One Party, Two Party, Red Party, Blue Party

My little buddy turned FIVE {5} this week. 

 

It sure doesn't seem that long since I was timing contractions on the way home from my doctor appointment where they assured me that "nothing was happening." Two hours and a bit of scrambling later our tiny 7 lb. bundle was safely in my arms. And yes, we made it to the hospital. 

Since this is his last year at home with me before he starts school, I decided to invite 

a few little friends and throw a party.

Found this adorable free download and added my own text.

School was closed the day of his actual birthday so we had to postpone the party

a few days. I wasn't exactly prepared for all the older siblings to join us too.

We settled for pizza and cupcakes for dinner.

Legos. His one and only request. Not because we don't already have 

thousands of them, but because he needs some that are his very own.

That's pretty important when you're the 4th boy in the family.

Party Time

Make your own 'Cat in the Hat' hat.

"Seuss-O"

(always more fun when played with M&M's)

Playtime

and 

Lunch

The Menu

Green Eggs and Ham{sandwiches}

Hop on Pop{corn}

Go! {Hot}Dogs Go!

One Fish, Two Fish, Goldfish

Fruit pops

Cupcakes

Ice Cream 

Punch

 

The 'Cat in the Hat' cupcakes were super easy.

1. Use a rolling pin to roll one marshmallow flat.

(I put a heavy pan on top of mine for a few minutes to help them stay flatter.)

2. Dip another marshmallow in melted red coating chocolate.

(This may be easier to find in stores if your child's birthday is a few weeks from Christmas.

 I'm not really sure, I never looked for it any other time.)

3. Attach the dipped marshmallow to a flattened marshmallow using the melted chocolate.

4. Dip another marshmallow in the melted chocolate and attach to the top.

5. When those layers are dry turn the whole thing upside down for one last dip on the top.

 6. Allow the chocolate to harden and place on top of cupcakes that are already frosted.

Bingo! You're done.

What a sweet bunch!

The Favors

I found a whole bunch of Dr. Seuss stuff in the Dollar bins at Target (inspiration for the party)
a couple of months ago, including 'Cat in the Hat' plates and erasers.
Everyone got to take home their plate, an eraser and a book.
(collected from yard sales and second hand stores)

I do believe we made some fun memories for the little man (and his Mama.)
I shall try to focus on the making of more of those in the next few months and not think about
the fact that the big yellow bus will be snatching him away from me all too soon.

Because....

"The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." --Dr. Suess

Super 7

[one last Birthday post for awhile. promise]

The second November birthday comes 5 days after the first. After [literally] making a list of options, weighing the pros and cons, and much deliberation, he decided on a Superhero theme. I'm sort of surprised we haven't used that one before but it was still up for grabs.

His actual birthday was on a Saturday. Usually at our house the birthday person gets to choose the dinner menu but when I realized we would not be home for dinner the night before or the night of his birthday I convinced him that we could do a Birthday breakfast. His choice, French toast, bacon (3 pieces for each person :) doughnuts and coffee.

The kids were all playing with markers the night before and I found this fun napkin art on the table when I was ready to set it for breakfast. I thought it was super sweet of his big brother to make it for him but after my photographing, and  moments of heartwarming I was informed that in reality, He made it for himself. Silly boy (but I still think it's kinda cool.)

He spent hours cutting, gluing and crafting these 'Supertreats' for his school classmates. I helped a little but he did the majority of it, a plan that worked out well for both of us.

I do appreciate the teacher's gracious smile when I delivered them to his classroom. I may have been her worst nightmare but she didn't let on. Cake + icing + sugar coating + lollipops = well, you can guess.

We invited cousins and family for his party. Mama cheated this year and ordered a giant sub from Subway. It was much tastier then the "Wonder Dogs" that were also served. Superpower veggies, some jello (I think I'm wearing this one out but it always comes in the party colors and the kids love it. I almost never make it any other time. I get bonus points if there are several colors in one serving too.) popcorn and cake and ice cream fueled the many Superheroes present with plenty of energy for the night.

Daddy made a laser obstacle coarse in the hallway.

