4 Years Old, Superhero Style

Louden & Keegan turned 4 and decided on a Superhero Theme.  I booked Central Park Playland SIX months in advance since I missed out on it last year.  It was AWESOME.  The location was great, price was reasonable, and no parents were stressed (that I know of anyway).  I had grand ideas for getting crafty, but my time ran out.  6 days before the party, Jason tells me we *have* to do capes.  Off to JoAnn's I went.  Here are the photos:

Personalized capes with grab bags of superhero candy, silly straws, and stickers.

A friend made cupcakes for me, I found the toppers online.

the Main event.  A little intimidating, but even the smallest kids tried it out.

We seen kids for a limited time, this was a popular stop

The Birthday boys

Louden growling

The Birthday Song

The smallest guest

Group Photo

Show us your capes!!!!  The super fancy capes are from  Baby Pop including L&Ks, last year's gift from the BK Special. 

Even Papa had a cape

Instant fast: just add cape

The Murrays

Silly shot, I'm normal, right?

More Murrays.....Papa & DG

Jason & his Mom (aka Grandma)

Presents

We do presents at home, less chaos.  Maybe not less, but less spectators to partake in the chaos-ness of giving 4 years presents at the same time.  We had a FANTASTIC time at this party.  Would be awful to book the same location forever?  This was so easy and I *think* everyone had fun, there were no drama moments in a room full of toddlers.  Are we still toddlers?  Preschoolers?  Nonetheless, it went GREAT.

LOVE my BOYS!!!!  So looking forward to the fun of 4 year olds!!!

Giddy Up, Party Down

This year, we decided to have a birthday party at a location, rather than at our house.  I knew right away that I wanted a cowboy theme.  Then I found this blog as inspiration.  I knew immediately that I was going to steal 

borrow these ideas.

I scraplifted some invitations from etsy. Notice the vinyl

 "brands".  That's all me :)

I made a banner.

I made the horsey cupcakes & cupcake toppers.

I made treat bags.

Cowboy(girl) hats were necessary.

The location didn't exactly match, but my mind was made up.  We rented The Jungle Gym in Delaware, Ohio.  Actually, I got a pleasant surprise that Grandma Jackie paid for the party as a gift to the boys.  What a perfect gift!!!  

Here are a few shots of the fun (excuse the blurs, everyone was in action nonstop). The zip line was favorite by far.  I still can't believe everyone could hold on.  Those kids were flying....

We served cowpoke food: hotdogs, pulled pork, chips, potato salad, carrot chips, and strawberries.  

Everyone Ate!

We had cupcakes.

We had a surprise guest:

Grandpa Bob drove up from TN while he was checking on his house being built.

Us (minus Kyle)

All the guests.  An attempt at a group shot:

Fail!

Everything was really nice.  Parties outside of your home is the way to go.  We had our party late, starting at 4:30 pm, so we had all day to prepare. I even managed to run that morning with MIT, 9 miles = new PR for Mama Murray!  We didn't make too much fuss over the party and everyone was happy.

The boys received a ton of gifts from their friends and have been enjoying them ever since.  Here is a photo of one of the gifts from B&K: 

masks are upside down :)  oops

Thanks everyone for reading & checking in on us.  We had a great time with a few special friends.  Now....BRING ON SPRING!!!!

Grandma's Visit

We were so happy to have Jason's Mom (aka Grandma) come stay with us while our sitter was on vacation.  Last year, I had to take vacation to stay home with the boys.  This gave Grandma some much needed kid time while allowing Jason and I the chance to keep up with our busy work schedules.

I tried to take a photo of them all together, this is about the best we can do:

The boys LOVED having her here.  It's remarkable to see the difference in their attitudes when they don't have to be loaded up and taken away from home everyday.  I tried to get her to move here, she declined. (psst, Jackie:  I wasn't really kidding)

On top of everything else, she did every stitch of laundry for me one day.  Including carrying everything from our top floor down the basement.  I don't think she ever wants to see another stair.

This will keep you young, Grandma.

Uh, yeah, that's a bat.  The boys have mad takedown skills.  

Here's a photo right before she left.

I would have taken one of her driving away, but I was too busy crying.