Pirate Captain Blaiden's Birthday Party

Planning Blaiden's birthday party this year was so much fun.  He has an opinion about everything and so when I asked him what theme he wanted for his party he said he wanted a "treasure party" which I translated into a pirate party!  I decided to buy some decorations and I am so happy I did because it made it look good without me having to try really hard.  Since I could focus my efforts on other things I made the food all pirate themed.  It was so fun!

The days leading up to the party are always stressful trying to get everything in order but with my parents in town it made it a little easier.  The morning of the party we just had to get the food ready and I was actually ready on time, unlike Adilene's party.

It wasn't the best weekend to have the party.  Both kids were running a fever that week and I was worried that I might have to cancel the party.  Luckily for us they were both feeling better by the weekend.  A few of the other families were also sick and so the turnout wasn't the best but I don't think Blaiden noticed and I think he still had a great time. 

The kids getting some ink at the "tattoo parlor"

For dessert Blaiden said he wanted brownies, marshmallows, and ice cream.  So I made a brownie recipe I had and Blaiden loved it! We let all the kids blow the candles out and I think they all had a good time.  Then it was onto the gifts.  Blaiden was spoiled of coarse and loved everything he got.

And just like that the party was over and it was time for people to go home.  It really was a great day!  As a bonus when Blaiden got up from his nap he had a few more gifts that had come in the mail.

 Adilene had a good time too!

2015 Goals

Last year I wrote out a few goals that I really wanted to accomplish and I think I did pretty good.  I thought I would do it again this year just so I had something in writing and could hold myself accountable. 

2015 Goals

1) Make a new decoration for every holiday this year.  I plan on using a 4x4 post to do a craft. Since it is already a day past Valentine's Day I can say I am already behind.  I plan on getting back on track for St. Patrick's Day. 

2) Run another 1/2 marathon.  This one is already in motion.  I have signed up for one the end of April right here in our town and have started training!  My goal is under 2 hours!

3) Call an extended family member every week.  Living far away from our family is hard but I want to have a relationship with them and so I am going to try and build on those relationships throughout the year. 

4) Get the attic organized and the guest room put together. 

I think this is a pretty good set of goals for the new year!

Mobile Snapshots #2

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

We never really got into the whole Frozen thing until right around Christmas time.  We had a free movie weekend on TV and it was one of the movies playing.  We have watched it a few times and Blaiden is not obsessed with it like I know some kids are but he really wanted to build a snowman.  We didn't get any snow until January and so he had to wait a few weeks but then we got to go out and play in the snow.  Adilene took a early morning nap around 8:30 one morning but I told Blaiden that this is the only time we could go out and play.  It was a little cold but he had a blast!  We had to make sure our snowman had arms gloves and a face.  He was so proud of it in the end, it was so cute.  Since then we have made another snowman along with playing in the snow quite a few more times.  The snow has not melted yet and so we go out and play any time we can, between the cold weather and Adilene's nap times it is definitely not as often as he would like. 

 We had to come in and drink some hot chocolate because we were so cold.  Blaiden loved this!

Christmas

I will start a few nights before Christmas.  One of the activities that was on the advent calender was to go and see Christmas lights.  We got the kids in their pajamas and set out to find some good lights.  We had done a little research and knew of a few spots that had really good light shows with music so that is where we headed.  Blaiden loved this!  We went to 2 new ones this year and I am sure we will go again next year because they were so good.

Christmas eve was a pretty relaxing day.  We made sure to try and explain what was happening that night to Blaiden and I think he was pretty excited by bed time.  We got to open up our new pajamas, set out a plate of cookies and milk for Santa, carrots for the reindeer, and even sprinkled some glittery reindeer food out on the front lawn so they could find our house. 

 The night went pretty well.  Santa didn't have a ton of work to do and the kids slept all night so we all got some sleep and waited for the excitement to start in the morning. 

Blaiden woke up around 7 and wasn't to happy about it.  Fred and I both when into his room and he was crying I took a video thinking it would be so cute to see him walk out to all the presents but he was very unhappy for the first few minutes.  This woke up Adilene so once everyone was happy I fed Adilene and we told Blaiden he could open his stocking.  This turned into him opening all of our stockings.  When Adilene was done it was time to move on to the presents under the tree.

This Christmas was my favorite one so far.  We all just  sat around the tree and opened gifts for almost 2 hours.  Adilene was loving all the paper and Blaiden would play with everything he opened before he would move on to the next thing.  The kids were spoiled with all the gifts they received and loved all the new things they could play with.

 The rest of the day was pretty relaxing, we just got to play with all our new stuff.  I made a ham for dinner and bread with my new bread machine.  We did miss our family but I do have to say it is so nice not having to worry about getting to different places and we can just relax and stay home all day.

Everyday Blaiden kept asking if Santa was coming again.  I was ready to take down the tree because the kids would not stay away from it so 2 days after Christmas it came down along with all the decorations.  A few gifts came in the mail and so we had another night of opening gifts. 

This entire holiday season was wonderful!  It truly is so much more fun when you have children.