3 hours ago
Showing posts with label Birthday Celebrations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birthday Celebrations. Show all posts
For first birthdays I always went a little over the top, and because of the effort I put in and the memories of my sweet little one-year-olds loving the presents and cake, a lot of the first birthdays are making the list. However, I've done several less elaborate party themes that were still fun and cute (and cheap!), so you can see all of my party ideas by clicking here!
Without further ado:
This was Wyatt's first birthday party, and with him being my oldest and this being my first opportunity for a themed party, I put a lot of thought and crafting into it!
This birthday party theme just came to me one day while I was reading Eric Carle's book to Clyde! It was probably one of the easier parties that I've done.
This party takes the cake (pun intended) for being the easiest party in this list! Just add a bunch of pink and yellow decorations, get some lemonade-flavored treats, and you are good to go. I even had a little yellow dress for Gwen to wear for her party, and she looked too cute.
I really had a vision and invented this theme for Clarice's first birthday. This one may be near the top of my personal favorites list, mainly because of the PERFECT cake my sister made for the party!
I really struggled with picking a theme for Georgie's first birthday, because it fell right during the fall. I wanted a really cozy vibe, but something that looked girly too. I saw a donut board on a different blog, and decided right there to get Derek to build me one and just go with that. It turned out so pretty!
I am going to cheat a little and add one non-birthday party to this list, because I think the decorations were so cute and could be used easily for a birthday party theme! This was actually our 4th gender reveal party, and it was so fun.
When we do themed parties, I tend to do them thoroughly, because most years we don't do formal birthday parties at all. Most years we celebrate quietly with a birthday cake, a family outing, and presents before watching a movie as a family. I suspect that the quiet birthdays will be just as special to my kids someday as the years we did a big party.
Happy Saturday!
This year was my oldest boy's 10th birthday party, and as his birthday approached in February, we knew we wanted to do a special "double digit" party for him. Our kids don't get birthday parties every year, and with five of them we've had to think about which ages we wanted to plan to be party years. Hitting the double digits is a special year, so we were thinking about what we could do to celebrate Wyatt.
Our options for parties outside of our house were limited, with most places requiring limits on the number of people or requiring everyone to wear masks. So we decided to do something creative at home instead. What we came up with was a Nerf gun war/capture the flag birthday party inside our house!
Since we have limited space in our house, and since I knew this party could get crazy, we limited our invites to just immediate extended family and one close family friend that we knew would be game for a crazy Nerf war. And it did get crazy, but it turned out to be so much fun!
We basically played capture the flag, with the teams divided between the upstairs and downstairs of our house. In order to make our house feel like an appropriate environment for a Nerf war, we took down all our breakables, hung up plastic sheets to divide some of the rooms, moved the larger furniture so it could serve as barricades, and planted buckets of darts in strategic places as reloading stations.
For food I made cupcakes, layered finger jello, multi-colored white chocolate fudge, and snacks foods like pretzels and Chex mix, with chili for the main dish. We also bought little single-shooter dart guns from the dollar store as favors for all the kids!
Each team took some time to hide their flag, and each team had a designated "jail". People were supposed to freeze for five seconds after they got hit by darts, based on the honor system, and they could be "captured" and walked to the jail (the bathrooms), where they had to wait five minutes, or until a jail break. The flags had to be hidden in a place where they were visible from three directions (thought that rule got a little tricky). Everyone got a green or blue bandana and glow stick bracelet, so we could see who was on which team even in the dark. The first team to bring the opposing team's flag back into their territory won!
We also came up with a Nerf War Playlist to accompany the mayhem (it's a pretty great playlist, if we do say so ourselves).
We made sure to split up the adults and kids evenly among the teams, and I'm happy to report that no one was injured! We played three rounds, and we had a blast! I think it was especially fun for the kids to have the adults playing the game too, and I think it will be a good memory for everyone!
Georgiana turns one year old in about a week! I might be in denial a little bit.
We are going to be buried in boxes and renovations on her actual birthday, so we decided to have her first birthday party a couple weeks early while we are still in this house! It seems fitting to have her first birthday party here, since this is where we brought her home when she was just tiny.
Our last party in this house. I am a little sentimental about it. We've celebrated so much here, from our very first gender reveal party, through all the kids' birthday parties, and now this is the last one. I can't believe my tiny little baby is almost one year old!
I decided to go with a autumn/donut theme, because it was easy to pull off. It ended up being perfect to celebrate our sweet girl and send this house out in style.
I got most of the decorations from the Target dollar spot and Hobby Lobby. My friend Danae did the lettering for Georgie's wood sign (which will now live in her room at the new house). I told my sister I wanted a simple sprinkle cake this time (she's the master cake decorator in this family), and she made it come to life!
The centerpiece of our donut-themed party was the donut peg board, which Derek made for the party (I got the idea from Ashley's gorgeous baby sprinkle). It all came together really well! I am so thankful for my family and friends who helped me put it all together this time. I love going all out for the first birthday party, and this one was so easy with everyone's help!
