April Birthdays - Part 1

This April we had 2 special Birthdays! Our sweet Owen turned 3 and my Hubby turned.... (well he had a birthday ;) )  It was easy to choose a birthday theme for our Owen... RACE CARS! Every single day he plays with his cars. They go shooting across our floor constantly, he sleeps with them, and takes them everywhere! 

So the planning began, the pins were pinned, and supplies were gathered (mostly last minute, and thank you to the friends who came through in the crunch! lol)

This is the pic we used for Owen's invite :) Did I mention he LOVES cars? 

Then on to the party decor and most importantly food!!!!

The Race Car cupcakes were gone fast..... 

Fuel was on hand....

Tools were standing by....

And enough food for a small army :) ...

We had a "drive in" that was showing Cars and serving hot popcorn...

The kids ran and raced all over...

Presents were opened.....

And all were happy!!!!

It was a fun party full of crazy kids (thanks to the sugar), wonderful friends, and lots of LOVE!  

We can't believe our little man is 3, but he is sure happy about it, and tells everyone we see that "He is 3!"

As if I haven't posted enough pictures on this post I also wanted to include the outdoor track we made Owen for his present from us - 

It will be a nice edition to our summer days outside! 

So that about wraps it up for our little man and His 3rd birthday!!! 

I'll be posting some daddy birthday pics next and also an Adoption update!

As Always - Prayers and Blessings, Dawn

Owen's Monster Birthday

Owen's birthday party was quite an adventure!

The plan was to have his "monster party" at the Dream Come True park

but.....

at 3:30 (30 minutes before his party started) the rain clouds rolled in heavy,

the temperatures dropped, and I got a little frantic!

as quickly as possible I tore down everything at the park and raced back home to

set it up as quickly as possible. 

it wasn't exactly what I had been planning but it was fun and needless to say

we were all "cozy" in our town house!

the important part was that we were able to celebrate Owen's birthday with

friends and family (and we stayed dry)!

Owen's party was a monster theme! I wanted to go with something that 

wasn't typical for boys and since he still doesn't really care what I choose I went

with the bright colored monster theme!

We had monster treats and little monsters everywhere.

The pic below are the monsters that were up for adoption.

I will blog a little tutorial on these later. They turned out very cute

but I can't lie - they were a lot of man labor!!! 

Worth it though because they all found a new home where they could be loved!

monster cupcakes were courtesy of Pinterest (of coarse.) they turned out just as cute

as the pin (that doesn't always happen for me!)

Owen's favorite were the "monster eyeballs"  made of spice candies and

edible eyeball candy from target.

a kid coloring table with colors and monster color pages

all the print offs were from the etsy shop

dimple prints

our last minute inside activity was "pin the eye on the monster"

everyone was a good sport

and surprising Owen wanted to do it - blind fold and all

the party was full of lots of new friends! we feel so blessed to 

have made such great friend here in virginia in the time we have lived here!

it was great to celebrate with all of them even though we missed our midwest family

and friends very much! we were blessed to have todd's parents in for the special event

and a weekend visit! 

Owen blew out his candle like a champ and everyone enjoyed their

monster cupcakes.

he was spoiled with lots of great presents. sporting his new sunglasses

and getting some help from his buddy kelton

Their were so many fun pictures of the crazy party it was hard to choose what to feature! But you get the idea! we had a lot of fun and didn't let the crazy storm ruin the party!

and now Owen will tell you "I 2"

Thank you again for the love and support - whether you were able to attend the party or you continue to support our family through love, prayers, and encouraging words. We feel blessed beyond words!

Lots more family stories to share! Stay tuned.....

Prayers and Blessings - Dawn

Owen's "hat"

 Owen is at such a fun stage in life right now. He is such a "little man" with lots on his mind and lots to say. I use to think that he would be my mild tempered child and I guess compared to Eliana's very type A, flamboyant personality he is. But Owen is far from meek and quite! He has lots to say (most recently WHY?, I don't want that, and learning how to make fun noises with his mouth), lots to do (play with cars, and more cars, and more cars, oh and then balls!), and quite the imagination (also a characteristic his sister shares)!  Recently Todd said that I had to blog about Owen's "hat", so I am sharing our fun little family story with you this evening! 

About 2 months ago Owen was playing in the Tupperware cabinet (my kids often do this and yet I always wonder why I can't keep it organized!) and he came across a bowl that fit perfectly on his head. It fits him almost like a little top hat! At first it was an occasional thing of him digging out the bowl and wearing it, but now it is a daily accessory.  So far we have been able to keep this accessory in the confinement of our home but I have a feeling he will be asking to wear it out in public soon!

I just had to include this!!! Happy Hat Hunting :)

 It is so cute how kids find their way in life and make their own little paths! It is such a joy to be a mom and so thankful for the kids we have been blessed with and especially the fun they bring to our life's.

Prayers and Blessings - Dawn

ER visit

Well we made our first ER visit with Mr. Owen and I have a feeling that it won't be the last visit. On Tuesday afternoon Owen and Eliana were wrestling (as they often do) but Owen was getting a little rowdy so I told Eliana to get off the floor and quit wrestling with her brother. After telling her three times the third time resulted in him crashing into a peice of furniture and putting a gash in his head. We called Daddy right away as the blood gushed into the sink. The scariest part was ALL the blood! So much blood came out of such a small boo boo! We made our way to the emergent care in the new town and were told he would need stitches (needless to say this is when I lost it and cried more then Owen ever did!). Todd took him back into the room (no way I could watch him get stitches) and were lucky enough to have the doctor change their mind and just use surgical glue. Now he has to stay bandaged up for the next two weeks and hopefully will get away with not too much of a scar. Needless to say we made it through our fist ER visit and I'm sure not our last!

Mostly cleaned up and on the way to the ER! :*(

Cleaned up and glued up.

Owen's new accesory for the next week or so - Toy Story bandaids!

Love and Prayers, Dawn

Yarn Letters

When we move Owen will begin the transition into a "big boy" room. So that means updating his decor :) A while back I saw these yarn letters, and new I wanted to do some for Owen's room. So off to Hobby Lobby I went and bought some cardboard letters, and different colors of yarn. Here are some pics from the project.

Can't wait to show you a pic of the letters hanging in his new room!

Blessings and Prayers - DP