Jack's 2nd Birthday Party

 

We celebrated Jack's 2nd birthday on his actual birthday -- just like we did last year.  As is my typical tradition, the theme for the party was chosen months in advance.  I like to have time to ponder ideas and scour clearance racks for decorations and party favors.  And, I try to plan enough time to involve the kids (mostly Sophia right now) in crafting projects.

I have enough parties "under my belt," so to speak, that I am able to reuse decorations and color schemes more than once.  For example, with the Curious George theme for this party, I was able to utilize yellow decorations from my sister's baby shower last year in conjunction with red decorations leftover from Sophia's sock monkey birthday party and her Olivia the Pig party.  I just love mixing and matching and creating new looks with things that I already have.

One of the craft projects involved using black electrical tape (since Steve is an electrical engineer, we had loads of this on hand) on the cups so that, when placed on top of the plates, they looked like the Man in the Yellow Hat's hat ... Sophia absolutely loved helping me with this.

Sophia and I also designed the traditional backdrop together that hung above the dessert table.  Honestly, the canvas picture that normally hangs in this spot has stood the test of time, as I have -- too many times to count -- covered it over with some sort of paper and designed something to go with the party theme.  The striped wrapping paper, perfect for my theme colors, was in my wrapping box and the pictures were simply printed for free off the internet on my color printer.  Easy and free.  Yes, please.

With the dessert table:

Speaking of the dessert table, it's a known fact that I make and decorate all of my own cakes and cupcakes.  It's something that I truly enjoy, even if I have to go to Plan B or Plan C when I am decorating them.  I spent Saturday night, after the kids were in bed, piping a monkey on the top of this cake and Jack loved it.  Time well-spent.

The wagon was a clearance find and I put it together the week before the party, letting Jack play with it all that he wanted before I displayed a few cupcakes in it.

I found a quote by Walt Disney about being curious and printed it on yellow cardstock paper.  I added a monkey and a banana, stuck it in a red frame (again, left over from one of Sophia's parties) and put it on the dessert table.  After all, Jack is one curious little boy.

One of the other things that I love to have at a party is fresh flowers.  It's a great way to add an extra pop of color into the displays, while also allowing me to keep them around in my house for a few days after the event.  I found these yellow carnations with red tips (how perfect!!!) the day before the party and couldn't resist them.

And you know what?!  These carnations lasted for over ten days in my house.  I had forgotten how long carnations last ...

I love having a banner over the fireplace.  Sometimes I design my own and sometimes, I find them for too cheap of an amount to forego the ease of simply buying one.

One of the seating tables:

Sophia helped me stuff the favor boxes for the kids, complete with all sorts of Curious George items.  I then used a box that was left over from my sister's shower (so was the tablecloth) and filled it with red and yellow tissue paper and propped George on a stick coming out of it.  Cheap, but colorful and space-filling.  The "2" was actually left over from Sophia's 2nd birthday party, and I used it on the table along with an adorable picture of the birthday boy and some cut-out pictures of banana peels.

I set-up a nacho bar in the kitchen (I didn't manage to take a picture of that), and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  Lots of toppings with rice and beans on the side.  And a fruit bowl thrown in for good measure (my family never has a party without fruit).  An easy meal for a crowd of people.

After the meal, we headed into the living room so that Jack could open his gifts.  This could only be described as pure chaos -- lots of wrapping paper, lots of kids and a little boy that wanted to play with every gift the second that he unwrapped it.

After a short time, I was able to corral him enough to sit in my lap for some more controlled gift opening.

And then after the gifts, we migrated into the dining room for cake (or cupcakes!) and ice cream.  Jack understood completely what was happening.  Yes, all of the attention was for him.

 Lighting two candles for the birthday boy:

Blowing them out like a pro (no help was actually needed from Papa):

The two men in my life:

Here's to another year of growing and learning.  I can't wait to see where it takes us ...

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jack Stanley!

Midweek Randoms

Samantha's Spring Concert at school was in April, on a Wednesday night.  That meant that I was not able to attend (I was teaching), but Steve managed to go with all of the kids and still take a couple of pictures for me.  Luckily, it was a relatively short concert and Jack behaved himself for his dad ...

 

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Jack's legs are just barely long enough to reach the pedals on his tricycle (the bike was used by both of the girls previously).  He is slowly working on mastering pedaling, but in the meantime, he enjoys pulling it along.

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Breakfast with my littles:

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The girls wanted to wear their vests to school this morning:

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And another day, we went on a walk after lunch.  Licorice was mandatory that day!

