Party Decor and Stuff

For the little ones birthday party I spent time a few weeks before working on decorations and party favors.  Brooks was out of town the entire week before the party, which meant I spent every night from the time the kids went to bed until midnight working on making homemade mouse ears.  I was so set on making my own because to buy already made indivudal ears was going to cost anywhere from $3-4 a piece= $88 for 25!  Not worth it!  So instead I spent 20 hours making 25 ears at .75 a piece= $18 total!!  Believe me... it was a lot of work, but in the end it was worth it!  I try to think of party favors that kids would reuse at their homes instead of spending time and money on things that will eventually get thrown in the trash!  None the less, all the little kids loved their ears and at least wore them a short time during the party!  

Along with Minnie and Mickey Mouse Ears, I found packs of red cups and made Disney style logos and personalized each child's cup to take home filled with a few snacks!  These cups came in handy when it came to the pinata and kids having something to hold their candy!  

The Cake!  Oh the cake!  Usually I spend a week preparing cakes and doing as much as I can a little at a time each day, but this week Brooks and I were both sick and life around here just wasn't normal.  So,  I invited a sweet friend to come over to the house two days before and help me with the cake!  We had one issue after the other for various things and we quickly found ourselves 6 hours into cake making and decorating and had very little done!   So, for making and putting this cake together in one day, I was pleased with it.  I let Brooklyn and Miles pick out pictures from other Mickey and Minnie Mouse cakes and tried incorporating what they liked into their cake!  Each tier was a different flavor and seemed to be a big hit with all the kids! 

My mother in law came in town for the party and graciously made a wreath for the front door and it came out cute!  I actually kept it up for a few weeks after, too!

Thanks to my Silhouette I was able to make Mickey and Minnie silhouettes and hung them up around the house with streamers!  The little ones loved coming down stairs the day of their party and seeing the house all decorated for them!

Mickey and Minnie Mouse Party

Miles and Brooklyns' birthdays are 3 weeks apart and since they each aren't at the age of having their own set of friends, I decided to have a joint birthday party.  Let me start off by saying that I absolutely LOVED doing this.  It meant... one invitation, one cake, one set of decorations, one week to prepare, one set of party favors, one meal, one weekend for party, etc, etc.  It was AWESOME.  I successfully was able to do everything for their party under $200.  There's no way I would have been able to do that having 2 parties.  Not to mention, had we had two separate parties... we would have invited the same exact people-- no one less, no one more so it really only seemed like the right thing to do!!  

I had been brainstorming themes, for months, that coordinated but wasn't in love with them because I didn't feel like it was things either one of them were into.  I really wanted to have a Pancake and Pajama party but Brooks thought that was too girly and not boyish enough for Miles.  Then one day, I was walking by the play room and saw both Miles and Brooklyn were dancing and jumping around to Mickey and Minnie Mouse on the Clubhouse show.  That's when it hit me!  Duh!  What a perfect age for them to be at where they both like Mickey and Minnie and that theme would go GREAT together!  

I opted to use Minnie's red and white color scheme so that I didn't have to buy or tie in pink polka dotted things with Mickey's red, yellow, and black colors.  After throwing enough birthday parties the past few years and killing myself over all the details, spending tons of time, energy, and money into all the aspects of the party... only to throw it away or it sit in a box when the party's over... I went smart, functional, and minimal all while making a statement and I think it worked... not to mention my pocket book and time schedule appreciated it!  I felt like I was able to enjoy this party soooo much more!  The kids had a blast, I got the theme across, and everyone left with a little something that I thought they could use in the future!  

So we had all our friends come over around lunch time.... a) so that our entire weekend wouldn't be occupied with getting the house ready for the party b) we'd be finish by nap time (still a necessity around our house) c) gave the kids plenty of time to enjoy their gifts that evening

Brooks grilled "Hot Diggity Dogs" and I fixed "Minnie" Pizzas for our guests to eat.  I made the kids' cake- which we were all sick the week leading up to the party, so I was grateful for a sweet friend who came and helped me the day before.  Thankfully, the weather was beautiful for party day so we spent a majority of it outside.  The kids played on the swing set, jumped in the jump house, and just ran around riding on bikes and scooters.  We let the kids open their gifts, which was pure mayhem.  That was the only downfall of having the joint party-- I stayed next to Miles opening his presents and Brooks was helping Brooklyn, but neither one of us were able to see what the other one was getting/opening.  On top of that we had lots of little kids helping open presents adding to more of the chaos.  Our little ones still enjoyed that time though!

After presents, we sang Happy Birthday to the kids and had all the kids eat their cake outside!  We gave our guests homemade Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears, which they graciously wore for the singing time and they all looked precious in them!  

I didn't plan on any games except for the pinata my mom sent for the kids party!  The kids loved taking turns swinging at the pinata, but unforunately the bottom came out of it by the 3rd kid so it was fast lived.  After all the candy got picked up, a few kids took turns wacking the pinata just for fun!  Overall, it was such a fun and relaxed party.  The kids had a blast and we had minimal clean up/pick up and enjoyed celebrating our kids special day!  I think I just might do as many joint parties as I can get away with until their older and have their own set of friends!!  

Happy 3rd birthday Miles and Happy 2nd Birthday Brooklyn!

 

Did I mention Grammy was here with us? She drove in late Thursday night and was a HUGE help all day Friday and Saturday with the preparations and the party!  Couldn't have pulled off half of it without her!  So glad she was able to celebrate with us since the last three years we haven't been home to celebrate our kids bdays with family.

Brooklyn's TWO!!

