charlotte's 4th birthday party

Last weekend we celebrated Charlotte's 4th birthday. Friends of ours have a rule that kids aren't allowed to chew bubble gum until they turn 4, so we've been telling Charlotte that ever since she's been asking about bubble gum. She decided that for her 4th birthday she wanted it all to be about gum and candy, so when a cute little girl asked, here is what we came up with.

Charlotte checking out her slideshow before all of her guests arrived.

Here is a little sample of the spread we put out. Looking at these pictures makes me want to brush my teeth, but all of the kids seemed to love it!

Here are all of the craft bags waiting for all of Charlotte's cousins and friends.

Decorating aprons.

We read a fun book, called Bubble Gum Bubble Gum about a few animals that got stuck in a wad of gum on the road. Lots of fun!

Here are some of the kids decorating their cupcakes for later.

A shot of the dinner table

And time for presents...

Melissa found a bubble gum machine piñata and this is what ensued.

Eventually we just beat the thing open with our bare hands. Either way, lots of candy and toys hit the floor.

Right after that we gave Ollie and Charlotte a gift for both of them that some of our family helped us with. Their faces say it all.

Finally, 4 candles for the birthday girl.

Hard to believe our baby is already 4. Can't wait to see what this little girl does next!

A little blue truck birthday for Ollie

Ollie's birthday weekend has come and gone. After rescheduling from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, we finally got to celebrate with family and friends. Hope you enjoy some of the pictures from his party.  A couple of decorations and a peek at the slide show that was rolling the whole time.

We made this replica of the truck from The Little Blue Truck book and used a photobooth app to take fun shots of everyone.

All of the food was themed of course...chicken feed, slop, farm fresh veggies, country lemonade, tire donuts, etc. Melissa did a great job putting it all together.

Here is a look at some of the desserts as well as a frame that we made out of an old pallet and some chicken wire.

More of the decorations...

This is me reading The Little Blue Truck to the whole crowd.

Melissa came up with some fun crafts for the kids and adults.

Oliver got some help from one of his best friends Sammi to open his presents.

Singing happy birthday to Ollie.

Blowing out 2 candles...

And feasting on the cake...

Ollie had a great day and we're so proud of our 2 year old. Man that sounds weird.

October was here and quickly gone...

Although the month of October is one of my favorite months of the year, it is the busiest month for our family and so it goes very quickly!  So quickly that we do not have time to put up regular blog posts.  So here was our October.  In between crazy schedules we enjoyed some fall fun. Charlotte really enjoys decorating and this years decorating day was lead by Charlotte herself.  She did a great job helping me inside and she did the outside of the house with a little help.

A couple of weekends ago we went to Shaw Farms to pick pumpkins.  We met Grandpa and Gibby and got to ride a hay ride (best deal in town), saw some animals, played at the farm and Charlotte got to take a farm train ride.  She was thrilled as you can see.

Later that evening we went to Grandpa and Gibby’s house for dinner to carve pumpkins.

On Halloween night Grandpa, Gibby and Tiki came over to partake in our block party with neighbors.  Charlotte and Oliver were Elsa and Olaf and not to be out-shined, Gibby and Tiki were scarecrows!  We had a delicious dinner and then all the kids took off for trick or treating adventures.  Charlotte knew exactly what she was doing as she had already trick or treated at preschool that morning.  Oliver just thought we were taking a walk with the whole neighborhood.  As soon as we walked up to the first house and he saw that he was getting “treaaaaaats!” he was off and didn’t slow down.

We had a very busy month and got to do some really fun things as a family.  Now it is November first, it is snowing and we have banana bread in the oven!  We welcome November and some lazier schedules!

-melissa

framily

We have some really good friends, they are as close as family.  They live about eight hours away and when we moved back to Ohio I was a bit concerned that our kids would not grow up together and we would never get to see them.  We don't get to see them nearly as much as we use to but when we do get to see them we have fun.

They have been gone for a week now, but Charlotte has not stopped talking about them since!  We were busy having a great time together and we miss them so much already!