Birthday party fun!

Well, I know I have a lot of catching up to do, but I first wanting to share all of the birthday fun we had this weekend.  Miss Brooke will turn one this coming Wednesday and our family came together to celebrate her birthday this past weekend.  We had such a great time!  Brooke was wonderful and I think she really enjoyed herself.  I just can’t believe she is almost one!  I seriously fell like I just had her!

I had a lot of fun making decorations for this party.  The general them was lots of pink and green.  I made this birthday banner that we hung across our window.

I also made this birthday photo garland.  I have a picture from birth through each month of her life up there.  It was so fun to see just how much she has grown over the year. 

This is the yummy smash cake and cupcakes that my mom and sister, Emily helped make.  I made the cupcake picks (with the great design help from my other sister, Laura).  I was so pleased with how this turned out!

This is a view of the entire food table.  I was able to find some great pink and green dishes at Party City that I felt really helped to tie everything together. 

I made this ribbon trim for her highchair to make the cake smashing a little more festive.  I was so thrilled with how it looked!

I also made her birthday outfit.  I got a onesie and used heat n bond to iron a “1” on her shirt.  I made the tu-tu as well.  I was also able to find some little ruffle bum bloomers and a little bow that was small enough for her to forget about and leave in her hair for a decent amount of time.  ; )

We also rented a bouncy house which was a huge hit.  Our house is not huge and can quickly feel crowded.  This really helped to pull the kids (and big kids!) outside for a little fun. 

We even let the birthday girl have a little bouncy fun – she loved it and was not the slightest bit timid.  I love my laidback little girl. 

I’m pretty sure that Gavin and Mikayla bounced for nearly 8 hours straight.  They did take breaks, but they weren’t for very long.  They just loved it and Gavin has informed us that we need to buy one. : )

This was my nephew, Andrew’s first time in a bouncy house and he loved it!  It was so fun to watch!

Before we had some cake, we let the birthday girl open her presents.  She definitely got into the actual opening of the presents and was a big fan of the tissue paper and bows.

He brother and sister were also very big helpers. ; )

The birthday girl waiting oh-so-patiently for her birthday cake.

The smash cake!

Brooke loved being sung to.  She just kept looking around and everyone during the hole thing with a look on her face that seemed to say, “Is this all for me?”

Now, my other children needed a little encouragement to go diving in to the smash cake.  Not Brooke, she went right in and seemed to love every last minute of it (until it got in her eyes and nose!). 

We just had such a wonderful time celebrating this sweet girl’s birthday.  I’m just not quite ready for her to be one, though!

Here are some more pictures of the party for your enjoyment. : )

2 months!

I am just killing some time at work until I can leave in 10 minutes and have come to realize that I haven't posted here in 2 months! I'd like to say we were crazy busy, but my main problem is time management and priorities.  I want to make this a new priority.  My babies are growing every day and I want to remember the fun things they do and that we do together.

Cheap fun

Spring Break and a limited budge drive you to scour the internet to find some fun, cheap activities for your children.  The sidewalk chalk paint was a huge hit.  I simply mixed corn starch, water and some food coloring and voila! ….two happy kids. : )

Fun at the Zoo!

Well after walking nearly a mile to the zoo last year and dealing with crazy crowds, we had vowed we would never go to the zoo during Spring Break again.  Well, we decided to roll the dice and try again.  The weather has been BEAUTIFUL and we really wanted to do something outside.  We planned a bit better this time, though.  We had food and snacks packed the night before and we left early and got there right when the zoo opened.  We got great parking and we were able to see the popular exhibits that usually invite long lines before the crowds got there.  It was crowded towards the end, but we had a really nice time.

My three little sweeties…this was Brooke’s first outing in the stroller.  I think she liked being able to look out as opposed to being backwards in her car seat.

She was a happy girl!

Getting there early gave us the opportunity to see the tigers in a fun way.  They are usually sleeping, but we got to see them playing with their toys and splashing around in the water. 

Mikayla brought her camera with her and took pictures of everything.  She actually caught some good ones along with the silly ones that you would expect from a 7 year old.

This was the best part about going early.  We have always had to wait in a line to see the pandas and then we had to kind of hurry through so that other people could have turns.  This time we were able to walk up and just sit and watch the pandas walk around, eat and play.  This was definitely the highlight of the day.

The “phanatants” are always a favorite of mine.

I thought this was a cool pic.  One of the zoo employees was walking around telling everyone about this lizard.  The kids really liked being able to get up so close to it.

Well, Brooke was not thrilled with this plan, but I just had to get a pic of my little chicks in the birds nest.

I always love seeing the gorillas.  They just look so peaceful, yet powerful. 

Its hard to see in this picture, but this mom has a her baby wrapped around her leg and she walks around.  It was so sweet looking.  I feel like this sometimes, maybe that’s why I liked it so much.

Gavin and Kayla had such a great time together…I love how they are best friends right now.

Brooke did good most of the time, but I think there was so much going on that she just fought going to sleep, so she started getting a little grumpy.  All in all though, she did really good.  We had a couple mini meltdowns that we easily cured with some cuddling.

Gavin and Kayla got to spend some time in the petting zoo while Brooke and I watched.

The Peep Mobile!  I had to get a picture of the with one of my all time favorite sweet treats.  We got some pretty sweet samples, too!

She did finally give in and go to sleep…about 10 minutes before we left (naturally).

It was a fun day for all of us and I really enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time with my family.