I let Georgie have a taste of cake when we took birthday pictures a few weeks ago, so at the party it didn't take her long to remember that cake is pretty good!
It was so good to celebrate one last time in this house, with our dear family and friends. I'm glad we had a chance to celebrate our baby girl here. I might have cried a little after the party was over. It's bittersweet, leaving this house, and watching your last baby turn one.
But good things are on the horizon too.
It's here! This week the third decade of my life is coming to a close. There is something more significant about those decade increments, and I wanted to mark it here on the blog in some way.
I've been toying with different blog post ideas. I've seen some people doing "30 Things I Learned Before 30", but I couldn't bring myself to write a post like that. Most 30 year olds are still in the I think-I-know-so-much-but-I-don't-realize-I-really-don't stage, and that includes me. When I reflect back over the last 30 years, I don't think I'm qualified to offer anyone advice. I know less now than I thought I knew at 20 years old! I've spent too much time with people further down the road and much wiser than myself to offer anyone life lessons from a still relatively shallow well of experience.
What I can do though, is look back over these first decades of my life and say what I've regretted, and what I never will, so here we go.
What I Regret From My First 30 Years
Caring Too Much About What People Thought In My Teens
Doesn't every teen care too much about what their peer group thinks? Yes. Does every adult wish they had cared a little less about what their teenage peer group thought? Probably also a yes. I was so insecure as a teenager, and I can't say that I could have really done anything differently to change that - confidence must be earned in some way, must be grown into. But I still wish teenage Callie could have had a little more spunk and individuality.
Going On The Birth Control Pill
This one is a bit of a mixed bag, because I am obviously so thankful to have the children I have, and our rather frustrating journey to parenthood brought them to me. God is sovereign and always had a plan. But I went on the pill unquestioningly right before I got married, and I didn't know about it's potential abortifacient effect, which conflicts with my pro-life beliefs. I didn't know it would seriously mess up my hormones so that when we were ready to start trying for a baby, things wouldn't work right. I'll always wonder if there could have been another child, I'll always wish I did a little more research about birth control before succumbing to that cultural norm. I just didn't know.
Not Getting Serious About Budgeting Sooner
This year I finally realized that grown-ups should have budgets. I feel stupid even typing that. It's not that I had no budget at all through my 20's, I knew what I had to spend each month and I had varying success at staying within that limit. I didn't really overspend (except for one dark period between 2014-2015), but I didn't think enough about future goals and plans. I didn't "give every dollar a job". When I think of all the dollars I have wasted by allowing them to slip away without a plan every month, it makes me kind of sick. I wish I had taken one of those financial peace classes or read more about making and managing a budget before I got my first grown-up paycheck.
Not Witnessing To My Coworkers
I got a job at a great dental office the year after we got married, and I worked there until I got pregnant with Clarice. My sister even worked there for a while, which was so fun. That office saw me through the birth of three of my babies, and I so appreciated the people there. I worked there for almost 7 years. And in all that time, I was too chicken to witness to my coworkers. I was a good employee, and I know some will say that you should "preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words", but let's be honest, that's a cop-out. No one ever got saved without the use of words. I should have loved them enough to be vocal. I kind of wonder if the Lord took me out of that job because I was blowing my chances to tell them about Jesus. To me, this will always be one of my biggest failures. From an eternal perspective, it feels like a waste.
Not Filming My Kids More
Not to toot my own horn, but I have kind of knocked it out of the park when it comes to taking pictures of my kids and documenting their babyhood. But I've also had a video camera in my back pocket for years now, and I'm such a slacker on filming them! In "my next 30 years" (you know I couldn't resist that country song reference!), I want to get better at filming their childhoods, before they slip away.
What I'll Never Regret
Putting My Trust In Jesus For My Salvation
Let's start with the most obvious one! When I was four years old I asked Jesus "into my heart", and over the next years I learned and grew into my faith, made it my own. I will never, ever regret asking Jesus to save me from my sin, turning to Him alone to save my soul. It was the best decision I ever made, no matter how long I live. I am so thankful for my Savior.
Being Homeschooled
When I was 8 years old, my mom made the decision to pull me out of public school. She did this at a time when homeschooling was not common, and looking back at it now, I so admire her bravery. I am thankful every day for her decision. Being homeschooled allowed me space to stop thinking so much about what other kids thought, and start caring a little more about what God thought. That first regret in the list above could have been so much bigger. That decision by my mom to homeschool me became a major part of my testimony - without it, I don't know if I would have grown in my faith or walked with the Lord through high school at all. It's a big reason why I always knew I'd homeschool my kids. I wouldn't be who I was today without it, and I never look back at homeschooling and feel that I missed out on anything. Instead, I gained something precious from it.
