A Day at the Lake

We had a great time on the Karlson boat last Saturday.  It was just thing to forget about the things on the calendar, and just enjoy a beautiful summer day at Shaver!

The boys had a great time on the tube.  (actually all of us did!)  Ethan even did a backflip off the tube...and got back on to ride!

Colton even tried a few times on the skis.  (He didn't get up, but he was a good sport!)

Zac was the flag man.  :)

Dawson wasn't thrilled with the boat ride, but finally got comfortable and enjoyed himself....on the shore.

Once upon a time...

July 10, 1990, that is the day Eric asked me to be his girlfriend.  Yes, I know that once you get married you are supposed to just forget about that anniversary, but I don't.  :)  It was the yes that started everything.  The yes that changed my life forever.  Little did I realize the 20 years later, I would still be in love with my best friend, have 4 great boys, and be so happy.  Love ya Eric!

Let's Boogie!

Fourth of July, we went to Cambria for the weekend with our friends the Fosters.  The boys had a great time boogie boarding in Cayucas.  The first day, they all shared one boogie board, and must of stayed in the freezing water for 2 1/2 hours!

Ethan quickly had enough of the cold, and decided to relax in the sun...Dawson, on the other hand, hates the sand, so hung out on his beach towel the whole time.

The next day, they begged to go back...and rent wetsuits...and more boogie boards!  We left Dawson and Daddy with sunburned shins...and headed back to the beach. 

Since it was the 4th of July, there were a ton of people, but they also had a great sand castle contest.

So amazing!!

We ended the night here, to watch fireworks over the water.  Such a fun time!!

Hooked....or Hype?

OK, I know I'm not a teenage girl, nor do I have teenage girls, and yes, I know I'm a few years behind, but no, I have not read the Twilight series.  I have always wondered what the "hype" was about these books?  I am not an avid reader.  I love fun, light-hearted, girlie books, but usually only read on trips.  So, all this to say, my babysitter is letting me read her books.  Honestly, I am not expecting much, nor do I think I'll be on "Team Edward", but who knows? :) 

Ethan turns 7! How Super!

I can't believe my little man is 7!  It seems like just yesterday he was toddling around, and now he's one of the big boys!!  He had a great time at his Super Mario birthday party!!

The kids had a great time playing Mario, and a bunch of other fun games (look at next post for details). 

Super cute & yummy cake!  Ethan lost his mustache blowing out his candles.  :)

My SUPER boys!

Super Fun Super Mario Party...the details!

While thinking of different themes for Ethan's birthday, Super Mario seemed like it would be great!  My boys LOVE Mario, so I started my quest for the Super Party!  I wanted to post these ideas so they can hopefully help someone, and cut down on the hours and hours of web searching that I did.  :)

First up...invitations...

A little time consuming....but cute!  :)

Decorations -
For decorations I made piranah plants.  An idea I saw on another blog.  I cut out the mouth, and sprayed the outside red.  I painted the white spots, and then attached styrofoam teeth with toothpicks.  I wrapped wooden dowels with green ribbon, and stuck them in a hurricane with moss and rocks. 

It was virtually impossible to find any Mario items locally, so I used my printer for a lot!

We let each guest choose either a Mario or Luigi hat.  (I cut out white felt and glued them onto the caps)  The girls got to choose a princess crown.  We also had coin bags where they collected the coins that they earned during game time.

Games -
We did several games.  The first one, I drew a Koopa, and the kids had to throw water balloons at it.  If they hit the Koopa picture they got too coins, if they hit his belly, they got three, and they got one if they didn't hit it at all.  We also did pass the Ka-bomb, a black balloon that is played like hot potato.  (The balloon kept popping on the grass...so we eventually used a ball).  We also played Pop the Goomba.  These were brown balloons that had coins in them.  They could pop as many as they could, and keep the coins.  They had 1-3 coins in them.  The last game we did "Break the Brick".  I had wrapped a box, and made it look like one of the Mario bricks.  The kids got to run under it and try to jump and smash it.  Inside was more coins, candy, etc.

Food -

We served mini sliders, which were a hit.  We also had Mario's Power Punch, Princess Peach's Peach Tea, and Luigi's Limeaid. 

The cake was made by Frosted Cakery.  It not only looked great, but tasted amazing!  I also did extra cupcakes decorated like mushrooms.  I used white chocolate chips, and melting chocolates for the spots. 

We also did a candy buffet favor bar, and everyone got to make a goody bag as they left!

Happy Birthday To...

It's very rare that I blog about my faults...but this one is pretty funny.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm a multi-tasker.  It can be a good thing...and a bad thing.  Apparently, when I booked Ethan's cake, I told them my older son, Colton's name.  When it arrived 30 minutes before the party, it looked like this...

Amazing looking cake...but wrong name.  Graciously the delivery girl took it back, and they had it fixed and delivered back to me in no time!  The Frosted Cakery girls are the best!!!

The cake turned out GREAT!  Everyone loved it, and it tasted as good as it looked!!