Showing posts with label party. Show all posts

a little boys "Skylanders" birthday party

earlier this month, I had the boys combined birthday party. their birthdays are less than a month apart. and i do it because I can still get away with it and they don't really mind. it's really more of a convenience and a $-saver if you ask me. 
I love going all out on their birthdays but this time around, 1. didn't have time, energy (we barely finished unpacking and moping floors from the big move) or the cash and 2. just a few guests and family were able to make it.
but first, babies. because duh. 
elena and leo together again after weeks of being apart! she is not even 6 months here and already was sitting up and going backwards in her walker like a champ. and leo is {  this  } close to walking! 
ok, back to birthday stuff. i made a pinterest board for inspiration and had a few ideas to gather from it. i was surprised that there's not a lot of pinned Skylander stuff on there! it didn't matter, I needed to keep it simple-ish.
i made cut out clouds that were attached to a sheer blue ribbon and hung them from our freshly painted smooth ceilings guys, i pretty much had a mini-heart attack sticking them on and taking them down.
the boys had all these Skylander decals which i thought were perfect and told them to go to town with them on the wall! 
i would have loved to make a "portal" cake which the figures use in the game to switch from character to character but ehhhh.....sometimes easy and pretty is better, isn't it? they absolutely loved those sprinkles.
i made sugar cookies with the elements from the characters--there's 8 designs total--and i pretty much stayed up the night before icing these puppies. the boys thought they were the coolest.
rock candy for the earth element:
i ordered this tissue paper grass from ebay eons ago for my sister's baby shower. it fit pretty well with the Skylands theme and was for the life element. i was pretty lucky i found it during our house-move too! andrew had a little trouble accepting the 'fake' grass was touching the base of his cake...he hates itchy grass fyi.
and happy trigger (my favorite) provided all the goodies. games would have been fun at this point, i found some really fun ones here--she goes all out--but yeah...remember, simple?
the food table had power-up pizza, blast-zone watermelon, pop-o-sheep (popcorn), and some level-up kool-aid. i slaved over those tassels y'all....
we were pretty lucky that it was overcast and the rain never came, so we put on our suits and went outside to the water slide! 
below is my most favorite, coveted picture of all time--the moms. and if you notice in the background, their children, now married for almost 7 years. i heart this picture. 
real life, people.
then it was time to dry off and get to the cake. 
a three-layer cake with chocolate, yellow cake, chocolate layers. blue vanilla filling and vanilla cream cheese frosting and sprinkles on top--too much sugar? not. at. all.
every. single. cake this boy has, he wants to dip his face into. it is an old mexican tradition that he's grown to love because, why not? it's pretty funny and disgusting, you should try it.
all my little people into one single photo...i'm not sure why andrew looks so sour. it might possibly be because he was told to wait to open presents {hehehe}.
now we're talking....
and since there was no piñata for the event (i really wanted to make Eruptor since he would have been so easy to do), tia Dawna came through with miniature ones filled with coins, glitter and confetti. 
the boys were happy that day. happy. because their family was here (man, they sure do love their cousins) and because they got all the sweet treats and characters for their video games. we are lucky for all the love they give us and soooo thankful for this life. we do not take that for granted one bit. 
being boys, of course, and making silly faces. i love how they progress on their expressions and experiment with them through the years--it makes for funny photos. 
"now boys, how old are you?"
"ummm..."
"6!"
"4!"
"but Andrew, you're holding up 7!"
there we go, that's better! 
and after being done with cake, water time and gifts it was onto the next thing. a perk of the new house? a playground just right across the street. perfect. 
gary thought the boys would like to play some football, but after they saw how skillful he was, they decided the merry-go-round was the better choice.
things settled down a bit and little girl was worn out (me too but i couldn't really nap, now could I?) 
it was a great birthday party no matter how small it was. 
do you go out on your kids birthday parties? how do you decide what theme you're doing? if you do a Skylanders party let me know--i would love to check it out!
have a great weekend! 
post signature

Boys Birthday Party

On July 23rd, we had the boys' birthday bash!

It was so hot and fun, we were all so pleased how it turned out!

Tons of people came, ate, and had fun watching all the kiddos run around and have a blast. 

I also had a load of fun 'organizing' it with my Mom, who's the best Mom I could ever have. Without her, this party woulda been so unorganized and catastrophic, I thank Him for her.

Onto pictures!!!

Andrew couldn't wait to get his grubby hands on his cake, he had to show Nana the cakes.\

Cakes - plural people - because I made TWO train cakes...
Yes, I made the cakes.

Two cakes: Blue is Andrew's, #87 for August 7th
Red is Jonah's, #74 for July 4th
Clever, huh?

My sister is also the most amazing helper.
She photographed the entire thing and help me in so many ways! 
I had to snap a picture of her as well, Thank you Cari!!!

The table with the ever-blowing table cover.
One thing that sucks about having anything outside at my parents house is the wind...oh, it was awful.
Couldn't put up any balloons like I wanted to because of it.

