Friday, May 28, 2010

Little "Helpers"

Having two little "helpers" with me when I was trying to get my classroom all packed up wasn't really all that helpful! But it was fun! And actually, Jaden was quite a big helper and went around with Clorox wipes cleaning everything he could, including the floor (the rest of the time he was entertaining his baby brother or asking me if we were done and ready to go yet). Elijah was busy taking things out and putting them back into my class "treasure box." One of the "treasures" that he discovered was a lollipop. When I noticed he had it, it was still wrapped, so I let him be...until he was suddenly very quiet. Here's why...

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Elijah and Aubrey's First Birthday Party!

Better late than never...as promised, Eljah's first birthday party! Elijah celebrated his first birthday with his cousin Aubrey, who turned 1 just five weeks before him! It was such a fun time, and a little emotional, as I watched in amazement and thought how unfair it is that my baby boy turned one so much quicker than anybody else (*tear).

The theme for their party was Nursery Rhymes! Is there a more perfect them for a baby's first birthda!y I didn't think so. My sister, mom, and I had so much fun with it and went all out to make sure the invitations, decorations, favors, treats, cake...everything fit the theme perfectly! It's a good thing the party came when it did, or I would have just kept going with it! We had the party at a wonderful little park in El Paso. The weather turned out perfect for the day and the two little guests of honor had lots of friends and family there to help them celebrate!

Here are some (hundred) pictures from the day!

The decorations...
I ordered these adorable cake slice favor boxes, bag tags, and banner on Etsy.

The party favors! Everything inside the pail had a Nursery Rhyme theme, including the pail (Jack and Jill)! Here's what was inside: a lamb finger puppet (Mary Had a Little Lamb); a monkey finger puppet (Five Little Monkeys); a mini popper (Pop Goes the Weasel); star stationary set (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star); toy spiders (Itsy Bitsy Spider); Humpty Dumpty eggs; and duck horns (Five Little Ducks). And for every single item, we printed little cards with the words to each nursery rhyme on them and attached them with ribbon to each item (what can I say, I'm a teacher. Gotta tie in literacy somehow :o). So much fun!
The goodies, also with the nursery rhyme attached! Moon sugar cookies that my mom and sister made (Hey, Diddle, Diddle); sheep cupcake cones (Little Bo Peep); and little feet rice krispy treats (This Little Piggy).

And of course, the cake! This was made by one of my student's moms, who does amazing work, as you can see! I showed her a picture of the cake I wanted, and it came out more wonderful than I ever could have imagined!

My sweet little birthday boy!

The birthday babies with their mommy's and great grandma (aka "Deyga")
And the birthday party fun!! We had a Humpty Dumpty egg hunt, a huge parachute and balls, kites, bubbles, and lots of smiles and laughter!

Happy Birthday to Elijah and Aubrey... Elijah couldn't wait to dig into that cake, and lucky birthday boy was being fed cake and ice cream from about five different plates!

And the result of nonstop activity, tons of people, overstimulation, lots of excitment, and first dose of sugar is this...

Elijah got so many wonderful gifts from his generous and loving family and friends!