes sense, right?  I found an image online, enlarged and cropped in Photoshop, and printed it out onto cardstock to make it into a large poster.  Traced the tail onto orange construction paper for the kids to pin on.

2) Ring toss.  In the video game, Sonic collects rings.  So a ring toss of sorts works great.  We used pool rings and small orange cones.  Worked great.

3) At Reed's birthday party last year, we played "Find the Hidden Mickeys" and Drew wanted to do something similar.  I still don't understand the whole Sonic and the chaos emerald thing, but from what I gather, Sonic is trying to find said emeralds.  So I printed an image of various colored emeralds I found online and taped them around the basement for the kids to search for and find.  

The favor bags:

I took a few ideas from HERE and HERE and then added a few of my own.

Blue bags found at the Dollar Store.

"Thanks for coming!" tags made with Photoshop and my craft supplies.

Sonic tattoo.

Ring pop (again, for the chaos emerald).

Blue bead necklace.

Cookies. Because the packaging was blue.

Small sonic coloring book (made with images found online) & a small box of crayons (that were clearanced out dirt cheap at the party store and they just happened to be blue).

The big day:

The celebrating began early as Drew opened his gifts from us and from Grammy & Papa in the morning.  He was a very lucky boy, opening lots of Legos, an Angry Birds game, and his Sonic shirt.  He was happy, happy, happy.

The real party started after lunch.  Drew had decided to invite four friends from church and six friends from school, and seven of them were able to come (parents were invited to stay, as well, and many of them did).  It was the perfect size.  They started arriving at 2:00, and we sent them down to the basement to play.  {I think everyone was well accommodated down there, but it did cross my mind that better planning to have had a baby in the spring/summer/fall would be great for outdoor parties!}  

At one point, Brad turned on the Sonic video game that begins with a little music video of Sonic doing his thing.  Those boys were glued to that screen! 

We played our party games while in the basement.  They were a bit chaotic and unorganized as the boys (and one girl) mingled through all the toys, but I think everyone had a good time!

Back upstairs for cake and snacks.

We don't have the greatest amount of table/dining space, so we threw a sheet on the floor and had the kids eat there.  Perfect to catch all those crumbs!

Presents from friends.  Such generous, awesome gifts for the birthday boy!

Best party shot I got of the party crew. :)

The party wrapped up at 4:00, and we had just enough time to do a bit of picking up to head out to Saginaw.  The birthday boy had chosen Culver's as his dinner of choice (surprise, surprise), and the 25 minute van ran to the restaurant was just right for a quick cat nap.

Birthday partyin' can really wear a kid out!

Before heading to Culver's, we made a pit stop at Toys 'R' Us.  Earlier in the month, Drew received a coupon for $3 off a $3 purchase, and I told him he could use it to buy some worth, well, $3.  Wellllll... let's just say he splurged.  Thank you, great aunts and uncles who send money for his birthday!

Ice cream zombie.

It's been rough for this Mama, having him grow up.

I do miss all the sweet baby-ness about him.  He's growing taller and wiser and more funny every day.

But I know we have so much more to look forward to.

I am so super in love with him.