one sand-tastic birthday party!

ever since ethan has known his birthday was coming up, he has talked about having a "beach party". as far as i know, he came up with this idea all on his own, and he never wavered in his choice. i wasn't at all surprised because this boy loves the beach. now if we lived in like oklahoma or missouri, i suppose that a beach party would consist of turning your backyard or fellowship hall or in-laws' living room into a festive beach scene, complete with colorful buckets of sand everywhere and beach balls and plastic fish hanging from the ceiling. well, this florida birthday boy wanted his party at the beach. and we happily granted his request. this will be easy, i thought. i'd need very few decorations, no games, and my mom gave me the cutest invitation idea.


our favorite beach spot has five "first come, first serve" pavilions, so we planned to get there early to snag one and we'd be good to go. we even braved the depths of our garage to dig out a big tent/canopy thing that i bought on a whim at a garage sale a few years ago. our only true concern was the weather. like florida weather for most of the summer, there was a big chance of rain all week. last saturday, we were so thankful to wake up to a beautiful morning that was supposed to stay beautiful all day.


thank you, Lord, i whispered, as we drove out to the beach. we got a later start that we wanted (which was pretty much to be expected with us), so i was a little antsy on the way out there. i wanted the pavilion closest to the beach. i hoped it wasn't taken. well, it was. and so was the next one. and the next one. and the next one. they were all full. my heart sank and i started to panic a little bit. where would we feed 30+ people? where would we set up all this food? i can't believe we didn't get here earlier. we should have planned to get here by 8:30. it's already 9:30. i can't believe i didn't plan better for this... i pitifully attempted to beg two measly tables for an hour out of the occupants of each pavilion. but apparently, in order to hold a family reunion, you have to have "over fifty people comin'" and you have to have it the same weekend as several other families with "over fifty people comin'". so i took a deep breath and called a friend who i knew was already on her way out there. she did exactly what i needed her to do. she told me it would be ok and we could just do it all on the beach. she let me cry and she told me it would be great. and then she called back to say that they'd stop and buy a card table to put the food on. i've already thanked her a thousand times, but seriously, jen and sam saved the day. or at least saved me from much more stress!

so we had this beach party literally on the beach. we were there early enough to save plenty of room for our big birthday crew. i was so so so thankful for my garage sale tent (it was our first time to put it up, and whew! all the parts were there!). and i even got to hang up the beach balls.


everybody was so great about our sudden change of plans, and i think it turned out just fine to be down on the beach. it probably worked out better for the kiddos because we didn't have to spend anytime in transition. they just went from the beach to the food to the beach to the cake to the beach to the presents to the beach! i spent most of the time setting up and cleaning up, but everytime i looked out at the water, the kids were having a blast. brace yourselves, we did not get any pictures of the birthday guests playing at the beach. i know. our kids were so excited to have daddy at the beach, and he was busy playing with them in the water the whole time. and i was up to my ears in what was to come next with the party and did everyone have something to drink? and where is the honey mustard? and honey, did you put sunscreen on ethan?. so the unscheduled fun just didn't get documented. but just imagine a dozen happy children donned with floaties, hats, and good sunscreen splashing with their daddies and friends in knee deep water.

and while everybody else was occupied with sandwiches, sandcastles, and swimmies, nana and gram gladly shared amelia duty. she was patient and happy and stayed in the same diaper all day long. woops.



everyone eventually got hungry and helped themselves to sub sandwiches.



and refreshing watermelon.


and then they went back out to the beach. a little later, we called everybody back in to sing happy birthday to ethan. the smile on his face made it worth the stress earlier that morning.



here's a close-up of his "cake". ethan has been so excited about his sand cake. he has loved explaining to anyone who would listen that "it's cake but it looks like sand, but it's really not sand..." i found the recipe here and was really happy with how it turned out. (though i would recommend making 1 1/2 of this recipe so that it will fill the bucket! i figured that out at 9:45 the night before the party!) my mom helped me make the little candy shells, which might just have been ethan's favorite part of the whole party. (he takes after my grandma and spends most of his time at the beach collecting shells.)


my favorite part of the party was the adorable little buckets that we used to serve the cake...


we put a candy shell in the bottom and filled the wee buckets with "sand". i think they were a hit.




i don't know if caroline is pledging allegiance to the cake or saying, "my oh my, this is good!"




"mommy said to clean off my hands."


