Swim birthday party for Ridge and Fulton!

As long as the two big boys are ok with it..

their parties will be combined. 

I hope this doesn't nominate me for cheapest mom of the year.

Ridge's birthday is June 1st and Fulton's is July 27.

This year they turned 5 and 3. Man.

 4 and 2 still sounded young.

Not the closest of birthdays, but choose a date smack in the middle and wahlah!

And, I was suuuuuper slow in choosing a location and a theme.

It's hot here in the deep south and unless water is involved, moms and dads and grandparents are miserable outside. And, our house is not big enough for a bouncy or the circus to parade though.

So, luckily, we attended a birthday party at the Cullman Aquatic Center during the early winter of this year. It was awesome. The indoor facility alone was so much fun! And, the pools are huge and there's plenty of space! So, after looking around, our friends showed us the outdoor facility through the window.

Perfect! Sign us up!

Cullman, AL is about a 30 minute drive from Gardendale and it's north of us so we don't frequent that direction up 65 very much at all. So, we had no idea this place even existed!

After that party, I started researching the price and details of having an outdoor birthday party.

After lots of phone calls and their board rewriting their rules, we figured out a good plan and a good price and put our names on the list!

I was sooo surprised the dates I asked about were not booked!  I just knew it would be impossible to book the birthday party room on a Saturday in the middle of the summer.

It all worked out and we had a blast!

Everyone's pass to swim lasted a full day so after the party, the kids and adults could stay and swim as long as they could.

Since the details of the party were confirmed such last minute, the invite was last minute as well. I found this invite on Etsy and she personalized it for 2 children. It worked. Pretty simple.

I don't remember the name of the shop, but email me if you want to know!

A few views of the outside water facility:

Smaller slide and play area for toddler-2 years oldish.

The 2 big slides that most of the kids went down over and over and over!

And, I would be lying if I didn't say I went down my fair share of times too. :)

favors: Dollar Tree- beach ball

Ridge and Fulton each had a red velvet cake since the colors were red and blue.

Red is Ridge's favorite color and blue is Fulton's.

The navy and white stripe is wrapping paper from Target. It was also used on a few of the tables.

I kept it pretty simple since we had to pack all the supplies and decor to take it with us.

Pretty simple. 2 straws. Mini bunting pennants from Hobby Lobby with holes.

Bakers twine. Red stickers from the scrap book section.

My simple display.

Red and white stripe wrapping paper on the tables.

Sang happy birthday to Fulton and he blew his candles out.

Ridge's turn to blow his out.

Family picture :)

Leanna and Case were at the party too! 

Grant is not pictured. But, Davis and Ross showing us their guns!

Anna Scott was also at the party sitting to the left of Harris.

Sweet boy with a genuine smile.

Excited about his cake!

Aonya and Lawson

Little Jude

As Ridge refers to him: Drinky Drinker

Sawyer and Uncle Sam

The big 5 year old!

The (almost) 3 year old!

Harris and Fulton

Aunt Deeda and Jude

Lawson and Ruthie

Aunt Sommie and Isaac

Poor Pierce was running a fever all morning. Later to be found out he had another ear infection, that landed us in the position of tubes. But, he was able to enjoy some of it for a little while.

Pierce and Nonnie

Ridge and Josiah

Robin, Leanna, Case, Anna Scott, Grant, and others were there too!

I kept it simple with pizza, chips, and cake.

There was no refrigerator so I kept it simple.

Gotta love these poses.

Sweet baby had a few fun moments.

I hate I missed a big group shot of all the kiddos.

Big thumbs up from this guy!

Another great perk to this facility.

Rain or shine. There are 2 huge pools outside the door of the birthday party room.

One is a regular pool with a diving board.

The other has a few fun water features, (rain, swirling hurrican pool, and stationary toy in a shallow toddler area). 

So, rain or shine, we knew we were swimming.

And, the indoor pool is "grounded" which is supposedly safe even if there is thunder and lightning.

It really worked out so well and I think everyone had a lot of fun!

Happy birthday boys!

I love you,

Mommy

Two lives

This picture.

LIFE.

 Words cannot express how THANKFUL I am for this picture.

The birthday of my son.

