My Little Audrey Party

Audrey chose to have a My Little Pony party at Jump-N-Jungle this year. Before leaving for the party, we had a mini-photo shoot with the birthday girl!

After a few pics by herself, I decided we needed some family shots too! Thanks to Ross and my dad, I was able to be in a few as well!

Audrey and ~15 of her friends celebrated with lots of jumping and running, laughing and smiling, a few minor injuries and crying, pizza and cupcakes, and a huge pile of presents.

Audrey was too cute when opening her gifts. She made sure to read the card to know who it was from (with Mommy's help), and then after thanking the gift giver, she made sure to show all of her friends each gift by either holding it up for everyone to see as if reading them a book or passing the gift around. The process took a little while, but it was so sweet and funny!

The birthday girl declared the party a success! However, it took a while for her to realize her birthday was officially over after we got home. She tried to claim to be the birthday girl to get her way for several more days...much to her disappointment it didn't work anymore. We enjoyed spoiling her a little for the occasion though!

As usual, there are more pictures in the album.

Jackson's 5th B-day - Parts 2 & 3

As I mentioned in the previous post, I was out of town for Jackson's actual birthday. In an attempt to make up for it, I created a scavenger hunt for him when he woke up the day of his birthday. Ross took a video of it so I could see his reaction. He loved it! I had a small gift with a little note and a picture of the next location in each spot. Ross, his mom, and his Aunt Dottie were there to help set this up and spend the day celebrating with him. He got to have the traditional party with cupcakes at school and have more cake with a special dinner that evening.

Grandmother got Jackson a small vacuum for his birthday, which we are all excited about! Jackson has always liked for things to be in there place and neat, so he loves getting to vacuum! I love having a cleaner floor! Another example of his excitement for organization was during the scavenger hunt. He wanted to find a place for a new game before moving on to the next location. I love it!

We had the official birthday party last weekend at Jump N Jungle, which was a great, low-stress way to celebrate! All I had to worry about was the cake and the party favors. Jackson had a little over 20 of his friends join him to celebrate, which meant so much to him! It was a little bittersweet for me to realize a lot of these kiddos have been at most of Jackson's parties for the last few years, and they will all be going to different schools next year!

After wearing themselves out jumping, everyone took a break for pizza and cupcakes. Jackson thought the sparkler candles that won't easily stay blown out were hilarious!

Jackson chose a Mario theme for his party this year. I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures to document this party, but there were some adorable cupcake toppers and a fun invitation to go along with the theme. He also loves his shirt from this party, and I love that I'm in a picture or two with the birthday boy this year!

Here are a few more shots of the chaos and fun while everyone was eating and Jackson opened presents. I'd say he had a pretty awesome birthday this year!

As usual, there are more pics in the album!

Celebrating with Friends

About a month ago we celebrated a major milestone with our friends, Lauren and Dave. Their sextuplets (yes, you read that right!) had their 1st birthday!!! We were so excited to celebrate with them!

Princess Audrey's 3rd B-day Party

Our precious baby girl celebrated her 3rd birthday with friends and family last weekend! She was beyond excited both to be 3, as well as to be the center of everyone's attention!

The bounce-castle arrived a little before the party started, so Audrey and Jackson had fun breaking it in before everyone arrived.

Audrey chose a princess theme for the party. She's our little princess, so it was very appropriate!

The kids had tons of fun bouncing around in the castle, sliding, swinging, making their own crowns, and coloring with crayons and side-walk chalk.

Then there were cupcakes! Audrey blew out her candles like a pro!

Then it was time to open gifts! Audrey made sure to find each friend after she opened their present and personally thank them. She's such a sweet girl!

The after-party was fun too! After everyone left, Mom and Dad joined in the bouncing, and Pop, Nana, and Grandmother had a little fun too!

There are more pictures in the album.

Jackson's Class Christmas Party

Jackson's class Christmas party was lots of fun too! The kiddos wore their PJs to school to board the Polar Express for a day of fun! Jackson chose his current favorite PJs, so he looked like a little elf, and apparently, he pretended to be an elf for most of the day. Audrey and I arrived at the end of the movie just in time for the gift exchange! Jackson's class had boys bring boy gifts and girls bring girl gifts. Jackson and one of his best friends, Cooper, had arranged to make sure they got each other's gifts..

Jackson was beyond excited to find a pirate puppet in his package, and Cooper was perhaps the quietest and most focused I've ever seen him after opening his, which was a Perplexus Rookie game that Jackson loves. Audrey was sad not to get a present at this party, but she was happy to settle for another cookie!

The room mom then presented Jackson's teachers with their gift, which was such a sweet and clever idea! She sneaked into the class with the help of the day care staff who distracted the teachers while she made these adorable Christmas tree pictures with hand and thumb prints from all of the kids. On the back was a list of their names along with the year. Such a sweet way to be able remember this year!

