James turns 2!

On to the real party!  James' birthday (the 28th) fell on a Thursday this year.  I had planned to have his party the Saturday before but had to postpone it to the Saturday after when the boys both came down with a terrible virus.  Steven had a 102 degree fever at the original start time for the party so it turned out to be a good decision even though we were disappointed it meant many of our family and friends couldn't make it.  A virus is not a good party favor.

Steven was mortified that James might not get a present on his actual birthday, so we let Steven give James the one from him: James' own classic Pooh stuffed animal.  James has been in love with Steven's and it was starting to cause problems.  

"You mean it's my very own Pooh"

my niece, Cadence

Steven and my niece, Saige

All three

My niece, Meadow

James' buddy from church, Jack

my nephew, Nick- he and James are only 10 days apart

Coloring and crafting

I asked Charlton to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar book to the kids before cutting the cake.  Surprisingly, they were all really into it...except for James.  He sat for about a minute and then ran off.

Can you spot James?  He's the one wielding the broom.

Steven and Nick were really into it.  

Singing Happy Birthday

James clapping at the end of the song

Cupcakes! Yay!

Licking off all the icing first

Unhappy that his hands are messy

Saying that Steven's going to be so jealous that James has a Star Wars beach towel

Opening a present from Mama and Papa- thank you!

This is what James likes to do his glasses now- he's such an old man.  I think this is a result of him seeing me do this with my sunglasses.

Trying to get a picture with the Brinks kids.  We carpool during the school year and go to church together so James sees them a lot.  They are some of his favorite people.

After the party and just before bedtime, I remember to get a picture with my parents.  I missed Mimi and Popo so be expecting one soon, Brenda.  =)  Thanks to both of you (grandmas) for all your help!

Happy birthday to my crazy, sweet James!  You fill our lives with so much joy!

A Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday

It's been two weeks since James' 2nd birthday party and I want to make good on my Facebook promise to post more pictures on my blog.  I love planning and giving parties especially ones to celebrate my kids' birthdays.  I do a lot of planning for them, so I thought I would do a separate post to share the details of this one.  

One of James' favorite books is Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  We've read it every night for months.  He likes to say a enthusiastic "pop" at the beginning of the book, and of course loves to repeat, "and he was still hungry."  Charlton and I have snickered to each other quite a few times that we think he likes that book so much because he loves food.  The "and he was still hungry" could easily apply to him.  He's not a big kid but he eats a lot!  We don't know where he puts it, but he eats almost as much as Steven (and Steven's been eating a lot lately too).  So, when I saw a few of these party decorating ideas, it was a done deal.

I came up with and made this invitation after seeing an idea on the Pottery Barn Kids website (who knew they had a party planning link?)  I used green card stock, glued on pom poms from Hobby Lobby, and let my more artistic husband draw the antennae and feet.  He used a yellow highlighter to give the leaf a little dimension.  Easy!

Also, got this idea from the PBK website.  I bought the green Chinese lanterns online and made the face out of felt, paper, and purple pipe cleaner.  The tablecloths are just green plastic ones you can get anywhere. All the polka dot supplies are from Party City.  I found wrapping paper at HL and laid it across the tablecloth as a runner (thanks for the idea Pinterest!).

The table cards were the only thing I didn't make- I cheated and bought a PDF file on Esty ($4).  Totally worth a few dollars to avoid all the frustration of a perfectionist trying to do it herself.  I printed them on card stock, glued them to a skewer, and glued a round piece of green card stock on the back to hide the skewer.  I tried to have as many of the food items from the book as possible- the only ones left out were cherry pie and ice cream (the kids and I are dairy free because of allergies).  

My mother-in-law made her yummy Texas chocolate sheet cake, and my mom made some GF, DF brownies for the kids and I to indulge in.  I bought the hat pre-made at Hobby Lobby and hot glued a felt 2 and his name to personalize. 

We grilled hot dogs for the party- I counted that as the sausages mentioned in the book.  The lollipops were the kids party favors to take home.

This is another idea from Pinterest- made out of card stock and stung together with red and white gingham ribbon. 

James is not into organized games and activities but I did want something for the older kids to do.  James did enjoy doing crafts with his age group at VBS so I thought a craft would be a good idea.  I spray painted egg cartons ahead of time so that they could decorate them at the party.  I also had coloring pages I copied from an Eric Carle coloring book my mom found at Kroger.  

Pinterest idea: cut a big piece of red card board (it was green on back) and used a sharpie to make an apple

GF and Vegan (recipe from Babycakes NY cookbook) caterpillar cupcakes.  I used a very small cake pan for the face- found at Hobby Lobby.

My husband always decorates the kids' cakes because he's so good at it.  I seriously think that if being a lawyer doesn't work out that he could make it as a cake decorator.  =)  He used yellow Laffy Taffy and green hard candy for the eyes, and broke a skittle for the nose.

It was a super fun party to plan.