A "Totally Brilliant" Fireman Sam Birthday

Wow...it's been forever since I have blogged. What better way to get back to it than to post about RC's 3rd birthday! I had so much fun with his theme...Fireman Sam.  For those that don't know it is a British kids show. Aside from Veggie Tales, RC is obsessed with it

Anyway...back to the party!

I had a very limited budget for the party so I had to really become creative. Plus since it's a British show and isn't super popular in the States, Fireman Sam stuff isn't readily available here.

Let's start with the decorations. Since I decided to give it a try to have his party outside I didn't go crazy on decor. There was a Happy Birthday banner that was fire themed. The main thing I did was created a utensil holder out of a formula container and made it look like Jupiter the firetruck from the show.

I also painted a piece of cardboard to look like the front of Jupiter the firetruck and made it into a photo prop for the kids. I tried to get pictures of all the kids that came to the party in it.

Lastly I was able to print out and tape together a RC sized Fireman Sam for the front door.

Now for the food! I tried to think of ideas that would be something from the show. I came up with:

Match Sticks: Pretzel Sticks dipped in red candy melt chocolate

Fire Hydrants: Chocolate chip cookies (cut with a fire hydrant cutter)

Dilas' Dogs: Hot Dogs cut into 1/3's with a toothpick for serving

Bella's Pizzas: Ritz Cracker Pizzas (cracker, sauce, pepperoni, shredded cheese)




Activities included bean bag toss, fire buckets, and a find and seek game along with just letting the kids run around crazy.

Finally the cake...my masterpiece! I had fun with this one...well I have fun with all the cakes I make! This one was a blast as I knew RC would love it as it was shaped like Jupiter the firetruck! I used one half sheet cake to form the entire truck!

Happy 3rd Birthday RC! We look forward to many more years with you!

Veggie Tales Birthday - RC turns 2!

This year for RC's birthday I decided to go with his favorite thing..."uh uh" or rather Veggie Tales! RC LOVES Veggie Tales. Probably because it's the only show he actually gets to watch right now. How can one not like the biblical based veggies stories?

After searching the web for ideas, I found a few to put together his party. First I scored a costume from Lifeway for him to wear...but of course, he wouldn't wear it for the party. So instead he wore his Veggie Tales t-shirt. Which still worked out, but doesn't my little God's Super Hero look so cute?

The food I kept pretty simple. Mostly veggies and fruit and then some pizza. Only some of the food was themed toward the show like:

Pa Grape
Madame Blueberry
Laura Carrot
Cheese Curls (which thankfully did not come alive and try to eat us like in the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything show!)

The rest of the food were not from the shows, but were still yummy: strawberries, broccoli, pizza and of course cake!

The cake. My favorite part of getting ready for a birthday! I decided to be crazy and try another "mad hatter" cake. If you don't remember the fiasco I had back in October this style cake literally drove me mad! This time, I used a Groupon to score actually cake pans meant for this type of cake! So it came out much better.

Instead of making the Veggie Tale characters I decided to use some of the action figures RC would be getting as a present. They were perfect for the cake and made it much cheaper and less time consuming as well!

The decorations I kept pretty simple. For the table just plain colors to match bob the tomato and other characters from the show. I cut out larry the cucumber shaped pieces from green construction paper and spread them on the table. I used some of RC's Veggie Tale toys on the table too.

The rest were just prints I made on the computer, cut them out and glued to construction paper then hung on the window. For my two year old, it was enough. He was impressed and kept saying "cool" as he pointed to them.

It's hard to see in this picture but the bottom right is a big red poster board with Bob the Tomato drawn on it for pin the nose on Bob!

Bob and Larry balloon for the birthday boy's chair of honor for cake eating!

King George's Ducky Punch! Yummy!

Happy Family...sorta. Birthday boy wanted his cake already! LOL

Yummy! This year, he dug right into his cake. He even used his fork!

Pin the nose on Bob. RC actually nailed the nose in the right spot, but the prize went to one of his friends instead!

Coloring Veggie Tale sheets I downloaded from Veggie Tales website.

 
Present time. This year RC got the whole idea and tore into his gifts.

All in all it was a very successful 2nd birthday for RC. He had a lot of fun with his friends.

Happy Birthday RC!

Two years ago, RC came into our life. Our lives have been an adventure since. It's been amazing to see my little man grow and develop every day. It is hard to believe he is two sometimes with how he acts...then again there are those other days...you know the terrible two days to remind me!

