Thursday, October 27, 2016

Pancakes & Pajamas - Londyn Grace's 4th Birthday Party

We celebrated Londyn Grace's fourth birthday with a pancakes and pajamas themed party! I think it was one of my favorite themes to date! So much fun to plan and so many little details that made it all come together. 


We decided to have the party at our church since our house proved to be a bit cramped when we had Liam's party in August. It worked out really well and gave us space for the activities we planned for the kids!

I made the invitations using Photoshop and then found the perfect pjs for the birthday girl at Carters, but of course, I had to add a monogram! We were so excited when we found a pair of donut pants in my size a few weeks later so we could match! 

The menu was a given since breakfast is one of the few meals our picky eater enjoys! We had pancakes with lots of toppings including maple syrup, whipped cream, fruit, sprinkles and chocolate syrup, scrambled eggs, lots of different cereals, powered and chocolate donuts, and Goosey's favorite, bacon! It's always fun to have breakfast for dinner! 




I used the pink gingham from the invite as the basis for the decor, but added lot of other colors to coordinate with Londyn Grace's pjs. 

She was so thrilled to have both Mimi and Pop Pop, Grammy and Grandpap, Mom Mom, Auntie and Bayleigh and Sonya here for her party.









The donut piƱata was a hit with the kids. Londyn Grace loved picking out the different kinds of candy to fill it and helped me cut and glue the streamer to cover it. I was afraid that it would bust after one or two hits, but the packing tape proved pretty strong and it took all of the kids plus Mommy, Auntie, and Daddy before it finally broke open! 






Daddy was able to break it and after all of the candy was picked over, Pop Pop decided to wear it as a hat! ;)



Pin the butter on the pancake was also fun! I made the poster and had it printed as a 16x20 print at Costco then just cut squares of "butter" out of yellow construction paper. It was pretty funny to watch the blindfolded participants try to find the pancake stack! I really wanted an eye mask to use as a blindfold, but couldn't find one anywhere!







At the kids table, each place setting included a coloring page, crayons, gummy eggs and a variety of tiny cereals they could take home as favors. Vases of fruit loops and flowers adorned the adult tables. 






After all of the games, it was time for cake!






She loved her pancake cake, and was so tickled to be sung to! 





Daddy helped blow out the candles after her first few tries were unsuccessful!





We brought her old toddler bed over and it served as the gift "table!" She was so excited over each gift she opened, but her favorite part was probably just having all of her church friends and our family from back home in Maryland and Pennsylvania there to celebrate.





It was such a fun evening with our favorite four year old! We are so blessed to call her ours!





Thursday, September 22, 2016

An Apple a Day...

After several weeks of planning to squeeze in a beach day before summer ended, we finally resigned to moving that item to next year's summer bucket list! Church responsibilities kept us from getting to the sand so we decided to move on to a fall activity instead when Daddy was able to take his regular Monday off from the office. 

We always go apple picking with our church at an orchard in early October, but we thought it wouldn't hurt to go twice this season so we headed to Alstede Farms for a morning of Fall fun!

While we waited for the tractor to take us to the apple trees, Liam loved looking at the cows.



The tractor was taking a bit longer than normal to arrive so we decided to walk out to the trees. Our tractor loving boy wasn't very happy with that decision, but once he got to pick some apples he cheered up a little. It was a challenge keeping him from eating them as we picked. 





Londyn Grace loved helping Daddy choose apples for our basket. 


And posing for Mama every now and then! Well, I'm not sure she loved the picture part, but she's always a good sport for my camera!



Daddy even snapped this picture of the two of us!



Honeycrisp are Daddy's favorite apple so we that's the majority of what we came home with.


Londyn Grace and Liam had fun playing tag among the trees.


It didn't take long to gather 10 pounds of apples!



And then it was time for the highlight of our Bubby's day! A ride (or multiple rides!) on the tractor!


That little smile just melts me!


Daddy and Sissy got off to pick a few raspberries, but Mama stayed on so Bubby could enjoy it a bit longer.

The raspberries were sparse since it's the end of the season for that crop, but we were able to bring a few home.

After our bounty was paid for, we visited a few more animals!




And then we played on the hay bale tower for a bit!


We planned to make an apple pie, but a certain little boy snacked on apples all week leaving an empty basket and none left for a pie! 

We're looking forward to going to orchard next weekend and definitely have a pie on the to-do list with those apples!

It was a great start to my favorite season!