adventure is out there

We have had a super fun and exciting week...so so much to blog about so I thought I would start with the most recent and move on backwards.

Saturday was the day of the party that Liam had been waiting on for quite some time. I like to start planning parties a couple months in advance to get the ideas rolling and when I asked him what kind of party he wanted he told me "an UP one."

I started looking around and there are NO premade decorations, favors, or treats that are UP related. There are tons of Toy Story and Cars and other child related flicks and I kept trying to sway him to choose another theme to make it easy but he was dead set on UP. It is his very favorite movie and he can quote much of it verbatim and he hums the theme song at least once a day.

So after a bit of brainstorming and searching of the Internet I actually had a ton of fun planning this little party.

First item was the invitations.

I designed one that had the Wilderness Explorer badge at the top and looked like it had been typed with a typewriter--kindof like the end credits of the movie. Then we attached them to a balloon and delivered them to his friends.

Here he is in the store parking lot with his balloons. He was so excited to be holding these balloons that he was skipping toward the car and it was just too happy a moment not to take a picture.





The day of the party arrived and only two of his little buddies could make it but I don't think he minded a bit. I also only had enough planned for Liam's friends he invited so the smaller numbers it made it so his brothers could participate a bit more.

We kicked off the festivites with games. We had three different ones.

The first one the kids popped balloons filled with candy anyway they could. They were stomping on them, popping them with their hands, laying on them, sitting on them. Justin and I tied 150 balloons for this party and my fingers are still so sore but hearing Liam giggle the entire time made it all worth it.







*I am moving around a lot so I hope you don't get sick*


Then we had the kids put on one of Justin's t shirts and see how many balloons they could stuff up inside. This also brought a ton of laughs and the boys loved that they looked like football players and had big muscles.







Then we had the kids blow up a balloon, stand in a line, and let it go to see who's went the farthest. We did this about 5 or 6 times.




Then came lunch. We had campout food--hot dogs in a blanket, carrots and celery with ranch, and 7-UP (get it?). I had stuff for s'mores too but I think I forgot that we were going to have cake and ice cream so I will enjoy the s'mores later.

After presents was the cake.




The favors were super fun to do too...

I made each of them an adventure book. Justin found a picture of Paradise Falls on the internet (the one that was "ripped right out of a library book") and printed it off so I put that inside the book too.

These hats were too cute to pass up and they were only $5. I still can't get over it.

My mom made each of the kids a little Boy Scout sash and I made them Ellie badges out of a grape soda bottle cap and a safety pin. They also received a compass and a little telescope.

I attempted to make Kevin. All that matters is that Liam knew who it was and he thought they were "awesome".



Now Liam wants to be Mr. Fredrickson for Halloween and Luke is thinking about being Russell. I think I am prepared to take on the challenge.