Getting Married Young
When I was still in hygiene school, I remember walking into the office one day with a sparkly ring on my finger. I was so happy and excited. I remember one of the front office ladies looking at me with concern. "Are you sure? You are so young. What is the rush?" She didn't get it, and a lot of people didn't get it. They didn't understand that I was committed to not sleeping with anyone before marriage, so living together was not an option. They didn't get why I didn't care to "have some fun" first (marriage is fun, people!). They didn't recognize that when you already know you're going to marry this person, there is really no point in waiting just for the sake of waiting. They didn't think a 20 year old was mature enough to make that kind of decision. But we were absolutely committed to each other, and we got over every rough spot together. I love him more now than I did then. Did I have growing up to do? Yes, but I got to grow up with my husband next to me, my best friend. I'll never regret marrying him young.
Not Drinking
That whole "drink a little more lemonade, and not so many beers" (you know, from the song?) does not apply to me! There are a multitude of reasons why I don't drink, and I won't get into it here. That could be a whole other post, and it is a post I've attempted to tackle several times but was never satisfied enough with the result to share. I think there is liberty here for Christians, so I'm not going to judge you if you do have a drink (without getting drunk, of course, see Ephesians 5:18). But I absolutely think it was a great decision for me to never open that door. I don't want it or need it to relax (a bubble bath and chocolate does the trick), I don't need it to have fun (I honestly feel sorry for people that do), and let's just think for a minute about the money I've saved over the years by not creating that (potentially addictive and risky) habit. I don't imagine I'll regret not having a drink in my next 30 years either.
Having Children In My 20's
I started having babies in my early 20's, and had my last baby in my late 20's. People are always surprised at how young I am, considering I have five kiddos, and sometimes they're even a little judgey about it. But I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I'll graduate my first child at 40, and probably my last before I hit 50. When you are young you have more energy, and I'll hopefully be a younger grandma, which will be fun. I might even get to see my great grandchildren, like my grandparents have. Having babies young isn't always possible, and I want you all to know that my heart aches for every woman who wants to be a mama, and for whatever reason she can't. I know young motherhood isn't possible for everyone. But I don't regret it a bit. I personally don't see anything but positives attached to becoming a mom when I was young. I'm glad we didn't wait too long.
Having A Big Family
I've written about this at length, so I'll keep it short here, but goodness, I'm so thankful for my five kids. Our house is loud and chaotic and full to the brim with joy, and I wouldn't change a single thing. I'm so proud of my big family.
Quitting My Job To Stay Home Full-Time
There was a crossroads in my life a few years ago. When my first three kids were little, I was able to work just one day a week. I didn't have to be away from them very much, and was still able to supplement our income. It was a blessing. Then things started shifting, becoming a little more stressful at work, and they told me they needed me to work more days per week. I hated the thought of giving up that job at the time. But I didn't want to spend more time away from my kids, especially with another baby on the way and kindergarten looming (I wanted to homeschool). After I quit, I felt so free (and also a little guilty and insecure about no longer contributing my "extra" to our income, but that was silly and I got over it). I don't think I ever realized how much even just one day a week was taking from my energy, and now I have it back to give at home. If you are a working mom, I'm not trying to send you a message, so don't read this section that way, please. But for me, I'm so glad I let that job go and came home full-time.
Starting This Blog
If I'm totally honest, I struggle with this little online space sometimes. Blogging has changed so much, and I've changed so much too. There are times I still love having a place to share my thoughts, and times when I am afraid the whole thing is pointless. But as I write this today, I'm glad I've documented the last decade here. Would I remember so much of my 20's if I hadn't taken time to write about it? Without this space, would I have slowed down, formed my thoughts enough to be able to look back now and see God's hand in the journey from 20 to 30? I don't really think so. I don't know what the future holds for this blog. My children are growing, and life keeps speeding up. I imagine it will look different in another 10 years than it does today. But I'm so glad I take some time to write about my life here, and God's hand in it all, if for no one else than for me, to stand as my "ebenezer". It's a reminder of God's goodness to me. I don't regret writing here. And thanks to all of you who have read my posts and stuck with me through the years. Without you, I don't know if I'd have this record at all.
And just for fun, remember that unofficial 30-year-old beach shoot from my vacation? Here are the outtakes. The tide was coming in, and the waves just kept coming in higher, and that water was cold!
And just for fun, remember that unofficial 30-year-old beach shoot from my vacation? Here are the outtakes. The tide was coming in, and the waves just kept coming in higher, and that water was cold!
Here's to the next 30 years!
I was not aware until recently that PJ Masks is a new show, but in our house, we are all in. My kids know the theme song. They come up with PJ Masks stories to play out. Even Derek will sit down and watch an episode with them in the evenings and chuckle at it!
Last week was Wyatt's 6th birthday. I cannot believe that my baby is six years old! I still remember that surreal moment when he was born, with his tiny little cry, and the tears that were streaming down my face. This kiddo is something special, and I love him so much.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
