Spy Party

When I asked my son what kind of birthday party he wanted, he said 'Spy Party.' Maybe I need to stop asking these loaded questions. But this year, I was up for the challenge - at least for one more year. He might have to forego the 'theme' birthday party next year for a day out with dad - which I'm perfectly okay with. 

I loved making the banner - and using red curling ribbon to go through the banner made it look like a laser beam was going through the banner. Almost. It's a concept. 

Entering the room the kids had to have their identity checked by an app my hubby put on his Android tablet. Fingerprint Lock Scan to see if they were accepted and Criminal Records Check to make sure they weren't already criminals (they all were). But maybe that's what we were looking for. 

They all got badges and had to print their name on them. 

They all started out with their notebooks I made them - just a little bit of paper, colored card stock and staples and they can re-use it once the party is over. 

So the mystery of the spy party was finding the party gift bags. They had to use their decoder to solve the message - this was tricky for some, but some of them figured it out pretty quickly and moved fast. I designed the decoder - if you want to use mine, just ask! 

How did this little boy turn 8 years old already? Wasn't he just 2? *sigh* 

That makes me feel old. 

The balloons were placed strategically around the building as 'bombs' I used both black balloons and gray. Tied together with black or red string make a perfect fuse! 

My bright idea was to have a laser maze the kids had to get through as one of their missions. I gave hubby the red yarn and he went to town turning this average Sunday School classroom into an awesome maze for the kids, complete with a tunnel formed by tables and chairs! 

First glimpse of the laser maze and someone said 'Wow, look at all that yarn!' 

Use your imaginations, guys! It's laser beams. Some of them would have been dead, if they had been real laser beams. Good thing it wasn't real. 

Cake made by hubby - I tend to get flustered when I make cakes last minute for something important as birthday parties. We found some strawberry cake mix on clearance at Target (ours was closing) and pink frosting. Yes, that's pink frosting with a whole lot of food coloring to make it look like metal. Hubby showed me the cake and he didn't realize he had a minor misspelt word. But the kids had to figure out what was wrong with the words - other than it was written backwards. 

The kids had 6 missions they had to get through to find all the answers. Some of them were get up and go missions - they had to count all the door knobs in the room, they had to identify close up pictures of spy gear - such as binoculars, cell phone, a flashlight, computer, a badge, and a gun

(I used an air soft gun we had).

Super spy guy making it through the maze. 

The bad guy the kids had to shoot with NERF guns as one of their missions. 

Super Spy guy had a fantastic party! 

NERF guns - we actually had enough for everyone,

thanks to my brother in law,

who didn't need them anymore! 

This young lady was a super spy and even came dressed all in black.

Inside the gift bags were sunglasses, handcuffs, fake mustaches, magnifying glasses. 

They were, of course in brown paper bags - what else to spies use for 'drop offs?' 

I've watched way to many spy shows. 

The biggest NERF gun of them all. 

Group shot - minus one who had to leave early.

I love all their facial expressions in this photo! 

View all the photos here: 

Spy Party 2016

Snow Party!

So on January 10th my son turned 7. 

Hard to believe. Time flies when you are having fun! 

He's 7, so he loves Legos, Animals, his baby sister, and his mom and dad - and of course Jesus. 

He loves his Legos. Although his Lego table will soon have to move to his room! 

 The invite was simple. Duplicated and cut in half card stock. 

Grandma Shirley and baby sister taking it all in. 

He loves the snow, so he wanted a snow party. Keep in mind the several years that he has had a birthday themed party there has been little to no snow on the ground. Yes, I know we live in Iowa. Yes, I know he was born in January. He was born in an Ice Storm! 

Snow Party it is: 

The question is, how do you plan a Snow Party for a boy that isn't everything Frozen themed? 

Here's what we did: 

Craft: Made Snow Globes (it's helpful to have a baby who eats baby food)

Craft: Snowman Ornaments 

The birthday boy and his snowman!

Do you want to build a snowman?

A few years back I helped plan a bridal shower for my sister-in-law and someone found this toilet paper that doesn't tear at the dollar store. I saved it. Perfect for a fun activity like this with the kids. They got to wrap up their friend - and everyone got some energy out! 

Thanks to Hy-Vee for having this cupcake tree!
Not everything is Anna and Elsa! (They are on the other side)

How to make your own Pom-Poms for the ultimate Snowball fight! 