Exactly 1 month post surgery of my dad.

My Father.

My Son.

The cross on the wall behind them.

Two lives, two hearts beating, two healthy bodies.

Two miracles.

A new life created by Him...

and a life saved by Him.

To God be the Glory!

It seemed fitting and honorable...

Pierce Larry Wiggins

Pierce with his namesake, his Poppie.

Happy 2 months old today little Pierce!

And, thankful for 3 months post-surgery for my Dad.

Continue to pray for his swallowing and for continued healing of his new throat.

Thank you Lauren Tuggle for this priceless picture.

My little superhero's birthday party

(This post has been a working progress for 1+ month)
(Not because it's extravagant, just because I can't get it together)

So, about 6 months ago I asked Ridge if it sounded fun to have a birthday party with Fulton.

He said, YES!!!

And, thankfully so.

So, I took the advantage of a "somewhat close" birthday situation of June 1 and July 27 and combined the 2 boys together.

We actually had the party on June 1;  Ridge's actual birthday.

It worked well because:

1. Ridge actually knows when his birthday is and is aware of these things. Fulton, not yet. He just goes with the flow. Ignorance is bliss.
2. Hopefully a cooler time than late July.
3. And, farther away from baby Wiggins being born and Momma being as big as a house.

The party planning began after the date had been chosen.

I felt like our home/backyard would be tight if both kiddos were having a party together.

So, I called and reserved a pavilion at the shadiest park in Gdale.

Thankfully it was available and I reserved it for the earliest birthday party time ever. 9-11.

Hey, I'm just trying to keep it cool. Literally.

The theme: Well, it was pretty obvious when all your oldest child wants to wear is superhero shirts and costumes. And, of course, Fulton just wants to do whatever Ridge does.

So, superheroes it was.

(Just pretend this says Ridge and Fulton, ages 4 & 2)

((I couldn't figure out how to edit my phone number out of the original invite file))

(((Sorry creepos)))

Invitation file purchased here on Etsy.

Shop LeeLaaLoo.

I really wanted to make sure wherever we had the party was shady.

So, not my first choice, but we ended up at the oldest park in Gardendale.

And, it ended up being perrrrfect. It was very overcast.

So overcast that it looked like it could rain at any minute.

But, it didn't.

And, breezy. So, it was so nice on a summer Saturday morning.

Of course a lot of party prepping took place and it was really a lot of fun!

City night scene. Would not have completed without Nonnie's teacher expertise!

Girl superhero cape

Measuring and cutting.

These were soooo easy to make.

I found a great how-to here by Jolly Mom.

FYI- Spray adhesive worked the best with felt.

I had a difficult time printing the template, so once I folded the felt in half, I just eyeballed it and cut each one out eyeing it.

So so easy to make! And, didn't take much time at all.

I had a good idea of what friends were able to come to the party, so I cut out their letters one night while watching TV with Alan. Just free handed those as well.

Chalkboard art for party decor

All of the remainder photography was taken by the amazing and super talented and amazing best friend, Lauren Tuggle @ jlaurenphotography.com

(And, I apologize I don't know how to create a collage)

The kiddos received their capes and their letter I had pre-cut.

He wore his cape for 5 seconds.

cookies and cakes by Adrianne Richards @ Glory through Sugar

Kept the menu simple since the party was from 9-11 am.

Nice for me!

Decorating their masks and getting tatted up.

Love this pose Ruthie!

Jude won the cutest mask contest! Love it!

Alan was the official tattoo artist.

sweet MDO friends

And, Mommy fail = forgetting to change Fulton into his batman shirt :(

The superhero cape that I bought Ridge and he refused to wear it. Oh well.

Tough face.

Sad because it was too breezy to light the candles :( Poor buddy was sad.

Results of black icing.

Nonnie and Poppie with their grandchildren. Not sure what Ridge was pouting about. I think I have some very similar childhood pictures with that same face.

Granna and Grandpop with their grandchildren. Still pouting.

Just weeks before Lawson made her debut!

so so sweet

It really was such a great birthday party.

 It was so much fun to plan, the boys loved it, and it was easy and simple for Mommy. 

Happy birthday boys!

Mommy and Daddy love you both so much!