Blevins Carnival 2010

What a great day for a party!  Saturday was mild and beautiful - perfect for an outdoor birthday!  

I had a lot of help decorating and it really turned out cute.  The downside was that since I had planned the party on Easter weekend, a lot of people ended up not coming.  The upside was that I planned a lot of things that Reed liked and after all had calmed down on Saturday night he told me it was the best party he's had.  :)  That's ALL I needed to hear.  (Yes, it was a joint party for the boys, but Hudson is two.  All I would've had to do is give that boy a cupcake and he'd have been tickled pink.)  Mike and Susan kept the boys for me that morning so they could walk in on the party and be surprised at how it looked.  Here they are getting ready to head to the back yard.  Reed was "helping" me by getting Hudson to look at the camera. (Side note: Here's a big thank you to my sweet friend Becky for all the pictures!  She took hundreds...literally!  I had so many to choose from for this post.  My slow internet was about to make me crazy, so I just did a few of my favorites...)
Reed has been wanting a pinata for a while and I just keep forgetting!  So I decided this year would be a good year to do it.  I have video of it that I'll try to post later...pretty funny stuff.

Grabbing the pinata candy!

I was planning on doing a big carnival/circus type cake, but Reed asked for his own Star Wars cake.   So he got his beloved Star Wars and Hudson got his Wow Wow Wubbzy.  You can see my 'popcorn' cupcakes in the background... that turned out so cute, too!  To see a closer picture, click here. The messed up polka dot on the front of Hudson's cake it where he crammed his chubby little finger into the icing before we got around to cutting it. :)

Having less labor intensive cakes really took a lot of stress off of my shoulders, so it really worked out for the best. 

Opening gifts...

We were able to borrow a popcorn machine and cotton candy maker!  Here I am trying my hand at the cotton candy...

It wasn't pretty, but the kids evidently enjoyed it - they got out of the trampoline long enough to wolf some down. :)

When I was at the dollar store picking up some things, I came across this...

and I knew Reed would love it.  I bought 12 cans and it turned out to be so much fun!  We ended up having a mini silly string war.  The next picture cracks me up (you may have to click on it to enlarge it).  Hudson didn't like the silly string at all. It was either the smell or feel of it that he hated because every time we sprayed him he would gag.  At first I thought he was sick from eating too much junk (cake, popcorn, cotton candy, etc.) but it was only when he got the silly string on him.  It was HILARIOUS!!!

A few more pictures...

Bean Bag toss

Labels for the water and lemonade

The kids favors

We had a great day and the boys had so much fun.  I am so blessed to be the mother of these two precious boys.  They are so different and they complement each other in such an awesome way.  Reed is the best big brother - he watches out for Hudson, holds his hand in the parking lot, tries to explain things to Hudson that he doesn't understand, shares his stuff with Hudson constantly and truly loves his little brother.  On the flip side, Hudson adores Reed.  "Bubba? Where you?" is a phrase often said at our house - first thing in the morning when I get him out of bed and all day while Reed is at school.  Hudson squeals with delight when the school comes in to view in the afternoons when we pick Reed up.  Hudson wants to do exactly what Reed does - things like wearing the same kind of shoes and eating the same food.  They are such great friends as little boys and I hope their relationship continues to grow and mature so they will be great friends as men.  Happy Birthday to my sweet little guys - I love you both to the moon and back!

Happy Birthday Grace!

Today was sweet Grace's first birthday party. She had a fun day partying, opening gifts, eating and swimming with lots of friends and family.  Her mom picked a lady bug theme and it turned out SO cute. I made her a sweet little shirt to go with the theme...

Isn't she a sweetie?  When Sara set the smash cake on her tray, she just picked the chocolate polka dots off.  It only took a few minutes for her to really get into it...

For a picture of the cake before, click here.

Reed and Em reading a book together... we'll save this one for the wedding.  :)

Reed couldn't get his ear wet, so he had to keep his head above water.  He did really well, but it was kinda sad that he spent pretty much the whole day sitting on the top step of the pool.

All in all, we had a really fun day.

 Happy Birthday Grace!

Sunday at our house

Today I have a few pictures to post...

