Dinosaur Birthday Party

We celebrated Parker's 5th birthday
with his buddies last week.

The "Dino-mite" invitations

The big (and might I add handsome) 5-year-old

(okay technically in this pic he is still 4 for 2 more days)

The party decor!

Parker has been adamant about having a dinosaur themed birthday party for the last six months or so. I was a bit worried wondering how we were going to entertain a bunch of little ones outside in the middle of July with a Jurassic theme without melting. I was thinking more along the line of sno-cones and water activities but dinosaurs are what he wanted. A dinosaur EGG hunt to be precise. So that is what he got.

I found some printable dinosaur party decor online which satisfied the cute factor I always crave at these things. It made my life much easier by just being able to print and cut out, rather than spending a fortune on a dino cricut cartridge, stressing over the color scheme, what paper to purchase which is another huge expense, not to mention all the hours spent assembling the homemade banners, favors, etc.

These, I just ordered (at a very reasonable price), printed, assembled and wallah. Still a bit of work but sooo much easier than I otherwise would have made it! You can check out the shop I ordered them from HERE. I highly recommend! 

The Games!:

Every good paleontologist needs a cute, sturdy bucket armed with a shovel and brush, right? Right. They not only worked out perfectly for their dino dig later, but as containers for Parker's MUCH anticipated

DINOSAUR EGG HUNT!
I scavenged through our Easter stuff, tossing out all the girly colored eggs and used the rest to fill with baby dinosaurs and treats to hide for the hunters. (I bought extras at Easter knowing that this was coming up) The kiddos really seemed to like it and I think it was a hit!

Next up was digging for dinosaurs. I found some awesome dinosaur skeletons on Amazon and they worked out PERFECT for this activity. The excavators loved digging for the dinosaur bones and got to take them home in their buckets. My kids are still playing with theirs in the sandbox almost everyday.

 

We played a bunch of other games including a dinosaur egg relay, "Hot dino egg"(Hot potato) to Dinosaur Train music, musical dinosaur feet (in place of musical chairs) and Dino Dino T-Rex (spin off of duck duck goose), just to name a few. It was great to see the kids having such a fun time.

The kids went nuts over the pinata! They were pretty excited to take down that brontosaurus. It took them awhile but it finally broke and spilled out their reward.

As you can see, Parker got a ton of great presents from his cute friends! We were so glad they could make it and hope they had as good a time as the birthday boy. Unfortunately, four of P's  buddies were out of town and unable to make the party. We definitely missed them, but I guess that's what happens when you have summer birthdays.

I think we can mark the "Dinosaur Egg Hunt Birthday Party" a big success. :)
Meanwhile, I am going to rest up for Emmie's princess party just a few weeks down the road....

Summer happenings

I'm so behind. LATE. Whatever you want to call it. Welcome to my life. Parker turned 5 today (more about that later - yes, it will be an over due post), and I just today received his birth certificate in the mail from Arizona. That's right. I finally registered to have it sent to me FIVE years after he was born. Good job Michelle. :)

So in trying to play catch up and keep my good-old, exciting blog up to date, here is a bit of what's been going on around here....

Why not start with Father's Day? That was only over a month ago now...


We had my Dad and that side of the fam over for dinner that Sunday night to celebrate.
I think everyone had a good time...?
& yes my kids look like complete ragamuffins...that is how it goes by the end of a Sunday. Or any day for that matter.
 Chris' big "surprise" gift was The Lord of the Rings extended edition blu-ray trilogy that he'd been waiting for to come out. It wasn't actually released until the next week, but I had it all ordered and he got it in the mail the beginning of July.
 Very exciting. Sadly (not really), I've never even seen a Lord of the Rings movie.
My husband is quite passionate about it (the movie) which means I must be a really good wife (since I don't care to share in his passion) or else he is a bit of a sci-fi geek. Okay so maybe it's a little of both.
What can I say except that I have extreme ADD, especially when science fiction/fantasy is made into a three hour spectacle.
I just can't do it.
I'd rather sit and pluck my leg hairs.
Really.
Like I said, I'm a good wife.

Moving on...

A few weeks ago we hit up Thanksgiving Point Farm. Emmie was in LOVE with her pony ride.

And her pony.

She was pretty miffed to only ride 1x.

The girl can scream.

Parker loved feeding the ducks and I still have a bizarre love for the goats. We ate at the Emporium afterwards before Chris jetted off to work. I kind of love his schedule which 3 days a week allows us  to spend a whole half a day with him before he leaves for work. It's kind of awesome.

SWIMMING!

