Luau 2015

I don't know what it was about this year's luau...but it was my favorite so far.  I think it was the most relaxed I've ever been there, and that happened for no other reason other than me making a vow at the start of the party to actually make it a point to relax.  I even had some drinks!  I ate a full plate of food!  I felt like I got to talk to nearly everyone at the party, even if it was just briefly!  I even told Brian at the end of the night to stop cleaning up and relax! (Ok, that might have been the mai tais talking, but whatever)

 

 

 

 

It's always great to see so many of our family and friends, and we were lucky this year that not only were both sets of grandparents able to join us, but our besties from Virginia and Brian's aunt and uncle from New Jersey were here, too!

So much handsome in one picture.

 

 

 

 

 

Our families have grown and changed so much over the years, but our friendship has remained the same...we are so lucky to have Melissa, Dennis, Ben and Parker in our lives!  And I mean, could the boys be any cuter??

And a big thank you as always to our families for all of their help with the luau, we could never pull it off without them!!!  (note to self: have the grandmas set the food out before serving them drinks... #TheSternosAreLitAndSoAreTheGrandmas)

There were kids EVERYWHERE and I was so impressed that I didn't hear any squabbling or fighting the entire night...so they were either all playing angelically with each other, or they at least weren't fighting loudly enough to get my attention.  I'll take either one!

Gracie, on the other hand, was less than impressed with one thing at the luau....last year after Halloween, I found a little "luau dog" costume 90% off at Target.  90% off friends!  They were practically giving it away, how could I not??  She kept it on for about 10 minutes before looking so ashamed that I took it off.

"I can't believe this is my life right now"

Brian opened up the bar for happy hour per usual and the drinks were the best ever...

GG, Nana, Aunt Laureen, Uncle Phil

 

Dennis and PopPop

 

 

He wrapped up happy hour a bit earlier than usual so that they could start a game of Tiki Ball. What's tiki ball, you ask?  Well, I'm still not sure and I got talked into playing it!  All I know is there were old tiki torch sticks used as bats, a whole lot of yelling, and kids running everywhere.  Oh, and I managed to not break a leg running the bases, so WIN!

 

 

A great party, made even better by the fact that Melissa and family were spending the night at our house, and the kids were super excited for a sleepover and to play together again in the morning :)

 

Gracie spent much of the next day in recovery mode and is hoping that next year does not involve a grass skirt for her.

Thanks again to everyone who came!! 

What we've been up to

I've fallen behind on blogging, so brace yourself for a post that's basically just filled with random happenings and pictures.  You're welcome! :)

After years of tagging along to many, many birthday parties (a benefit of being the 2nd child, I suppose)  Liam is starting to have his own little social life at birthday parties.  This was a recent one for one of his besties, Maya...with an appearance by Ariel!!

Painting seashells-look how sweaty his head is, he had just come out of the bouncy house!

As I posted before, Liam has pretty much moved away from weekend naps.  It's fine for the most part, and sometimes if we're home, I have both of them take a rest in the afternoon to recharge....sometimes they read or do something quiet, sometimes I put on a movie and pop some popcorn:

And sometimes, after an especially tiring weekend, this is what happens around 5pm:

 

DONE.

We had a low key Father's Day celebration, which was very welcome after a few busy weekends in a row.  My parents came up and the rain held off so we were able to have a family wiffleball tournament, followed by a trip to Bruster's and burgers on the grill later in the evening :)  Happy belated Father's Day!

Me and my dad, circa 1984

Brian and his dad, 2006

Brian and the boys, 2011

Nothing like seeing a picture of your newborn to make you realize how quickly the time passes.  *sniff, sniff*  Is someone chopping onions in here?!?

Anyway--this past weekend was pretty much a total wash.  Saturday was storm-tastic.  There were maybe 3 breaks in the rain with tiny amounts of sun, but that would be followed by a full blown storm with sideways rain. We did the usual rainy day activities for most of the morning....coloring, board games, etc.

We gave up on the day by lunch time and went to "Inside Out":

I promise Jake was having fun, I'm not sure what is going on in that picture, haha!!  It was a good movie...not my favorite Pixar movie, but good. It made me cry, though I'm pretty sure there hasn't been a Pixar movie produced that hasn't resulted in tears for me! 