First, this morning I was trying to figure out what to put on Hudson for church. He has outgrown a lot of his clothes, so I got down the basket from the top shelf of the closet that holds his 12 month size clothing. Yes, 12 months. It makes me sad, but at the same time, I have to face facts that we have a big boy. Anyway, after digging through, I found this Polo overall set. For some reason, it wasn't very cute on the hanger...I wouldn't have bought it at the store (we actually got it at his baby shower) but I put it on him and OH MY GOODNESS! He looked so precious that I just had to take a picture! Could it be that I think he is one of the 2 cutest boys in the world?

Second, we had two showers at church today and I was asked to make a cake for one of them. It was a bridal shower where the colors were pink, orange and yellow. I couldn't figure out how to make a cake in those colors without it looking like a birthday cake. So, I decided to do all white and decorate with flowers. A little backstory - in the past, when it has rained, I have trouble with fondant. It was raining yesterday when I made the cake, so I decided the best route to go would be to ice it in buttercream. The pitfall? Buttercream is HARD to get smooth. Very hard. I've only been at this cake thing a few months, so I am by no means a pro. So after messing with this cake for a about and hour, I decided to use a decorative comb technique on the sides. I tried to get the tops as smooth as possible and then I covered the freakin' thing with flowers. Probably too many flowers in hindsight, but hey, it's 20/20 right?

Lastly, Reed and I were having a discussion yesterday about Halloween. Reed likes to plan. He gets up in the morning and right after his request for breakfast, he says "Where are we going today?" So, he needed to get his Halloween costume order in early. Last year he wanted to be Spiderman and I waited a little too long. He ended up with a Spiderman costume I got off of Ebay for $10 that I later saw at the store for $9.99. And the one from the store even included the mask. The one I got just had a silly hat that ended up looking like the goofiest thing ever. But, I digress... So this year he told me he wanted to be Black Spiderman and if I couldn't find that, he wanted to be Batman (you can tell I've trained my child to always have a back-up plan 'cause #1 might not always work out!) Today after the shower, my mom and I ran by Wal-Mart to pick up our Alaska pictures and we walked by the costumes. Being the good mom I am (!), I thought I might go ahead and check for a Black Spiderman. Eureka! I grabbed it and he was so excited when I got home. I told him he could TRY it on to make sure it fit, then we had to put it up until Halloween. It does fit and has been quite the hit around here. He tried to convince me that he needed to put it back on once Brian got home to show HIM that it fit... Quite the conniver if I do say so myself...

On a side note, I've had a few people ask me why Brian didn't go on the Alaska trip. There are a couple of reasons. First, as most of you know, Brian owns his own business. He has put a LOT of time and effort into his shop and it is our livelihood. Anyway, he cannot leave it for such long periods of time to travel. Second, he's actually not much of a traveler. I don't know how this happened since his parents are traveling maniacs, but he missed that gene. He has told me that he likes to sleep in his own bed. And yes folks, he's only 31. Truth be told, when I am gone for a few days, I find myself missing my bed. Maybe it has to do with the fact that he requires a certain thread count in our sheets (and I've gotten used to that)...but that's another post for another day.

Cakes & Carrots

While I was caking yesterday (what I call my cake baking/decorating) my mom and dad came over. Pepaw took Reed and they had lunch and did other various manly activities - Cabela's being one of them. Anyhow, Mimi was feeding Hudson for me and he tends to get a little excited when the baby food makes it's appearance. He was eating his carrots and in his pure happiness, smacked the spoon causing a bit of a carrot-tastrophe....

He also hates green beans - I keep trying, just hoping that he'll eventually eat something green! This is his face EVERY time he tries them.

And if you're curious, here's the cake I made yesterday. Reed asked me "Mom, why do you make so many zebra cakes?" I said "It's what people want." And in his wonderful 4-year-old voice, he said "I don't understand why so many people want cakes that look like animals."

Reed's Fourth Birthday Party

Reed's party was today and it was a blast!! He had a lot of fun gifts from friends and family, swam like a fish & ate many pieces of yummy cake. He getting to be an amazing swimmer. He has his first swimming lesson on Monday and I'm excited to see what he'll learn. I can't believe he is already four - the time has really gone by. We had a great day and are so happy that we are surrounded by such wonderful friends & family!

The Birthday Boy

Check out the awesome visor

Mom & Hudson - he LOVED the water

The cake - made it myself!