Almost six months later I am finally posting their birthday party pictures! I have been procrastinating doing this post for months because I wanted to try to do collages in a program called Picasa. The first few collages I made took forever (I am not very fast at teaching myself new computer stuff) and Chris accidentally deleted them when he transferred a bunch of home videos and pictures to an external hard drive. Every time I sat down to blog I had to catch up on recent blogs and I would save this one for last. By the time I would come to their party pictures I was always tired and ready to be done. But since I am pretty much caught up on blogging, and since it is freezing cold, and since I certainly DO NOT work out anymore, I thought I would try to tackle these darn collages!!
The kids’ party was on August 27th, a warm sunny Saturday. I decided on the theme months in advance. I had always wanted to do a Candyland party and it pretty much started with the invitations. I bought a Candyland game and had colored photocopies made of the character cards. I cut them and punched holes in the corner and attached each card with a green ribbon to the family invitation. Each child received a gender correct card with their name on it. The invitation explained that their card was their ticket into CANDYLAND!
I put Chris in charge of the balloon wreath. I decided that since Chris is the stay at home parent and since my time is limited, I would delegate 
. I had my doubts. I didn’t know if he would be able to do it as well as I wanted it done. One day, I came home from work and he had it displayed on the middle of our bed, like a throw pillow. It looked GREAT!! I was thrilled and was really impressed with his wreath making skills. We made our balloon wreath fit the Candyland theme by attaching suckers and other colorful candy treats to the wreath. I loved it! The outside of our house was decorated with a big “Happy Birthday” sign and bunches of balloons tied to the porch.
I regret not taking pictures of a lot of things. I didn’t take one of the outside of the house, the beautiful cupcukes in the new cupcake stand, the favors I spent hours making, a close up of the piñata, and the balloon lollipops. The day was also so busy we didn’t get pictures of the kiddos with both sets of their grandparents, or a group shot of me and Chris with the kids. We did get a lot of fun pictures (thanks to Amy and Christina) and we had an AMAZING day, but I tend to focus on the photos I didn’t get and I shouldn’t do that!! Because, I find that on the days I miss the good shots, are the days that I am truly consumed by FUN and living in the moment. I am so wrapped up in the laughter, conversation, and joy of the day that snapping pictures was not a thought on my mind. I do have two awesome sisters though, who did capture many of our fun moments!
Guests were greeted at the door by a few balloon lollipops. The balloon lollipops were pretty much a disaster. I had a vision of 15-20 lollipop balloons in all different colors weaving a path to the deck doors leading the children to the Candyland Castle (the bounce house). Chris and I had saved and painted wrapping paper tubes white to be the sticks of the lollipops. I bought jumbo balloons and cellophane bags with ribbons to cover the balloons as the wrappers. The idea was to make each one look like a big sucker. The first tube worked out well, but it was a shorter tube. The longer tubes just fell over since the strength of the helium just wasn’t enough to hold up the longer tubes. I was pretty bummed. I waited to the decorations as long as I could because I wanted the helium to last and I didn’t want Jack and Savannah to ruin them before the party. I should have done a test run a week before the party. The candy trail we taped to the floor had only been in place for 15 minutes before one of the squares was ripped by a little foot! Oh well. The house still looked pretty festive.
As the kids and parents arrived, the kids dropped their “tickets” into the candy bowl in exchange for candy necklaces for their parents. Only adults received candy necklaces, due to the fact they are definitely choking hazards. We served pizza, fruit and veggies, soda, juice boxes, and gourmet cupcakes. I have to admit,the cupcakes were amazing. I wish I could say I made them myself, but after tasting these at work one day, I knew I had to order them for the party. They were big and beautiful, in six different flavors: raspberry ice, double chocolate, vanilla with rainbow sprinkles, lemon meringue, red velvet, and strawberry. Double chocolate was my favorite by far.
Not all of my family could make it to the party, but it was wonderful to have those that could come, be there to help celebrate. My coworkers came, our neighbors, a few running buddies, some families we have become friends with, and Greg and Roxanne. It was a fun bunch! My friend Kelly came for the day from Iowa City, and it was so special to have her there, along with cute Katelyn working on her crawling at the time!
Chris’ parents picked up the bounce house for us in Ames on the way to Marshalltown from Sioux City. They were so nice to load it up in their vehicle, especially since the representative we spoke to on the phone said someone from the company would be there to load it for them. It was not light, that is for sure!! Chris and his dad, along with Lyle, had the Candyland Castle up in about three minutes. I was so excited for the kids to see it. They could hardly believe their eyes. I remember Jack asked if he could keep it!! “That my present Mom? I keep it?!!” I told him just for today. Jack, Savannah and the neighbor kids were jumping in it immediately!!
After some pizza and cupcakes and a good hour of letting the kids jump, we decided it was time to start the piñata. I stuffed the pinata with a small goody bag for each child. Inside the goody bag was another Candyland card that matched a bigger favor on the table under the tree. Chris ended up breaking the piñata since it seemed the kiddos just couldn’t hit it hard enough. Once the piñata was broken, they each could match the cards and find out which favor they got to take home. The favors were clear bottles (Simply Lemonade) layered by color with Skittles or Starburst, decorated with ribbon. They were really pretty and the kids seemed really excited with their whistles, bouncy balls, horns, and candy. I am sure their parents were thrilled too. Haha.
I think Savannah had three blow pops that day.
Jacob did a fabulous job playing elevator, lifting each child up and into the bounce house.
Yes, Savvy, you are next!
We all had such a great time watching the kids jump. Seeing the joy on their dirty little faces, screaming with laughter, falling down, and getting back up again, I had to join in their fun, even if it was just for a few minutes. It was exhilarating. Savannah and Jack both gave me sweet kisses through the rope mesh. I captured that memory forever in my mind.
After all the guests left, we were so exhausted we didn’t even clean up. Chris and Jacob were off golfing and Amy and Mom stayed to hang out. We went to the front yard and sprawled out on the grass to enjoy the cool shade. The kids opened their presents in the grass and I don’t even think I helped. By this time Jack had already opened several presents and had it mastered.
And so until next August, when we have a much smaller and calmer party, I will remember this day as a very special day. One where we celebrated the births of my two precious, funny, energetic, and oh so happy, beautiful children, Jackson Christopher 4, and Savannah Therese 2!! I love you Jack and Savvy!
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