Visit to Iowa August 2013

At the beginning of August, Eric, the boys and I spent a week in Iowa visiting family.  We couldn't have asked for better weather either. I don't think it got above 85 degrees! We had lots of fun at Aunt Amy's house- especially terrorizing Banjo, her cat, and playing in her huge yard!

We went to the Iowa State Fair and got to see lots of pigs, cows and other farm animals. Caiden got to work in the Little Hands on the Farm section.

And of course, we had to see the famous butter cow.

then we left Des Moines and went to Gilmore City to visit Eric's grandparents. The boys loved picking vegetables in the garden. And Caiden wanted to learn how to climb their big tree.

Other days we spent with Grandpa Doug and Grandma LeAnn.  They took us fishing. Caleb wasn't so sure about the life jacket, but I was sure he'd try to jump in the water!

Another day they took us to a lake for a boat ride, some swimming and playing in the sand.

The boys had so much fun spending about 90% of the day outside.

We were spoiled all week with great food. Fair food, Adam's grilled steaks, Marv & Georgia's huge lunches, and Doug & LeAnn's yummy meals. I enjoyed not havign to cook for a whole week!  And we even conviced Caiden to try some new things- like the sweet corn that he picked himself.

Visit to KC July 2013

Sorry for the absence and then onslaught of posts!  It's been busy around here, but I thought I'd better get caught up before we take another trip! 

In the middle of July, the boys and I made a trip up to KC for visit family and friends.  We had lots of fun, but of course didn't have time to see everyone!

Since we are so lucky with weather it was nice and WARM up there. Ironically it was one of the coolest/rainiest weeks in DFW while we were gone. They boys enjoyed playing in the water in Nana & Papa's back yard. They were so sure about the slip-n-slide, but loved playing with the water!

 

On Sunday we went to visit my dad's side of the family. We don't get to see my grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins much so it was nice to see them and catch up with what's going on in their lives. I didn't take many pictures because the boys were a little tired and clingy. My dad brought a cake to celebrate the boys' birthdays so of course Caiden was ecstatic!

 

Here's my sweet grandma.... and the big knucklehead that wouldn't look at the camera!

We loved visiting DeAnna Rose Farmstead while we were there. And as you saw from a previous post, my boys love a farm! They enjoyed spending the day with Nana and their cousins too!

Another day, we went to the mall to make a bear at Build-a-Bear and rode the grand carusel!

I also met up with a friend of mine from college and we went to Wonderscope Children's Museum. It was a really neat museum set up in an old elementary school building. Each of the former classrooms was transformed into a different themed room. After the museum, we had lunch at Fritz' (the train resaurant) where the train brings your food.

My camera battery died after this day and I forgot to bring my charger so I didn't get many more pictures.  We had a fun day at the zoo with my dad so he should be sharing pics soon, and then spent our last day at the Summit Waves water park with Nana & Papa, Rusty, Addison and Ethan. We also got to visit my Grandma Parsons (my mom's mom) and she met Caleb for the first time!  I didn't get any pictures of that since my camera was dead :(

It was so nice to enjoy some time with family!

Memorial Day 2013

Grandpa Doug and Grandma LeAnn made the long trip from Iowa to celebrate Memorial Day with us!  We had lots of fun walking around Southlake Town Center and the Ft. Worth Zoo. Usually they bring the rain with them, but for this visit it was nice and sunny!

Caiden's 3rd Birthday (part 2)

We had Caiden's official birthday party at the Forest Park Miniature Railroad just outside the Fort Worth Zoo. A train-themed party was a no-brainer due to Caiden's current obsession with trains, but I didn't want it to be all Thomas. Also, I wanted to have some fun myself and make many of the decorations and extras. It didn't really go as planned, but we had a lot of fun anyway!  A couple things I learned for future parties

• It's very risky to have a party where you can't reserve space. When we got there to set up, all but one table were spoken for. Boo!
• Spring birthdays, outdoor parties and Texas weather don't mix. I had been praying for no rain. Which it didn't, thankfully! But it was crazy windy. Boo!
• Don't mess with balloons if your party is outside, especially if it's windy. They'll just get tangled. Boo!
• Make sure you have a memory card in your camera, because it does you no good if you don't. Boo! Thank you so much to Ashlee, Shiva and others who took pictures for me!

Anyway, enough of the bad stuff... on to the good stuff. I'm sure you are well aware that I like to be crafty, so birthday parties are a perfect opportunity to do just that.  And of course I used my Mighty Machine and Pinterest to help me along the way.

To start with... the invites. I loved how they turned out. (inspiration here)

You might have already seen the shirt I made him for the festivities.

 

 I made Caleb a different version of it, but he wore his jacket most of the time.

 

Here's the table setup. (remember that I only had 1 table available, after I'd planned on 3!)

 

I chose a pull-string pinata because I don't really trust 3-year-olds swinging a bat in the air :)

 

 

 

Thomas the Train temporary tattoos!

Everyone loved the train ride.

 

 

After the train ride we had cake, cupcakes, and cookies. My sweet foodie friend, Erin, helped me make the cake. We used Pinterest of course to help, but she made all the icing and fondant for me. I'm pretty proud of how it turned out! (cake inspiration here)

You can just barely see the banner I made with the Mighty Machine in the picture above.

The candles wouldn't stay lit in the wind, so we pretended.

Train engine cookies

 

 

 

 

And I used the Mighty Machine to fancy up some non-homemade cupcakes with some train wrappers.

And of course Caiden opened his presents. Caiden was so cute because after he opened each gift, he would go to each person to say thank you.

For the party favors, I used my Mighty Machine again to personalize some cups and each one had some bubbles and a Thomas & Friends pez dispenser.

So hard to get everyone to look at the camera!

Don't mind my chubby cheek. I had just taken a bite of bagel!

Special Thanks to my mom & stepdad, Eric's mom and the McCrary family for making the trip from out of town for the celebration! We were so glad you came to celebrate Caiden!

 

 



 

Whew!  I'm glad Caiden and the guests enjoyed it, but now it's on to party #1 for baby #2. Makes me want to cry!