"and i'd better obey my mommy!"

it looks like the adults kinda liked the cake, too...

here's the tent that was so worth the $5 i paid for it! and while everyone was finishing up their cake, brian realizes that he should have put sunscreen on his feet. (and on his face. and on my son's face...)



the party ended with ethan opening up gifts from his sweet friends.



and as everyone packed up, we sent them home with their little buckets, complete with a miniature rake, shovel, and scoop.


we stayed for a little while longer so that i could relax in the water. it really was a beautiful day that was full of fun. we couldn't have asked for better weather, and i am thankful for our friends that were all so easy-going about the sudden change of plans. a little sidenote: during one of my many trips to the car for something, i ran into a friend whose workplace had occupied the two small pavilions. she told me that they were there before 7:30 that morning to secure a pavilion and that they were stuck with the last ones... that was the best news i'd heard all day. there is no way i'd have been out there by 7:30. rediculous. and she was right: it was better down by the beach.

so my little boy is four. there is so much about him that is not so little anymore... the way he want to go on dates with mommy, the way he enthusiastically requests to do schoolwork, and the way he ponders the meanings of words like "modesty" and "caffeine" (what daddy drinks, if you're wondering.). he is interested in legos and action figures and collecting bugs. he can get his own water from the fridge and can dress himself. he can strap himself in his car seat, and he can quickly draw perfect squares with an etch-a-sketch. he watches over his baby sister with extreme care, and he has also been caught on occasion playing peacefully with his other sister. he is indeed growing up. but i still see little glimpses of my baby when he twirls that hair and snuggles up in my lap to read make way for ducklings. his desperate plea, "mommy, i want you!", rings loudly in my heart. i love you, my big-little four year old. i hope you enjoyed your beach party. 'cause we're never doing that again!

the big 3-0!

i'm finally getting around to sharing about my birthday party from last month. so i probably had a little too much fun getting ready for my own party. but a girl only turns 30 once, right!? we had a little cupcake decorating party with our close friends and family. yes, that is me on the invitation... i've been lickin' those beaters ever since i can remember. now i have to fight my kids for them! (confession: i usually make desserts while they're sleeping so that i don't have to share the licking of the bowl. if they're up, i do give them a lick or two... but clean up is my favorite part of baking! :) alrighty, back to my party...)


brian and i got a kick out of making all the cupcakes for my party. we made chocolate along with strawberry, which i've had for my birthday cake for as long as i can remember. i like to call the next shot taste test. i just couldn't handle looking at rows and rows of cupcakes without grabbing one... and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. the kids asked to smell the cupcakes all day long.


and then we had a lot of fun experimenting with these little colorful guys... aren't they cute!?


my mom was on icing duty. my favorite icing in all the world is homemade almond buttercream icing. and this is not the stuff from publix, folks. i have vivid memories of eyeing the bowl of leftover icing in the fridge after my mom finished a cake decorating project. my mom knew my love language. icing. my favorite part of my party may very well have been these five tubes of icing right here.


no, i take that back. my favorite part was the multiple containers of leftover icing that filled my fridge after the party. it was truly a good birthday!

so we had cupcakes, icing, sprinkles... the whole setup.


and let's not forget the decorations. my sweet husband took the kids over to his parents' house to decorate a couple of days before my birthday and gave me a little time to myself. when he got home, i asked how it went, and he told me that his mom wasn't able to help decorate, and that it needed a woman's touch. so when we walked in the door, i could not help but take a picture of the man-decorations. this is nothing short of endearing. :) i would not be one bit surprised if those streamers are exactly the same length.


the kids were so excited about the cupcake decorating! i was told that for weeks after my party, adorable lola was still thanking God for "mrs. emily's party and the cupcakes". :) i knew that once the kids got what they wanted, there was no trying for a picture... so i made them all line up and wait for their cupcakes until they smiled for a picture. i know, i am so mean. but look how cute they are! (and one sweetie pie found another way to get a treat! haha!)


then i asked the kids, "who wants cupcakes?!" and those hands shot up in the air! look at caroline's deceivingly angelic face. :) sweeter than buttercream icing!



and here are the kids creating (and enjoying!) their delicious masterpieces...








brian manned the ice cream station.... featuring my new favorite flavor from publix: "it's your birthday cake". are you surprised?! :) what won me over was (you'll never guess!)... the blue icing swirled through it. go get some. mmmm.


the kids left a few cupcakes for the adults, so we took a shot at decorating these little cakes.




some people went simple.

heather tried a double decker creation which ended up tipping over... but she salvaged it, and i am sure it was delicious!



and some people just decorated ice cream.

