Happy 3rd Birthday Jax!



Jax turned 3 at the beginning of April....and in true Sarah fashion, I wanted to throw a fantastic party for him. I love going all out on my kids birthdays....and hopefully I'll be able to keep doing it for a few more! This year was actually not as stressful as parties in years past have been. I think the reason is because we used my parents backyard {instead of our front yard} and I used the decorations from church that we use for our Pinewood Derby {perks of being a Primary Pres....AND I was totally able to add to it, new decorations for this year's derby!}

I have to say...our ward has acquired some really neat decorations...lots and lots of these giant oil banners that totally look authentic. Not to mention, the yards upon yards of black and white banner.

We held the party during lunchtime...so we "sold" nachos, hot dogs, popcorn and chips at the Concession Stand.

The road to the backyard party!

Everyone's a winner. I found these cute mini trophy's on Oriental Trading.

After the party, the kids got to take one home, along with some Cars tattoos and stickers.

Those tatt's were a hit with my kiddos...that afternoon they each had at least 5 on each arm.

When guests first arrived, we had a table set up for them to color their own racecar.

And then the rest of the party was spent doing different types of racing...one of the favorites being running around the track spraypainted by my parents and sister!

Run, run, run! Get that energy out!!

Jax has some great buddies....who love cars just as much as he does!

In lieu of a cake, I went for a more Jax-appropriate treat: a donut cake.
Jax loves himself a donut.

Can you tell??

And thanks to Daniel, he was able to get all 3 candles blown out quick quick!

The most popular gift of the day....a monster truck!

Boys and their toys...it starts so early.

I commisioned Hannah to spray paint the side of the shed {disclaimer: she had been waiting and waiting for something to spray paint on there}. She had fun and it was perfect...we just need to work on where the red goes on the stoplight! She has a few more weeks till she's 16 to study up!

Happy Birthday, sweet Jaxxy! We love you!!

Jax turns 3!

Three years he's been with us...it's amazing how fast time flies. I've been thinking about this blog post since his birthday this past Saturday....I wanted to be able to record some things about him, so I'll remember.
*He's definitely my most strong-willed child. When he puts his mind to something (and it could be anything) he doesn't budge. This is both frustrating and hilarious...and I hope he can continue to have such strong will about life!
*Jax has so much energy. Wow. Sometimes he'll just be sitting on the couch and all of a sudden he gets up and RACES around the room.....like zoom zoom fast, just runs. Go for it, buddy....get that energy out. (Probably energy he stole from his parents....seriously, he wears us out)
*He loves to be the funny dude. He loves to make us laugh. He'll do something he thinks is hilarious, then look at you to make sure you got the joke too. Silly child.
*He can definitely be a tough child. He knows what he wants and he's not happy unless he's doing it. For example: he hates the store. ESPECIALLY Joanns. He's warming up to Target, but not really. And he totally throws a fit no matter where we might be.....that fit usually includes flinging himself down onto the ground. Tile....carpet....he doesn't care. Drives me crazy. He's also decided he's too big to ride in the cart, and wants to walk. He'll start out holding onto the cart like a good kid.....then he tests his boundaries by zoom zooming down the aisles! For goodness sakes. The store is not our friend.
*Jax has started to learn about questions. And he's turning it into an art form. His favorites: "Where is daddy?" Where is Aube? Where is Bella? Where is Jax? (and then proceeds to crack himself up after that one) Also: Is daddy on the train? (He totally thinks James works on a train) or "What are you doing mommy?" All totally legit questions....yet when asked in succession multiple times....sheesh!
*And let's not forget his favorite pastime.....being at home....watching My Little Ponies. Yes. I've said it....next to Cars, it's his favorite request. But after hundreds of hours of Curious George...it's nice to have something different on!
*Jax LOVES to sing....he sings Wheels on the Bus, Happy Birthday, Ring Around the Rosies, Row Row Row Your Boat. It's so cute.
*We've had him in swimming lessons for two months now. He loves the water....but he's quite the pill to his teacher. When he first started, it was one on one bc he knew alot more than the other kids. So he got a little spoiled...and now that he has to wait his turn, he causes some trouble. He's teacher, Alicia, is a good sport about it tho....and she has no qualms about sitting him up on the ledge if he's not following directions.
*He's my sweetie. Tho he drives me completely batty and makes me question wanting to have a fourth....he has his moments where I still see my sweetie. Hopefully that part of him will always be there! And I can cultivate it into the handsome young man I know he can be!

THREE!!
Let the fun continue!

Happy Birthday Party Day!

My girls have birthdays 19 days apart....and they are still at the age where I say "Hey! What do you want to do for your birthday party?" ...And they ramble off crazy shenanigans like dancingrainbowbutterflychuckEcheese party!! So I reply "Sure you can have a  painting party" 

Haha, tricked ya! Youreallyhavenosay...

So I scoured Pinterest for some ideas....and as always, came up with some fantastic stuff from some talented people. Such as:

This cute party on Catch My Party.

I loved this invite on Parenting.com, and totally did my best to recreate it.

And so on and so forth....Pinterest is such a great resource! So thankful for all those crafty people out there and glad they can be found thru something like Pinterest!

As the guests came in, they were able to pick out a tie dyed shirt to use as a smock.

My cutie pie sister, Emily, and I had a tie dye session earlier in the week. So fun! 

The set up.

