Boopy's official birthday...

Since Boopy's actually birthday fell on a Tuesday, both Papa and I had to go to work, but we woke up Boopy with sweet happy birthday hugs and lots of morning kisses. Sam treated Boopy, Big Boy and Gaby to a fun morning at the new bounce place in town, Bounce U. From what Sam told me and the pictures she sent via her phone, the kids had a ball!

After Papa and I got home from work we took Boopy to Red Robin per her request for her birthday dinner. She was very excited to have the staff sing happy birthday to her.


When we got back home it was still early enough to give the kids some time to play outside for a bit. Our neighbor friends were out in their yard playing with Noah's Slip N Slide and even though it was too terribly hot, the kids jumped right in and had a good time. All in all, a wonderful fun filled birthday for our crazy 3 year old!

The Princess Party!

This Tuesday, May 19th, Boopy will officially turn 3 years old. I seriously can't believe that our little girl is three! We celebrated this past Saturday with a Princess themed party at our house, per Boopy's request. Before I go into party details, I want to brag about my wonderful husband. He designed and made Boopy's requested princess castle cake. He was up until 2 pm the night before working on it, but at least Sam (who watches the kids for us) and I helped bake a bunch of the cakes the couple days beforehand since Papa Vaughn was out of town from Tuesday until Friday. (Thanks Sam!) Didn't the cake turned out awesome! He's really set a standard now after this and Big Boy's pirate cake.

Our princess posing after coming down all ready for her party. Aunt "Guya" helped get her dolled up. I found her dress at Sams Club for a mere $12!! I loved how pretty it was AND if you look closely in the black and white pattern right above each flower is an actual sketch of Cinderella, Belle & Sleeping Beauty.

Shortly after the guests arrived, we encouraged everyone to have a bite to eat. We served hamburgers, hot dogs, my dad's recipe potato salad, southwestern chicken salad, watermelon, princess punch, iced tea, basically the usual BBQ food. While the kids were eating, the gal playing Cinderella showed up. I smuggled her inside to the bathroom where I had the Cinderella costume waiting for her. Once she was ready, I smuggled her back outside via the garage where she then waited and rang the doorbell. At that point we told Boopy to answer the door as she had been greeting all her guests. It was so funny when she peered out the front door window. She was so stunned and surprised, she just froze with her hand on the doorknob. Papa had to go over and "help" Boopy to open the door. It was so cute!

I think it took Boopy a minute to realize that, yes, Cinderella REALLY was at HER party! The real fun and reason we set this up was that Cinderella is one of Boopy's favorite princesses. Of all the characters we saw at Disneyland in April, we never managed to see Cinderella. Boopy had commented on this fact more than once, so the idea of having "Cinderella" at her birthday party was just too good to not have happen. One of my friends managed to find "Cinderella" for us through her cousin's drama class - gotta love Facebook and great friends!

"Cinderella" was wonderful! She sat with all the girls, helped Boopy hand out goodie bags and helped her to open her presents.

Boopy and friend, Gaby, had to point out the Cinderella figure to Cinderella. Every Cinderella thing Boopy got as a gift, she pointed out as well saying, "look it's you!" to Cinderella.

Singing Happy Birthday and blowing out her candles.

After Cinderella and all Boopy's guests left, the kids sat back and enjoyed all the new presents Boopy got. Big Boy managed to sit in one place long enough that I finally got a picture of him. He spent most of the party outside on the playset and trampoline even though it was 100 degrees outside. I swear he would live outside if we let him!

Boopy got some fun "Princess" make-up from cousin Kennedy. She promptly put some on in the evening and insisted she do it all herself. Didn't she do a lovely job! (wink, wink!)

We finished out the birthday celebration on Saturday watching the boys take a nap, playing with toys, me messing around with pictures and overall relaxing. Sunday was wonderful as well as we simply went to Target to spend Boopy's gift card money from Grandma & Grandpa in Washington and then did some more relaxing at home. All in all a very nice birthday weekend. One I hope Boopy has very fond memories of in the years to come!

Argh Matey! Big Boy Birthday Madness!

While I need to blog about our wonderful Christmas, I have so many pictures I haven't finished going through them all. I do have for you though, Big Boy's 5th birthday party that we held on Jan 3rd. (This was actually the first time we haven't actually had his party on his actual birthday, Dec 31st!) Since it is well known that our kids like to bounce, we figured it would be worth it to splurge a bit and have most of Big Boy's party Pump-It-Up. We then invited everyone back to our house for pizza, cake and presents. So without further ado, enjoy the following of Big Boy's party!