Hubby got into the games!

One game we played was: Snowman Slam - used with the Pom-Poms I made ahead of time

Snowman Slam game - my 7 year old is pretty creative!
This is something he could and did help with!

Food and Snack: Snowman Dessert Dip - served with pretzel sticks of course. 

Snowblower Game - which wasn't as successful as I thought it would be. 

But you don't know until you try it! 

Snowblower game

Food: The local donut shop advertised these Olaf donuts the actual day of his birthday - I ran down and told them I wanted a dozen. They said, "Oh, is the party today?" I said "Nope it's tomorrow." They said, "Oh, you want them fresh!" Done and adorable. They were a big hit! 

He got a free Snowman donut on his birthday from the local donut shop! Love that place!

I was going to make cool blue hot chocolate, but found out I couldn't do that just half an hour before the party was supposed to start, so blue Powerade it was! 

It even snowed when we were having the snow party.
Big Flakes. How did I do that? I shook a snow globe, that's how! 

Follow my Parties board on Pinterest. I always have fun looking for ideas and I don't always end up doing everything I pin, but it's fun and before the party is always super stressful, but somehow it all works out. My ideal party would be well behaved children doing exactly what they are supposed to do. But after several years of doing this- that isn't the reality. Kids need to be kids. They need to be crazy, run around, have fun and growl at each other - yes, they actually did this! 

Got all the kids to throw their snowballs at me! 

Picking up from the best indoor snowball fight ever! 

This is the best photo I have of him looking at me. *sigh* He is 7 now. 

All the kids - best photo - with the snow in the background! 

It was fun, crazy and I hope everyone had a fun time. I was exhausted when I got home of course - but it was all worth it! Will I plan another one? I'm not sure. He'll be 8 next year. The next birthday party I will plan will be little girls, and since it's her first birthday it will be pretty low-key.

Happy New Year! 

Dinosaur Party

The invite (my own design), 

the line on the upper right is a place for him to write his friends' name.  

I had to delay the party for a week, because of Christmas break and before Christmas break I really didn't have time to prepare and get ready, plus I thought I'd be a nice person and not give parents only a few days notice. 

My 6 year old with his cake, before all his friends arrived. 

The cake. It was supposed to be shaped like a dinosaur, like something you would see on Cake Boss, but someone (she who shall remain nameless) dropped 1/2 a pan of cake batter into the oven as she was putting the cake pan in. What a mess! It took about an hour to clean up, the night before the party. Maybe that'll never happen again!

The kids at the party making some drawings, using stencils of dinosaurs. 

Game Time: putting together a dinosaur skeleton! 

I got the download from this website: T-Rex Skeleton 

Trying to match the pieces to the picture. 

Here he is at the party, with his dinosaur hat on! Gotta love The Dollar Tree for the hat! 

The boys had a little bit to much fun talking about the dinosaur poop on the cake- 

this was all started by dad. Then the lemonade turned into dinosaur pee. 

You never can get boys off bodily function topic, can you? 

Another game- tie a string to a balloon, and then loop the balloon around one ankle. Now try to pop each other's balloons. It was crazy and the girl of the group even one the first round! 

A friend and the birthday boy take a break from running around the gym. 

These kids are adorable! 

All 6 kids together. 

I ordered some dinosaur decals from Oriental Trading Company. 

Dad said to the kids "what? Is there something wrong with my ear?" 

The kids wore Dinosaur Feet, made from foam sheets. Get the template here. 

I also added 'dinosaur toenails'.

For Directional Signs, I used this. 

Dino Party This Way

My son wanted the dinosaur happy! 

The next thing to work on is the Thank You cards. 

Please let me know if you use any of my things for your Dino Party! 

A fun time was had by all at our party! 

2013... a year of blessings

There is so much that happened to our family in the year 2013!

My little guy turned 5! Being 5 is the best! Hard to believe he will be 6 in a few short days.

He's the one in the black shirt on the left, with his friends around the Lego Party table. 

Hubby got notified at the end of January that he was part of the layoff at his old job, which was effective the first week in February. Ouch.

Hubby went on unemployment and through God's provisions and a little help from family and our church, we were able to keep our house. Although it never was that close, somedays it sure felt like it!

