Our Yo Gabba Gabba Birthday Party!!!



YAY!!! Here we go. Their THIRD Birthday! How oh how oh how are they three? I adore party planning. Freaking adore it. And I have this big problem of not spreading out any of it. I would rather get completely obsessed for about a week or so and make myself a crazy person. As much as I adored planning their first, I must sat this was was so much fun!! They love Yo Gabba Gabba so much and I love all the bright primary colors. The possibilites are endless. (plus, I think I can reuse some of this stuff down the road - maybe a circus/carnival party?)

If you want to check out previous parties, you can see their first birthday here (Elvis/50's theme) or their 2nd (Mickey/Minnie theme).

Jules wore a Tutti Dress and Josh a Brobee outfit.

Our crazy, fun family  (bad pic though)

I decorated all the pictures downstairs with Yo Gabba Gabba decorations. Hysterical



The stairs. DIY pennant flag

DIY stuff: putting sticker-faces on bags and my pennant banner. The stickers on the party hats and bags were honestly making me insane.

My DIY banner and balloons :)

The party favor table. DIY paper wheels, DIY boom boxes and candy bar. 

I did party favors for the first time this year. I had more kids for the first time this year too. So, I did a little color-coordinated candy bar that kids could grab some things and put them in to-go goodie bags. 

Also for party favors were DJ Lance boom boxes (animal crackers with printables taped on)



The food room! Other things I did is print off these cute graphics from a lovely Pinterest subscriber. I printed them off and framed them and put the up all around the house. (You can see the orange one on the table) They were all sayings from the show: "Party in My Tummy", "Please, Thank you", etc.

food: Biz's Brie of the Day and DJ "Lance-wiches". Its ok to laugh :)

"Plex Mix" - sweet chex mix, and "Muno's Pretzels": Pretzel rods covered dipped in red candy melts and candy eyes. Other food I did that I didn't get a pic of were "Foofas Fruit Platter", "Tootie's Marshmallow Pops", and Brobee's "Party in Tummy's" veggie trays. 

Cupcakes with DIY cupcake toppers

I designed these posters for the babes and had them propped up in the food room. They are mod-podged onto foam board.

Foofa and DJ Lance Rock. (Not sure how I got him to agree to this one) DIY iron-on shirts :)

DJ Lance with Jules

The top of the cake. Molded rice kirspy treats covered in icing and cut sugar sheets for the eyes.  

cake time!

Blowing out our candle!

The cake and cupcakes! I also DIYed the pennant banners hanging everywhere.

My fake cake and the inspiration to the right.

I did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm pretty freaking proud of this. I can't even believe I did this. My FIRST time ever working with fondant. So proud of myself, not gonna lie. It is, however, a fake cake. It's a styrofoam dummy cake and the top layer is real though :)

Party Guests! Hunter (the lone guy) is holding red solo cups with a Muno eye. I'm pretty ticked I didn't get a pic of these. They were dang cute. 

more guests :) Poor Jake's family had to cut out early due to his Grandfather taking a nasty spill (hes good now though thank goodness!)



The coloring table with pages printed from nickjr.com

 

The "kid room"

Aunt GiGi and Uncle Jason. She manned the "kid room" where the photobooth was and our Yo Gabba coloring table was.

Poor Josh. He was overwhelmed.



Gift time!!

I'll pause here to tell you I was also knee-deep in planning a baby shower for my sister-in-law (once I post those pictures you will see I did alot of the same things) However, I decided I absolutely would have a photo booth-thing set up. I thought it was so awesome and fun!!! So, here are some pics from that. I printed off the props and attached them via hot glue.

Hysterical Josh. 

Me, my mom, sisters and Jules. The Prater Girls. 

Seriously....SO. MUCH. FUN. J&J had an absolute BLAST. I would do it again. Or, maybe not. Next year might be at a party-bounce type place.

Sources:
Got to admit, alot was Pinterest-inspired, but..
Cake - DIY
Banner, party hats, cupcake toppers, gift bags, favors: DIY
printables for party hats, bags, and photobooth props: The Party Project

And what's a party without Happy Birthday Song?


 

Photobooks and Resolutions

It seems like I make the same resolutions every year. Or, at least I have the past few:

Be heathy/lose weight/exercise
Learn photography
Learn sewing
Be better with money

Last year's also included doing more with my husband. We need to still work on that one. I didn't mean dates or trips. I meant actually talking or doing enjoyable things after the kids go to bed and actually spend time together. What ends up happening is we sit in front of the TV or are on our phones/computers. Which brings me to:

Photobooks. I am incredibly sad tonight. I just spent the past hour going through pictures of year 1-2 for that years Photobook. What I saw just made me sad. Soooo many pictures, so many activities, soooo many expressions, giggles, soooo many pictures of me with the babies.

While yes, we do lots of those things now, I rarely use my camera much unless it's an event of some sort. Also? We don't do many activities at home where I am actually creating the activities and we do it together with 100% of my attention. So what has changed from then until now?

I got an iPhone. I got a mini handheld computer that is an extension of me. I am guilty I admit. I love, love it. And it's awfully convenient to take a quick video. But it's causing me to suck at mothering. It's causing me to suck at marriage.

Why is that? It does so many wonderful, wonderful things. But I've got to let it go. My kids deserve all of me. So does Jake. I love the wonderful pictures I took with my chunky DSLR. I love my iPhone pics too but it's not the same.

I admit it's harder now with them. I have two very active toddlers who exhaust me and frustrate me sometimes so it's easy to take an email break.

I need to disconnect and unplug, plain and simple. that's it. That's my big "resolution".

Who's with me????? Please tell me I'm not alone and it's easy to detox.

Besides, I miss this random shots.

Happy Birthday Josh and Jules!!!!!

Dear Josh and Jules,

This time, three years ago, we had known you for exactly two hours. You still did not have names yet, but were loved more than you could imagine. You each have grown to double your size and quadruple in personalities. You are both such well-behaved babies and use manners all the time. You both are so very, very smart. While we have our share of fits, I could not be more proud of the children you have become. You amaze me, humble me, teach me, and make me belly laugh on a daily basis. I prayed and prayed for you for so long, and I thank God every day that he gave me the honor of getting to be your Mommy. I love you with all my heart to the moon and back.

Love, Mommy