My rail road tracks on the porch! Clever idea I found online.

The guests were such troopers!
Betsy & Wita

Family picture!

The stars - Dawna & Taylor

Beth was so excited to see Caren, the photographer.


The 'mentor' Caren puts up with...(inside joke)

I had stick-on mustaches, because train conductors wear overalls and mustaches.
So I stuck some on Andrew.


Ian loved his. He wore his the best, I think.

And Wita is always having fun!

Tia modeling for us, her sexy 'stache.

The mustache made Jonah looks like Mario from Mario Bros., right?!

Una de las invitadas, Kendra Martinez

Otro invitado, Alex Luna.

I had given my husband the task of building a train out of cardboard for the party so that we could have a photo "booth", if you will. It came out alright...it was SO much work though!
My husband stated that he was not interested in building anything out of cardboard from now on.



The Cockerell boys (neighbors) and James Ross eating brisket, hot dogs, rice, frijoles, veggies and fruit!

Tori Salyer, a guest. Never seen her smile so big before! 

Dawna, Taylor and James Ross made a show for the birthday boys. Cue the oldie song and insert a trampoline, and they become pop-stars. 
You can tell James Ross is ready to break out on his own!

Mi otra bella hermana, Dawna.

Birthday boy with his Momma.
It was so hot, all of our cheeks were turning red.
Luckily, my mother has a gigantic pool :D

So everybody got in it! 

These guys have known each other for almost 10 years.
And now they each have their own kid(s) {{Football yell: Gary's got them boyz beat!!!}}
L to R:  Ian and his meteorologist dad, Brady Taylor, Gary and Andrew, and Kelly Wartes and his daughter Parker.
I love pictures like this!!

Jonah was born July 4th, 2010 at 9:50 am after 9 hours of at-home, natural labor. 
He suffered a broken humerus, but came into this world as calm as can be.
I can't believe it has already been over a year since I struggled to push.
In that year, we have been blessed to have him--he's such a joy to have.

To Jonah,
you make us laugh daily, you hit us over the head while we're not looking, you make some of the stinkiest poopsies, and you eat everything in sight; but I would not have you any other way son.
I love you.


This is the kiddie pool!! They were having a blast!



My Jonah-bear

And then, it became PIñATA TIME!

Andrew knew what to do, but couldn't figure out why the piñata was moving....


Then it was Jonah's turn. Poor thing was so hot and cranky, he didn't like the things we made him do...

...and busted out crying!

Grandpops, the Piñata Conductor.

Then it was Ian's turn--that boy had a blast!

Then, it was Alex's!

And then Parker's....Go Girl!

Avery got to it!!!

...and many more got to hit it too!



Andrew wanted a second turn--why not? The thing hadn't busted yet!

I swear I make my piñatas bust-proof and I really don't mean to!
Yes, I made the piñata.
Check out my other ones here: 

So then Gary manually busted it :( ahhhh. 

EVERYBODY GET THE CANDY!!


Jonah was STILL unhappy...

The piñata afterwards

This kid cracks me up


Andrew had been waiting for this moment for about 3 weeks!
It was now HIS moment, HIS time to shine!!!
....Jonah had no clue what was going on.
After all, last year we had A's party, he was only about 4 weeks old.

In Mexico, my native country, the birthday person gets their face shoved onto the cake. 
It is a tradition that we adhere to with such strictness. 
Andrew loves it, in fact, he loves it so much that he did it here too...
Le fascino impinarse al pastel!


Icing in the nose is part of the hazard...

Cutting the cake!

Afterwards, everybody gathered around the presents so that we could watch the boys open their gifts.


Nana with her gift to Jonah.
Still not happy.


Tia Betsy made this minion for Jonah.
Too cute, right?
Want one? Email me!


So. Many. People.


Ian, being a ninja!

To thank everyone, we gave the kids the biggest, most inconvenient take home lollipop. 
Most parents with eyes wide opened, said "Thanks" and hesitantly took it. 
Note to self: Just because it looks awesome and pretty, doesn't mean that everybody will appreciate it.
Noted. 

Besides the cardboard train, handmade piñata, electrical tape railroad tracks, and inconvenient treats, I made Rail Road SIGNS!!!
Because I am a sign person after all.

The end of the party was sooo sweet...
1. Because it meant I didn't have to think about a party again until 11 months after.
and 
2. Because IT WAS OVER!!!

Lordy, I was tired so the boys and I took a nap afterwards!

Since we didn't get Andrew in the train during the party, we went outside to do a photo-op the day after.

I think to him, that meant his birthday bash was going to happen all over again, cause we had to do this when we came back inside:

I wan' cake!!

Yay!

...and then he face-slammed the cake. 
Awesome.

James Ross snuck a lollipop!!!

The boys had a blast and that's all that mattered. 
Thank you for everyone that showed up and made this day a hit for the boys!!!