A Star Wars Birthday For Hunter

We have a 7 year old! I've been calling Hunter a 7 year old for at least a month prior to his birthday, but now it's legit. As of late he's really been into Star Wars, even though he knows nothing about it. All he knows is they fight with light sabers and Darth Vader is pretty cool. 

At his request, despite my disapproval of the color black, I made him a Darth Vader cake. He sat with me on the couch (as he was recovering from an evening of throwing up all over me...no, I was recovering from that) and we scrolled through Pinterest looking at all the different Star Wars and Darth Vader cakes. He chose the simplest design in the worst color to work with. 

I must have rolled out the black fondant ten times, and I may or may not have uttered the words, "You should be very glad that I love you right now or you wouldn't be getting a cake..." The more dye you add to the fondant, the more the fondant begins to breakdown... Why didn't I just use black frosting? Because I didn't want all the kids to have purple mouths... Gah. But Hunter loved his cakes, even with a couple cracks in it. He especially loved that I was able to make Darth Vader hold his birthday candle as a make shift light saber. Mom for the win! 

 He really really really wanted his party at the hotel again and I couldn't say no, even though his party was scheduled to start the same time the Cat/Griz game started... Every stinking year his birthday coincides with that football game weekend... But since he didn't get to celebrate with his kindergarten friends last year, I said what the heck this year. I can't begin to tell you how much fun Charli had with the neighbor twins! To say she loves the water is a bit of an understatement...

 He had a handful of his classmates show up, which was plenty for me! From what I could tell, it looked like everyone had a bunch of fun! I made just enough goodie bags for his guests too. That never happens with me...

Even though he gives Perry and I a run for our money parenting-wise, I love this kid to pieces and can't wait to see what this year brings! Hopefully more snuggles for mom? We're not too old for that yet, right?

Happy Birthday to my Superhero!

I'm pretty sure JP thought his birthday party would never get here! He has been waiting and waiting since Hunter's birthday...in November. But the last few weeks it hit him hard. "How many more days?!" It's a good thing I had it at the hotel again (and that they're super flexible!) because I had to change the date around a few times since Perry had a last minute trip to Spokane. His birthday was actually on Tuesday, but with Perry being gone, we changed it to Wednesday so he could be around for part of it. 

On his birthday, I let him order what ever he wanted for breakfast, which was an egg on toast with sprinkles. Aunt Kim and Nanny came over later that morning and stole him and Charli away so I could decorate the cake. (Cooking dinner with Charlotte around is hard enough!) He went bowling and almost got a strike, played on the train at the mall and went birthday shopping with Nanny and picked out his present. By the time they got back, the cake was almost done. It really only took a few hours... For dinner he requested Mac 'n Cheese, and after I had the water boiling for it, I realized we were out. I instead formulated a plan that was better than just Mac 'n Cheese. We went through the drive thru at Wendy's and came back and ate it in a fort we built in his room. And then Hunter and him got to sleep in it. 

I thought he was going to pick a Ninja Turtle cake again, but I was wrong, JP wanted a superhero cake this year. I was so excited about that decision because I had been wanting to make a hero cake for one of my kids! (In JP's head, Ninja Turtles *are* superheros so Leonardo made an appearance too!) You can see more cake pictures on my cake blog.

 Wednesday finally arrived and he was SO anxious to get to the pool to swim with his friends. He had so much fun with all of them! I could tell everyone had fun - even the moms :)

 JP even went down the slides a few times with Aunt Kim, and once with me. Contrary to his belief, he ended up liking it! 

 Charli got in the pool too! She was really scared of the kiddy pool because of the mushroom waterfall being really loud, but she eventually got in and sat in the big pool. Hunter spent most of his time in the hot tub...

 Just having a green table cloth and green plates, literally, made his day! I'm pretty sure all his friends are aware of his green obsession...

 Despite what the picture shows, he was super excited, internally though. He's like me in social settings and definitely and introvert!

 

 After singing "Happy Birthday" he attempted to blow out his candles from way back in his chair. He really struggled to get the last two, so I hoisted him up after a few more failed attempts. 

He also wanted nothing to do with cake because he was just itching to open all of his presents. He was so excited! 

JP slept like a rock last night. Hunter did too...kind of. He came upstairs about an hour after bedtime and walked down the hall like a zombie. He climbed up on my lap and snuggled in like a cat. Perry and I tried and tried to asked him what was wrong and before we knew it he was out. At one point he was hanging mostly off the couch, with his face on my tummy, and his hand smack in the middle of my face. We're both sure he was sleep-walking, especially since he doesn't remember any of it!

Wreck It Ralph Birthday for Our 5 Year Old!

It is finally over! The party I have been stressing about for nearly two weeks is finally over and I can RELAX! And try to come to terms with the fact that I now have a 5 year old in my house. Eeek! Where has the time gone?!