We are so thankful for both Jackson and Audrey's teachers and how much they genuinely love our kiddos!

There are more pictures of the fun in the album!

Audrey's Class Christmas Party

Audrey's teachers put together a fun-filled couple of days for the kiddos that included watching Polar Express and having a Christmas party! The party started with the decorating and eating of Christmas cookies! Jackson was our helper for the party. He made sure everyone had a cookie and snack. He sweetly asked Audrey to decorate his cookie while he helped, which she was happy to do. Then, as you can see, he enjoyed eating it!

After some yummy party snacks the kids sat on the carpet and eagerly awaited their gift exchange. All the girls sat together and had fun giggling and being silly!

Audrey's class chose to exchange books this year. Each kid got to chose another kid's gift, and after everyone had something, the paper shredding began! Jackson read Audrey's book to her after she opened it. The book was a silly book, which was perfect for these two silly-geese! As you can see below, Audrey loved having her big brother there for the party!

There are a lot more pictures of the silliness and fun in the album.

Jackson's 4th Birthday Party

Jackson's birthday party was a splash! Literally! I was a little worried all morning because it POURED down rain all morning, which left me scrambling for plan B just in case it didn't stop. Fortunately, the weather cleared up just in time for the big event. We'd rented a bouncy house/water slide as the main event, but we also had sprinklers going in the backyard, water balloons to bust, and visors to decorate.

I stuck with the water/beach theme for the decorations, so I used sand buckets and shovels to serve the food and made the cupcakes like a little beach with a fish swimming in the water. We had flip-flop nutter butters, peanut butter and jelly-fish sandwiches, and fruit under an umbrella. The party favors were also sand buckets filled with goggles (to wear while playing if desired), visors (to decorate at the party), and fish food (gummy sharks and goldfish).

The water slide was so much fun! I loved the expressions of pure joy as each kid landed in the pool of water at the end. Here are a few of those happy faces that made the day so much fun!

Eventually, we took a break and brought everyone inside for some snacks, cake, and presents! Jackson loved every moment and every gift.

After the party wrapped up, we weren't ready to be done! Our friends, Emma and Chris, grabbed their suits, and we all joined in the fun. There was a little splash competition, which I believe Chris and Ross tied for the biggest splash. The kids would line up at the bottom to get soaked by one of the dads. Then they'd run back around for their next turn. The giggles and laughing were endless!

We ended the evening with some pizza in the driveway while we soaked in the last few moments of sun for the day. Then everyone crashed! This party was definitely one of the most fun things we've done yet!

There are lots more pictures in the album!

Carnival Day

Two weeks ago was carnival week at Jackson and Audrey's school. Each room sponsored a game/event, and Audrey's creative teachers decided on a photo booth! Can you guess who got to be the photographer? Me! (I bet you aren't surprised).

Jackson and Audrey were my helpers until Ross arrived, and of course, I made Ross participate too...

I honestly didn't even get a chance to walk around to see what else there was, but they got their faces painted and had popcorn and snow cones and seemed to have a great time!

There are more pictures from the photo booth in the album.

"Just Popped" Baby Shower

My friend, Emma, recently helped host a baby shower for our friend, Lauren. I had the honor of helping out a little and taking pictures. The theme was "Just Popped" since Lauren recently had her babies, and it was adorable. I thought I'd share a few pics from the event, and here's a link to Emma's story about the shower. The cake was from Cakes by Gina, and it was incredible!

It was a beautiful shower, hosted by beautiful ladies, for a beautiful friend! Thanks for letting me be a small part of the fun!

There are more pictures in the album.

Oh Yes, It's True! Audrey is Two!

Yesterday was Audrey's 2nd birthday, and we celebrated in Minnie Mouse style! There were a lot of pink, black, and zebra print decorations to set the mood, and Audrey absolutely loved it!

Audrey's friends were warmly greeted by the birthday girl and taken to "Audrey's Bowtique" to get dressed up for the day.

Then it was time to color and play! There were Mickey and Minnie coloring pages for everyone.

Next the kiddos pinned the flower on Minnie. At this age it was less of a competition and more of a collaborative decorating game.

"Picnic Time" included some of Audrey's favorite foods, which are fruit, goldfish, teddy grahams, pizza, and cake, of course! Audrey has been singing "Happy Birthday to Audrey" for almost a month now, so I shouldn't have been surprised when she was able to blow out her candles all by herself! I was though, which is why you see me ready to help. She didn't need it though. Little miss independent was able to do it just fine!

Audrey was overwhelmed with amazing gifts from her friends and family, and her friends were ready and willing to help her open them and figure them out!

