Cohen turns 3!

Still in a little bit of denial about my youngest being 3 years old, but moving on . . . 

When I was in the beginning stages of planning Cohen's party, I had a little bit of a hard time figuring out what the theme should be.  He's not a big movie watcher, and he's not super obsessed with any particular theme or toy, so my choices were slim.  The one thing he kept coming back to was asking to watch "Wreck it Ralph", and if you know Cohen in person, you know this theme fit him pretty perfectly.  He's a little bit of a wrecker.  :)

We held the party the weekend of his birthday in Iowa.  All of my family was already there for a wedding we all had attended, and of course Tyler's family lives there, so this was easiest for everyone.  My wonderful Sister was kind enough to open their home up to 19 people, which we were so grateful for!

A lot of the details of the party only made sense to those who had already watched the movie, so if you've seen it, you'll probably understand the inside "jokes"! 

The decorations were set up, hoping to look like the inside of an arcade game. 

"Stumps" for cupcakes

Yeah, royal icing cookies are not easy to make… :)

Brick juice boxes

Game controllers

Tappers Root Beer

The kids were all playing outside, and then our special guest for the party arrived… 

Fix it Felix!

My Dad… he's the best Grandpa out there!

The first game we played was a wrecking game, I painted these boxes with a sponge and red paint, and bought big "Wreck it Ralph" hands for the kids to knock the boxes over. 

Of course, Fix it Felix fixed everything they wrecked!

Can't you just hear him… "I can fix it!"

Next up, was building our candy carts!

Just like Penelope & Ralph did in the movie, the kids got to design and build their own racing go cart!

Lastly, it was time for gifts... birthday boys favorite part  :)

We even got to ride some of Uncle Shane's fun "toys" at the end of the party! 

We closed out the day driving home with such thankful hearts.  There's nothing like a birthday party for your son, surrounded by both of our families, to make a person feel loved.

Another birthday party on the books… it is so fun to be a Mom!

Jaxon turns 4!

In the past, I've gone all out for birthdays and really enjoy doing so.  However, recently Tyler and I have decided to do "big" parties every-other birthday, and the off year we'll keep it simple and fun.

Leading up to the party I had major Mama guilt that I was not planning a big extravagant event (for whatever silly reason), but now that it's all said and done I can confidently say this was one of my favorite parties yet.  I spent that day just soaking up my big boy and hanging with family instead of running around like a crazy lady and cooking, and an hour before the party I started setting stuff up and sent Tyler to get the pizza.  So much less stress!

We had my family, Tyler's family, and Jaxon's best friend Benton (and his Mama) at the party, so 17 people total.  Perfect!

The invite, designed by my amazing best friend...

From his birthday morning... opening 1 gift from Tyler and I. 

Later in the day we were ready to party!

Cake made by one of my besties Andrea 

The party was very low-key... we ate some yummy pizza, and the kids played Angry Birds themed games and coloring sheets.

 And then, a child's favorite part of any birthday... presents :)

And cake.  It was soooo yummy, and this is coming from a non-cake lover! 

My nephew turned 8 the following week, so we sang to him as well :) 

All in all, a simple yet perfect party indeed!

Happy 4th Birthday, Jaxon Daniel.