while everyone was eating their cupcakes, we played "thirty years, thirty questions" just like we did at brian's 30th. our friend mara, who introduced me to brian, ended up with the highest score! that's how it should be since she has known me longer than anyone at the party (besides my mom). :) and she was even holding amelia while she wrote down her answers! :)



well, this little boy got so tickled feeding my birthday cake to me.


i had to bribe him with more cake so that i could get this family picture.

thank you, Lord, for a happy and healthy thirty years. i am blessed beyond measure. may each day of my life bring glory to Your Name.

ethan is four years old!

this little boy had quite a birthday last week! his official birthday party is not until this coming saturday, but ethan's actual birthday was completely filled with celebration. i'm not exaggerating. from sun up to sun down, this boy partied hard! i thoroughly enjoyed singing happy birthday to him all day. i thoroughly enjoyed telling him that we were so thankful to God for the gift of him four years ago. i think i had more fun celebrating his birthday than celebrating my own. while we really didn't want his birthday to be all about what he was getting, it was really really exciting giving ethan gifts that we knew he'd love. ok, well, on with the day! ethan's birthday started a little differently than planned because ethan woke up before we could go in to surprise him. no big deal... i just made him wait in his room until we were ready. so when we went in to sing and deliver his birthday muffin, i was armed with the muffin and the video camera... and brian had the camera. here's a peek into the start of ethan's birthday...


as you can see, i had no idea that ethan was right in front of me! :) but wasn't that one excited little birthday boy?! he was so stinkin' cute. in this next picture, i love how happy caroline is for ethan...



after blowing out his candle, he ran to the kitchen and was so surprised to see his presents waiting for him! in the past, we have given him our presents at his party, but i'm so glad we did it this way. they were a special way to kick off his birthday vs. getting lost amongst his friends' presents at his party. brian planned on going into work an hour later this day so that he could spend time with ethan the morning of his birthday... so we loved daddy being there too!


ethan was thrilled to open his very own copy of charlie & lola. this adorable cartoon is my kids' new favorite, and for the summer, it is only on disney at an unheard of early hour on saturdays and sundays. so they have missed this british brother and sister these last couple of months. my favorite thing about charlie and lola (besides the british accents and vocabulary!) is that charlie is extremely patient and loving to his little sister (who is small and very funny). this show does not have the typical whining and sibling rivalry that is too commonly seen on childrens' shows today. this cartoon gets the daddy approval, which is rare!! so anyway, ethan was so happy about this gift. and daddy overlooked the fact that the one i bought was pink.


when ethan peeked into the gift bag to find two sand trucks for the beach, his face lit. up. i missed the shot with my camera, but it is frozen in my mind. he has been dragging this huge bulldozer to the beach to play with, so these two trucks will be much easy to carry! and what boy doesn't like one more truck, anyway?!


he also loved the die-cast trains we got him for his big carnival train track, but he put the trains in front of his face in all the pictures... now moving on to the big surprise gift...

when some sweet friends of ours moved a few years ago, the mom passed down some of her boys' rescue heroes for when ethan was older. the bag of action figures sat in the back of our closet for a long time, and several months ago, i thought that these would make a great birthday present for ethan this year. well, i saw that there was an old tv show and a movie about these rescue heroes, so i ordered the movie for ethan. i wanted him to get good and familiar with these guys so he'd know what he was opening on his birthday... well, mission accomplished! ethan and caroline have both grown to love billy blazes, rocky canyon, jake justice, and all the other characters. (their names are hilarious... my favorite are "maureen biologist" and "bob sled".) after a few viewings of the movie, ethan could be found jumping off the couch shouting, "ethaaaaaan to the rescue!" my mom asked, "ethan, what does rescue mean?!" he said, "i don't know. ethaaaaan to the rescue!" all of that to say, he had no idea that the people in the movie were also toys. so when he opened this box and saw billy blazes and crew, he was so surprised! and he knew them by name as he pulled them out of the box. here he is with his favorite, jake justice.


this boy was having quite a great birthday already, and it wasn't even 9:00 yet! here is ethan with his four new rescue heroes...


caroline couldn't let ethan have all the fun. she grabbed billy blazes and pressed his button, and i kid you not, that action figure yelled, "mayday! mayday!" that is one smart toy.


so after the morning birthday excitement, the kids went into the living room to watch charlie and lola and to play with trains, action figures, and whatever else was scattered across the room. as soon as i pressed play on the dvd player, the phone started ringing. that boy is loved. family and friends called off and on for the next hour to wish ethan a happy birthday. and ethan talked politely to all of them, though i knew he really wanted to be watching his new movie! but as you can see, he was happy to chat with those that love him so much.


