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!

charlotte is four

Today, Charlotte is four years old. So many changes in just one year. We hope you enjoy the pictures.

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.

Oliver's 2 year pictures

For the next couple of weeks we are the proud owners of a 3 year old and a 2 year old. Due to the sub zero temperatures and mounds of snow we headed over to the Krohn Conservatory to snap Oliver's 2 year old pictures. Ollie was coming off of a pretty bad cold, so you'll notice that in most of his pictures his mouth is wide open because that is the only way he could breathe. He did a great job and we had fun as a family checking out all of the beautiful trees and plants...but we think Ollie was still the best thing to photograph that day. Enjoy.