Ashton's Airplane Birthday Party

Friday of last week was the day we threw Ashton his very first birthday party!  He LOVES airplanes, rockets, helicopters, jets, etc.  We chose an airplane theme and tried to keep it simple with a small group of 3-4 year old buddies. 

I drew an airplane and made copies for them to color when they arrived.  Always a nice way to keep them settled in the beginning.

(Boise State plane!)

We pretended we were going for an airplane ride.  They pretended they buckled their airplane seat belts, made the sounds of firing up the engines, and taking off.  They shook in their chairs a bit during "turbulence".  Then Brielle and I tossed a bunch of white balloons from the floor into the air and told them we were passing through the clouds!

Of course, at an airplane party, we had to make paper airplanes!

Two moms stayed with their little guys, which was helpful for the paper aiplanes.  Little boys love playing with them, but they are a little technical to make if they expect them to actually fly :o)

Then we tried to throw them far enough to reach the "point system runway".

Next was the airplane piñata!

Which was incredibly hard to break.  After everyone had 4 turns, and Brielle had taken her best shot at it, I finally had to smash it myself!  They were patient, but very excited for candy when it finally came!  (Note to self: "rough" the piñata up a bit BEFORE parties for 4 year olds- then let them have a shorter go at it.)

Airplane b-day cake.

It was lots of fun! 

Todd helped a bunch- especially with the piñata.  It started snowing out that afternoon just before the party.  We usually hang piñatas from the swing set out back, but the weather spoiled that.  He ended up hanging it from the end of a broomstick, which actually worked great for that age group because they're still so short!

Love our little birthday boy!

Ashton's Birthday Party Invitations

I love making cards.  It was fun to have an excuse to do it this month. 

Ashton asked for an airplane birthday party so here's what we came up with!

I hope all goes well for him, though.  Ashton's not feeling himself today and the party is TOMORROW.  He got up a few times in the night two nights ago, all "sneaky-like". He used the bathroom, spied on mom and dad down the hall a little, etc.  Then he snuck out of his nap yesterday and played a while with Lainey until he got caught.  First time he's attempted something like this in over a year.  So I'm not sure if the increased amount of out-of-bed episodes LAST night were an evolution of his new found stunts, or if he was really sick or something.  He got up about 6 times to pee or ask for oil for his legs (pain relief stuff we put on his legs for growing pains), or ask for a drink.  The final time we asked him if his tummy hurt and he said yes, but almost like he was appreciating our help in creating a new excuse for him to be up AGAIN. 

Today, he looks pretty bushed and has a faint fever.  Both of which can result form NOT sleeping at all the night before.  Growing pains, a full bladder, or the bug that's going around?  Still not sure.  But if you're a reader whose own little guy got invited for tomorrow's party, I'm crossing my fingers that Ashton will be up for it!  And I will definitely let you know early tomorrow if we see that he's still not acting himself.  For now, I'll let him continue sleeping the afternoon away.

Ashton's 4th Birthday

Ashton turned 4 on January 3rd!   Like I said in the last post, Ashton had the great surprise of getting to spend his birthday with his Grandma Foster, Uncle Marty,and Aunt April.  Their flight home had been cancelled that afternoon.  He'll have a birthday party with a few friends next week, but we still wanted to have a nice day for him with family. 

I didn't bring a camera, but Ashton got to have dinner at Carl's Junior- the only restaurant in town with a nice indoor kid play area.  We ate Transformers cake and then went to the theater where Grandpa Rex met up with us to watch the new cartoon, "Tangled".  VERY cute show.

Grandma Foster gave Ashton a fireman dress up suit.  Ashton plays with his football player and dinosaur Halloween costumes all the time so he was thrilled to have a new one to use.

I love my little man.  He's so sweet.  So affectionate.  Happy to please.  I love his imagination, adventuresome spirit, and his strong determination in life.  I just want to squeeze him just looking at his pictures!

We gave Ashton the Woody and Buzz Lightyear toys.  We go fairly light on birthday gifts since I do big birthday parties for the kids, which add up, and they get so many presents at those.

Grandma Lee stopped by to wish Ashton a Happy Birthday and gave him the dragon toy from "How to Train a Dragon".  And Grandma and Grandpa Stice gave him an aircraft carrier with toy jets. Ashton had a great day and loves his loot!

New Years With My Family!

We had an exciting New Years holiday this year with the company of every single member of my family! 

My good friend, Kerri took some photos of us at our home under construction.  She did an awesome job!  Blogger keeps cutting part of Todd off on the end of this first one- I'm not sure why it's so biased against Todd- he's so handsome!  But, you'll have to click on it to blow it up and see the full picture.

We were super happy with how the pictures turned out!

At home we put a bunch of mattresses on the living room floor and everyone piled in whenever we watched movies. Marty brought his xbox 360 as well and it made for great entertainment.  We did a dance game where everyone took turns dancing to the xbox figure- doing moves my hips just weren't made to do!

Most people had their own lap top and the living room frequently looked like an Internet cafe with 5 or more lap tops being used at the same time.

We played a lot of random games together (the non-video game type)

We made yummy goodies.  Guacamole was a  must.  But we ate really well (and healthy) the whole week.

Everyone got a workout in at our gym at the home under construction.  I conned Devan and Todd into doing a CrossFit workout with me.  My dad and other brothers lifted weights in there too.  I have to give my dad props for still resembling Superman at age 53!  He's been faithful to working out regularly his entire life.  The best example at it that I know, to be honest.

On New Years Eve we watched a movie, played more games, decorated gingerbread houses, banged pots and pans, and drank sparkling cider at midnight.

Here's some pics of that evening:

Of course their was wrestling...

And more wrestling... and the creepy sunburned doll...

Singing the New Year song

Ashton conked out at 5 minutes to midnight!  E for effort, Buddy!

The breakfast crew

That creepy doll was the object of pranks all weekend long.

We had a family concert singing together one last time before

Dad, Levi, and Nicholas had to leave.

And then they were off.  Dad is back in Kabul now. 

April cried a lot when he left.  Which made everyone else cry.  The girls anyway ;-)

Lainey, all wore out from all the fun.

When it was just down to my mom, Marty, and April, I took them down to our gym.  They each agreed to a CrossFit workout. I had them each do a different one tailored to what they were up to.  I was SO impressed!  My mom is SO strong!  I've always known that- to this day she's the only girl that has ever beaten me at arm wrestling!  That was demoralizing to be beaten by my MOM.  But here she was doing dead lifts, push ups, and sit ups and going pretty fast.  I kept the work out short and nothing heavy on the weight, but still, she did a dead lift like she'd been doing them all her life.  And Marty... holy cow he needs a licence for those guns!

After that we messed around on the rings a little and got some flexing shots, of course.  :-)

I should think twice next time about flexing next to Marty!

 

My mom's flight had her leaving my house for the airport in the late morning.  But her flight had mechanical errors that ended up cancelling the whole flight- only to be stranded without availability for another flight to Anchorage until three days later.  So she, Marty, and April got to hang out with us 3 extra days.  Which also meant they got to stay for Ashton's birthday!  Pics on that in the next post.  But it was nice to have my mom around even longer.   She's so helpful around the house that it makes me look bad!  I love my family and loved having them all here.