James said to me later in the day "That didn't take you very long to set up last night" Um...honey, you fell asleep halfway thru Revenge....and it took me a Revenge and a Project Runway to put it together! ha! 

Totally worth it, tho...the girls exclamations when they saw it in the morning were priceless.

The favor bags were hand-splattered by the girls.

They also splattered a banner for me that I hung on the front of the house. 

I found a set of party cups/plates/napkins, etc in Tie Dye at Walmart! Love me some tie dye, and it went perfectly with the rainbow-y painting theme! 

I tried my hand at making rice krispy treats that were supposed to look like paintbrushes.

See inspiration HERE. I didn't quite recreate it as well as I would have liked. But they tasted good!

I was even able to rainbow-ize the food! 

My sister schooled me on the true rainbow: ROYGBIV

(red orange yellow green blue indigo violet)

Fun little acronym to remember that!

As our cute little guests started to arrive....they passed a little a time putting together fruit loop necklaces.

Then we started in on the fun!
I found some 11x14 canvases at Michaels on sale 2/$5, which was quite the insane deal. 

Lots of cool rainbows all around the table.

My girls LOVE them. We have rainbow drawings popping up all around the house.

Auntie Em came by, decked out in tie dye like a pro, to join in the fun!

Aube's face is priceless. She can be quite the goofball (and drama queen)
Grandma and Grandpa also came, but of course I forgot to get a picture of them all together. Grandpa was in his tie dye, too!  

All the girls (and John Ü my brother) got to stretch their creative fingers and create something fun to take home. I really love seeing where their little minds take them.

Bella's school friend, Emi, did a little splatter pain effect on hers (and a few others around her, oops)

Aubree's school friend, Yede, has an eye condition where she doesn't see very well. Truthfully, I was a bit worried about having her and her sister, who has a bit of the same issue, come and not be able to participate. But both Bella and Aube insisted on having the sisters come. And to my happy surprise, they did just fine with a little help here and there. Yede's picture turned out SO GOOD! I may need her to paint a masterpiece for me to hang on my wall.

Maddy and Abby got a fun table all to themselves. Sweeties!

We let the paintings dry and the kids got all sugared up on sweets.

Then! We started our dance portion of the party. Bella really wanted to have a some dancing happen! 

We started up Just Dance Kids on the Wii.

It took a little bit to get everyone warmed up....and over their shyness.

But in just a few songs, we had everyone participating, dancing along with the silly little songs. 

And just like that....it was over. I swear, parties need to be like five hours long (not really) to make all the prep worth it. BUT in the long run, the look on everyone's faces when they are having fun is what makes it worth it. And Aube telling me "This was the best day ever. It was a super duper awesome day." Makes me smile and start trying to come up with an even better party idea for next year! Crazy lady.

The Trashy Party (3)

What would a party be without cake and presents!?

I made Jax his very own dump truck cake....chocolate cake, chocolate icing, gummy worms and oreo cookies on top! For all the kids, I made dirt cupcakes in cones!

The whole time he's like, why is there crap in the back of my truck, yo?!

This picture melts my heart...

And I'm just so glad I made a huge chocolate mess for a boy....who doesn't really prefer chocolate. Oh well....more for mommy to eat, right?!

All the friends dug right in, getting nice and messy.

After cake....Jax opened his presents.

Lots of cool stuff....wrapped in trash, my genius friends!

He wouldn't let that cupcake cone go....all thru unwrapping his gifts. 

Mom and dad {mainly daddy...mommy talked daddy into getting a trampoline, so that was her gift, booyah} bought him a cute little no-wheel bike. Yes, that's right....no wheels. Big Daddy said it's supposed to help him learn balance....soweshallsee.

At the end of the party.....the garbage truck rumbled down the street....perfect timing!

I think this was the funnest party I've ever thrown, and it was so much fun to put together and really got the creative juices flowing :). It also got me nice and excited for the girls party in October!

The Trashy Party (2)

We held the party outside in the front yard....and the set up work great....

we even roped the yard off with caution tape leftover from another little fella's birthday.

I had a whole area with wadded up trash...and bins for the kids to separate Paper, Plastic and Aluminum. Another one of the favors was a trash grabber, or whatever they're called. My sweet friend Shellie found them at the Dollar Tree! I was so excited she found them for only $1!

We had such a great turn out of friends....birthdays for ages 1-3 really do seem more for the parents. And I happen to be lucky enough to have a great group of friends all with toddlers Jax's age! He gets kinda grumpy around them....unsociable....but they still like him just the same! 

The kiddos also did some drive way art for me.....

Friends...aren't they cute??

I was SO happy that Emily and Jed were able to come up from San Antonio to spend this special day with us. I couldn't have done all the prep the night before or that morning without her!

The dad's tagged along with their families....and found a great spot in the ever-receding shade to sit and chat. 

Hannah, my baby sister....made herself friends with cute little Wyatt.

He's a little bit of a sweetie.

This is actually the first birthday party for my kids that I've been able to have family at!

Carl and Jax have a great love-hate relationship....they love to tease and pound on each other.

Friends travelled from far away to celebrate with us!

Jetta and her kiddos, including Aubree's best friend Sarah, drove down from Wylie, braved the traffic and even stayed after to clean up and rub my feet.

All of these pictures are courtesy of the gorgeous Danielle. She saved me by taking some {214} pictures of the event! I'm always running around like crazy at parties, so it was nice to have someone take that responsibility on! Thx, Sweet Dee.

Cake and gifts up next!