Party All the Time!!!

**Disclaimer**
Yes, this post is a good 2 months late. No, I have not totally given up on blogging. Yes, life has been busy & hectic & fun & not fun & everything in between. So, no excuses or apologies for way late posts or out of sequence events. That used to bother me, but these days I've decided to be content with what I can do & not sweat the rest!

Last week A couple of months ago we had Birthday Week in our household, full of fun celebrations almost every day! Nearly half of our family celebrates a birthday in the first part of March. Jeff kicks-off our month of birthday celebrations, closely followed by Lucy & then Drew...3 birthdays within 8 days! We We did what we could to make each birthday special & we ate lots & lots of cake had a whole bunch of fun in the process!

This year was extra special because we celebrated Lucy's FIRST birthday (I cannot believe a year has flown by already!) Poor Drew was a little cheated out of big birthday celebrations for his first two years...we moved into our house the week before he turned 1 & we had a baby a few days before he turned 2! We, of course, still had a family birthday celebration for him each year. This year we finally were in a position to have a friend party, so we decided to have a little combined party for the two of them.

Drew's favorite thing for quite some time has been tools, he is always carrying around a hammer, screwdriver & blocks of wood to "fix." So I knew tools would have to be the theme for him. And then I'm a sucker for alliteration, which led me to Tutus...so a Tools & Tutus party was born! I actually tried searching on Pinterest just to see if anyone had ever done a similar party, but I think that combo is a new one! What fun to put together a party that was girly-girly AND rough&tumble boyish, all at the same time! And what 2 special little kids we got to celebrate!

***2nd Disclaimer***

Yes, this is a birthday party for 2 of my kids...and, yes, I take lots of photos...so, YES, please expect a crazy amount of photos ahead!

***3rd Disclaimer***
I have no idea why the photos loaded in this somewhat mixed-up order, but I'm going with it. Consider yourself getting the full feel of a party for 2 kids, with a whole bunch of kids of all ages running around, in & out, crafts & food & cupcakes & more...it was a little chaotic, a little noisy, a little mixed-up, but a whole lot of fun! 

 Tools & Tutus Cupcakes...oh, I had totally forgotten about the cupcake story...I had ordered 4 dozen cupcakes from the local supercenter bakery...2 dozen vanilla & 2 dozen chocolate. The cupcakes were picked up Friday evening on Jeff's way home from work & they looked great! However, said supercenter packaged them in these huge round trays with enormous domed lids that did not want to stay on. There was some shifting & sliding of said containers in the truck on the way home, but they arrived home just fine. Fine, that is, until Jeff was getting them out of the car & one tray started to slip & in trying to grab it Jeff lost the other tray & ALL the cupcakes ended up on the driveway! Trust me when I say, it was one of those things that you look back on & laugh at...much later! It all worked out in the end, another nearby supercenter was able to do the order Saturday morning & they used rectangular, stackable packaging, so all was well!

 I made the little "tutu" pom-pom toppers for half the cupcakes & "tool" toppers for the other half. 

 My cute birthday boy wearing his special "3" shirt that I made for the party!

 Cupcakes, appetizers & punch!

 Sweet, excited big sister modeling one of the tutus we made for all the little girls. (Huge shout-out to my mom here, I had about a million different projects to finish up for the party & she took over the tutu-making for me, so that they all got made!)

 NO tutus for the boys! For them, we had levels & measuring tapes!

 Artistic tutu display...sure!

 Activity for the girls...tutu canvases...more on this later...

 Tools & Tutus decor (one of the jars is full of nails!)

 Darcy & sweet friend, Kate

 Lucy's BFF, Hailey, modeling her tutu

 The birthday girl with Miss Aja

 Lucy & Hailey, dressed in tutus, playing with tools!

 Sweet Annalyse pretty in pink!

 Birthday Girl & Boy!

 Newborn photos

 For the boys craft activity, we had blocks of wood, nails & hammers...

 The boys (or their dads!) got to hammer their name into the wood using the nails!

 A whole lot of hammerin' going on!

 Finished product for the girls...

 They made hand print "tutus" on the pink leotards

 We used 2 shades of pink paint for depth, & sprinkled the wet paint with superfine 

glitter to give them some added sparkle.

 Sophie & her hand print tutu canvas. They turned out really cute!

 Little girls playing!

 Drew, with a handful of tools

 Seriously, 3 already?!!

 Grady's finished project

 Jeff helping one of the boys with his name

 Even the moms got in on the hammering action!

 Basketball & soccer, at the same time?

 Sweet Annalyse taking a little ride!

 Could she be any cuter?!! My girl Lucy is blessed to have such cute & sweet friends!

 More name art!

 Kids doing what kids do best, PLAYING!

 What a bunch of TUTU cute girls!

 Playing pat-a-cake

 Sweet friends!

Mommy & her girls!

 Now it's time to corral some kids & have some cake....Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday Dear Lucy!

 Happy Birthday Dear Drew!

 A little help blowing out the candles

 The boy loves chocolate!

 The girl prefers vanilla!

 I'm playing with this orange cup, I'm not sure I really want that cupcake...

 Oh well, I'll take a look

 Maybe one little taste

 Hmmmm, that's not bad!

 Better have another bite to make sure...

 Hey, this stuff is pretty yummy!

 It's also very squishy

 I like to crumble it all up...

 ...and smear it all over my hands & high chair...

 But most of all, I like to eat it!

 A whole lotta kids enjoying cupcakes!

 Drew being a little neater with his cupcake than Lucy, he is a big 3 year old after all!

 MMmmmmmmm!

 Lucy's still working on her cupcake

 And despite getting it everywhere, she actually ate most of it!

 I think she loved it right down to her cute little toes!

 Drew & JJ savoring their cupcakes...they will not be rushed!

Lucy would like another one.... 

 Please!!!

 We wanted to have the kids open presents at the party, but the kids were all having so much fun playing that we ran out of time. So after the party & once everyone was cleaned up, Drew & Lucy opened their presents...with a little help from big brother & sisters. 

 Drew all ready for outdoor exploration with his handy new explorer belt. 

 Checking out the wildlife

Whistling a tune...and on that note, we will end!

We were so thankful to be able to celebrate such a special occasion with a few dear friends.