Cell Phone Dump

This months cell phone photos:

Our little "Rockstar"

 

Daddy's t-shirt for Mason's Superhero Birthday Party! 

Ugh - my usual morning commute :( 

Spikey & sassy 

Fell asleep holding the iPad & his hands stayed this way the entire ride home after I removed it :) 

This Bully LOVES his baby

Birthday selfie - my little guy is THREE!!!

Superheroes Unite

Today we celebrated Mason's birthday with all his little friends & it turned out to be such a fun party!

A few months ago I had asked Mason what kind of birthday party he wanted to have & without hesitation he said SUPERHEROES! So I started searching websites like Pinterest & Etsy early & the party planning began. Right after Christmas the invites went out:

Originally we were going to have his party outside of the home but after looking into places to have it the cost was SO expensive so we decided to do his party at our house & it worked out perfectly.

I had every intention to make this party small & simple but those who know me know that is not how HT rolls. I have this little problem where when I get an idea (or several) in my head, as much as I try to talk myself out of it my creative side usually wins out over my practical side. I always end up going overboard which may or may not have been the case in this situation. By the time I was done decorating it pretty much look like Pinterest threw up all over the house & I'm not going to lie - I absolutely loved how it all turned out!

The kids table - capes & masks ready to go!

 

Decorated fireplace & all Mason's gifts

 

 Favor bags for the littles

 

10 of Mason's little besties were invited & we were so excited that they all were able to make it. When the kids arrived, they each got a superhero mask & cape & they loved them:

 

 

Sadly I got too busy & didn't end up getting any pictures of the food :( I had a huge spread on the island consisting of Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets, fruit platter made in the shape of Captain America's shield, 7-layer dip with chips,  cheese tray with summer sausage & THOR hammers, PB&J sandwiches (cut in the shape of stars), Cheeze-Itz & green Hulk juice to drink for the littles.



Examples of food (& photos) courtesy of Pinterest

 

After all the littles ate it was time to play some games. First up was "Pin the Star" on the Captain America shield. I made the shield out of poster board, cut out white stars for the kiddos to pin on the shield & hung it on the front door:

 





After all the kids had a chance to pin the star on the shield we moved down to the basement. I had set up a Superhero obstacle course to "test agility, speed & accuracy" - qualities every Superhero must have!

 

The littles each took turns running through the obstacle course which consisted of a balance beam, a slide, a ride in the Cozy Coupe, jumping across the ottoman & oversized chair, through the tunnel & popping of a balloon with Hulk hands. They had SO much fun & kept wanting to run through the course.

Once the kiddos had their fun with the obstacle course it was time to hit the piñata. It was an Avengers piñata full of candy & I was surprised at how good those little's could hit!

I handed out little bags to collect all the candy in once the piñata broke & they were able to take it home with them once the party was over. They had a ball!

 

After the games ended we headed back upstairs to sing Happy Birthday & eat some cake. I was SO happy the way the cake/cupcakes turned out & they tasted even more amazing than they looked!

We all sang Happy Birthday to the birthday boy & he was SO excited to have everyone gathered around the table with him.



 

The adults all stuffed ourselves full of delicious cake while the littles ran around & played in Mason's room all together. Once I got the kitchen & dining room tidied up a bit we all gathered in the living room to open gifts. I was going to wait until everyone had left & open gifts with just family but Mason REALLY wanted to open his birthday presents & all his friends kept asking as well. SO I caved & learned later that I will never open gifts like that again.

It was absolute chaos with Mason trying to open gifts along with 10 of his little friends trying to open his gifts, see what he got, play with what he got. I had my sister-in-law Meghan trying to write down who gave what gift but it got SO loud & crazy up in there. I was impressed she even got half of the gifts written down.

After the gift opening the littles started to wind down & it was time for everyone to go. Mason said goodbye to all his friends & handed out the favor bags to each friend along with an official Superhero certificate.

Each favor bag had a fun straw, superhero fruit snacks, tattoo's, stickers, crayons & a little toy. Each kiddo was able to take home their cape & mask as well.



Uncle Steve & Aunt Meghan stayed for awhile after the party to visit & hang out with the birthday boy.