Our little girl turned 2 January 28 and we celebrated her all day!  I still can't believe she's already 2.  It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital.  Brooklyn has a very spunky personality, but is just as sweet as ever, too.  She loves her big brothers and wants to do anything and everything they are doing.  She's a very determined young lady and knows what she wants.  She has learned to express herself in various ways, but still manages to do it with a smile on her face.  We've noticed the past few months Brooklyn has developed a compassionate heart for others.  She is very aware of what's going on around her and gets concerned when something doesn't seem "right".  

Brooklyn started going to the same Kids Day Out school Miles goes to twice a week when she turned 2 and she LOVES it!  She can have a timid, shy personality in the beginning, but by the time I'm walking out the door she's playing with friends or working on puzzles.  She has done very well being around other kids and is playful with them.  

She is a momma's girl at times, but wants her daddy when he's here!  Brooklyn has learned to make silly faces along with having a fascination with shoes and bows.  She prefers to pick out her clothes so we've already started giving her options to choose her daily outfits.  Brooklyn has started showing an interest in potty training, but we're taking it slow.  We'll take her to the potty when she tells us she needs to go and sometimes she does go, which is very exciting!  We're just taking the approach of no pressure, but willingness is great!!     

So this year, Brooklyns birthday fell on a Tuesday, which meant her and Miles were at home all day so we had fun playing together!! Brooklyn LOVES playing with play doh so I pulled out all the goods and let her and Miles create and make all kinds of things.  I fixed her favorite meal for lunch and we cuddled up to watch a movie, but that only lasted 30 minutes so instead we played outside in the bounce house.  Brooklyn got lots of calls from family during the day and loved talking on the phone!  After dinner and once daddy came home we gave Brooklyn all her gifts to open and she was so excited.   I'm not sure if the shoes book, the minnie mouse guitar, high heels and princess crowns, or the new backpack for school was her favorite, but she sure was excited to open them all and willingly shared her gifts with her brothers!  

Happy 2nd birthday sweet girl!  We love you!

 

Family Pictures

In November we had our yearly family pictures taken by a new friend here.  We went out to her property one day and spent about 2 hours.  For the most part, the kids did great.  But, with 3 little ones, it almost seemed if two were smiling, one wasn't.  If two were looking at the camera, the other wasn't.  Even with this happening, we still were able to get some great pictures!  

 

A New Year

We celebrated the new year with some sweet friends and had a ball hanging out with everyone.  The hosts had games and entertainment for everyone and the food was delicious!  Kids were invited, but since my mom was still in town, we opted to spend part of the evening with her and our kids, ended up putting them down for bed, and then going to our get together.  

The girls spent a majority of the evening inside playing random games and entertaining little ones, while the guys found themselves outside in the garage playing ping pong tournaments and pool.  It was freezing outside but that didn't stop all the kids from riding bikes and racing each other on scooters.  

We've been so fortunate to have met some great people since we moved to Borger and they've been gracious enough to accept us into their group!  It seems the people here are use to others coming and going and welcome anybody!  We appreciate it.  Most everyone in our group goes to our church, which is how and where we met a large majority of them.  There are some sweet girls around here!  

It was a fun night and we were lucky to have my mom here who was willing to keep our kids so we could have a night out!  

Miles turned 3

Our sweet Miles turned 3 December 30th and we celebrated him all day long!  The night before his birthday, we put some candles in his homemade RKT he and his cousins decorated and sang happy birthday while family was still at our house!  I'm pretty sure he appreciated all the attention!  After opening a few gifts, said our goodbyes, and put everyone down to bed, Anna and I decorated the kitchen with streamers and banners for the next day!  

Miles' actual birthday, I let him pick and choose anything and everything he wanted!  He got to choose his breakfast- cinnamon rolls, picked whatever play activity we did (play doh, legos, and trains), ate mac and cheese for lunch, watched Little Einsteins, willingly took a nap- he was tired from all the cousin playtime all the days before, then anxiously waited for daddy to come home to wrestle with him.  Since we still had cake left over from Aunt Anna's bday, I made jumbo sized cupcakes and let my kids decorate them for Miles birthday.  He loved it and was more then willing to put his fair share of M&M's and jelly beans all over his cupcake.  We let him open presents after dinner since daddy was there to watch!!  Trust me-- he wasn't doing without all day since he was still enjoying all his new Christmas toys.  He opened a remote control airplane and a new Power Ranger and was soooo excited!!!  Thankfully, my mom got to stay a little while longer with us and was able to celebrate Miles' birthday with us!

It's amazing to see how much Miles has changed this past year, yet his fun, adventurous, spunky self is still there!  Miles can be the most easy going, go with the flow and just do whatever kinda kid, and then he can be the most focused, driven, specific, know what he wants and doesn't stop until he gets it kinda kid and we actually love that about him.  Brooks and I have learned a lot this past year about the best "techniques" to help him be a success and have strived very hard to teach Miles how to be okay with expectations and appreciate them (as much as a 3 year old can!).  We love Miles compassionate heart and generous attitude that he seems to always express towards us and others.  Miles goes to mothers day out/school 3 times a week and loves it.  He has some neat friends at both his schools and looks forward to hanging out, playing, and learning on those days.  He also LOVES, LOVES, LOVES our church, the preschool workers, those friends as well.  He likes to be a helper and wants approval with anything!  He's pretty silly and generally makes us laugh daily with his funny faces and gestures.  He looks up to Gavin and has just decided that he enjoys teaching Brooklyn things versus pushing her around.  They truly are buddies!

Happy Birthday Miles.  We love you!