Aiden's 5th Birthday Party

Aiden turned 5! Back in October... ;) Every year we have a theme, and last year right after his Toy Story party was over (I'm talking later that night) he told me he wanted a Monster Truck party in California. At that time we were telling him that his next birthday was going to be in California to help him prepare for the changes that were coming. And that's all he talked about, was his Monster Truck party in California. Oy. How do I pull this one off? Well, I think we did a pretty good job. Thankfully we had our families coming out to celebrate with us, which meant HELP was coming! Thank goodness because my ideas were bigger than I could produce on my own, and so the Grandmas and Grandpas did a lot to help me with the plan and attack.

Kiki painted this poster for us to hang outside to welcome our guests.

We had some yummy themed food. The kids had Chicken Tires (chicken rings) and grilled tires (hamburgers, I meant to cut a circle out of each one, but by the time they were done, I figured the adults really didn't care if their burger had a hole in it or not). I also made gluten free tail pipe pasta (elbow pasta salad), and a 7 layer chip dip that looked like a monster truck field.

Uncle Danno was also able to make the trip out.

We had lots of games and activities planned for the kids.

Papa was the official picture/video guy for the party.

We had all the kids made license plates with their names on them.

And played pin the license plate on the Monster Truck with them.

We attempted to play pass the monster truck (like hot potato) but the kids didn't want to "pass" the truck and wanted to play with them. When you were "out" you got to keep the truck, so that gave them even more incentive not to pass it, so we just gave up on that game and passed out all their trucks.

Which worked out well because then they could use them on the ramp that Micah and the Grandpas made.

This was definitely the hit of the party. All the kids had such a good time racing their trucks down the ramp.

I made 2 cakes because I couldn't decide which one I wanted to do more, and so I made this cake a gluten free cake for Kiki and our friend Kali.

My friend Marissa sent a picture of this cake to me, and I had to try and make it. I think it turned out ok :)

Singing Happy Birthday to Aiden!

I remember it being so windy we could hardly keep the candles lit long enough for him to blow them out. I'm sure his wish will still come true.

Presents!

Grammy taking a breather. It was long but very fun day, and the grandparents really worked hard to help me put this party together. We couldn't have done it without them!
We're just sad that Grandpa (Micah's dad) got really sick and ended up spending the whole party in bed at the hotel. Kiki came to the party and helped out a ton, but needed to go back and check on Larry and see how he was feeling. Thankfully he was much better the next day and got to enjoy the rest of the weekend with us.

We have this fountain in the picnic area, and I guess the Devinator thought it would be fun to take the monster trucks and see if they could swim. Well, they cant. So I tried to fish out what I could with my toes. I think I found 4-5 trucks down there...That was deep water! It went just past my knee.

We were so happy to have a lot of the residents come to party with us, and this is his class. It cracks me up every time I see Micah with the guys...he's so short!

What a cool poster Grammy made for our game. I wouldn't have been able to pull that off myself. Thanks Grammy!

At the end of the day it was a great party. Devin was all tuckered out, as I think the rest of us were as well. Thanks for everyone who came out to celebrate with us! I know this is a party Aiden will remember for quite some time :)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I know it's high time I got my act together and started posting again. I've been so bad that I haven't hardly looked at any of my friends' blogs either! But I think I'm ready to get going on this, and figured I'd start with today and then back track to October's posts.
So we had a Leprechaun come visit our condo overnight! That sneaky little guy, did a lot of silly things. And we were warned and asked to build a trap and bring it to school yesterday. Too bad his trap was at school because we could have used it here ;)
That tricky Leprechaun put stickers on the boys' foreheads, and took pictures of them! Good thing too, because it seems those stickers didn't last through the night. The only reason we knew he did it was because we saw my camera he left out and we took a peak at what was on the memory card. Here is what he did.

Who sleeps like that?? lol

There were stickers on the TV and some of the door knobs.

He turned our toilet water green!

And wrote taunting messages and pictures on our mirrors.

And that sneaky guy also magically turned the boys' milk green in the morning. I started pouring the milk from the jug and it turned green in the cup! They got a kick out of it. Aiden started questioning me and asking if I did all of this, and I told him no way. Would Mommy really put stickers on the TV and door knobs? I don't allow stickers anywhere but on paper or people. He agreed, and then got a worried look on his face and said, "Let's just pretend you did this Mommy". I think he was a little nervous thinking about a strange little man running around his house. Funny he didn't get nervous when Santa came to visit. He quickly got over his unease and was so eager to tell all his friends and teachers about what happened at our house.