aunt kristie and karina stopped by to deliver a fun, huge golf club. it's really a shame that this boy doesn't love his aunt kristie.


and shortly after they left, my mom came over with a birthday lunch of chick-fil-a. (i'm tellin' you, the fun did not stop!) while the kids ate their lunch, i got busy setting up ethan's HUGE birthday surprise in his room. it really was gigantic. see, my mom asked the innocent question, "what should i get ethan for his birthday?!" since i knew we were giving him the rescue heroes, i told her i'd see what other stuff was out there for them on ebay. famous last words, right!? there was this one cool command center that was a buy it now auction for a reasonable price. well, i kept looking (because i love ebay), and i found an auction for a similar starting price... and it was for a TON of rescue heroes stuff! TWO command centers, a bunch of guys, animals, and vehicles! it was really neat! so that is the one i bid on, and i won it without going too high. (anybody else LOVE the ebay thrill as you win at the last second!? please tell me it's not just me!) well, to make a long story short, the shipping ended up being 3x the "estimate" from the bidder, but after it arrived, i could see why it cost so much to ship. all of this stuff was HUGE. i did not expect one of the command centers to be nearly as big as it was. but i just had to laugh. i knew ethan would love it. and i brought this all on myself. we probably should have just ordered the single, simple command center, but really, my mom got a steal on all of this stuff. and she never really saw it till it was set-up, as you will see in the video! SO when the kids finished eating lunch, my mom had ethan open up a box that had a little poem in it about the rescue heroes needing help. it said something about finding them behind his door, and he was supposed to run to his room to find the big display. well, he went to the front door first, but after some help, he came running into his room....


my mom said that his reaction was worth $40 in shipping costs! and this is what he saw...


there is so much to do and play with on this thing. the head guy talks to you, and you can hook up the different guys to have them talk to the head guy... the smaller command center has a record & play feature, which caroline LOVES to shout gibberish into and then play it back all. day. long. can i get a rescue hero to rescue me from that!? :)


they are having a blast and are in rescue heroes heaven.

this is what ethan is doing pretty much every second of the day now.

and it all began when cara handed down one medium-sized bag of forgotten toys. they are surely the star of this house now! (and as i stared at the rescue heroes world that has overtaken my living room, i told myself that if this all gets to be too much, i can sell some of it back on ebay. because really, he doesn't need 19 rescue heroes. i mean, three are billy blazes. but i can hear it now...but mo-o-o-o-m, one billy talks, one has a robot side-kick, and one shoots real water out of his hose! they're all different! anyway, some of it may eventually go. i just keep telling myself that. :) but for now, he's having a blast.)

the birthday miracle is that ethan even took a nap after such an exciting morning! it wasn't a long nap, but it was sufficient. after his nap, my dad and joy came by. ethan was so happy to see them and to open avalanche, the fun marble game from the 60's that we played at avery's house. (another ebay success!) here's papa with ethan and caroline... and jake justice.


and here's the debut of avalanche at our house...

we have played avalanche more times in the last week than caroline has recorded gibberish into the command center. so i'd say he loves it! we all love it! brian and i even played it one night after the kids went to bed. :) and brian is really good at it. and i hate to lose.

after opening presents from papa and grandma joy (which also included an announcement that a sno cone maker was being delivered to our house the next day!), they took us out to eat for ethan's birthday (with rescue heroes in hand). ethan really loved being sung to, though he did this smirky shy bit while he was getting all the attention...


after loading up on chocolate cake, we came home from dinner to find nana and pappy at our house! i told you this was one celebrated birthday!! they had a present for ethan and more cake and ice cream! and it was almost bedtime! :) but you only turn 4 once, right!? ethan was so excited to open a box of trio blocks from nana and pappy. we had never heard of these, so you know ethan and his daddy were thrilled to have one more thing to get to build. here is the birthday boy with nana and pappy.


and here is ethan with his final present for the day. any toy that is described using "build" and "airplane" in the same sentence will get this boy excited!


brian wasted no time getting to work with these blocks. they are easy enough for caroline to use but exciting enough for ethan (and brian) to enjoy. :)


this may be my longest post yet...we packed a whole bunch of celebrating into 12 short hours! we are looking forward to continuing ethan's birthday celebration this weekend at the beach. he has been talking about having a beach party forever, so i am really hoping the weather will cooperate. until then, we are caked out. and you know that says a lot coming from me!


we'll be rewinding back to my birthday next! and, well, i'm warning you. it's a lot of cake.