Monday, September 15, 2014

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








Saturday, September 6, 2014

Pierce's 6 month pictures

My baby is about to turn 1 in a few weeks.
Gasp!

These amazing pictures were taken of him at 6 months old.
Lauren Tuggle never ceases to amaze me.
I'm so spoiled by her.

Here are a few collages of all the pictures plus a few of my favorites.
Sweet precious baby!
Seriously, the best baby ever!
(Don't make me eat my words Pierce. Ha!)
















He is such a joy to our family.
I CANNOT imagine life without this sweet little dumpling.
We love you baby Pierce!

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