It's all in the presentation

I have to say every year I struggle with what to do for the boys birthday. Anyone who knows me knows I love to throw a party, so I always want to make sure that the boys party is AWESOME.  If you ask David he would tell you I always do way too much, but hey that's my job, right????!!  I am always looking for something that represents the boys, but that is doable and fun.  Through all my research trying to come up with ideas I found this awesome sight Spaceships and Laser Beams.  It is all about boys.  It was so awesome to stumble on this!  For those of you with boys know how hard it is to find things just for boys, this whole site is only for boys.  So awesome....did I already say that? 

Since the boys went with David on their first fishing trip this year it was perfect to do a fishing birthday party.  They boys were so thrilled when I asked them about the idea, so I knew we hit the jackpot.  I ordered a vintage fishing party set from Spaceships and Laser Beams and started going crazy with all kinds of decorating ideas. 

When everyone arrived, this is how they knew they were at the right place :)

 There were lots of balloons at this party.....like almost 400 that we blew up ourselves!!  They were supposed to represent bubbles underwater,but I think it ended up just looking festive.  Either way, it was fun....and cute :)

When the guests arrived there was a gift table (this table also had the treat boxes on it as well).  A fun thing we did was everyone was asked to put their thumbprint on the picture of the fish.  They also wrote their name underneath.  It made it look like fish scales on the fish.  Now we have an awesome keepsake from the party of who all attended.



My friend, Tammy, made me a box full of baby suggestions when the boys were born.  I thought it would be fun to try and keep this up by having everyone right a wish they have for the boys.  I put it in their box and when they get a little older they will get to read them.  All the wishes were really sweet!! Well, except one.  Someone thought they would be funny...their wish for the boys "A sister"  HA!Good one

I know this is way more detail than most of you care to see, but hey it's my blog and I was proud of the detail :)
The only thing I didn't get pictures of was the grilled cheese sandwiches (they were supposed to be fish shaped, but that too long  & too much waste so they were just regular ones).  Also I didn't get a pic of the drinks...oops  The water bottles were the best.  They were special for just their party.

It was supposed to be REALLY windy on the day of the party.  It turned out to not be too bad, but I couldn't wait until the last minute to decide whether we would be inside or out.  Obviously, I went with inside.  When I made the decision to have it inside, out went the furniture and in came the boat.  We tried to make it as realistic as possible.  Everyone went fishing with the poles & fish we made.  They even got a prize with the fish. 


It was such a fun party to plan and the most important part is the boys loved.every.minute.  They felt so special and just loved talking about fishing non-stop. 


Next up:  I'll share pics of the birthday boys with their friends having fun!

4 years old

How can it be?  How in the world can my little 5lb 7 oz & 5lb 11oz baby  boys be 4 years old?  Wasn't it just last week we were driving to the hospital wondering what or who they were going to look like?  I know, I know! Every.single.parent asks these questions and it will only get faster the older they get. 

OK - enough of the mushy stuff.  My boys went on their first fishing trip with David this year, so fishing birthday is what we decided to have.  Since this is their first year to be in school I wanted to do a little something with their class at school in addition to their regular party with friends. 

Caution:  picture overload ahead

Turkey treats for party bags

My sweet friend Vanessa helping me

I wanted to include the fish theme in the class party, too.  Fishing cupcakes :)

4.years.old.

Another silly picture required :)

The class ready to partay. Can't you see all the excitement ?

So excited to hear everyone singing to them.  Jackson is just ready to blow out the fire!

Jackson talking....again.......

Handing out the treat bags

Everyone get a balloon!!! WOOOO

Their favorite teacher, Mrs. Graham .
Jackson was proud of his stickers

Storytime for their birthday

Next up:  Let's go fishing!

Handy-man

When I need anything fixed who do I call?  Dave-o  That's right, he can fix just about anything!  Matter of fact his motto is "If I can't fix it, it ain't broke".  Usually this type of stuff I wouldn't normally blog about, but this one was a biggie.  When I graduated college my dad hand-made me a dining room table.  It's one of the possessions that I value the most.  My dad made it just.for.me.  That's special stuff!  My table has been moved 4 different times to 3 different climates.  Sadly we started noticing that the top was starting to split.  Over the past year it actually split all the way down the top.  I was upset, but there was no way I would ever get rid of the table so I was just dealing with it.  David had to find a fix.  After consulting with daddio, he had a plan.  He fixed it (took a little longer than I anticipated, but it's fixed)!!!! I am so thankful for a husband that can fix things.  Here is my beautiful table that looks new again. Thanks babe!

Thankful

I mentioned that we are trying to instill thankfulness in our boys.  I was told by someone that they believe that being thankful is the best quality that you can teach your child.  Because if they are thankful all other things will fall in place.  If you think about it, that pretty much hits the nail on the head.  I started out this month doing my thankful's on Facebook.  Well, I quickly got behind and felt it was too much to try to catch up.  However, we did them with the boys each night at supper.  It was always so much fun to hear what they were thankful for and why it was also a great reminder for David and I to vocalize things we were thankful for. 

I wanted to do more than vocalize this.  I wanted something tangible and something we could go back and read, so we made a jar full of thankfulness.   They are just strips of paper that we wrote on each day.  We are going to make a chain for the boys Christmas tree out of them.  That way we can think about what we already have when we start thinking about things we "need" as gifts. 

I am hopeful that we can continue this throughout the year

Our jar of thankfulness

Jackson had to help write his a few times.  This one was Mommy :)

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving.  Now that we have the boys I find it to be such an important holiday.  For us to take a few minutes each day to remember what we are thankful of.  Something we are striving to do with them everyday this year is to name one thing you are thankful for that day. 

We were blessed to have family with us this year!  It was so exciting!  Normally we don't have any family on Thanksgiving so it was a special treat to have visitors.  It was especially exciting because it was the first time David's sister and family had visited us.  We wanted to make sure it was perfect.  We had such an awesome time with them.  So glad that took the time to come and see us! 

All of us!!  Ricky, Diana, Thomas & Lydia spending Thanksgiving with us

Table set for our special day





Most of the spread



David reading to the boys & Lydia!  Fun memories in the making :)

Cog Railway - Pikes Peak

We were invited to go up Pikes Peak via the Cog Railway with some friends.  David wasn't able to get off work, but the boys and I took advantage of the opportunity.  It was fun! 

All the kiddo's ready to get on the train

The train's comin'

Jackson's a little wide eyed :)  but they are excited to be heading up

So pretty

Getting close to the top

In the far distance  you can see the black trees (aka Black Forest).  Right about where the sun is reflecting is where Kansas starts.  You can see a looong way at the top

God's beauty

The trip down.....