RC's language has been exploding lately. He says a few simple sentences. His favorites are "I shee," I doo," and "Wuz dat?" My favorite thing he does is when he thinking he will go "hmm shee" while rubbing his chin. It is the cutest thing ever.

He runs...non stop...okay well when Veggie Tales is on he pretty much doesn't move...or blink. He loves animals...particularly birds. Not long ago we went out to feed the birds for the first time. He ran around the backyard holding a cracker calling the seagulls by saying "ha ha." It was adorable. Sadly (and thankfully) the seagulls wouldn't come eat from his hand!

Veggie Tales is his favorite show. We don't really let him watch other shows, but when he does watch a different show at a friends house, he has no interest in it. His only interest is for "uh uh" as he calls it.

Cheerios is by far his favorite snack. Especially right before bedtime. The boy is a bottomless pit already!

Ball and cars (riding style) are his favorite to play with but he also enjoys sitting down and looking at his books. That is usually what I find all over his floor in his room.

RC loves to change diapers on his stuffed animals. He loves helping with laundry, dishes, and sweeping. Come time for brother (SD) to be born, he will be a fantastic helper!

 

My little man really is just that...he isn't a baby anymore he really is a little man. When exactly that happened, I'm not sure. It's like he went from baby to little man over night!

Happy 18th X 2

This past week has been a week of celebration. Both KJ and Billy turned the big 18! KJ's birthday was on the 14th and Billy's today (19th). As we were getting closer to their birthdays I just couldn't decide what to do...celebrate both together, have a surprise party with their friends, or just make it a small family affair celebrating each separate. We opted for small family affair celebrating their birthdays separate on their special day.

Aside from deciding what to do for the party, gift ideas were a tough one. Had we been in Indiana still, it would have been easy to just do a Purdue or Colts shirt. Being in VA we don't have a team here we are fans of and ideas for birthday weren't something I was thinking of early enough to order online. So, I had to get slightly creative. KJ was a bit easier. Billy's was definitely creative and well...kinda funny. I'll have to make up for his at Christmas!!!

Each had dinner they requested (KJ pizza and Billy Chinese food), ice cream pie, and of course a few gifts.

Here are some pictures from their special days!

KJ was called out of his room for his dessert. I think he was surprised by it.

Yep...he's full of hot air. ;)

I asked for a picture of the two of them. This is right before. Can you guess what she is asking him?

KJ with his girlfriend Samantha

Present from RC. He wrapped up an itunes gift card in his owl sandwich bag.

A layered gift of loose popcorn (popped), bag of snickers, and a movie gift card.

Nike Elite socks for our basketball player. School colors too.

Billy enjoying his dinner he chose.

Chinese Hot and Sour Soup

Chinese Lemongrass Pork

RC and my dinner. After adding the fish sauce to the pork dish, I was a bit sick and the soup bothered me from the beginning of the cooking process. So thanks to being pregnant, I had chicken nuggets with RC instead!

He's full of hot air too!

RC chose hot chocolate and wrapped it in his sock monkey sandwich wrap. He sure is creative! ;)

Since he didn't give me ideas, I gave him a giant bottle of...

SOY SAUCE! He loves soy sauce...on his eggs, noodles, rice, etc. I think this should last him the rest of the year!

When asked what candy he likes he says "ones that are chewy and resilient." I've been trying to think for days what candy that might be. I think Twizzlers might fall into that category. Now he has 180 individually wrapped ones! And a movie gift card!

Due to lack of ideas, poor Billy ended up with a few gag gifts (I will have to come up with great ideas for Christmas!) The boys one day were discussing if they were an animal what they would be. Billy said he would be a Cola. We were confused at first and then realized he meant Koala. So for our "Cola" he now has...

after he gets off the floor from laughing so hard...

a "Cola" hat for the cold weather!

Billy gave hugs to everyone, even his big brother! LOL

"No mom, stop taking pictures!" Yep this is here for life to haunt you KJ!

Travis decided to eat his ice cream pie with his chopsticks. It worked well for him!

Richard enjoyed his piece of ice cream pie too...

he even put his whole face into it! Mostly because the fork just wasn't working out. LOL

All in all I would say both boys enjoyed their birthdays. Now onto thinking of what the heck to get them for Christmas!