Case's 4th Birthday Party!

Well Sunday was the day Case has been waiting for! He has been talking about wanting a Dalmatian Birthday Party ever since Sadie's birthday. He saw me researching puppy parties for her and saw a picture of a Dalmatian party and hasn't stopped talking about it since. I thought a Dalmatian party would be easy enough, assuming I could find at least a FEW dalmatian themed party things at walmart, target or somewhere. Or in the very least some black and white polka dot things... but I was wrong. There was not much out there, so I had to be pretty creative with this party. Which is not my strong suit! I always say I can copy people pretty well, but coming up with my own ideas does not exactly come easily! So the bummer is, I was actually pretty creative and didn't really get any pictures of it! But at least I got some pictures of the things Case helped me with!
He loved helping me with the cupcakes and the cookies, and it was nice that he really understood we were making these for him and his friends to have at his party. We made the cookies a couple days in advance and I thought he might bug me constantly to eat them, but anytime he saw them he said, 'these are for my friends at my party'.

 

In the background of the cookie picture, you can kind of see the puppy chow we made and put in a doggie bowl (thank you dollar store!).

So when all the kids arrived, if they were up for it, we used face paint to put a "spot" around their eye and drew them a litte nose and spots on their cheeks. We also gave Case his present from us - Lucky the Dalmatian.

We then lined all the kids up (can't you see how well 3 and 4 year olds stand in a line!) to play a little game.

 

We had them hold a doggie treat in their hand and crawl like a puppy across the lawn to put the treat in a doggie bowl and then race back. A lot of the kids Sadie's age just ran, but some of the kids got it!

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 All the kids got a little treat (black and white jelly beans) for participating in the game, here's Sadie enjoying hers!

 Then we opened presents and had some hot dogs and other food for dinner, played for a bit and then it was time for the cupcakes and to sing happy birthday to Case! For some reason, he thought he needed to close his eyes like it was a surprise. I love these next set of pictures...

 

 

 

We had a great time celebrating with all of our friends who came! And it was fun to have Case really relish in being the birthday boy!

 

A couple things about our 4 year old...

When he grows up he wants to be a... Firefighter (and own a dalmatian)

Favorite Food... pb & j

Favorite color... orange

Favorite toy... woody

Favorite sport... football

Favorite book... Going on a Bear hunt

Favorite Song... Jesus Loves Me

 



 



It's a...

 

Case could not be more excited that the baby is a boy! He was positive from the beginning that it was a boy, so it was fun to tell him last night that he was right. And Sadie is so cute saying, "Baby brotter". The kids came to the ultrasound with us and Case especially loved seeing the baby, he said his favorite part was hearing the heartbeat. It was so hard to keep from laughing the whole time because Case said at one point that it looked like a turtle and another time that it looked like a cow! Sadie just kept saying the whole time, "Oh wooooow... oooooooh" over and over again. It's funny how I don't even think she knew what was going on but figured out the right things to say! She was also very concerned about me, I guess because I was laying on the table. She kept asking me if I was ok.

 

I love the ultrasound, it really helps everything to seem real. I am not even quite 17 weeks so it was incredible how much the baby already looked like a baby even though he is only 6 ounces! So tiny and so cute! The tech even switched it to 3D for us so then we could really see him with his hands by his face and moving all around. God is so good! We couldn't be more excited! Now the real name game begins... I think we have it narrowed down to three different names!

Too cute not to have her own post!

 

I tried to pick a few pictures of Sadie from Case's party to add to the last post, but she was in rare form that night and was hitting a ton of adoreable poses:) Not to mention my sister was the one taking the pictures and she always gets great shots, so I just couldn't help but let Sadie have her own posts. I'm not super great at updating the blog, so I figured there's nothing wrong with a whole bunch of pictures of her from one day! Plus, it's probably mostly family that still checks this blog and I know they can't get enough of her... so here they come!

 

I love this one below of the two kids together, Sadie just loves Case so much!

 

Below, she is a little bummed that none of the presents are for her!

