Superhero Gum Party (ollie turns 4)
Around the Hess house, turning four is a rite of passage because gum chewing is allowed at that point. So Ollie wanted a party with gum, but he also wanted it to have superheroes, so we came up with a Superhero Gum Party. As you will see, we had a lot of fun with it!
As always, we started off with a children's book with a similar theme. This year we found one called "Do Superheroes have Teddy Bears?" Even the dogs were interested to see how this one turned out.
Next the kids decorated their own Superhero masks to take home with them.
Then we moved on to some games including a bean bag toss, city smash, crash course and of course a piñata.
Some of the kids with their loot from the piñata.
We had some food next consisting of superhero dogs, fruit ka-pows, crunch chips, crackle crispies, superhero punch and pop sodas.
The birthday boy munching on some food.
Present time!!!
Inhale...
and blow...
Happy Birthday Oliver James Hess.
love is in the air
It is February, so for us it begins a busy season of birthday parties other family events, but we kicked off February with a couple of special days. Now that Charlotte is in school we get to be a part of all of the hoopla. A couple of weeks ago we had our first "donuts with dad" event which was fun and delicious. But ever since the flyer came home for the Daddy Daughter Sweetheart Dance, Charlotte has been talking about it non stop. About a week before the dance we took Charlotte to the florist so she could pick out her corsage. We found a pretty new/used dress at Once Upon A Child and Melissa put together her outfit and hair. Daughters are so special and you can see why below...
We had to make sure he dress twirled the right way.
Charlotte got to pick where we went out to dinner and she landed on Freddy's because "that's where people would go on a fancy date."
We had a blast dancing and hanging out with some of our friends that evening. I can't wait for next year when we get to to it all again.
Our Valentine's tradition since we've had kids is to head to Sweet Frog after dinner. Everyone ate way too much and I even had to fish a gummy out of Ollie's windpipe because he was eating so fast.
Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!
Christmas season happenings
This time of the year makes it tough to get things posted on here, so just like November, there is one mega post to get you up to speed on everything Hess. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you had a great Christmas! We started off the month by decorating the tree. It is so much fun year after year to get all of the ornaments out. The kids love picking though them and asking questions about each one as they try to find the perfect spot for the one in their hand.
Ollie's newest animal Maddie even helped out a little with the ones in the back.
This is my favorite. His name is Rudy. Every year I get so excited when he comes out of his box!
Ollie getting a little help to place some higher ones up top.
And check out that reach!
Gibby get the kids these very special ornaments each year. Charlotte's face says everything about how she feels about them.
Same for mommy too :)
This is Grandpa giving me a little help getting the star up there. Holding my belt loop so that I don't crash into the tree and ruin everything. It was a reach. Our ceiling are 9 foot and our tree had to be 8 foot and 31/32 of an inch.
Next was Ollie's Christmas program at preschool. Each class dresses up as a different Christmas or winter character and so, I present to you the cutest little penguin that I've ever seen.
There were 3 different kinds of donuts available at his class party and you can bet that Ollie had to sample each one.
Getting a squeeze from his teacher, Mrs. Ellis.
And Ollie got to pick where lunch was afterwards and because he fears God and lives in Cincinnati, he chose Skyline.
You can't have Christmas without Christmas cookies...
This is a rare glimpse into Ollie's brain. It's a scary place.
The finished product.
Our annual trip to redneck heaven (Bass Pro Shop) was another success. The kids love all of the games, taxidermy animals and of course, the candy cane from Santa.
We made some cute homemade ornaments for family gifts this year. Just smashed up some crayons, put them into glass ornaments and then heated them with the hair dryer. Fun to make and unique gifts to give.
And Christmas morning in all of its glory.
Ollie asked Santa for live frogs and he got them. They are lots of fun, especially because we think we might be having some frog babies after a while because that morning, Ollie called us all over to show us how the frogs were "hugging." They've been hugging ever since....a lot.
Before breakfast even began Ollie finished this full size rice crispy treat that Santa left in his stocking.
Santa left us a delicious breakfast including these cute little snowmen appetizers.
Did I mention he loves the frogs?
The dogs even got presents and like usual we all watched Abby tear hers open.
Success!
Don't know about you, but this Christmas had us feeling froggy. Ribbit Ribbit! (translation: Merry Christmas!)