After our St. George trip it was evident that not only Parker needed swim lessons this summer, but fearless, water-obsessed Miss Emmie needed them as well. They pretty much seemed to dominate our June but the kids absolutely LOVED them. They were private lessons, but taught simultaneously at a private residence. They ended up being more of survival lessons - which wasn't made clear to me before signing up. So I can't say that they actually learned how to SWIM, but the object was for them to be able to get themselves safe on their backs and stay afloat. I am still not sure how well it worked, going off the fact that I had to jump in and save Emmie after her class one day while P had an extended class....yah, long story, but the headline would go something like this...
"Fully clothed prego mom jumps into swimming pool to rescue toddler at survival swim class who fell off stairs and failed to utilize her newly taught survival techniques"...
There ya go. I always wanted to be a journalist.
Anyways, she was completely fine (I watched it all happen so my graceful leap into the pool was instantaneous). Me?  A little peeved, I'm not gonna lie. Not at E, but that this was Lesson #12(!), and I wasn't loving driving home in sopping wet clothing... Despite this incident, she was actually really quick at picking up the skills they taught and a great little learner. Overall, I think the lessons were good.
Parker now thinks he wants to become a swimmer.
We'll see how that goes when he hits high school swim team and has to wear a Speedo.
(Shudder) 
No thanks.

A few weeks ago we had a torrential down pour that resulted in a full, beautiful rainbow. The kids were finishing their nightly bath when I noticed it out the window. After they got their jams on Chris and I couldn't resist letting them go outside to view it. By then it was fading but they were pretty excited at the sight. (Can you spot it?) Emmie dances to everything that makes her happy so she was out doing ballet moves with her wild woman, post-bath hair, welcoming the rainbow....

KIDS CAMP...

This cute teenage, brother and sister in our ward started "Camp Fun-Doolah" last summer for kids in our neighborhood. (Um, genius way for teenie boppers to make some summer cash!) Parker absolutely LOVES it. This year they are only running it in July and he's gone to every one so far. (They are just once a week, 3 hours long) They always do a theme and P comes home with all kinds of crafts. Can you guess that this week was pirate week?

And last of all, my belly has been concentrating really hard on looking like a watermelon this last month as I've entered into my 3rd tri....

P & E came home with balloons from the craft store one day and thought they were pretty hilarious to wear the balloons under their shirts to look like mommy. I finally snapped some pictures of them after the joke had gone on for several days....it does seem to be an accurate depiction...
We don't look so "big" from the front, but turn sideways.... and
YOWSERS!
Ah well, what can I do but laugh?
Believe it or not - for the record, I am measuring small...
I'm just sayin'. :)

Fourth of July!

I love the Fourth of July.
It could very well be my favorite holiday.
Summertime, patriotism, parades, BBQ's, good food & fun is what it's all about.
With no gift giving or receiving.
I like that part too. ;)
I think some of my favorite childhood memories stem from this holiday.

& these two little monkeys were so excited for the celebrations.
We embarked on Independence Day Eve in good old red white & blue fashion....



& by fashion, I really mean it.

(10 points if you can spot the naked baby)

Yes, Emmie wore her sparkly red Jessie boots to church on Sunday.

It's totally normal to wear dress up boots to church, isn't it?

I thought so. :)
Hey at least it wasn't a princess dress.

On the morning of the Fourth the kiddos in our neighborhood went on a bike parade.

If you tell me that's not cute, I don't know what is.

& check out these little twinsies.

Completely adorable, right?

& this little cutie was pretty pumped up herself.

Yes, the Jessie boots were of course a necessary accessory for the celebration!

This little guy went around the parade route twice. He was tired, but a trooper. & I can't believe we let him ride without his helmet. :/ I guess all rules fly out the window when there's a holiday...sad but true that sounds about right. I think Emmie ate about 20 cookies that day at both BBQ's we attended.
The first (BBQ) was with the neighborhood following the parade, the next with our friends and neighbors on our street.

Busy, busy day but so much fun!

& that night we had my Dad, Chris' brother Zach and sis Bethany and her husband Brett over for more treats and fireworks. This is the first time ever my kids have watched street fireworks. In previous years, they have always been long in bed by the time it's finally dark (with the exception of Stadium of Fire last year).

Parker was sooooo excited when Chris told him that he bought a box of 50 fireworks.
Parker kept saying, "Are you serious, Dad? Really? Are you kidding me?".
He was sooo looking forward to them, but it was Emmie who enjoyed them the most. She squealed and cheered for them, while P held his hands over his ears.
Later I even found him back sitting by the front door on our porch.
As I sat down beside him, his explanation was,
 "I just feel safer over here, Mom".
I love that he said that. :)
With all the aerial fireworks going off in every direction we looked (via the new lift of the law prohibiting them) I couldn't help but agree. It was very cool and exciting, but a little unnerving to me to say the least.

For such a cautious little boy, our P-Man sure does get hurt a lot.
Did you notice his his right eye?
I'll save that story for another day....

HAPPY FOURTH!!!