a puppet party

last weekend it was all puppets all the time.
whenever i had a break from the pregnancy quesies..
i would be thinking puppets. working on puppets. dreaming puppets. 

a certain brand new four year old helped me make puppet invitations.
with a hot glue gun.


i cut out all the face parts and then he got to design who had what.

we designed it so that the invitation part could come out and you could just play with it like a regular paper bag puppet.
also our guests were friends from church so they didn't need to go through the mail.
also i forgot the invitations repeatedly and ended up giving it to them at the actual party because i am just that on top of things around here.

we spread out birthday gifts over the whole week as not to overwhelm and induce the crazies. since we don't do christmas gifts this is their 'big' present score. i tend to buy throughout the year and save it up for their birthdays.

a vintage airplane ...

cappy went with the giant tonka truck. well done cappy. :)

nana made his knighthood dreams come true with this sword wielding, dinosaur fighting gentleman and his matching horse who did not wish to be photographed per his handler's instructions. 

grayson asked me what knights really did... i told him that they were supposed to protect the king and kingdom and fight bad guys. 

what he really wanted to know was could they fight pirates. pirates, at our house, rank amongst the worst of the worst. if you can beat pirates you are alright. this could be due to an early exposure of the real life drawings of pirates and their naughtiness gleaned from cappy here. 

but really are you ever too young to learn not to join up with pirates?? no.

and his grand finale....

he has wanted one for about a year.

pure joy. :)

we were treated to a rocking band performance the rest of the night. ari is playing the little known instrument called 'guitar tuner'. :)

his 'moment of birth' yearly picture. all these evening babies and the terrible lighting their birth moment entails. :)
but even bad lighting can't dull the melt my heart effect that this little glimpse of angel face gives me...

the next day was party prep. it didn't start well...

apparently taking your cakes out before they completely cool is absolutely necessary. tell that to the pregnancy crash out emergency nap. can't be helped.


i salvaged as best i could and thanked my lucky stars for frosting.

i saw an amazing jelly bean cake on pinterest.. (ps.. i figured out how to stick that little button up there if you want to know what i do with my evenings these days).
90 minutes of swirling a cake around and around while following a jelly bean color pattern is cathartic. remind yourself of this when you spend the best currency you have...nap time.. on such a task.

 because of the misfortune my cakes experienced earlier.. the top was not what i would call level. at all.

so the final layers of jelly beans had to go vertical in order to not highlight such a fact.

but i was pretty happy with it considering it was a near disaster only hours before.

the happy birthday chalkboard. late at night i lose my better judgement and exploit the fear of crabs that is prevalent in our home. you haven't really laughed until you hear your kids having a discussion that entails. "when i grow up i won't ever have crabs." and then chanting

"no more crabs! crabs are bad!"

we kicked the party off with making our own sock puppets. this craft was so easy and a total hit with kids and grown ups. rutheah and i might have been caught working on sock puppets after the party was over.. just because the  'babies' needed one. ;) i'll have to do a tutorial for these... they are fun. :)

i made this puppet theater out of an old shower curtain i found for $3 a year ago. who buys random shower curtains on target clearance end caps in hopes it will come in handy for something?? you know you do. ;) 
i already had this random little curtain rod from who knows when... and then to top it off found this red velvet fabric lined with gold velvet, with the little black elastics already on there, at the antique store for $4. what are the chances?? 
so i guess what i'm saying is hoarding pays off and clearly God loves a puppet theme.

in one of the not surprising but definitely hilarious moments of the day... i walked into the bedroom to find ari 'selling tickets' to the upcoming surprise entertainment.

how she organizes all these wily little boys i don't know.. she needs to spill her trade secrets.

maybe it was the fabulous help she hired.. or her use of a walkie talkie once someone was 'approved' for entrance. that girl kills me. :)
walkie talkies were grammy and grandpa's genius birthday gift. fun and function. i like it:)

the puppet show entertainment... 

"lafonda" the puppet was a hit. :)
 and in one of those circular spins of reason lafonda the puppet also had a sock puppet. 

food time:

homemade lemonade.

with cute straws.

rainbow fruit kabobs.

and grilled cheese that was supposed to be served in these cute little bags and tied with cute twine.

didn't happen.

i would like to understand how these party people online make these pre made gorgeous food spreads.

when exactly would i put my grilled cheese in my bags and not have them be cold by the time the guests eat them? 

i'm confused. 

thankfully the four and under crowd is not very discriminating. and really.. cute bags? i should just wait and have a grown up lady party and bag things for people who would appreciate it. :)

the kids just wanted to eat.

cake time... grayson hadn't seen it yet...and yes that is a picture taken after 3/4 of it is gone. :)

so he closed his eyes...

i lit his giant number four crazy sparkler candle... and nearly smoked us out of the room.

and he cowered in fear.

and terror...

after the sparks quit flying... and while i was turning off the smoke detector that had started shrieking..
he grew comfortable... a little too comfortable. 

he grabbed it and burned himself. serious scarring for life happening here.

later he told me 

"the worst part of my day was when you put the flames on my birthday cake. that was willy, willy bad."

besides the flames and burns... and the fact that grayson found the one candy (jelly beans?) that he doesn't like.. i loved this party.
i love seeing my baby boy stretch up and out into the world.
four.
my top four reasons to love grayson:
1. he hits hard... with love and emotion. he is a go big or go home player. he is all or nothing.
2. i love the way he loves babies. when we were planning this party and he was telling me who he wanted to invite his list specifically had the little brothers and sisters of his friends. he wanted to make sure the babies would come. when he's playing with them his voice goes high and his smile lights up. he sometimes forgets they are just babies and can play too rough... but he loves them all the same.
3. for all his bigness and roughness, he has a sensitive heart and spirit. he can be crushed so easily. it is hard to remember to be gentle with his heart because he isn't gentle with anything... but i am learning he really needs a big hug after a stern word or he carries the heaviness around with him. 
4. he cracks himself up. he makes up ridiculous words and phrases and brings life to our family. his laugh is sweet and loud and contagious. 

he is our bubba. and we love him for four and more reasons. :)


plus.. puppets are good and puppets are fun.
good puppet fun is for everyone. :)