Star Wars Party

This last week Talon turned 5. For the bigger birthdays (1,5,10,16,18) we plan to do bigger parties. This year though, I was prepared for a big flop. Everything seemed to be going wrong leading up to the party. I was sick for quite a while. The car died on us and we needed to buy a new one, which messed with our finances majorly. I was just ready to hang my head and tell Talon that next year he'd have his big party.

By the grace of God though, everything pretty much fell into place. There were areas of the party that didn't go as planned (games and pinata, ahem), but all in all the party was one of my favorites yet. As for Talon, he could not say enough about how awesome his party was.

Printable Decoration PDFs: Red Apple Studios

Printables and Invitations printed by: ABC Imaging (HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM)

Everything else made by Steven and I.

Talon Turns Four- Super Hero Style

Only one month after Corbin's birthday, it's time for Talon's. When it came to his party, this boy had so much input. Especially when it came to the food haha.




The party itself was a Super hero theme. We went extremely simple on decor and focused on the favors (capes) and the game. 

Our one game we played was a hit. Super hero training and challenge. We put together a mini obstacle course for the kids. Speed test, laser beam challenge, spidey senses web spray, and a hulk smash. The kids insisted on more and more turns. It was a blast.

Last up was the cake. After Corbin's big cake, Talon was set on three tiers with his favorite characters. Since he also wanted cupcakes, I was able to sell him on 2 with a big topper. First tier was the skyline with bat symbol and the next was a wolverine layer with his claws slashing the cake. On top we had a fondant hulk fist popping out. The boy was thrilled.

Now that it is over, Talon cannot stop talking about his next birthday. Let's not rush it baby boy!

Mommy and Me

I have mentioned here before how important we find it to have one on one time with each of our kids. Especially now that there are four of them. We make an effort daily to spend a little time together which each of them. Every now and then we will even take them on little dates.

This month, I got some time to take Talon to his favorite place. Pretend City. I think I have told you all about this boys love for Pretend City. Being able to run around, explore and use his imagination is where I see him thrive. I can not express how much I love seeing his face light up and his brain work. Is there anything cooler than being able to see the wheels turning in their little heads?

Pretend City just opened their new Bayou Cafe and so it was a perfect time for my boy and I to stop by and have some fun. To top it off, they had a little Mardi Gras celebration for the opening. We were able to have our usual fun and also get some extra crafting in while making floats and masks. Ritter's Steam Kettle Cooking served us up some amazing food and we were able to just sit and talk to each other about the day.

As usual, Talon's favorite part was fishing and shooting the water guns. It's always where he spends majority of our time and he made sure to tell me all about it over lunch.

After punching in his time card at all the different areas and cashing out at the Pretend City ATM, we hit up the sand one last time (close second to the water) and headed back to the rest of the kids.

He told Rhiannon all about everything he had done and that they had a new place for her to be a cooker. The Cafe is her favorite part of Pretend City. She has insisted that she gets the next mommy date and we head there to check it out. I won't complain.

Pretend City

29 Hubble

Irvine CA 92618

949-428-3900

Hours:

Monday: 10AM - 1PM

Tuesday - Sunday 10AM - 5PM

Adults & Children: $12.50

Infant to 12 months: FREE

Party Time

Talon is a big bad three year old now. How does this stuff happen? When do they grow up? Lame-Sauce!

For Tal's third birthday, he wanted a Monster Party. Boy is obsessed with Monsters Inc. and Monsters University. Specifically Mike and Sully. Randall not so much. Dude's a creep. 

Since we have a brand new baby in the house, we went simple with all store bought decor. You can read more about that here. With so little effort going into decor, we were able to focus on some fun food.

When trying to think of what to make, I was drawing a blank. Until I remembered that in Monster's Inc. Mike takes his girly friend to Harryhausen's Sushi and it is all the rave. Bam! Theme of our food. But wait! How many kids are gonna eat sushi and my hubby may just laugh in my face when I tell him I want to supply our party of 50+ with an expensive cuisine. Fushi (Fake Sushi) it was.

As for fun, we went simply again. Games with 30 kids are too hard. Make all those kids the ages of 1-8 haha, yeah no. So coloring sheets and a pinata was all they got. That and the two rooms full of toys in our house. They were happy. I was happy.

For dessert, cake pops, cake and candy. Did I mention the kids were happy?

My brother and nephew modeling the cupcake frosting...

Once again, we were super blessed by everyone who came and the amazing gifts. Talon is set on Monster toys. He is thrilled. 

We will finish this off with a picture of the kids who came. You know, in case you doubted me when I said 30 children. Mind you, there were a few who were two shy to be on camera. Oh and the 8 who were busy nursing when the photo was shot. 

Not so Handmade

I like to create. It's no secret that a lot of crafting goes on in our home. It's also no secret that when it comes to parties, this mama goes handmade. From decor, to favors and food, almost everything is made by me. We do this for a few reasons. Handmade is WAY cheaper (if it's made by your hands and not an etsy shop), we like a personalized look and I love crafting, duh... yeah, I am 12 years and say duh, don't judge.

Anyhow, Talon's party was this weekend. It was NOT handmade. Not even a little bit. I was teased about that statement because the food was homemade fun-ness and so were the cake pops. To me, not the same.

It was hard on me. It saddened me that I was not able to give my little guy what I usually do. I know this doesn't make sense to a lot of people. In fact, a few people were rather rude about the fact that I feel the need to go above and beyond for parties. I mean lately there are blogs after blogs talking about how moms just need to stop. Stop with all the extravagance. For some of us, that extravagance is just who we are. It's a way we show our love.

We all have different love languages. we show and recieve love differently. This doesn't only apply to marriages but all of our relationships. If someone shows love to their children by throwing crazy parties, doing elf on the shelf and a million other things, don't be so quick to put them down. <---- Not a diss to those bloggers, just defending my own heart here.

Wow, this post was not meant to go this direction at all. I guess I needed to vent a little more than I realized. All I wanted to say, is that for some moms, it breaks our hearts to not be able to go beyond on parties. It is part of who we are. And that is where I stood.

Friday, as we set up decorations, my 3 year old asked me over and over "mama, you made this?". He knows mommy usually does. It killed me to tell him "No honey, Wal-Mart did".

As Friday came to an end and the food prep began, his excitement rose watching his mommy make Mike Wasowski cake pops.

He was thrilled once again to see the Fushi (fake Sushi) bar come to life. At his young age, he understands that these things are an act of love from his mommy. Maybe that is how he feels loved too.

In the end, I knew that it was okay that I didn't spend the month after having a new baby making 35 scream canisters out of pringles cans. It was not the end of the world that I waited too long to buy pool noodles and couldn't make the garland I had planned. The Mike Wasowski lanterns did not hang from the ceiling and there was not a scrap of fabric anywhere to be found but I did what I could and he saw it.

Being a mom is hard. Finding balance is such a challenge. Not judging ourselves and feeling inadequate can weigh so heavy on our shoulders. We can't let it. Sometimes we need to just stop and allow ourselves to breathe. We need to rest knowing that the best we can do is enough. We are still good moms.

Whatever it is that you are questioning yourself for today, know that it is okay. You are still a good mom. It's okay not to be the best at this or that. It is okay to fall short of your own norm. It is okay to not have the big party...but because you decided not to, not because someone else told you that you shouldn't.

All this being said, I still feel a little bit bad about it all. If you need to find me, I'll be the one eating store bought cake in the corner. I kid. About the corner. I am so gonna eat the leftover cake!

I'll be posting the party later this week. When our sugar highs are gone.