An Out of This World Party

Last Saturday we had an out of this world party for sweet Ethan!  Right now he really loves astronauts, rocket ships, and outer space so what a perfect theme for his 3rd birthday!  He has been looking forward to this party for months, and I think it was worth the wait!  He had so much fun playing with his friends!

Every year I think I am going to "scale back", but I just can't help but get a bit carried away when it comes to planning decorations/food according to the theme we selected.  I blame Pinterest!  In any case, I thought everything turned out fabulously.  Troy so graciously got the ladder out 2 or 3 times to hang things for me that I forgot about the first or second time, and my mom was a huge help with the food prep and baking.  She did an awesome job on moon cake I wanted as well!

Once Ethan's friends and family showed up for the party, he had a great time playing... and eating!  We were so fortunate that the weather was absolutely perfect, and Ethan took a nice long nap so he was rested, happy and ready to play.  His party guests included Olivia, Amelia, Micah, TJ, Ian, Elby and Bennett.  We were also thankful to have Gabby & Peepaw, Grandma & Grandpa Matus, and Aunt Lynette.  I know our little birthday boy felt incredibly special that so many joined us to celebrate his big day! (Troy & I did as well!)

 Ethan's favorite space snack was the Alien pops I made!  Every time he walked through the kitchen, he helped himself to one... I'm pretty sure he had at least 6 or 7!

 Ethan and his sweet friend, Olivia!

 Ethan and Miss Amelia

Ethan and his buddy TJ from school

 Friends and family enjoying some food and the beautiful weather!

 Olivia, TJ, Ian, Micah and Bennett playing with all of Ethan's fun toys :)

All the kids had fun playing "Ring Around the Rosy" in the bounce house with Ms. Toni!

After some food and a lot of playing, we sang Happy Birthday to Ethan and devoured that Chocolate Nutella moon cake!  Ethan had trouble smiling for our pictures... and blowing out his candles because he had a "really chewing" Starburst in his mouth.  Apparently he was grabbing them from the jar and taking them to various party guests, requesting they open it for him.  So in addition to the 7 or so Alien Pops, he also enjoyed about that many Starbursts.  Needless to say, he didn't have much interest in the cake/cupcakes aside from blowing out the candles :)  Once the party died down a little, he opened a few of his gifts and enjoyed some quality family time.  It was a perfect day!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN!

Now that his party is over, he tells us frequently that it isn't his birthday anymore.  And he wants to know why the guys came and took HIS bounce house away :) I know how he feels... it stinks when your birthday passes and you have to wait 365 more days until the next one!  I think he has enough memories (and toys) to last him that long though!

Birthday Boy!

Friday was Ethan's 3rd birthday!  I can't believe our little guy is THREE already... doesn't even seem possible!  We wanted to give Ethan a little surprise first thing when he woke up so Thursday night Troy blew up a bunch of balloons (5 giant trash bags worth) and we were going to wake up early and put them in his room before he woke up.  Little did we know... getting them from the trash bags and into his room quietly was going to be an insurmountable task!  We woke up at 6, brought the balloons upstairs from the garage and emptied the bags into the hallway.  Then we were going to "push" them into Ethan's room so as to not wake him.  Well, the ceiling fan kept "pushing" them back out of the room, and even after turning it off the only way to get them to stay in there was to carry them into the room.  All was going well nonetheless until about 10 minutes in, when some little feet started wiggling and the birthday boy's head popped up!  That was at 6:20am... a good hour before he normally wakes up!  So, we got an early start on the day!!!

Ethan enjoyed some early morning playtime in the backyard with Daddy (it was nice and cool even), while I made some special birthday pancakes for the little guy.  We sang "Happy Birthday" and Ethan blew out his candles, then we enjoyed our breakfast. 

Once Gabby and Peepaw arrived, we headed to the mall to go to Build-a-bear.  He made an astronaut monkey!  Although he wasn't too sure about actually building the monkey, he warmed up to "bathing" and combing him after a little encouragement from Mom & Dad.  Before we left the mall, he also got to spend some Mickey money (a Disney giftcard) and he chose to buy a helicopter.  He also enjoyed riding the carousel and the train.

After the mall and a good nap, he opened his presents and then we went to his very favorite place to eat "three-birds" otherwise known as Freebirds.  He gobbled up all his quesadillas and then we headed over to the yogurt place for some ice cream. 

What a fun and busy day of celebrating our BIG 3 year old!  Happiest of birthdays to our sweet boy!  He is so funny, so talkative, and so strong-willed!  His laugh is contagious, he is incredibly sweet, and he is pretty darn handsome!  He is also smart as a whip!  We are so blessed to be his parents xoxo

First Family Vacation

Last month, we went on our very first family vacation and we all had a blast!  We went with Gabby & Peepaw and the dogs and we all piled into Peepaw's truck before the sun was even up on Wednesday, September 17 and headed down to Port Aransas.  We were expecting rain all week, so we were pleasantly surprised when we enjoyed 3 days with no rain at all and 1 day with just some light morning showers.  It was pouring when we were packing up to leave on Sunday though!

Ethan LOVED the beach!!!  He had so much fun splashing/kicking the water, jumping over the waves, throwing the wet "quick sand", building sand castles, driving his dump truck, flying his kite, feeding seagulls, swimming in the pool, fishing, eating, riding the ferry, playing at the park, watching ships/dolphins, playing with Gabby & Peepaw, and just exploring everything!  We had a busy few of days!!!  So busy, that our little anti-napper actually took good naps every day we were there :)

Here are a few (okay, a lot) of pictures from Ethan's very first vacation...

 Day 1: Hitching a "ride" to the beach with Daddy

 Day 1: Family Photo (first time to see the beach for Ethan)

 Day 1: Jumping waves with Mom & Dad

 Day 1: Kicking & Splashing

 Day 1: All BOY!  Throwing wet sand :)

Day 1: Such a handsome beach bum

Day 1: Enjoying his Gabby & Peepaw

 Day 2: Relaxing in his beach chair

 Day 2: Molly doing the same!

Day 2: Daisy's a swimming dog

 Day 2: Daddy caught him a fish from the ocean with his bucket!

 Day 2: Flying his kite!  We had the beach to ourselves!

Day 2: So excited about his kite!

 Day 2: Burrying Ethan in the sand

 Day 2: Hanging with Mommy

 Day 2: Feeding fritos to the seagulls with Gabby and Dad

 Day 2: Exploring the marina at dinner with Peepaw

 Day 2: Riding the ferry boat

Day 2: Playing at the park

 Day 3: Cruising in the pool

 Day 3: Cannonball!!!!  Ethan learned quickly after watching Daddy & Peepaw :)

 Day 3: Look at this little dolphin under the water!

 Day 3: Fun in the pool with Daddy!

 Day 3: Shark bait

 Day 3: Watching the ship come in

 Day 4: Digging & dumping at the beach

 Day 4: Daddy dug up a crab!

 Day 4: Busy, busy boy!

Day 4: He could do this all day long!

Day 4: Mom caught a fish with lil buddy's fishing pole!

What a fantastic week!  Even mom and dad got to relax a little, thanks to Gabby & Peepaw entertaining the little guy!  We will treasure these memories forever!