 

Early Birthday Party

In August, we got to take a vacation up to MN. It was great to escape the heat here in KS for a little bit and spend time with family and friends. We got to do a lot of fun things, the state fair, Hannah's cabin, boat rides, hanging out at my parents house, being with cousins, visit friends from our old church, etc! Maybe (hey, I'm saying MAYBE) I'll get around to blogging about that, but I had to get some of these pictures up. Since we were up in MN, we thought we'd do a little early "spiderman" birthday party for Case with our family. Everyone from my family and Matt's family was able to be there! We had a BEAUTIFUL day together at a park where we sat in the shade and visited while the kids played on the playground.

 

Here are all the cousins "hiding" together!


Then we told Case it was time to open presents! He was so excited!

He got some great presents he was very excited about, some spiderman figurines, a batman with a cape, nerf guns, this baseball T and bumblebee mask!

And then it was time to get one more gift! A friend of ours called a while back and said she found this at about 80% off because it had been on display at the store, so my parents and matt's parents and Matt and I went in together to get this gift...



As the pictures show, he was pretty excited about this gift and has since gotten TONS of use out of it! The kids had a blast taking turns driving around the path at the park and chasing each other!



 

 

We grilled in the park and enjoyed some cupcakes, but mostly just loved the opportunity to be together with our families, it was great!

Getting Ready for the Olympics!!

Day out with Thomas

On Sadie's actual birthday we got to go as a family to a "Day out with Thomas" event. It was a fun event held in a small town just a little drive away. As with all events, the bus ride from the parking lot was possibly the highlight of the day for the kids!

 

It was incredibly hot that day but it didn't stop the kids from having a blast. First they got tattoos which they both loved!










And Sadie enjoyed watching a little magic show while Case jumped in a bounce house. I love her curly hair in this picture!

 

The event had a bunch of Thomas train tables set up that the kids got to play with, unfortunately it was in a tent that was SO hot. Matt and I were melting, but the kids loved it and almost didn't want to leave even when it was time to ride the "real" Thomas train.

Here's the best picture I got of the kids in front of the train.

And then it was time to ride! The kids were so excited!

And they loved looking out the window during the train ride. 

 

The best part was just creating fun memories as a family!

Sadie's 2nd Birthday Party!

Our sweet Sadie Belle turned 2 on June 3rd! We had a great time celebrating her birthday with a couple friends from church! It was hard for me to figure out a theme for Sadie's party. My "requirements" for a birthday party is that it's something they are really into (not just something I'm into or think I can make cute), something I can do on a budget and something that will be fun! Matt helped me come up with the thing Sadie is most in love with right now...Horses! So we did a little horse themed 2nd birthday party! Here's our little cowgirl!

Since she is only 2 it was kind of hard for me to come up with some games or activities that she could really participate in, but we ended up finding out that we could borrow a moon bounce (or bounce house, whatever you call it) for her party! It was perfect! The kids loved jumping around and it kept them entertained enough that us parents actually had the chance to sit and visit - not something I was really expecting at a two year old birthday party.

The one little game we played was pin the tail on the donkey. I think only two of the kids actually wore a blindfold but somehow we still ended up with a lot of tails no where near where a tail should actually go. But the kids had fun and Sadie REALLY loved it! After the other kids moved onto something else she continued to play with it and kept movng all the tails around.

 

I tried fondant frosting for the first time and I thought it was only okay. I probably won't use it again, but now I at least know what it's like. Here's the cake (one of the little ones got their finger in the frosting as I was carrying the cake out!). I also make some cupcakes which came out much better than the cake!

  

 

It was fun pulling a few things from our house to decorate, we got to use our cowboy boots and the adorable rocking horse that Ryan and Kari got Sadie for her birthday.

After everyone headed home, the kids took a much needed bath from a hot and humid day. And then they snuggled in together to watch a little movie in Case's room. It was so cute to see them together on their little pillow pets and there was something about it that just made Sadie seem so old!