 

All in all I would say the Superhero birthday party was a success. Pretty sure Mase had SO much fun. I know his friends had fun & the adults had fun watching the littles have fun. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Mason's new presents, cleaning up & we may or may not have had round #2 of the birthday cake :)

Happy 3rd Birthday my sweet little man! Hope you had SO much fun with your friends :)

Birthday Party details:



 

Invites: My Happy Life Design's

Birthday t-shirt: Bugaboo's Closet

Capes/masks: Lollipop Lucy Costumes

Superhero banner: eltendendero 

Favor bag pictures: Kawaii Kids Design

Water bottle labels: Rainbow Sweet Studio

Table decorations & piñata: Party City

Cake/cupcakes: Gretchen's Gourmet Goodies 

THREE

Mason James - yesterday my sweet boy you turned THREE years old. How is this even possible? I feel like it was just yesterday I was writing your ONE & TWO year old letters & now today you turn yet another year older. So bittersweet.

Weight: At your 3 year doctors' appointment you passed the exam with flying colors. You weighed in at 35 lbs (up 6 lbs from last year) & measured 38.5 inches (3 inches taller since last year) - both in the upper 80th percentile. You are wearing a size 9 shoe & are wearing mostly 3T clothing right now. But seeing how much food you can eat at one sitting & how broad your chest is getting I have a feeling you will be in 4T shirts by this summer. Ugh - please stop growing so fast!

Eating: You LOVE to eat & rarely miss a meal. For breakfast your favorite is "Yucky Charms" or "Shaushage & Eggs". Pancakes are also a must-have on the weekend. For lunch you would eat Mac-n-Cheese everyday if we let you & for supper you want yogurt & cutie oranges at every meal. You are not a fan of vegetables unless it is corn. You also still will not eat hamburger - on a bun, in spaghetti or in a casserole. You love pizza & your favorite kind is sausage. You will eat chicken, fish, pork & hot dogs no problem but not red meat. Popcorn, apples & fruit gummies are your favorite snacks. You have a huge sweet-tooth (just like your Daddy) & would live off of suckers, Skittles & PEZ candy if we let you. You have your first trip to the Dentist next month so I am hoping we are doing a great job brushing & taking care of those baby teeth!

Sleeping: Sometime earlier this year you became an amazing little sleeper. We start the bedtime routine around 745pm with snack-time, bath-time, PJ's, story-time & in bed by 8:30pm. You fall asleep within 10 minutes (most nights) & wake up around 6:30am. That is 9-10 hours of uninterrupted sleep & it is amazing :) Unfortunately, you will not fall asleep in your own bed so every night you crawl into our bed & Mama moves you to your bed once you fall asleep. We will try working on this battle at a later time....maybe by your next birthday?!? You continued to have a paci up until now & a week before your birthday we quit cold-turkey. You were only using it to fall asleep at night & honestly taking it from you was pretty easy with no fuss. If I knew it was going to be this easy, I would have done it WAY sooner.

 

Milestones: We think you the smartest 3 year old ever but we are just a little bit biased ;) You can say your ABC's, recognize & point out certain letters, count to 20, you sing nursery rhymes, were fully potty-trained one month before your birthday,

There’s not much you don’t love doing - except going to sleep or taking naps & you will NEVER admit when you’re tired.

You LOVE to play outside whether it be at the park, riding your scooter or bike, playing catch, swinging the bat - anything as long as we are playing together. You love playing hide & seek in the house, playing "tackle" or Superheroes with Daddy, putting together Lego's, playing board games, painting, doing puzzles & watching Paw Patrol, Blaze or PJ Masks on the iPad. You are out in the garage "working" on Daddy's motorcycle with him any chance you can. Your best friend is Greyson & you talk about him ALL. THE. TIME! You love spending time with him whether it be at daycare, at his house or swimming at the pool.

A few months ago I was watching you as you played on the floor with your cars & it just hit me how independent you’ve become. You don’t need me for everything anymore & that’s been a hard realization for your Mama. I thought parenting would get easier the older you get & it has in many ways, but sometimes I miss the days when you couldn’t do anything without me. You at least will still say "hold you Mama" to me & I of course I will drop everything I am doing, pick you up & hold you - just because you asked me to.

Seeing you grow into this well-mannered, tender-hearted, kind little person, loving your daycare & your teachers, making friends on your own, developing your own relationships & your own identity, hearing your amazing laugh, seeing your great imagination & ambition to try & do everything yourself....I absolutely love the little person you’ve become & look SO forward to watching you grow this year!