I had a lot of fun doing all of the decorations and details for Audrey's party this year, but more than anything, I loved getting to celebrate another year with our baby girl with family and friends. We somehow managed not to get any pictures with Ross' folks, and the picture below is one of the only ones of Ross with Audrey (can you tell he's wrapped around her little finger?). I'm truly grateful for the pictures Ross' dad, my dad, and my friend, Whitney, took so I could focus on the big moments throughout the day! Audrey had a VERY happy birthday!

And yes, there are even more pictures in the album.

A Little Miracle Safari Baby Shower

Yesterday we hosted a baby shower along with our friends, Jenny and Brandon (even though we missed Brandon for the actual party), for our wonderful friends, Katie and Jason. These precious couples were part of the first life group we ever lead at Gateway Community Church. We were the core group for a little while, but our "family" quickly grew to include several other couples that will all be life long friends. Yesterday was the first time we've all been together in a couple of years, and what better reason to get old friends together than to celebrate a new life!

Katie and Jason will soon be welcoming Amy Grace into this world, and we couldn't be more happy for them! We based the theme of this shower on the bedding they picked out for Amy, which is a little safari. I have to admit I went a little crazy with the animal print...ask anyone that won a prize (they were all leopard print). Jenny did an amazing job on the cake especially for her first time to ever work with fondant!

And what's a baby shower without a couple of games? (Sorry friends, but yes, I am posting these pics!) The first game we played involved putting a plate on top of your head and attempting to draw a baby on the plate. Katie got to be the judge and decide on the cutest baby. Everyone was a good sport and participated, and we all got some good laughs. Jason was the winner of this game, and therefore, his picture was framed for the lucky couple to take home.

The next game was baby block scrabble where the goal was to come up with the most baby words in scrabble style. We divided into two teams, split up the blocks, and let the game begin! The winning team came up with five words...some of them created some laughs as well.

Eventually, we got down to business and let the excited couple open their gifts...

I didn't get any pictures of the kiddos, but we had several running around playing in the backyard and upstairs. You can see Audrey decided to join the adults for the games. She looked at us a little funny when we put the plates on our heads, but fortunately, she hasn't decided to imitate that action yet.

We all had such a great time being together again that no one wanted to leave, and we didn't want them to go! We ended up pulling out some frozen corn dogs to feed the kiddos and continued snacking for our dinner. It was so wonderful to have everyone together again!

As always, there are more pictures in the album.

B is for Baby Shower

Last weekend I hosted a baby shower with my friends Bekah and Pam for our friend, Robyn, who is expecting a little boy next month. She is doing an alphabet and animal themed room, so we followed suit for the shower. Here are a few pics of the decorations.

The games got everyone laughing (drawing babies on a paper plate on top of your head was a hit), and Robyn got some really cute stuff for Baby Luke. Here is a picture of the hostesses and the guest of honor. There are more pictures of the fun in the album.

Jackson's 3rd Birthday

Last weekend was Jackson's 3rd birthday! It's hard to believe, but it's true! We originally planned to have a party at Jump N Jungle, but plans changed when Jackson broke his leg. Instead we had a Dinosaurs Rock party at a local park, which was a blast!

Texas Avenue Park's pavilions are first come, first served, and since all the other park pavilions were already booked, we decided we'd risk it. We arrived at 8 AM to find people had shown up at 4 AM to save the tables. Fortunately, there was another pavilion without any tables (it's a covered basketball court) where we were able to set up, and it worked out great! The kiddos had lots of room to run and play in the shade.

Walt, the dinosaur guy, started the party by having the kids help him make a volcano with play dough. The different colors represented different things, and after putting dinosaurs around the volcano, they even crashed purple meteors into everything. Jackson had the honor of making the volcano erupt, which he thought was pretty cool!

Then Walt captured their attention for over 30 minutes talking about different dinosaur facts and fossils he'd brought with him. It was a very hands-on demonstration, and the kids loved being involved.

After learning about the fossils, they got to go on their very own dig. They found all kinds of special rocks and fossils, which they got to keep!

While they were digging, some dinosaurs laid eggs in the grass by the pavilion. There just so happened to be enough for every kid to get one! Inside each egg was a stretchy, sticky dinosaur. What fun!

Finally, it was time to eat! Here's a picture of the cake. Apparently, I stopped taking pictures at this point, so if I get pics from someone else of JD blowing out candles or the kids running around, I'll make an update.

I ordered some dinosaur printables for the favor bags, banner, and signs for the food. This one was my favorite. ;-)

We gave the kids dinosaur stamps, tattoos, and silly bands as a thank you for celebrating with us, and they were a hit. Jackson even decided to put a stamp in the middle of his forehead! He was pretty excited about it, but didn't really care for me taking a picture of it...

Jackson had a great birthday weekend thanks to family and friends. There are more pics of all the fun in the album.