(Friend) birthday party

Because I like to live on the wild (and crazy) side, we opted to let Carter have a friend party this year in addition to his family party. So many of his friends have invited him to their parties, and he kept asking if so and so was coming to his party (meaning his family one). We opted to have it at a local park and rent a pavilion. We got even crazier and had it the today--the day after the family party. :) Turns out, it worked out pretty well. We were able to use all the decorations again and just kept in the party spirit for the weekend! 

It was SO incredibly. I had to tie everything down and put little boulders all over the place. Sadly, I didn't get to put up half the decorations. But the good news is that four year olds have no idea about that stuff and I didn't worry about it. 

I even opted to buy the cake to keep things simple. We added the little toys to the top and voila! 

Bubble wands for the favor -- a hit with kids! 

The real hit of the party was the pinata. Carter talked about this for WEEKS (and I am not exaggerating) leading up to the party. It cost a small fortune to fill it but the kids just loved it and I loved seeing how happy and excited they were!

We did gifts when we got home and wow, is he a BLESSED little boy!! It was like Christmas morning! 

All in all, it was such a fun time and was over before we knew it. Can't believe we have a four year old already? Wasn't he just born yesterday???

Carter's 4th Birthday Party

Today, we celebrated Carter's 4th birthday--at least for the first time--with family. Tomorrow will be another with his friends. He is a BIG TIME fan of Disney Planes and that's what he wanted for his party. And what little dude wants, he gets! I love throwing a party, and this was a fun theme to do! :) 

 I was excited when I realized my mom still had the globe from when we were little and it perfectly represented the "Wings Around the Globe" rally.

He talked and talked about party hats, so I'm thankful I was able to find some! 

I made "pilot badges" for all the kids. It was just too stinkin' cute to see them running around all day with these on. 

A couple weeks out, I saw this precious Dusty fabric and couldn't pass it up. I had no idea what I was going to do with it until about a day or two ago. And I'm SO GLAD I decided to do this. It was so, so cute. We got photos of the birthday boy with each guest at the party (we missed a few though). :) (Some photos below)

Baggage claim! I got each kid a little aluminum water bottle. I found these on sale at the Disney store a few weeks before the party! I got the babies in attendance a little organic squeezie but then forgot to give it to one of them before they left. Boo!

I made all the signs and details (for the most part). Most of the stuff just fit in with an "airplane" theme. 

I was trying to think of how to use my chalkboard and came up with this. 

Face painting station! I was envisioning them picking a sun, star, etc. NOOO. Mr. Elijah picked a T-REX!! Stinker. :) I had to google it but we survived. We also had a balloon, a shooting star, a heart, and some letters.

Centerpieces (that kept blowing over)

The birthday boy and guest of honor. He LOVED having so many people there loving on him. He was just so precious and appreciative of everything. It melted my heart. 

In the photo booth with mommy and daddy! 

For food we had meatball subs, coleslaw, "Dusty's Dippers" (Fruit w/ dip and veggies w/ dip), chips, "Cloud 9" parfait (Jell-o and cool whip) and cupcakes and ice cream! 

Digging in! 

Pretty sissy! :) 

We had such a blast celebrating the little boy who made us mommy and daddy. These four years have FLOWN by so lightning fast. We cherish all the sweet giggles, activity, and love he dishes out. He's truly a little sweetheart (that keeps us on our toes)! Happy 4th birthday (in a few days), little dude. We love you SOOOO much! 

(Friend party post to come...)

Easter wrap-up and spring happenings

Well, that was an unintended break! It was kind of nice but if I'm going to have these things to look back on, I need to keep up with it! :) Spring has been busy so far -- these little munchkins like to keep things lively! 

 Enjoying some ice cream on a nice afternoon...

Leading up to Easter, we painted eggs. Carter was really into it this year, but I'm pretty sure Addison could not have cared any less. She was cranky, though, as she had been for a few days (more on that in a bit).

Easter morning! They were very excited to get their baskets (from the Easter bunny, but that mommy and daddy picked out for them...he just brought it. That stinkin' rabbit isn't getting all the credit!) :) From about this point forward, Addison was really fussy. Like...really fussy. She seems to have some pretty bad separation anxiety right now but we were at home, so that didn't make much sense. 

Trying to get some photos before church. HAHAHA. This was basically the only one I got of Carter and she would have nothing of it! 

I managed to get a decent one in the church parking lot. We'll call that a WIN! And, not that I'm biased, but I thought they looked just precious so I was glad to get one shot. 

During church, Addison cried A LOT. She screamed and screamed on the way to church, said her arm hurt, wouldn't go in the nursery, and was just generally miserable (as a side note, she had done something to her arm at daycare on 4/10, but then as quick as something came on, it went away. Since that day, she had been especially miserable, so we were starting to wonder if maybe something happened. Her teachers also said that she had a decreased urine output, so we kept note of that as well.)

We went to Gramma and Pa's house after church to celebrate with the Lauver side of the family. It was a gorgeous day! Carter had a BLAST with cousins but Addison had a rough time all day (you know, until the last hour...). Seth and I chatted about taking her to the ER to check her arm and for a UTI since something just wasn't right. We did end up taking her Easter night but everything checked out just fine. (Who knows?! Teething? Terrible twos?)

This is the kids getting their Easter baskets from Gramma and Pa (also known as: CALM BEFORE THE STORM). Major excitement in the moments that followed! 

Time for the egg hunt!! 

He wanted me to take pictures of him the whole time...it was so cute! :) 

A picture of all the grandkids plus cousin Lukas (Otherwise known as THE EASTER MIRACLE!).

All in all we had a great, blessed Easter season. The spring has been crazy but it was nice to enjoy the holiday with some time off work to relax with friends and family. Carter turns 4 soon which is UNREAL, and we're in full party planning mode over here (and feeling behind!). We also had a yardsale this past weekend and it went REALLY well. We sold off some baby gear (and now begin praying even harder that we don't accidentally get pregnant or we are in biiiiiig trouble). Feels good to get some spring cleaning done! Seth's softball starts this week, so the weeknights are about to get extra hectic too. But we love hanging out with the other moms and kids and meeting new people! 

We're working on our "vegaval" garden as well (Carter's request), and have planted a blueberry bush...YUM!!! Excited for more fun to come this spring. Hope your spring has been blessed so far. :)