Boys' Birthdays & Monster Jam

Phew!

Both boy's birthdays in one week is becoming increasingly exhausting as they get older. But I'm definitely not complaining, because we had so much fun celebrating these two amazing kids.

Payton's birthday was Wednesday, so on Tuesday night we decorated the house, blew up balloons and put streamers on his bedroom door. I love having them wake up to an instant party!

 Of course Brian brought home some special donuts for the birthday boy!

It was a fun morning indeed.

That afternoon, Brian and I joined Payton for lunch at his school.

We brought cookies for him to pass out to his friends.

That evening we had some neighbors over for dinner and cake. It was a wonderfully simple way to celebrate such an outstanding young man.

On Saturday, we got to celebrate Parker's birthday too.

We are very fortunate to have so many family members living nearby now. Brian's parents and brother, and my parents and my brother and my niece and nephew all came over for a birthday brunch. 

The kids had a ball hanging out with everyone and celebrating their special day.

That evening, we picked up one of Payton's good buddies and headed down to the Monster Jam truck rally at Raymond James football stadium.

We lucked out with our tailgate/parking spot. The family across from us had a bunch of remote control monster trucks that they were letting the kids play with (I think he had lost his mind!). The boys had so much fun playing with them!

 It wouldn't be a tailgate if you didn't actually hang out on the truck tailgate! And the birthday boy enjoyed a yummy cupcake.

Then, as the sun began to set, we headed in for the truck rally. I must say, as much as I joked about going to Monster Jam... it was actually really fun.

View from the top of the stadium. Amazing sunset.

They even had fireworks!

We all had so much fun. I highly recommend it to all families with young children. They were mesmerized the entire time.

And even though it was a busy week filled with present wrapping, cookie delivering, baking, decorating and entertaining... it was all worth it to see the smiles on my little guys' faces. They are my world and I feel incredibly blessed to be their mommy.

Now, somebody tell me how I could possibly have a 10 year old?!? That just doesn't seem possible! Oh well, time moves on... you just have to embrace the change and enjoy the ride.

Happy birthday Payton & Parker. I love you so very much!!!

More Birthday Fun... and a Super Bowl

The weather is amazing here today.
70's, sunny, breezy.
My french doors are open and the fresh air is trailing in, slowly warming up the house.
I'm sitting at my desk enjoying a much-deserved cup of coffee (Starbucks Blonde, Keurig style), while my new tea light candle holder does its job of dispersing just enough scent and light to give out some beautiful ambiance.

I am about to load up my favorite Pandora station and...
Wait.
What's that noise?
Surely that's not the baby waking up from his nap?
I only put him down 45 minutes ago!
I barely had time to shower & dry my hair!
WHAT?! Why is he awake?!?
Maybe he'll go back to sleep...
Nope. No such luck today.
Well, I bid you adieu for now.


The above portion was written at 11:30 this morning.
It's now 8:34 p.m.
But... both kids are in bed (one is asleep, so that's progress).
Hubby is on the phone working, so I'm back to finish my post.
No candle, or coffee this time. Although I might bust out some decaf in a bit if the mood strikes...

So, where was I???
Oh yes, I wanted to share a few photos with you... some of which are birthday related.

Payton's birthday weekend extravaganza continued after his birthday party on Friday night. 

Saturday afternoon we all went for a bike ride and ended up at Starbucks (surprise, surprise).

Yes, that is a monkey on the back of Brian's bike. Remember Payton's class "pet"?

Yes, Bongo the monkey enjoyed Starbucks too. :)

We let Payton get a ginormous chocolate chip cookie and then we headed to the park to play with friends. The day was amazingly beautiful! Sun was shining and temps were low enough to need a light jacket. Just goregous.

Saturday evening we laid low and hung out at home. Payton (and Brian and I) really needed to rest after the sleepover party. But by Sunday afternoon, we were ready to celebrate some more! We headed on down to our neighbor's house for a little Super Bowl party.

Brian convinced Payton that the Bears were in the Super Bowl, so they all wore their Bears attire (and yes, he even asked me to wear my Bears t-shirt). Nothing like brain-washing your kids at a young age! :)

 Payton and his buddy Avery had so much fun hanging out all evening.

The Moms had fun relaxing a bit too!

Monday was Payton's actual birthday and we always let the kids pick the menu on their birthday. He asked for birthday cake & bacon for breakfast, and a chicken casserole for dinner (no veggies of course). 

So... we obliged!

Cake 1st thing in the morning!

 I love the look on their faces! 

They couldn't believe there was a cake on the table at 6:30 a.m.

 He was definitely a happy birthday boy.

