Hi bloggies! I have been so busy that I have not had a chance to upload pics from my camera or even write a blog post! (I know, I know...Who am I?!) April has been the best month, full of celebrations and fun with friends and family! We kicked off the month with Cade's 3rd birthday! I began planning and buying in March, what a difference that made! I don't know if I can credit Pinterest for inspiring me to make Cade's birthday a really special day or if I should credit Pinterest for making me feel like an underachiever despite all the cute things we did pull off to celebrate the little man.
Anyways, his birthday fell on a Saturday this year and right before Easter! Super helpful to have Good Friday to help prep. I did see a fun idea on Pinterest to surprise the birthday boy with a room full of balloons when they wake up in the morning. So Friday night after he went to bed, I ran to Party City to pick up our balloons for his party the next day. Tip: Make sure your party store adds in the 24 hour helium or else your balloons will not be still floating by party time! Nick and I snuck into Cade's room at 4:00am and taped some of the balloons at varying heights. You have to release the balloons for the ceiling one at a time because they are surprisingly noisy too!
At 5:15am we heard whimpering coming from his room. Of all nights to not leave on a nightlight! What morons. Cade was freaked because he sensed some things moving around his room, but he couldn't tell they were balloons. We went to save the day and when we turned on the lights his fear quickly turned into amazement. "It's my happy birthday!! Look at the happy birthday balloons, Daddy!"
We snuggled in bed for awhile then at a more decent hour we woke up and brought in Devyn to see the balloons. The kids were so sweet just laying on the floor together staring up at the balloons and pulling on the strings to make them bounce around. It was a really fun brother-sister moment. I think we just might continue this birthday tradition of waking up to a room full of balloons!! And a nightlight. Of course.
Anyways, his birthday fell on a Saturday this year and right before Easter! Super helpful to have Good Friday to help prep. I did see a fun idea on Pinterest to surprise the birthday boy with a room full of balloons when they wake up in the morning. So Friday night after he went to bed, I ran to Party City to pick up our balloons for his party the next day. Tip: Make sure your party store adds in the 24 hour helium or else your balloons will not be still floating by party time! Nick and I snuck into Cade's room at 4:00am and taped some of the balloons at varying heights. You have to release the balloons for the ceiling one at a time because they are surprisingly noisy too!
At 5:15am we heard whimpering coming from his room. Of all nights to not leave on a nightlight! What morons. Cade was freaked because he sensed some things moving around his room, but he couldn't tell they were balloons. We went to save the day and when we turned on the lights his fear quickly turned into amazement. "It's my happy birthday!! Look at the happy birthday balloons, Daddy!"
We snuggled in bed for awhile then at a more decent hour we woke up and brought in Devyn to see the balloons. The kids were so sweet just laying on the floor together staring up at the balloons and pulling on the strings to make them bounce around. It was a really fun brother-sister moment. I think we just might continue this birthday tradition of waking up to a room full of balloons!! And a nightlight. Of course.
Cade had requested a Green Buzz Lightyear party. So I ordered green and blue mini-cupcakes from Target (they turned out neon yellow and bluish green, whatevs!), ordered two dozen green, blue, and purple balloons and Toy Story balloons, and picked up confetti popcorn from Pop It! in Plano. Our family is tres obsessed with popcorn. The boy can eat an entire medium sized bag of popcorn from the movie theater (not that he actually HAS done this, but I don't doubt this ability). Cade had requested green popcorn, then changed his mind to pink the week of the party. The awesome popcorn lady let us try all the colorful flavors and we couldn't pick just one-- so we went with "confetti" which is every flavor. I am SO happy we did, because it looked super cute on the party table and as favors!
This whole party is just for ME?!
We had the party at Jump Mania in Plano. It was a total blast. The prices were totally reasonable compared to the other party locations I checked out. The party attendant they assigned us was beyond helpful and so professional. I guess I have a problem switching off Teacher-Mode, because I was so prepared to set up the party and run it on my own. The sweet girl said she'd do everything and I could just relax and enjoy the day. Um, I had zero faith but now I know she could have done it all by herself and totally rocked it better than me! This is our first party that we had outside the house and with Cade's friends. I def should have left the day to the party expert. She knew smart things such as "Sing happy birthday first, THEN pass out cupcakes". I didn't know this. She had everything covered from writing down the gift list to asking if I wanted to recycle the gift wrap to helping us hide Easter eggs around the party room for the kids to do a "hunt" for eggs. Amazing! I highly recommend Jump Mania for parties! They are awesome!
Blowing out his candles. (Check out the cute favors. Grammie's genius idea to stuff water bottles with popcorn. Totally Pinterest worthy, right?!)
We came home to nap and relax after the party. That evening we grilled burgers and invited over the whole family, including Cade's godmother Amanda and her husband Kris. The Toy Story theme continued. Cade requested a green cake. I let him choose between vanilla and chocolate and chocolate won!! Yayyy, chocolate! You ARE my son, Cade! Special kudos to Kroger for their amazing cakes. Every year we've bought Cade's cakes from Kroger and they are always so moist and delicious and buttercream icing perfection. (Minus nasty blue teeth you get from the dark icing colors. Ugh!)
I'm going to have to have a separate post with pics of him
Yes, that's a 3 made from cucumbers. Mommy is a huge nerd. HUGE! More of Cade's favorite things, fruit salad, popcorn, carrots, and Mommy's summer fave: Wavy Lays with Ranch. We opened gifts from the family. Cade got a Spiderman scooter from Lolli & Papa, tickets for a train ride on THE Thomas the Train from Grammie and Grandaddy, and lots of fun toys and cute clothes. The big winner was the Buzz Lightyear belt, binoculars with "red laser vision", and ray gun. He was ecstatic. Seeing the joy from being totally surprised by the toy he never knew existed but is RIGHT up his alley was so cool. He entertained us by running around the circle picking different family members to be Zurg (the evil Darth Vadar-guy in Toy Story 2) and having battles. Everyone took a turn being Zurg, it was hilarious.
I love this final pic.Totally captures how totally enamored we are with this kid. I gush so much on the blog because I want there to be a record for Cade and Devyn of just how special they are to us, but it's so hard to put into words. How do you put it out there that you look at your kid and burst into tears every now and then? How do you write for the world that some nights you cry yourself to sleep because you can't stand the thought of anything happening to them. Or anything happening to you because you can't stand the thought of not being around to see every minute of their life. To witness their joys and hold them and comfort them through life's heartaches. This is why I love pictures so much. Sometimes there are no words for it. Sometimes a picture is the only way to tell the story.
We love you Cade.
More than you can possibly know.