Hubby went on a number of interviews, including one phone interview that - had he gotten that job would have required a move. Hubby even worked a few times for a local place, and got paid for that. Hubby landed working at a contractor position for FedEx, and by the last week in December was interviewed and hired full time by FedEx. Almost 11 months to the day. While it doesn't offer health benefits, it does however put us back up - financially - to where he was with his old job. So now we can afford to buy health benefits on our own.

Who doesn't love a handsome man in uniform? 

At the end of April, I got offered my current position at a local non- profit organization I have been passionate about since 2010. Although it is part-time, it's nice to be paid for doing something you like to do!

In May I figured out I was pregnant, only to be told by the doctor I would loose this little one. But, by far, the best doctor ever- because before she left the room after telling us this, she gave both my husband and I- hugs! Read a little more about that on the Dear Friends and Family post.

The best thing about hubby being 'laid off' in the summer, is that I went to work and didn't have to worry about my little guy, because I knew dad was in charge. While they did some stuff that I wouldn't have done - like they tried to light a pile of leaves on fire with a magnifying glass and other dangerous stuff. Most of the ideas came from this book: 50 Dangerous Things (You should let your children do). It really is a good book, and teaches the children how to do things safely. I'd rather let hubby teach him how to light a fire in the backyard than him figuring it out with a lighter in the basement with friends a few years down the road!

I also co-directed our Vacation Bible School this year, and it went pretty much without any major fiascos.

Here's my little cowboy at Vacation Bible School! 

Here we are at the end of a very long day, at Adventureland, thanks to my brother-in-law and the company he works for! This 5 year old got some of his 'firsts' out of the way on this trip. First time on a big-kid roller coaster -The Tornado (he did not like), but he did like a more subtle roller coaster that is called The Underground. The swimming in the wave pool was the best, because we had recently put out some money for swimming lessons - he was able to swim (like a fish) in the wave pool, when it wasn't waving. 

Mommy and my silly little boy at the end of a great day at Adventureland. 

In August, my husbands family farm was named a Century Farm by Farm Bureau, so almost the whole family got to go to the Iowa State Fair.

Here's my little guy holding his ticket, getting ready to get on the bus to go to the fair, 

no this wasn't posed- he's just that good! We had a great day!  

Almost the whole family celebrating being a Century Farm! 

Later in August I was able to go to Women of Faith with my mother-in-law to hear some great speakers, and some awesome singers. I was only able to do this by way of budgeting and saving money the Dave Ramsey way! 

My mother - in - law and I outside the Wells Fargo Center after Women of Faith. 

 In September, my little pre-schooler turned into a Kindergartener - officially. Yikes!

Being a little silly for first day of school photos. 

In October I entered a local photo contest, and won a $25 gift certificate! Here is the photo I took, well, I had a great subject! 

My little guy in front of the Amtrak train, with his train conductor hat on.

October brought fall leaves and an awesome Iron Man suit - another bonus of hubby being laid off for so long, he came up with this project all on his own, and made it light up. All I did was buy the suit at our local Aldi's store! While it lit up good for the photo, come Halloween Night we watched the lights slowly die and fade out. Oh well! 

Iron Man in my living room! 

We have a friend who decided to start her own photography business! Go Autumn! So we invited her out to our family farm to take some photos of the 3 of us. They all came out great! Happy Day Photos is the place to go, if you are in the area! See more of our family photos here. 

Our family, 2013. 

For Thanksgiving break we went up to see my brother, who lives in Minneapolis. My parents met us there, after packing up everything they own and selling their house near Charlotte, North Carolina. We had an early Christmas celebration and yes- I was crazy enough to go to the Mall of America on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. No, it wasn't that bad. 

Here are the 3 boys- my son and his cousins. 

No, his younger cousin K does not like photos! 

We also made the big announcement of us having baby #2 while we were up there. Watch the video on this post. 

In December we wrapped up the old year with the boys playing Mario Kart and mommy eating ice cream. Is there any better way? 

Happy New Year to all! 

2014 will be the best year yet, because 2013 had some low points, that's for sure. But it also had some pretty great times, most of which wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for some great family! 

What's in store for 2014? 

1. New job for Roy, with a new route and a new to him FedEx truck! 
2. Sarah's job is moving locations (about a block away)
3. Little boy turns 6, with a dinosaur party (more on that later)
4. Sarah has to decide if she wants to do a gender reveal party for baby. 
5. We will welcome baby #2 into our little family in June!