12M ~ September 2020

Our friends hosted a Kentucky Derby party so we all got dressed up, drank mint juleps and placed bets on the race!

Derby ready! 🐎🐴🥃

I was the winner because it was my birthday yesterday!

12M ~ Feburary 2020

Adam is judging the Superbowl half time show. I don't think he is impressed! 😂

Happy Birthday Maddox!  I love that we can party with you while we all watch football!

The Boys Minecraft Birthday Bash!

Each year we have a mild theme to our day!  This year it was minecraft!  This was our FIFTH year hosting this extravaganza and each year it becomes easier!  The menu doesn't change so that helps!  The only wrench in the plan was the pool project!  By the skin of my teeth it was ready for use the day before!  We didn't have any landscaping done, there was no official fence around the perimeter, but people could swim and that was more than I would have though earlier in the week!

Keep Calm and Minecraft On!

In lieu of the party favors and pinata - this year we set up a tye dye table!  Each kid went home with a cool shirt!

Clear water, temporary fence and lots of dirt all around!  But we could swim!

I had this great plan in my head to make this a really cook minecraft looking cake, but time got away from me and I was just happy it was made!  

Happy 5th, 7th & 9th Birthday!

Because the Monday before the party we still didn't even have pool decking...the uncertainty of the timeline for the pool being finished...we still rented the inflatable water slide just in case it didn't end up working out with the pool!

The back up plan!

We always try to get into the theme with custom tees too!

The boys friends always pick out some really nice gifts!  We have been so lucky to have such a great village here!

New Pool toys!!!!

It was such a busy week leading up to this party with all the pool stuff, but I think we managed to pull off another successful celebration for the boys!  Good food, great friends and lots of laughing and fun!

The Everything is AWESOME Boys Birthday Bash!

Today was the annual birthday extravaganza!  It's a day filled with lots of family, lots of friends, laughing, craziness and fun!  This year the theme was LEGOS; specifically the lego movie and like the famous song from the movie, everything really was awesome!

Lego Movie Tees!

We are ready to party!

I usually like to come up with quirky names for the food based on the birthday theme, like lasts years Hulkdogs and Thorburgers.  This years "Everything is Awesome" theme; made the naming of the food easy.  We had Awesome Hamburgers, Awesome Hot dogs, Awesome Chicken Wings, Awesome Pulled Pork, Awesome Potato Salad, Awesome Sweet and Sour Kielbasa...you get the idea!

The food!

Everything is Awesome, even the food!

I'm creative when it comes to food, but I don't typically bother with birthday games; instead we rent a giant inflatable water slide!  It's fun for the kids and I don't have to come up with games and entertainment!  The best part is the company comes and sets it up and takes it down at the end of the day.  Money well spent!

The "Awesome" inflatable water slide!

But I'm not completely against birthday stuff.  I do enjoy a good pinata!  This years theme though, surprisingly didn't lend itself to purchasing a pinata as I have done in the past.  So it was Pinterest to the rescue!  I found some tutorials on how to put together a lego piece using some Amazon boxes.  A lot of peoples sweat and tears went into this project, so thanks to those who helped me!

The Lego Pinata that took 5 people to get 100% ready!

The craziness after the pinata is opened!

Even Mom and Dad get into the theme!

My homemade lego ice cream cake.  It never looks pretty, but it's so yummy and I enjoy making them!  We'll pretend the candy legos I spent an entire afternoon making didn't all fall off the side because the cool whip was too soft!

It's also been a tradition to set off fireworks at the end of the night.  It's not usually dark enough, but the kids still enjoy the show.  Especially the sparklers!

We got some good ones this year!

It's always a long but super fun day and we really do have the best family and the best friends!  Thanks to everyone who made our boys day extra special!

Happy New Year!

This is our third annual New Years-A-Palooza, and this year we added two munchkins (Owen and Isabella!) to the mix of children.  So if you want to do the math, it's 3 couples, 10 kids ages 8 years to almost 4 months old, NINE boys and (finally!) ONE girl!

The Gang ~ 2013

We decided that it was best to get the pictures out of the way first thing to try and eliminate any whining.  It also helps to bribe them with dessert and sparklers for good behavior.  Ha!

The goal was to get a picture of all three together and have smiles all around.  Challenge Accepted!

The Momma's

We decided to make things easier this year and instead of making a big meal we put out lots of have munchies and I made dough for homemade pizzas.

For some reason the kids always get the dinning room!  Homemade cheese pizza and Shirley Temples!

We ring in the New Year early with the kids by setting off fireworks and letting them swirl sparklers.  

Ready for the show!

Pretty!

Waiting to light the sparklers!

A little night time sledding for the older boys!

Cheese!

Sparklers!

After the fireworks show, it was time for the kiddos to go to sleep, after all the fun, they all surprising went to sleep without issues.  Evan gave us the most trouble, but we only had to go up twice before he got the message that it was lights out!  Once the kids were asleep it was time for some grown up fun - drinks and board games!  We rang in the new year with a champagne toast and then it was time for all of us to hit the hay, because even though we were up late, the children would be up early!

2013 was a great year but we are ready for what 2014 has in store for us!