Here is the trap Aiden built with Micah. He was just so excited to shop for the supplies and just couldn't wait to build it. He had to wait a few days until Micah was available to help and the suspense was just killing the boy!

We got to bring it back home today...the Leprechaun visited his classroom too, but unfortunately none of the traps caught him.

Aiden, and his love of monster trucks, really needed to have one in his trap. So we attached the "pot of gold" to the truck, and placed the pot on top of the string. When the Monster Truck saw the Leprechaun approach he was to drive off with the gold, releasing the string which brought down the cup to catch the Leprechaun (watch the video at the end).

Ye not going to catch me gold!

If only it were real...

But the Leprechaun did leave gold coins in all the traps at school...so he was allusive, but generous. Unfortunately, not real though :(

Here's the video of how the trap works. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Sad Day...

I know I have a ton (and I'm not exaggerating) of catching up to do here on the blog, but I figured if I didn't put this one up today, it wouldn't make too much sense later. I'm sad today because our beloved team, the Bears, lost the NFC championship game to their longest rivals, the Green Bay Packers. All week, going into this game we knew that this was bigger than the Super Bowl, and so therefore we treated it like it was the Super Bowl. The boys have watched all the games with us, and have been just as excited as we have been (more so in some cases!) when the Bears would win. And last week was no exception when they beat Seattle to advance to the NFC Championship game.

The sign posted says "Next week is for all the Cheese" with the "C" shaped like the Chicago C. We already knew we'd be playing against the Cheese Headed Packers.

I painted my toes to show my pride, and have worn Bears attire all week long, including switching over to my Bears watch.

Devin had begged me all week to do his toes too. As tempted as I was to fulfill his eager wish, I hesitated because I didn't know how Micah would really feel about it. He acted fairly indifferent over the phone (he was away most of the week for Fellowship interviews) but I didn't want him to be angry when he got home. Even though I had many many supporters of the idea (as well as some who were against it) his opinion was the only one that really counted. Before Micah got on the plane to come home yesterday, he texted me on his own to say that he really didn't care if I did, and if Devin wanted it, to go ahead. Unfortunately for Devin, I got that text a little too late, and was already too preoccupied planning our party for the game the next day.
However, the boys still got to show their pride all week by wearing their own gear and helping me hang the Bears flag we got the last time they won the NFC Championship back in 2006.

(I took these pics with my cell phone)

With the anticipation all week, we were really looking forward to having some friends over to watch the game with us. We were planning on having a simple brunch for food since the game was going to start soon after we would get out of church. But I started getting ideas, and I have a very hard time holding back when I get ideas in my head. I probably bit off more than I could chew since I wouldn't have much time after church and before people started to show up, but I tried to do as much as I could the night before. Unfortunately I had to leave some details out, but the overall outcome was cute nonetheless.
We prayed at church, and then again before the game...Our father who Art in Chicago, Football be thy game. Let Forte run, 1 Super Bowl won , on earth as it is in Soldier Field. Give us Sunday a playoff victory, and forgive of our penalties , as we defeat those Packers who play against us, lead us not in elimination, but deliver us to Dallas! In the name of the fans, the City of Chicago and the good Bears name, Amen....Go BEARS!
Unfortunately it wasn't in the cards for us this year. Again. But we remain faithful fans, and will stick by our team no matter the outcome. I'm just sad because I now know that if only I had went with my gut and painted Devin's toes like he begged me to almost every day, I'm sure it would have made the difference and we'd be celebrating a victory today rather than hanging our heads in defeat. There's always next year...

Yes, that would be a flying blimp (summer sausage shaped like a football) above the stadium of food :)

This is a homemade giant cookie frosted with Teddy Grahams as players. Their helmets are made from fondant. I was going to roll some small pretzel rods in the fondant and try to cement them together with icing to form goal posts for the end zones, but I just didn't have the time.

And I was going to use carrot sticks for goal posts here as well with black olives in "x's and o's" for the players, but again ran out of time. Boneless Buffalo wings, mini egg rolls, and mini corn dogs built the parameter of the stadium (stuck together with tooth picks).

Marrissa brought over the most delicious fruit that I forgot to put on the table for the picture. I still made my cinnamon rolls and mimosas from the original brunch idea. It was an enjoyable afternoon with our friends, and this was our Super Bowl-just wish we would have won :(

Go Bears!
and now...Go Steelers! haha