Caleb's First Birthday...

Since I updated about Caleb party I thought I would show a "few" photos from his actual birthday. In our house we always celebrate on the day in addition to any other celebration that happens. 

There are balloons... and food of course.

The birthday boy gets to pick the meal, for dinner, but for first (and sometimes second) birthdays the meal is picked for him. 

Caleb LOVES Papa John's pizza, so that was "his" pick. 

Next is dessert. Cake and ice cream... Smash cake for a first birthday.

He didn't want to touch it

He definitely doesn't like it.

He tried a little, but started to cry, so we went onto presents.

He wasn't too into the presents, cause it was past his bedtime

Mommy to the rescue to calm him down a bit.

He liked the chair Aunt Reach gave him. He looks so cute in it.

Not too impressed with the drum or the elephant ball...

Elijah decided that since Caleb wasn't into his toys that they were up for grabs... and so was his seat...

Elijah got some presents too, for being the big brother (also so he wouldn't feel left out)

This is a Mickey Mouse book and activity kit with little figurines and a "map". He loves this thing more than anything else. He plays with it every single day.

Caleb had enough of everything at this point and was ready to pass out.

So off to bed he went, so he could enjoy playing with his toys much more the next day.

Mr. Caleb-Caleb... What a sweetie pie.

Washing the Car...

Since Joe lost his job we have had to be more frugal with our finances (this is something we should have been doing all along, but I digress). We have cut back a lot and one of the things we cut back on is entertainment. All summer we tried really hard to be good. One Saturday we decided that the car needed washing... and Elijah needed something to do, so obviously we put the two together.

He really liked washing the car with his daddy.

Playing in the suds was his favorite part.

He did a good job washing the bottom half of the car... Joe took over for half Elijah couldn't reach.

All in all it was a great activity. Cheap fun is the best kind of fun.

Christmas in August...

Christmas is Elijah's favorite holiday. It's no secret around these parts. Yesterday he told us that Azalea (our dog) wants to go see Santa Clause. He also told us that he is going to ask Santa for the Angry Birds Space Toy. That is at the top of his Christmas list. But to top it all off, for the past few weeks he has been singing his own rendition of "The 12 Days of Christmas":

This year we are definitely going to have to have that sing-along we tried to do last year. It apparently is also time to start thinking of the fall and winter fun lists again. Money is tight, so we'll have to do a cheap version. I'm sure Elijah will have lots of input. He was super excited when I mentioned we could write a letter to Santa, so we will have to do that in the near future.

Lots of stuff to plan, lots of stuff to do and lots of time to do it... but for Elijah's sake "Please Christmas, don't be late"...

Popcorn...

Back in November we had a get together at Penelope's parents' house. While we were there they decided to entertain the kids with some "magic". Popcorn magic.

At first no one was interested.

Once the kernels were poured in all of them were wondering what was going on.

Put the lid on...

And watch.

Once the kernels started popping all the kids were going crazy.

They really had a good time. Look at all that popcorn!

Mmmm. Good stuff.

You can see their reactions in this video.

Who would have known so much enjoyment could be had with something so simple...

Bubble Guppies Party...

Caleb is an odd child, as I have mentioned before, but one of his odd traits is that he is interested in next to nothing. He is very picky about the toys he plays with and the shows he watches. He would rather socialize with people than do anything else. He has gotten better as the months have gone by though. He has some favorite toys and favorite shows now and one of his favorite shows is Bubble Guppies.

I tried to do a Bubble Guppies themed party, but it was hard since (as with the Angry Birds) there aren't any party supplies with the faces and logo on it. I found a lot of different things on NickJr.com, which was very helpful, but it turned out to be part pool party, part fish/ocean and part Bubble Guppies theme.

We started out the party with an activity.

The kids made fish shakers. They put different colored beads into small plastic bottles. Once done they received a baggie with the fins cut out of foam (each one got to pick the color they wanted) and some googly eyes to glue on at home.

Caleb also did an activity. Marble painting.

No touching is required for this "craft". I bought boxes with lids from Dollar Tree. They are the perfect size for this project. Joe cut out the pieces of paper to fit inside the boxes. I put glue dots in each corner and pressed it down just hard enough to stick, but not be on there for the long haul. Then I put 6 marbles in each box and put globs of red, blue and yellow acrylic paint (one color per two marbles). Let the child shake, shake, shake and this is what you end up with.

