Leap Day

It is strange to me that there is a day that only comes around once every 4 years. Kind of crazy! I was trying to explain it to the kids this morning but it just doesn't make sense so no use explaining it to a 5 year old and 2 year old. It was a stormy day around here. Made me remember a day 5 years ago that was very stormy as well! We will never forget the day Ben was born.

This morning before BSF, Kate and I went to chapel at the kid's school. Ben's class was putting on a play for all the other kids. It was the story of Peter in jail and him being released by an angel. Ben played Peter and he did an awesome job!!
It was also the day that Ben was sung to for his birthday. He has been looking forward to this all year!! He loved everyone singing to him!This afternoon we made cupcakes for his class and for our family party. Ben did a great job of cracking eggs. I also taught him the fine art of licking up the leftover batter. Love these 2 sweet kiddos!!!Kate of course had to get in on the licking action. We sure did enjoy our extra day this year! Now on to the big day tomorrow!!!!

Ben's 5th Birthday Party Part 3

I promise these are the end of the pictures from the party! It was just such a fun day and I took so many pictures.

After all the obstacle course fun it was time for Happy Birthday and cake!

Blowing out the 5 candles!! Still can't believe he is 5. The boys had so much fun eating the cake and talking. I am sure there was lots of boy talk. After eating they went right back out to the obstacle course. Then it was pinata time! We stuffed a tank pinata full of candy and army stuff!It only took a few whacks and it busted quickly. I guess it is so much quicker when they are older. I remember at his second birthday when they couldn't get it to bust. There was a mad dash for the loot!Matt gave instructions for the next activity - marshmallow guns!! The boys were so excited. They took a little target practice first.

Then quickly began a battle!It was all out chaos with marshmallows flying everywhere!It was their chance to get back at the drill sergeant by shooting him. I just love this boy and am so glad he had a great birthday party. Love this picture because the boys were plotting their strategy. Had to throw in 1 picture of Kate! She didn't come to the party until the very end but she had fun messing up the obstacle course.

It was a great day! I just love planning fun parties from my kiddos. You only have a birthday once a year.

Ben's 5th Birthday Party Part 2

So I thought it was just going to be 2 posts but I think I have too many pictures that I want to include and it is going to be 3. I'll post all the birthday fun today and tomorrow.

Here was the cute birthday boy before the party. My dad came dressed in his army gear and was the drill sergeant. He did an amazing job of "motivating."

First stop was to get their camo headbands and arm bands.

Then face painting with Aunt Kelly.

And you can't be in the army without getting a tattoo.

Full camo ready for action!

The boys had fun playing on the play set while they waited for the party to start.

First up they had to do some exercises - jumping jacks, pushups and situps!

Then it was directions on the obstacle course.

The boys LOVED the obstacle course! I really do think they went through it about 20 times each.

The drill sergeant was there yelling them on!

They all got so dirty which of course they loved! What boy doesn't love to get dirty?If the boys messed up then the drill sergeant would make them get down and give him 10! So much fun!!! Ok I promise tomorrow will be the last of the pictures.

Ben's 5th Birthday Party Part 1

We celebrated Ben's 5th birthday yesterday with an army themed party with his friends. It was a super fun day!! There were 8 little boys from church, school and the neighborhood at the party. I think they all had a great time. We did a lot of fun things and really tried to carry the army theme through the whole party. I found some really fun ideas on Pinterest. I worked really hard not to overdo it but still have a fun party.

This is what the invitation looked like. It was just a pre-printed fill in type invitation. I offered Ben a bunch of different options and this is what he wanted!

Here is the cake table. It was pretty simple with just balloons and decorations from Party City. To keep things simple we just served cake and ice cream and had drinks.

We searched all over the internet for the perfect cake. He finally picked one and we took it to the lady who makes our cakes and this is how it turned out! Super cute with a tank and army men!

We had the whole party in our backyard. I was so worried about the weather because it was risky to plan an outdoors party in February. The weather was about as good as we could expect. It was mid 50's and sunny. There was a pretty strong breeze at times that made it pretty cool but it wasn't too bad. We had the food and eating table set up on the back porch.

The eating table just had an army scene set up on it that the boys could play with while they ate.

The biggest hit of the party was the obstacle course!! My dad did an amazing job setting up an obstacle course that they had to run through. It had a couple low crawls, dodge obstacles, hoops and ladders they had to climb over. The boys had a blast with it!! I have lots of pictures from the actual party of the boys going through it but here is what it looked like all set up.

Matt and Ben made each boy their own marshmallow shooter gun. They just used directions off youtube and made it from items at Lowe's.

And there were big bags of ammo for each boy! They had a blast shooting each other and having battles.

Here is the birthday boy all dressed up for the party. All the boys wore camo and we had a dog tag, tattoos and camo head bands for them. We also did their faces in camo if they wanted. They all looked so cute and ready for battle. Matt's mom made Ben a special camo shirt with his name on it!

We were so proud of Ben because he chose to have the guests bring items for care packages to be sent to soldiers overseas instead of a gift for him. We had a big box set up for them to put their items in.

We got so many great items that we will be sending to several different soldiers!

It was a great party! Can't wait to show more fun pictures from the actual party...