Grandma made capes and masks for all of them at different times over the past year so everyone was able to come in costume. Swords and weapons of various kinds seemed to be required as well. The lasers did not fair well.

True to my take-the-easy-way self I decided not make red, yellow, and blue icing (yuck!) for the cake, M&M's are much easier, (and tastier) thank you!

 

Complete with "the moves."

I of course find it hard to believe my little buddy is SEVEN already. Cliche I know, but I must still say it!
These days you'll find him kicking a soccer ball, reading, creating a rubber band something, reading, stashing the food away, playing games, reading, telling a joke, trying to keep up with his big brother or reading. He sailed through the school transition thing without so much as a speed bump and I think sometimes he keeps his teacher stepping trying to keep him busy. But at the end of the day, he's still Mommy's snuggle bug and I'll be doing everything I can to keep it that way for another 7 years. I love you SuperReagan!

Tales of a Teenager

It happens every. single. year. When everyone else is busy cleaning up leaves, planning Thanksgiving menus and all the other fun things of fall, my children ( not just 1, but 2 of them) insist on having a birthday. Really guys? Every year! Who's idea was this anyway?

It seems the only thing I post about anymore is birthdays. We had 3 in September, 3 in October, and 3 in November (all of them immediate or extended family.) We'll take December off and be back right after New Years with another one.

We joined the Parents of Teenagers association this year. This calls for special celebration! Dad picked him up from school on Friday and took him for a surprise overnight outing. The boy made out well! Golfing, bowling, Buffalo Wild Wings, bountiful junk food, a movie and a motel stay. But since this was a "male bonding" weekend the camera toting Mama was not included in the fun. And so I have no pictures. Not even on Dad's phone. Zip, Zero, Nada!

Really, the trip was his gift but I had to find a couple of small things to wrap up and take a picture of or one day my forgetful little Grandma self will wonder why in the world we didn't celebrate the boys 13th birthday. Poor boy didn't even get a cake since we choose his birthday to celebrate good report cards at Sweet Frog. I don't think he was at all disappointed to trade cake for an enormous mound of frozen yogurt and 2 too many toppings.

His handsome teenage self!

My little boy is gone

in his place I find 

a respectful,

responsible,

young man,

who is 

a great big brother,

has a fun sense of humor,

and many talents and gifts.

Jesus, help me to continue to teach and to show him how to be a man of God

and to use those talents for your glory!

Double Digits

Someone in our house hit the double digits a few weeks ago. This is a pretty big deal you know, so even though I'm behind the times a bit it must be documented. This was another case of throw-a-cake-into-an-already-planned-event-and-call-it-a-party. We went with a beach theme. (In a feeble effort to extend our Florida sunshine memories.)

By far the easiest and quite possibly the best tasting birthday cake I've made. Hidden under that sandy disguise is a yummy carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Mmm!

A couple of fun 'pinterest-y' details just because...

Sunglasses are a beach must! (Thank you Little Miss for your modeling services!)

Cupcakes for his friends at school. Sorry kids, it's straight from the box for you. What did they care, anything served with gummies on top is a hit in 4th grade.

As per tradition in our house, I asked the birthday boy what 10 year old boys like for dinner. His answer...."Dessert!" Go figure. His request was for chocolate ice cream with M&M's, skittles, sprinkles and hershey kisses. I did my best to comply. I was determined to hold my tongue and let the birthday boy decorate until he was happy but after the fourth scoop of sprinkles I just had to move that dish. I don't know how long he would have kept piling it on, until the sprinkle dish was empty I suppose. And just because I'm a Mom and it's what I do, I convinced him to add Cheeseburgers, oven fries and veggies to the menu too.

His gift was one of those one time special splurges.  Every boy needs a bike but more importantly we saw this as a great way to help keep his muscles loose and sneak in some exercise. We were pretty excited to find these heavy duty adult sized tricycles made by a local Amish business. 

It was kind of hard to gift wrap but it should last him forever. And sometimes he even shares with his Mom. *Grins*

 

10 years. 

 Gone.

 Just. Like. That. 

it begs a trip down memory lane.

