our three little birds: It's A Camping Party!

Since this blog is Ellie's virtual baby book, I decided to include the boy's birthday party again. I can't wait to print this thing out and have a physical record of Ellie's first years. When she turned 1, I looked into printing it and still cannot find a printing service that puts the posts in order and keeps the photos in the correct spot. Everything gets jumbled. If anyone has an idea of a good printing service please let me know! Oh and guess what? When I looked at my blog today I found that I've had over 30,000 views! I don't know how that's even possible but I thought it was pretty cool! So thank you to those who keep up on Ellie and her big bro's adventures.

So every May we throw a joint birthday party for our boys. This year was their big 5 and 7. We always obsess over the weather the week leading up to the big day, and sure enough the forecast always threatens rain the day of the party. But by some sort of miracle, the sun always ends up coming out and so far we've been really lucky each year. And every year I say the same thing... where the heck did the last year go? I feel like time is slipping right through my hands.

Last year I was feeling overwhelmed and ragged, and trying to plan the party was making me crazy. I decided to go "anti-pinterest" style and throw a redneck party. It was great! So last year my mom suggested we should plan something dirty and easy again, so this time we went with a camping theme. It turned out really fun! And I totally gave in to scouring Pinterest. It's full of some sweet ideas! My friends and fam helped a ton too. We ended up with a tackle box full of gummy worms, swedish fish, and goldfish crackers. Luke loved helping put it together as well as helping himself to the sweet bait.

Mmmm worms!

My amazing woodworking mama-in-law helped cut up wood into small circles and we had a necklace making station. You know, those little wood disks on a string? I was having flashbacks to Outdoor School in 6th grade!

Necklace making station.

See his cute necklace? Our purple loving birthday boy!

My mom-in-law also made a really cool Pinterest inspired cupcake stand. Jess cut the wood slabs and she put the whole thing together. Isn't it neat? My friend Kelly made the mouth watering S'mores cupcakes, they were heavenly (and pretty, don't you think?)!

Cupcake stand and scrumptious cupcakes!

YUM!

For party favors, my creative and awesome friend Wendy suggested we do S'mores trail mix. It was Honey Grahams cereal, chocolate chips and mini marshmallows in a baggie. The kids loved making itty bitty S'mores! And I was seriously about to dump it into a bowl with some milk, it tasted really good! Mmmm! We also gave the kids geodes, which are rocks you can crack open and they have crystals inside. You can find them in bulk on Amazon.

Overall it was a really fun and easy party, the kids had a blast and hopefully I can come up with another outdoorsy idea for next year! Or maybe we can just invade Chuck E Cheese, we will see. It's always great getting to see family and friends and catching up. I just wish I could have gotten a photo of every person that was there but it was just not possible. Here are some of the pictures I did capture...

Some cool dudes.

Kisses for Grammee

I made a note on the invitation... "NO GIFTS" Hmmmm.

Will and a couple of his lifelong friends Tyler and Robby.

Tractor time.

A little game of soccer.

This photo of Famous Iris and her dad cracks me up. It looks like they are going so fast, and I'm impressed with her daddy's ability to hold on to his cocktail with precision :)