a few snowflakes

It snowed for about an hour today. And then it was gone...

thank you!

I love this picture! Here he is playing with 3 of the 4 toys he got for his birthday while wearing his new cape and Superman costume. The only thing missing is the Hot Wheels track! He was sitting next to the track when I went to get my camera but had moved before I could get a picture of him literally playing with everything he got for this birthday at the same time!

Thank you to everyone for the fun gifts and for spending the afternoon with us. You truly made his day!

our superhero turns four

I had a lot of fun getting ready for Andrew's superhero party!

I made these little capes for everyone by simplifying something I found online.

I got this Superman costume for $4.99 and decided it'd be the perfect thing for Andrew to wear at his party. We had him open it today and he was very excited (to say the least).

The whole party revolved around the kids earning their superhero status. First, everyone had to use their detective skills to find their poster. Once they found their poster, they earned their mask.

Then they had to dig in the ball pit to find silly string (their super power) in order to stop the villain from stealing our ice cream.

After they defeated the bad guy, they earned their capes.

Then it was time for ice cream (Andrew's request because he doesn't like cake).

Happy birthday!

Group shot (minus Logan).

The party was over after about an hour so the kids had a lot of time to play. When they decided to go outside, Andrew stayed inside to play with all his new toys. :) We finally convinced him that his friends would be leaving soon but his toys were here to stay, so he should go play too.

I wasn't sure how into the game the kids would get, but they really got into it. They attacked the villain, the wore their capes and most even wore their masks! And when I told them they could draw their super power on their capes, most of them took that seriously too. It was awesome.

The most important thing, of course, is that Andrew had a great time! And he is very, very proud to be four. We keep reminding him that his actual birthday isn't until Wednesday, but he doesn't care. He's four.

this time he got the apron!

good morning!

entertainment

Mason was entertaining himself in the car the other day by hiding his hand and then popping it out.

Andrew wasn't impressed. :)

thanks, Shutterfly!

Well, it turns out I love Shutterfly! My friend Brooke put up info about a promotion they're doing for bloggers to get 50 free cards so I thought I should check them out. Not only are there a ton of good choices for Christmas cards, but their other stuff is fun too.

I would love to have a Christmas party and send out real invitations (not just an Evite) and when I do, you can expect them to look a little something like this:

They have more here if you want to check them out.

I also found grandma's Christmas present. Sorry, I can't share a link - grandma frequents the blog...

We've tried 4 different places for Christmas cards over the past 4 years, but haven't used Shutterfly yet. I can't wait for our cards this year! Their options are fantastic! I love all the colors and variety - it's seriously going to be hard to pick one. Look at them all!

I love the idea of 3 pictures like they did here.

Or maybe you'll see our smiling faces on something like this one. I love this!

50 lucky people will soon find out (maybe even more...if 50 are free we might be able to spread even more Christmas cheer this year!). :)

I absolutely and completely love Starbucks

What did people do before there was a Starbucks on every corner? Seriously.

I have been having the most annoying luck. Not bad luck, just annoying. For example, I decide to go a little further on an empty tank than I should have. Then to push it just a bit more, I decided to go to a cheaper gas station by my office, but when I got there, the whole station was out of order. Never seen that before - might as well happen that day though to top off an equally annoying 2 hours before that. The bummer is it wasn't just a one-day thing. Today I had a great plan to get stuff done before Mason needed his nap. It would've worked perfectly if only the stores I needed actually opened before Mason needed his nap...

Anyway, I made my boys power through an annoying hour with me and then still needed to waste a half hour so I broke down and went to Starbucks. Before my Starbucks budget was cut (before people yell at Matt for ruining my life, :) it was a mutual decision) I used Starbucks to get me through a boring time, a long wait, a rainy day, a sunny day... all the time. If I just use it during emergencies, I think it will end up being a better plan in the end. Both boys enjoyed the heck out their treat (a shared hot chocolate and an apple ... again, different than what my choice would've been in the past) and we wasted just enough time!

PS. Notice I said nothing about a cranberry bliss bar?! It's tradition for my friend and I to get one together, so I had to pass it up today. My will power is amazing, I know!

thanks, Lowes

Matt has been wanting to take Andrew to the build-it thing that Lowes does for a while, and they were finally able to go yesterday! He made a periscope - it's actually really cool. The only bummer is the first time they went, they were out of the aprons or tool belts or whatever it is the kids usually get. Don't worry though - they'll be back!

celebrating the "four"ce

I know so little about Star Wars that I'm not even sure how to do the title of this post. But Ivor's mom said something like this and I thought it was funny! I think I'm close - if not, you get the point!

Ivor's party was a costume party, but since we haven't gotten into Star Wars, we didn't have anything to wear (if only the Rings lived closer!). :) It ended up not being a problem though because the first thing we did was make a costume.

It took Mason a while to notice the cupcakes, but once he did, he was not messing around. I asked Lisa to take a picture and as she came to get my camera she had to defend her cupcake. :)

Happy birthday, Ivor! Hope you felt loved. And may the force be with you. (right?!)

friends!

We finally found a time to hang out with our long-lost friends! It was fun catching up and watching the kids play together. We put on a movie and all four of them decided to pile on the same chair. Later, Andrew and Bella needed some time to check facebook. :)