 





After you turned two I secretly prayed that God would bless us all with another baby just like you & how I would love to be able to do this all over again. Being your Mama is the most amazing job in the whole wide world. We still would love to give you a sibling but sometimes life doesn't always happen the way you wanted it to. So even if it’s just the three of us I know we’ll be okay. You have already made me the happiest & most fulfilled Mama in the world & I know for a fact that your Daddy feels the same way!

Happy 3rd Birthday sweet boy! We love you oh so very much....

Birthday #3

Today my baby turns 3 years old! Another year has sped by & my little is now another year older. I SO wish time would slow the heck down. I was told by many but I was not prepared with just how fast this would go.

Daddy was unfortunately traveling for work but was going to be back by the time Mase got home from daycare so we sent Daddy a birthday morning selfie :)

When we got to daycare, I took Mase to his room to hang up his coat & we saw that his teacher had decorated his cubby! He also had all the little's in Toddler 1 & 2 as well as the teachers sign Mason's birthday card with their fingerprints & even had a balloon just for him.

He was SO excited to be celebrating his birthday with all his friends! I kind of wished I was staying there at daycare to celebrate his day with him!

After nap-time they all got to enjoy the cupcakes Mama had brought from Gigi's Cupcakes - which his teachers said were SO yummy! When I picked him up from daycare he said he had the best day! It warms my heart to know that his teachers made it so special for him since Daddy & I couldn't be there.

On our way home we picked up a pizza (his meal of choice) & after we all ate Mase had a bunch of presents to open from family & friends.

 



 

He enjoyed all his gifts & spent the rest of the evening playing with all of them. We are looking SO forward to his birthday party with his friends this upcoming weekend! Going to be so much fun!!

Stitch Fix #4

Stitch Fix #4 came today :) I LOVE getting home & finding my SF box has arrived a couple of days early! I am really enjoying this monthly SF delivery - I just wish I loved more of the items that are delivered!

In this Fix I had asked my stylist to send cute clothes I could wear to an upcoming trip to Florida in February. When I opened the box the items looked promising....

But sadly I was a disappointed with the items in my box :(

There are 3 things I am not a fan of: pastels, sleeveless tops & shorts. Well unfortunately I got all three in my box this month & kicked myself for not letting my stylist know about my dislikes.



In this box was a cute lightweight denim jacket, a pair of printed cuffed shorts, a sleeveless pastel colored Henley knit top, a pastel 3/4 sleeve knit top & another pair of black skinny jeans (ugh - that makes 2 pairs in the last 2 Fixes)!



After I tried everything on I decided that I hated the pastel, sleeveless knit top (ick), I already have a pair of black skinny jeans, the shorts were a cute print but not cute on me, the peach colored top was too big & peach is NOT my color & the denim jacket was cute & the one item that I would get a lot of wear out of so I decided to keep the jacket.

So sadly Fix #3 was a 1/5.

Hoping next months delivery contains a few more keepers!

Bubba's Birthday

11 years ago we brought this cute little boy home & made him part of our family. He has given us 11 years of unconditional love, slobber, kisses, shedding hair & gas but I wouldn't trade one second of it.

Sadly he has really aged this past year. He has arthritis, has lost a lot of weight, has gotten a lot slower & he sleeps a lot so I know our time with him is limited. But until then, we are going to continue to love on this hunk, smooch those flaps & make his time left here on earth the best ever!

Happy Birthday to our Bubba!!!

A face only a Mama could love :)

MNO

MNO = Mama's Night Out

After I got home from the KU game with the hubby, I showered & got ready for my night out with my Mommy friends. We all met at Sullivan's for cocktails & appetizers & spent almost 3 hours in the bar area at a table in the corner talking, laughing, telling funny kid stories & of course hubby stories as well!

Cheers - me & Dana

I just love hanging out with these girls & learn something new about them every time we are all together! All our kiddos go to daycare together & I just love how they are going to all grow up together, attend school together & hopefully be the best of friends forever.

Kristi & Sara

Sara & Dana

 

After we got our fair share of dancing & cocktails it was time to head home. 6:30am is always "wake up call" at our house with a 3 year old so there is never any sleeping-in for this Mama! As usual it was another fun night out with these Mama's! Already looking forward to our next outing!