It's a new design each and every time. (No, you are no imagining things, it is a different colored container. This pic was taken another time we did it with some other friends, cause the pics from the party didn't turn out)

Afterward we headed outside to eat some veggies and dip

And...

Everyone seemed to like the food

The kids played in the pool and on the swing set after eating.

Those things you see floating in the pool are sponge balls. The kids liked playing with them. Unfortunately, one fell apart. I will be sure to make them sturdier next time.

We also were suppose to play "pin the tail on gil". Right before that I was feeling really sick (I think it was lack of sleep and the heat), so Joe took over. Everything was going great (so I'm told) until the blindfold came out. Elijah and Penelope refused to wear it, so Charlotte won by default (yay Charlotte!). 

*Crafty Note* I put together the pieces in Photoshop. My brother-in-law works at Staples, so they did the oversize printing and laminating for me. Grommets were set with a Crop-A-Dile.

Everyone had enough of outside, so we came in and opened presents. One of Caleb's favorite presents was from his Grandma. It's a homemade blanket. He loves it and falls asleep with it every night.

After presents was dessert. We had cupcakes decorated like fish.

or as I like to call them - Fish Cakes. We had a whole school of them shaped like a 1.

The kids got their favor buckets before they left.

We put some extra special goodies in there to go along with the bubbles and other things.

They got Bubble Bites... Actually Kix cereal (I designed, and Joe assembled the Bubble Bites packages)

And gummy letters spelling out each of their names

After all was said and done, I say it was another successful party. 

Although, I don't know if I'll be doing another big party any time soon. Two in one year was enough for me (for now). Next year will be more low key in regards to birthdays, but I'm sure the boys will have fun and enjoy them no matter what we do.

Airport Fun...

In late May we were running early (for once) for a birthday party for a certain 4-year-old. Since we were too far away to go home and they live near the airport, we decided we could kill a hour or so in the terminal. So we forked out a whopping $4 for parking and headed in.

Little did we know there were places there the kids could play. It's called the Sky Deck. You can watch the planes take off and land there also. At our airport (BWI) they actually have two of them, but we only ventured into one. We will probably hit up the other one next time.

There was a mock-up airplane that had seats, so you could either pretend you were a pilot or a passenger.

Elijah decided to be the pilot.

Both boys enjoyed another thing they had there where you could pop up from inside of it and see out these giant bubbles.

Caleb liked sitting on the luggage cart too.

It was a very nice place to spend a hour. We had snacks and looked around at some of the exhibits (you could see what the inside of a real cockpit looks like... through plastic of course).

Elijah often asks to go back to the airport. He means to play in this area. Little does he know that we will be going back to the airport in about 6 months to actually take a flight. I'm sure he will be very excited when he finds out.

A Day Out With Elijah...

Do I have timing or what? As soon as August 1st hit my workload dropped from constant overload of work to having to look for things to do, from other people. Who knew such a thing was possible. Thankfully work loads changed and mine is steady. That means there will be more updates from me in the coming months. Mostly catching up on things that should have been posted while I was on my hiatus. So without further ado here is my first "catch up" post.

Some time in early December, Elijah and I had a day out together. It was just me and him "hanging out".

First we went to Wendy's to grab a bite to eat, but instead of going to the drive-thru, we went inside to eat. We had some interesting conversations about apples and birds and other various things. Elijah came out of his shell a little bit and ordered an apple juice instead of his usual water. He must have been feeling adventurous that day.

After we ate, we headed over to Barnes and Noble. They were having an Angry Birds scavenger hunt. Everyone had to look for the Might Eagle from clues that were given. We found them all and handed in our paper. There was a drawing for a prize, but unfortunately we didn't. (I didn't take any pictures inside B&N because I had gotten in trouble for doing that previously)

Our next stop was Starbucks for some coffee for me and a cake pop for Elijah. He thoroughly enjoyed his cake pop as we were driving home. He also insisted on wearing a Steelers knit cap while eating it...

*This was so long ago and I don't think we've had another day out, just me and him, since then. I will have to start thinking of another day out activity for this year. I just need some good ideas. Pinterest here I come...