Party Features!

 Over the course of the last month Kal-el's Sponge Bob party has been featured on several of my favorite top party blogs! These awesome ladies had such sweet things to say about the party and were super complimentary about the decor and details. It's really an honor for me to be able to make my children's parties as special as possible. I know these first few parties my boys won't have much memory of but I know that looking back at pictures of my own birthday parties always made me feel special and I could always feel the love that went into them. I hope the same holds true for them. I know in a few years they will want more activity type birthdays vs decor type/character centered  birthdays so I try to get as many of these in while I can. For any nay sayers that assume parties like this are "for the parents not the child" did not see my sweet child's entire face light up when he walked in the room nor did they hear his raspy little voice lay awake in bed at night and talk about his " birfday party" and how much he loved it for an entire week after his party. Those moments were worth all the hard work and expense. I have to budget in advance to be able to pull these parties off. Again, so worth it. Even if we could of been half way to Disney World on some of these.  It's like a mini wedding that now occurs twice a year lol!  I don't buy fancy clothes and accessorizes every month. I don't take mini vacations without my babies so this is my area to splurge and its all on them and all with love!
   I was very hesitant to even submit this party. For starters. the pictures were all taken by me. Which is how all pictures are typically taken for a birthday but if your submitting to party websites that are very visual they typically require professional photography. Luckily, I have found a wonderful local photographer who is helping to photograph Logan's party in June! Super excited about that! Another reason I was reserved in sharing this party is because it is largely character based. It was a Sponge Bob party after all because that's what Kal-el wanted. Now granted it wasn't a party in a box, there were lots of individual Sponge Bob items and many custom items but it was still a very popular character. I went ahead and made the choice to send them in anyway. I opted not to submit to some of the sites that say they absolutely require professional photography. I didn't want to waste my time or theirs...however I accidentally forwarded my submission to HWTM (Hostess With The Mostess) when I sent the others and was absolutely SHOCKED when they chose to feature it in their top 5 parties of the week feature! That blog/website is huge. They even have more followers than Kara's Party Ideas..who I can't wait to submit to next time :) HWTM actually featured it first so it debuted there. In the weeks that followed it was featured 3 more times. The Party Wagon, Top Party Ideas, and A to Zebra Celebrations all featured Kal-el's Party and just as I type this blog I received a notification for one more feature next week. I'll post that link with the others when it goes up. I'm thrilled with all the positive feedback from some of these major party gurus and the sweet encouraging comments I've received. I'm beyond flattered when others have told me I should start a little business. This is only my 3rd party so I hope to continue to improve with time. I don't mind helping others with their ideas, as a matter of fact I LOVE it but I can't say I'd ever take on anything like this on the side officially. I simply want to make sure I make my very loved little super heros feel very special on their birthdays. I know I did that this year because I got Kal-el's seal of approval...everything else has just been very yummy icing on the cake! Thanks you! ;)

     1) HWTM

 

http://blog.hwtm.com/2012/04/party-of-5-birthday-brunch-aqua-lace-sponge-bob-little-monster-daisy-brunch/

   2) The Party Wagon

http://party-wagon.com/childrens-party-blog/2012/4/19/spongebob-party.html

   3) Top Party Ideas

 

http://www.toppartyideas.com/sponge-bob-party-ideas/ 

4) A to Zebra Celebrations

 

http://atozebracelebrations.blogspot.com/2012/04/party-feature-spongebob-birthday-party.html

Wordless Wednesday- Big Boy on His Bike :)

Fresh Faces Contest!

 I can't believe Jennifer Weddington already has some of the boys pictures up for us to look at! I mean after all we JUST shot with her yesterday evening at 5:30 pm. Pretty awesome :) Jennifer had a contest called "Fresh Faces" stating that she was looking for new little models for her photography website. I decided to enter both boys. I debated whether or not to just enter Logan since Super has already had such an awesome opportunity like this with HMP Studios. I decided to be fair I would go ahead and enter them both. Luckily, they both were chosen. I still can't believe that we got such sweet shots in the miserable cold but I'm so happy with the way they turned out! Knowing Kal-el would rather be playing and chasing girls and Logan would rather be eating and cuddling I'm very proud of my little models for a day!