Sunday was a bit better in that there was no rain by late-morning, but temperature wise it felt more like fall.  I could nearly taste the pumpkin spice latte!!  We made it to church in the morning...I have to tell you a little more about this picture.  It's rare these days that Jake wears anything other than "comfy" shorts (aka-athletic shorts) so when he does venture out of them, I like to document it.  They were both looking handsome and my impatiens are the BOMB this year (if I do say so myself) so I wanted to snap a picture of them in front of the beautiful flowers.  That's not asking so much, is it? 

Well, according to my 7 going on 17 year old it was.  His exact response when I told him to stand still so I could get his picture was, "Mom, are you seriously going to take my picture?  These church clothes are embarrassing" Well, excuuuuuuuuse me. 

Also, when did I become "mom"???

The rest of the day ended up being a nice balance of work and play....Brian was able to get some treehouse work done (I promise to post an update soon!), I was able to clean out 2 closets that looked like they were going to explode at any minute, and we were able to play in between that stuff.  At one point we were all wizards and sorcerers:

And later in the day, we headed outside to play baseball. 

In case you were wondering, my cue for that picture was "smile boys!"  NAILED IT.

So that's it for right now; it's hard to believe that it's almost JULY! 

Paw Patrol is on a Roll: Liam's 4th Birthday Party!

This birthday was a big one for Liam...his first friend birthday!  The advantage of having a May birthday is that I will have a bit more flexibility in terms of where to have his parties (as opposed to the poor winter birthday boy, Jake) so I figured since the guest list was pretty small we would be brave and have it outside at our house.  Liam made a very firm decision quite some time ago that he wanted a Paw Patrol birthday party....so we made it happen!! 

invitation (details removed for privacy)

There's always a risk when planning an outdoor party that the weather may not cooperate, and that was definitely a fear that day, as everything was soaked from rain the night before and some showers that morning...dark clouds kept coming and going and finally going back and forth (and maybe having a small anxiety attack over the whole thing), we made the executive decision to have it outside (thanks to my mom and dad for dealing with my craziness and helping us relocate the entire party to the patio...and thanks to my friend Marissa for donating some of her Paw Patrol supplies to me!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, that is how I marked the bathroom door.

After all of the kids arrived, we herded them back to the table to make their craft/favor; they were each "adopting" a stuffed dog and coloring it with fabric markers.  To be honest, I wasn't sure how this would go....I didn't know if they would be interested at all, or if they would lose interest after just a few minutes....but they all loved it!  It held their attention for quite some time, and then I came around with adoption certificates so that they could officially name their new dog. It ended up being super cute!  Stuffed dogs available from Discount School Supply ($21.99 for 12 dogs)

 

Adoption Certificate:

After that, the kids ran around for awhile longer then we called them back again to play "Pin the Badge on Marshall" before the pizza came.  They weren't quite as into this activity, but quite a few did play.  The game can be found as a free printable on the Nick Jr. site!

 

After making an attempt to have the kids eat pizza (this was not really successful) we decided it was time to stuff them with cupcakes!!  These ended up being some of my favorite pictures of the day...I love the look on his face in both of them:

"Are you seriously telling me I can't eat this yet??"

THAT SMILE.  

 

 

Then it was time for more playing, followed by present opening.  I love how no matter what the age, present opening time at parties always results in a mob-like situation with the party-goers. 

As the party was winding down, Brian was pushing some of the kids on the swing and one started yelling "THIS IS THE BEST PARTY EVER!", so it's always good to hear positive feedback from your target audience :)

After the guests left, GG and Pappy stuck around for a bit and Liam enjoyed opening his gifts from them:

While typing all of this out and adding pictures, I've realized I did not get a single family picture the entire day!  *sadface*  However, even more gratifying than a family picture was the conversation I had with Liam when putting him to bed that night.  We were chatting about the party, and saying how nice it was that all of his friends came, and he wrapped his little hands around my neck, gave me a big squeeze and said, "Mommy, thank you for my Paw Patrol party...it was the best ever". 

You are welcome, little man.  You are so welcome. 

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Click on the names below for all of the FREE printables!

Paw Patrol Cupcake Toppers
Paw Patrol Food Labels
Paw Patrol Adoption Certificate 

Other Supplies:

Dog food bowls: Dollar Tree
Polka Dot Straws: Target
Paw Patrol Napkins: Target
Stuffed Dogs: discountschoolsupply.com
Pin the Badge on Marshall: nickjr.com