We took time to smell some daffodils along the way ...

Jack rode in the stroller (I am encouraging this as long as I can for walks because it is my main means of "containing him").  Without the stroller, his independence can be ... well, a little overwhelming.

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Jack had been having a hard time sleeping through the night in his "big boy bed," which resulted in some random late morning snoozes on the couch.  I would leave the room for a few minutes and return to this:

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Spring weather means more time outside ... and that makes the kids so happy!  Smiles all around.

It also means fresh (much-needed) mulch in the flower bed out front:

 

 

And sibling rides in the jeep.  (The jeep belonged to their cousins more than thirteen years ago!  When they were too big for it, Steve held onto the jeep -- storing it in the garage -- hoping that one day his kids would be able to use it.  And they definitely have!).

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Springtime also means that it is time for popsicles!

Ha ha ha!  Jack was enjoying a tangerine-carrot popsicle -- a great way to sneak some extra veggies into his diet!  Score one point for Momma.

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Samantha officially lost her two front teeth a couple of weeks ago.  She pulled the first one out in school (her teacher sent me a picture that day from the classroom) and then I helped her by pulling the other one out two days later.  It had been hanging by just a couple of "threads."

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Samantha is really excited about chapter books lately, so we spend a lot of time on the couch reading.  It is so fun to discover some of my favorite chapter books from my childhood all over again.

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For Teacher Appreciation Week, Sophia helped me bake some dark chocolate chip cookies for the teachers.  We put them in an inexpensive jar with some ribbon from my stash and attached a tag that read, "I am one smart cookie because of you!"  The teachers loved them!

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Jack has begun potty-training!  I wasn't going to start until this summer, but Jack started showing some interest and waking up from his naps dry on a regular basis.  For the last couple of weeks, we have been having at least one successful "pee event" on the potty each day; sometimes two.  I am not trying 'hard core' yet, but we are encouraging as much as possible.  We even let him pick out some new "big boy underwear."  He is quite excited!

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was my 7th Mother's Day and my only request was to be able to spend it with all of my babies.  And if there was a meal celebrated outside of the home (either breakfast, lunch or dinner), then I would be happy.  Anything else would be a bonus.

Yesterday, while I was out having lunch with Steve's sister, Steve surprised me by taking the kids and letting them pick out a necklace and a basket of flowers for me.  I came home to find all of the kids napping and my gifts and card displayed on the counter.  What a sweet surprise.

I immediately planted the basket of flowers in my pot on the front porch; it was just sitting there waiting for me to fill it.  Done!  And I waited until the kids were up from their naps to open the most beautiful necklace.  Apparently Samantha picked it out.  There are three hearts -- one for Faith, one for Hope and one for Love.  Each child claimed one.  So thoughtful!!!

And then today, we headed to Relli's in DeWitt for a simple lunch and a little time at the park.  (The time at the park was limited as it started to rain about 10 minutes after we parked, but everyone got to run off some excess energy!).

My babies, posing for a couple of pictures (another small request on my Mother's Day):

Jack always plays with my necklace:

 

In fact, here is a picture from Mother's Day last year:

 



I know that I am lucky to have three beautiful children that love me unconditionally.  I am so proud to be their momma.

Sophia's Bowling Field Trip

Sophia's preschool class went on their annual end-of-the-year field trip to a local bowling alley this last week.  This was her second time ever bowling, and she was SO excited to be able to go with all of her friends.  Steve stayed home with Jack and I took Sophia by myself to spend a little quality time with my four-year-old growing girl.  (When Samantha went with her preschool class two years ago, I was 8 months pregnant with Jack, so I opted to stay home and Steve took Samantha).

Letting it roll:

There were four kids per lane, and Sophia managed to be on a team with some of her best friends -- including Claire.

Sophia rotated between bowling the ball "normally" and using the ramp to help her a little bit:

Sophia and Allie; Allie is also in Sophia's dance class:

After bowling a full ten frames (and let's face it, the kids were just about 'over it' by frame 7!), they were able to have lunch at the bowling alley.  Every preschooler's dream lunch -- pizza and lemonade.

Following lunch, we headed back into town to spend some time at the park.  It was a beautiful day!

The humidity was high ... and so were Sophia's curls:

And Mrs. Hick's did not disappoint.  Everyone got to have a popsicle (or two!).  Sophia may have been the first in line!

Sophia and her friend, Gabby:

Just hanging out:

And a special surprise for me -- fresh-picked dandelions!

Just two more weeks of school left for this girl!