For his birthday this year, I decided that Hunter was old enough for a *real* party, instead of one with just his family. Not to say that a party with just family is not a party, but he has friends this year so I thought it would be fun for him to have his friends help celebrate with him. Originally we were going to have a couple friends come over and stay the night, but later decided that he's probably too young for that, and since I don't know the kids' parents...they probably wouldn't let their child stay the night. As I was laying in bed, stressing about what to do, I remembered that I worked at a hotel with a WATER PARK. And then two minutes later I was on the phone to reserve it, at 11pm. That's how I roll. 

We invited his whole preschool class and I cannot tell you how excited Hunter was to put all the invitations in his friends' cubbys at school. Even cuter when his friends RSVP'd! Melt your heart kind of cuteness!

This year's theme was Wreck It Ralph, based on the Disney movie that came out last November. (Super cute movie if you haven't seen it!) Technically Hunter wanted a Fix It Felix cake, but more specifically it was a Wreck It Ralph cake. 

(See more pictures of the cake on my cake blog!)

In the movie, Felix has a golden hammer that he uses to fix the building Ralph wrecks. I incorporated the golden hammers by using a cookie cutter to cut hammers out of cheese. HUGE hit! And Perry called it, at least one little boy picked up a slice and pretended to bang on something. I was surprised it wasn't Hunter!

Going with the theme, I had Perry wrap all the juice boxes in brick paper and then I stacked them up next to the cake. In the movie Ralph lives in the dump which is basically just a pile of bricks. They turned out great too! I'm so glad I was able to convince Perry to help me!

Although I forgot to make one for the cake, Ralph wanting a medal contributes significantly to the plot of the movie. Instead of having a "normal" Happy Birthday banner, I used construction paper to create a banner for him that resembled the medal Ralph wanted in the movie. (Obviously I should have drawn the letters darker...)

A HUGE shout out to Aunt Kim for helping with EVERYTHING I needed her to help with, like arranging the table so nicely, loading up my car, corralling my kids, babysitting Kiki during the party...etc. She rocks! THANK YOU!

Hunter had so much fun at his party! I knew he would! And so did his friends! I was relieved to hear that this was also many kids' first birthday party to attend....Awesome : ) 

It makes me smile to see Hunter growing up. But sad at the same time. I was quickly reminded that he still has learning and growing to do when he commented that "I'm not 5 until I blow out my candles!" Just like one of his friends thought that it wasn't a party until Hunter opened his presents. Oh to be young!

Happy Birthday Little Man!

A Family Trip to the Pool

I can't believe I haven't shared what fun we all had swimming...a month ago! For those of you who know my boys, they have hated water, other than their bath, since creation. It was a hard pill to swallow since I worked at a hotel with a sweet water park for their entire lives. And to think I was blessed with little kids that wanted nothing to do with it. Go figure!

Last December a good friend of mine came to visit. Her son (who loves water) and Hunter had a little play date in the water park. With a little hesitation, Hunter eventually got in. Ultimately I think after seeing how much fun her son was having in the water, Hunter quickly changed his mind...and ended up butt naked in the pool. I took my eyes off him for a second, and then I see these yellow shorts floating in the kiddie pool and I knew instantly they were his... Of course it had to be my kid who was found skinny dipping in the pool... He was having so much fun though!

Anyways, since he had that *awesome* experience with the pool, he wanted to go back. Every Monday night we were too exhausted or he was too cranky, or there was something going on at the hotel that prevented us from going. Finally I made the executive decision that we were going to take both the boys, regardless of how tired we were or cranky they were. Good thing I did, because we had a little battle trying to eat dinner that night.

 When we arrived at the hotel, both boys were excited to go swimming, but after going down the frog slide once, JP had enough and sat on the edge of the pool watching Hunter.

 Hunter jumped in quickly and was all over the place. 

  JP played squirt guns with dad for a little while. He was pretty content doing only that.

 Of course they remembered the "hot pool" and had to try it out...even though they are too young for it. I even broke the rules and soaked for a while. Boy did that feel good on my back! I was...36 weeks in this photo, I think...

 After relaxing in the hot tub, we made our way back to the kiddie pool, and they boys had a "friend" join them. (Every kid their age is their friend.) He and Hunter did a lot of running around together. Perry even saved this kids' life when he and Hunter ran over to the big pool. He jumped in and luckily Perry was there to pull him out because his mom didn't see him escape from the kiddie pool. Before we left, they came over to thank Perry again and Hunter ran up to him and gave him a big hug. Very concerned like, Hunter asked if he was okay and then gave him a big kiss on the cheek. All without our prompting. I was very proud of his actions!

 Meanwhile... JP became super brave and started jumping in the kiddie pool, and then didn't want to get out! Turns out he really does like the water! WooHoo! Mission accomplished!

Aren't they so cute in their matching jammies? Aunt Erin and Uncle Cameron gave them these oneies and I love when they wear them! I'm excited for when all three kids have matching jammies :)