3 days old. waiting for open heart surgery.

6 weeks old

 

Brothers. (11 months old)

3 years

learning to walk

beautiful blue eyes and new specs

Mr. Handsome turns 6

7 1/2 years old

 This boy knows how to enjoy life! He's taught us a lot and we've decided he's a keeper!

Paint Project - Part 1

Today I  declared the boy's rooms finished.  F.i.n.a.l.l.y. after 6 weeks of mess and stress which included 10 cans of paint, way too many trips to Home Depot, brushes, rollers, sheets of plastic, rolls of tape and a couple more brushes, 2 major paint spills (did I mention that we weren't replacing the carpet?) a couple of living room sleepovers, plenty of sweat and sore shoulder muscles, and a bit of nagging sweetly reminding my husband that I needed his help for a few things and one grand trip to Hobby Lobby! (my first)

Of course we have to start with the before(s).......

This is Tyler's room. It was probably the nicest  bedroom when we moved in. Actually I probably wouldn't have bothered to paint it except for one thing. You see those stripes on the orange wall? They look nice from a distance but apparently they used cheap tape to do those. Ugh!

Wow, when I look at these now the walls all look a little naked. I didn't even attempt to do any decorating because I was hoping this whole project would be done a long time ago.

He wanted his room to be orange. He's all about the Flyers right now and everything in his world should be black, orange and white. I told him he could have orange but I would not buy orange paint. I figured it's a lot easier to change curtains and sheets when he gets tired of it (or changes teams!) than to repaint. That's not happening till he moves to college! So, (drum roll, please!) This is what we came up with.

We're both happy. I caved on my "no orange paint" promise when I remembered the lamp stuffed up in the attic. Yup, the orange one in the corner there, thanks to my trusty friend the spray bomb for making me "the best mom ever" for at least a few minutes. For a few bucks I think it adds a fun look to the room. Still not much decorating going on on these walls. I'm having a little trouble finding cool boy stuff. All my "look isn't this a pretty flowered picture?" suggestions, whether orange or not, have been turned down. There are a couple of Flyers posters ordered and beyond that we'll just keep looking and working on it I guess. We also on the lookout for an orange chair of some kind for the corner. Anyone have any more great ideas??

I found this fabric online and made these curtains in about 20 minutes. Fold and hem, that's it! The gray in the back  is actually single energy efficient curtain panels. They make it much darker than regular blinds and they seem to help a lot when the sun is beating in there in the mornings. Hopefully they'll work just as well when the winter winds start blowing!


And the little boy's room, these 2 rooms used to be one big room. Someone installed a flimsy, kind of make shift, wall in the middle to make it 2. It works okay but you have to go through the one to get to the other. That means that we really have no choice but to put 3 little boys in the smallest of all the bedrooms. I'm not sure how that is going to work in 10 years but I guess we'll fix it then. Anyway, I was trying to decide how to paint them so they sort of coordinate. I ended up painting the walls the same color in both of them and then using different accent colors. If I were doing it over I would go a shade lighter on the gray but it didn't bother me enough to waste a gallon of paint or run back to the store and try to change it. It makes the rooms a tad bit dark but most of the time when they're in there they are sleeping anyway so it's all good.

So, before....

Hand painted clouds anyone? Don't be jealous! :)

And After.....

I had a little too much fun decorating this one! I've been scheming the truck/mechanic/road theme for a long time. I picked up the wooden license plate boxes a couple of years ago. They are finally in their happy place.

Yard-Sale-Free-Pile-Shelf plus (you guessed it!) a couple cans of spray paint = 1. a perfect splash of yellow fun and 2. a place for little boys to keep their many Lego creations. Score!

Old frames laying around the house plus a few pages from a free calender. Easy, Peasy!

Super fun and cheery, chevron curtains. Those took a whole hour since I decided to get all fancy and add the ribbon on the bottom. And, my perfect Hobby Lobby find, an old metal truck and road sign.

It's just so perfect! I nearly danced out of the store. And did I mention it was half price?

And someone thinks he's pretty big stuff, moving into a big boy bed. I thought I had 4 little boys, he tells me I have none!