I believe Payton has had a wonderful entry into his 8th year so far. But the fun isn't over yet. 

 He and Brian go on the Cub Scout camping trip on Friday and then both sets of grandparents will be visiting this weekend to celebrate the boys' birthdays.

The fun just doesn't end around here folks!

To wrap up the rest of the weekend, here are some other random photos...

Parker being silly at the park.

This is the Valentine's inspired plaque that is displayed on the kitchen table right now.

We change the wording every day. 

This was Payton's birthday message:

And one more photo that makes me tear up every time I look at it.

Payton looks like a middle schooler in this picture.

He's growing up so fast.

Thank God he still likes to cuddle, give me lots of kisses and hugs, and still yells out, "I love you too!" every morning when leaving for school with his friend.

I know it won't be like this for much longer, so I am treasuring every second of it.

Happy 8th birthday to one of the sweetest, most genuine kids I could ever dream of being a mom to. You make me so proud and I love you more than you can ever imagine!!!

1st Sleepover Party

We talked through many birthday party options with Payton this year. At first, we thought a combo party for both boys at a bounce house place would be the perfect idea. But then we found out it was going to cost close to $500 for the party place rental, food for adults & kids and goodie bags. I think not.

So we came up with the idea to have just a few close friends come over for a slumber party. He loved the idea! Then I found a party kit on Etsy, and it gave me the idea to do a Minecraft slumber party.

Minecraft is a computer game that Payton and his buddies all like to play. It's a very creative game that can be played with multiple people at one time. So, we decided to have all the kids bring their laptops and we would have everyone play Minecraft together. Payton was so excited he could barely contain himself in the days leading up to the party!


I saved money on this party in a lot of areas. First of all, hosting a party at your home is obviously a huge money saver. I also used Evite instead of sending out paper invitations since we were only inviting a few friends.

The party kit I ordered on Etsy also saved me money by not buying a ton of decorations. The entire kit cost $10 and contained all of the decorating and goodie bag essentials that I needed, including:

• Happy Birthday pennant banner
• Candy bar wrappers
• Bookmarks
• Thank you notes
• Cupcake toppers
• Decorative signs 

Here's a peek at a couple of the candy bar wrappers and bookmarks (I self-laminated the bookmarks so they would be more durable for the boys).

 I used the thank you notes on the goodie bags - they added some fun personality to a plain brown lunch bag.

 I also created "butter" for the goodie bags. I just printed off a label and stuck it on a pack of Juicy Fruit gum. 

Sorry if you don't know anything about Minecraft... I'm sure some of these goodie bag items seem strange, but they're all part of the computer game. :)

Sorry - it's hard to see the pennant banner because the sun was behind the window. Trust me, it was cute!

 (Here's a link to the shop on Etsy where I purchased the party kit).


And since we didn't want the boys on the computer all night, we also created a scavenger hunt where we hid clues throughout the neighborhood for them to find. At the end of the hunt, they uncovered a special box buried in Payton's room containing Minecraft bottlecap necklaces for each of them. They loved it! (Here's the shop on Etsy where I ordered the necklaces - 6 of em for $12 - such a steal!)

Here's a brief recap of the evening:

The boys arrived and immediately hooked up their laptops and began playing Minecraft. It was so funny to hear all the game terminology being thrown around. The kids would continuously get up and look at each others' computer screens to see what the others were creating. They were SO loud and had so much fun.

 (Oh, and you may see a random stuffed monkey in some of these pictures. Payton got to take home the "class pet" for the weekend, so he made regular appearances throughout the evening).

All that Minecraft made the boys hungry! 4 large pizzas were almost completely devoured in a matter of minutes!

Side note: I have officially decided that 7 & 8-year old boys cannot take a normal picture.

Just sayin'...

 Then they all headed outside for the Scavenger Hunt!

 

And then back inside for cupcakes and ice cream.

 

 Even the monkey got one. :)

 After Payton opened gifts, the boys had a little dance party in the family room (I have treasured video of this that will always make me smile when I watch it!).

Then everyone got changed into their PJ's and got their sleeping bags situated on the floor.

We popped 4 bags of popcorn and watched "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days."

Believe it or not, the kids were totally quiet and asleep by 10 p.m.

Of course they were awake at 5 a.m., but still, I was pleased that the house was quiet at a decent hour.

The next morning, they had a healthy breakfast of donuts and bacon (har, har...).

I seriously cooked 2 pounds of bacon and it was totally gone in about 5 minutes.

 Hungry boys!

 That's a lot of bacon...

That's a lot of cups...

That's a lot of shoes...

That was a lot of fun.

Happy Birthday Payton!

The fun has just begun...