Spring is Here

We are so excited that spring is finally here. That means we are finally done with snow. It has been pretty cold, but we have had a few days here and there that reached up into the high 50's. So there is hope for warmer days to come. It's raining more now and that means mud  and all things wet. So  I decided to get the kids some rain boots. Being able to go play in the creek, despite the frigged temps, has been a highlight of any warm or almost warm day. They love wearing them.  

I just had to get a picture of Jocelyn outside in her boots. 

Got to love this girl's style.    She is our free spirit.   

We can't wait for the warmer weather and get outside to play more. 

So glad Spring has sprung.

It's a Minion Party

This year Elizabeth decided  her birthday theme was Minions from the movie "Despicable Me".

I was a little surprised because I thought it was more of a boy theme.  But she didn't care.  I  was able to find some really fun idea for decorating, but there were not a lot of ideas for activities or games.

She invited all the girls from her school class and some from church.  About half came. We had 8 total partiers. It was a good number to handle, not too many.

We decorated in Blue, Yellow, and purple. I love having a "Party City" in town. It always has some fun stuff for parties, but I also  really enjoying making a lot of my own decor too. I did a little of both. I love the 5 foot tall minion background wall hanging. It was really cool. Kind of makes you believe there lots of these guys running around.

We blew up balloons and drew minion faces on them, stuck them to the ceiling. 

This is the only time static cling is a good things.

                                      

I really wanted to have a full scale minion, so I found some cardboard and went to work in drawing and painting my own. I love the ones with one eye. They are my favorite. 

We bought a cake from Krogers.  It's a fun design, and the only one they, or anyone else, had for minions. Jocelyn  decided it should say happy birthday Liz instead of Elizabeth. I think that's what most of her friends at school call her. It was to be a vanilla and chocolate marble cake, but I think they forgot the chocolate. 

Ethen named this little square Minion Joe Joe.  I had some random boxes from Sam's club, so I made him into a minion. I love this one since he has a sparkly goggle. He was my main center piece for the table.

Elizabeth and I had a tuff time coming up with party ideas. First she  wanted a Hollywoood red carpet theme.  (LAME) Then she wanted  a movie  night, and a 3 direction theme. Not sure how we got to minions, but it was a lot better than most of the others she thought about.

I came up the idea of minute to win it games. Older kids  seem to enjoy playing those games and it would keep us really busy. I had to find as many games as I could with the supplies I had on hand: cups, marbles, tissue boxes, tape, nerf gun. I was able to get 15 games pulled together with all these items and only had to buy  some ping pong balls and candy.  We were able to do about 9 or 10 of the games.  I wish I  had some  pictures of the girls playing games. They did a good job and looks pretty silly.

After games we had lunch. We did a Mexican theme from the Despicable Me 2 movie. The have a restaurant called "Salsa & Salsa". We had taquitos, chips and salsa, cheese quesadillas, and loaded nachos. I think I was the only one who ate the nachos. The girls loved the taquitos and quesadillas. We were running short on time and had to go quickly to cake and presents. 

She received little pet shops, a gift card, nail polish kit, and some legos. 

For favors I put together a bag full of minion goodies. Minion Twinkies, fruit snacks, and graham cracker. I also found these awesome minion kites for $1.30. 

I love this background! It is so fun and colorful. Side not: I found Elizabeth's shirt at Walmart for $4.00. Party City was asking $10.   She looks so cute.

Happy Birthday to you my  beautiful girl. I love you more every day!

Aren't we cute!?!