Me and "Guya" & Boopy and Uncle D

Miss daredevil, Boopy would not wait for Papa Vaughn, Big Boy and Uncle D to go down the slide with her. She had no fear and simply slide herself down on her belly!

Look at that I actually managed to snag both my kiddos for a quick picture. Pretty amazing when there was non-stop fun to be had!

Pooped out from lots and lots of bouncing!

Big Boy loves air hockey

Saying thank you to everyone for coming!

We started the party at Pump-It-Up at 10 am and finished up just in time for lunch. Since it was so much cheaper for us to share pizza at home, we opted out of the party room provided and ordered up Divinci's for everyone back at our house. This also helped because I don't think we could have safely transported the awesome cake that Papa Vaughn made for Big Boy. I'm so proud of his effort on this cake, especially considering Papa had to work until 11 pm the night before the party. He really wanted to make Big Boy's birthday cake so he ended up being up until 2 am working on it (however, that includes the baking time and he made cupcakes too!). Granted he did ice it in the morning after a run to SaveMart for gummy sharks, alligators and a few candies to help with the decorations. Overall, a wonderful cake that Papa should be very proud of. Plus, Big Boy was SOOO thrilled and excited about his cake.

Boopy got to have one of the gummy alligators.

Finally it was time to open presents. Big Boy REALLY REALLY wanted to open his presents. We almost couldn't get him to leave to go to Pump-It-Up because he wanted to open presents. Then on our way back home, poor Boopy got distraught because it wasn't her birthday and she wouldn't be getting presents. What can I say but it's hard to be little. She ended up being really good and watched Big Boy open the presents and only helped him when he said she could. It's a good thing too that he loves his sister and shares really well with her.

A little after half of our guests left, I had a realization that we never broke the pirate pinata I splurged and let Big Boy get! What can I say, busy mom's are far far from perfect! Regardless, those that stayed had fun breaking it with us, even if the handle broke and the kids ended up just beating it open on the ground! HaHa!

Big Boy got the first swing.

I was a bit worried that poor "Uncle" Chris would end up with a black eye or bruised shoulder!

All in all, a wonderful and happy birthday celebration. Now to let it sink in that Big Boy is really 5 years old. Seriously where does the time go?

Happy 4th Birthday Big Boy!

It's hard to believe that this adorable little baby is already 4!!

Really, where does the time go?

Since poor Big Boy honestly has a pretty crummy birthday, being New Year's Eve and all, his parties have been fairly simple at home gatherings. This year was the first year we actually had his party NOT on his birthday. We held it on Sunday, Dec 30th figuring that too many people would be working on the 31st. I figure when he's a bit older and can share a bit more about what he wants and who his friends are, we can have celebrations at fun party places. That's not to say that our house isn't a fun party place! We have frequent gatherings and we did have a very fun bounce house for Big Boy and the kids to enjoy.

When it came to opening presents, Boopy had a really hard time. Since it had just been Christmas where they both got to open presents, she really, really, REALLY wanted to open gifts too. I took to letting her hold a gift to give to Big Boy. Boopy was quite funny sitting there stroking the seams with her fingers thinking, thinking, really thinking about opening each gift! Big Boy did let her help a few times with pulling tissue paper out of bags and he was very generous in letting everyone play with his new things. He truly is such a sweet kind hearted little boy.

When the bounce house arrived earlier in the day before guests arrived both kids were amazed at how fast it blew up and how cool and exciting it looked in our backyard. It was a definite hit. We had the pleasure of enjoying it all day from 10 am to 8 pm! We even jumped in the dark at 7 after everyone went home! Big Boy has been talking about it frequently and is quite sad that the bounce house had to leave.

HAPPY JUMPING!

I love just how little Boopy looks in comparison to the Bounce House. Little but mighty!

Boopy bouncing with godmother, Auntie Jenn and her new baby.

Misc. moments (Boys snuggling, Boopy discovering the fun of olive fingers, Boopy entertaining us with her new sing-along jukebox.

Hanging out with friends, Lindsay & Gabby

Godfather, Darren, putting together Big Boy's new matchbox car wash, Big Boy getting some guidance from Diego on playing Whack-a-Mole and GG getting in some fun with Big Boy's new airplane launcher!

Thank you everyone for Big Boy's birthday gifts and enjoying in his fun day. He continues to grow into such a good boy who makes me proud to be his mother and strive to be a better person. I can only wish for him a lifetime of happiness and continued love from all his friends and family! Happy birthday my sweet boy!