Monday Funday! :)

The boys and I had a super busy and super fun Monday! The first half of the day was spent eating lunch with the grandparents and mom. Afterwards we split up for a little shopping. Mom, Nannie, and I took the boys to the mall and Poppa and Chris stayed behind to catch up on some of their own errands and have dinner with Larry that evening. The boys also had pictures with a local photographer from Decatur who contacted me about using the boys as models for her new website. It's the second time we've had a fun opportunity of that nature so we were really looking forward to it! Some major shoe shopping went down today and it wasn't for me..the shoe addict. Kal-el and Logan racked up :) They even got matching Sperry topsiders! We also stopped to get Super a haircut in the mall per his request lol. He was such a big boy and even pointed out which hairs he needed cut. The lady told him she needed to give him a job there since he had a good eye for it. It was hilarious. She did a great job with his little trim. After his hair cut and a few cookies we made our way to Decatur. The shoot was outside and I felt really bad because it cold and very windy. I had to explain to my sweet little grandmother that cold weather does not make you sick...only viruses and bacteria. She still doesn't believe me ...she's from the old school. I love her to pieces though :) We didn't shoot for very long due to the cold winter feeling weather but hopefully she got a few of the shots she needed anyway. It was hard for Super to concentrate because the photographer brought her two adorable kids and Kal-el just wanted to play NOT take pictures. Logan was precious and didn't cry the entire time despite the cold. Both my guys were really troopers today. Once the shoot wrapped Nannie and I were hungry so we stopped by Cracker Barrel to finally sit down and relax. We ended our day with a yummy meal and made our way back home. It was so nice to spend a day with Nannie and Mom shopping. It was just like the 'old days' except better because we had two very handsome very loved little boys to make it all the more special. Family is everything to me and today we had four generations full of love and laughter. We are going to try our best to make it happen at least once a month. Next time Aunt Shane and Aunt Vicki need to go with us. See how much trouble we can really get in :) Yay for Monday..well this one anyway! <3

  We had to take Logan's shoes off bc he was eating them..poor baby looks stressed about his big brothers hair cut. No worries Logan no one is going to get the scissors after you or your cool do'!

                            Sweet babies weathering the cold..in between shots :/

                               Mom said something awful...can you tell by Nan's face :)

                           "Mommy, where are my mashed potatoes?!"

Kal-El's First Trip to the Dentist!

 Chris and I are so proud of Kal-El! Today we all went for our annual teeth cleaning and Super's first ever trip to the dentist. We were both apprehensive  about the experience and not quite sure how our very independent toddler would react to his teeth being inspected. He loves to brush his own teeth but is very closed off to receiving any help while doing it. We decided instead of taking him to Dr. Merritt, these first few cleanings he could go to our dentist and watch us first so the experience wouldn't be so intimidating! It worked perfectly. The staff at Dr. McClanahan's office are so sweet and they fell in love with Kal-el. They loved his lips and thought he was a little heart breaker lol. Chris and I were put into rooms side by side and Super was allowed to go back and worth to us with the yellow and green balloons they gave him! He was a very happy boy! After Chris and I were finished up it was baby boy's turn. He hopped right up on the chair like a big boy and let the nice lady count and clean his teeth. He has 10 on top and 10 on bottom not 8 like he thought ;) When they asked him what flavor he wanted to clean his teeth he smiled and said strawberry...after she finished he smiled at her and said" Kal-El need chocolate now" Everyone laughed. They told him he was doing a great job brushing and she said his teeth couldn't be any more clean..even BEFORE she started. We were very proud. He walked out of the office with two balloons, two balls, a new tooth brush, sparking teeth, and a new female following. I'd say today was a surprising success. Great job Kal-El! :)

 

He didn't want to leave right away :)