Pirate Birthday Party...

If you bake a cake, you should have a party.
For anyone.
Even pirates have birthdays... right?

Go all out!
Invite the whole neighborhood... I've heard they don't eat much!

A real candle to make it official...

Pirates are pretty rude so he might not send hand written Thank You notes.
But a verbal "thank you" should suffice!

Check out more Wordless Wednesdays at Angry Julie Monday and here.

Is your birthday on a holiday?

I may have mentioned once or twice (or a million times) that Cora's birthday is on Valentines Day.

Side Note: She was due on February 5th and the ONLY day I DIDN'T want her to be born was on Valentine's day. Ha! Sure enough that little sucker came 9 days late, on V-day!

 After she was born I couldn't help but be sad that she was going to get shistered on her birthday every year by her future husband or she would be one of those folks that has such a high expectation for their birthday that nothing could ever live up.
My idea to off set the future therapy factor is to celebrate Valentine's Day on the 13th. That way...
a) Cora gets her actual Birth Day to herself
b) Eli isn't getting a gift on his sister's actual birthday (because it is totally lame if your sibling gets a gift on your birthday... I mean shouldn't they learn to be excited when someone else gets something special and not feel entitled to something themselves!)
c) If we do her birthday after the V-day festivities then (my thought is) the birthday is what will be most remembered.
What do you think?
REALLY!
I need to know.
Is your birthday on a holiday? (or near one?)
What did your parents do that totally sucked?
What did they do that was totally awesome?

So here is what we did for Valentines Day... you know... the one on February 13th!

 

 

I picked up these Dr Seuss DVDs for 5 bucks each after Christmas.

They love em'!

Not sure if that is a good or bad thing.

The animators were most definitely high as a kite when they put together these shows.

Oh well!

What harm can it do?

 

 She already has the muchies!!

*update*

My grandmom brought to my attention that I may offend families who do sibling gifts on birthdays. If you do sibling gifts, don't be offended. Be proud of your family tradition and think I'm lame :)

Birthday Cupcake Dessert

(Tutu made by Cheri. Check her out here.)

A few cupcakes + sprinkles + awesome cake plate + whimsy candles =

Kick a&$ Birthday Dinner Dessert!

Cora made this funny face the whole time we sang to her...

She got used to the whole thing as soon as she had a cupcake in her hand...

It's so easy to make birthday's special for you little ones! She'll have a party on another day but on her actual brithday we always do something!
(Since Cora's bday is on Valentines, we have another tradition I'll share tomorrow... and I'm going to want your opinion if you have a holiday birthday in your family!!)
Do you do a birthday dessert or something else special on your kiddo's actual Birthday?
(If you have a post about it leave the link in the comments! I would love to get ideas!)

Happy Cora Jane Day!

Two years ago today Hot Hubby and I received the

best Valentines Day gift ever.

Cora Jane

 8 pounds 6 ounces of pure snuggle.

She still totally rules!

In case you celebrate whatever (lame) holiday it is today...

here is a simple garland you can make this afternoon!

Cut felt hearts and sew right down the center. I ran them through once with red and again with pink. Love it!

Fierce Ostrich at the Santa Ana Zoo

Auntie Sarah, being the best Auntie ever took Eli around "to animals." We were lucky to catch this moment on film...

The Fierce Ostrich nipped Auntie Sarah!

Eli's Birthday at the Santa Ana Zoo

We like birthdays!
Around here we use birthdays as an excuse to get together with friends. We nix the gifts (though a few friends brought some, thank you!) and just par-tay.
This year we had a double birthday party with Eli's Best Buddy, Iris. Their birthdays are only 2 months apart so we had the party smack-dab in the middle.
(Having a double party is an awesome way to cut costs AND if you have a lot of the same friends then they don't have to give up two Saturdays for two parties).
The favors were adorable. (Each one was under $1.00... contents included!)
See... While we (Hot Hubby) was packing the wagon to lug all our stuff to the SAZOO party area Iris' cake was dropped.
"Oh, she won't even notice" (We thought)
She noticed.
We told her it was the "adult cake" and that her Uncle Eric was going to get her "real cake."
Luckily, she bought it. Luckily Uncle Eric and (hopefully soon-to-be-Aunt) Keri high tailed it to the store and bought a new cake. Iris got to put the animals on it, and all was well.The Santa Ana Zoo is an awesome place for a birthday!
REALLY!(FYI - I'm not getting paid to say that. I PAID to have the birthday there)
There are a few party areas. We were in the SAZOO area, which is the farthest walk BUT has loads of grassy area for kiddos to go wild while the adults chat. It was awesome!(The little fellows below have known each other since birth!)
We noticed Cora had a lot of extra energy.
"She's practically bouncing off the walls... we might need to lock her in the monkey cage... ha ha ha."
I wonder why... During the Happy Birthday Song Eli was giddy. I mean he was just glowing. It was adorable and I wish we had it on video.

Just before the party was going to wrap up I had the bright idea to get a picture with ALL the kiddos (there were 27).

I know... it is always a huge pain in the a$& to do but it's so worth it later!

I mean who knows? One of these shots may be in a wedding slide show someday!?!

We started lining them up...

...and adding more...

...and adding more...

...and adding more...

...yep, more... (we know how to procreate... next year there will be at least 5 more!)

...GO!!!

(Notice one little guy, Noah from Mom Mode, in the front row is wearing his Eli's Lid. Thanks Dude.)

That's everybody... except Mia and Jacob who were asleep.
The party was quick (only an hour with the package we bought) then families got to have their own family fun at the zoo.

Included in the party package is a ticket for the train for each kiddo. The parents have to pay. It's $3 a ticket... which I think is beyond steep! When I take the kiddos on a normal day we never go on it. It's $9 for the 3 of us to go on 1 time. If it was $1 we would go every time... probably even twice!

(Dear Santa Ana Zoo, You should really lower the train and carousel price. Though the rides are fun, they are WAY overpriced. The carousel at Fashion Island is only $1 and the train at the Irvine Spectrum is only $2 AND you don't have to pay to get in. Show some love during this slow economy. AND I know you would make more money... from me at least! Warmly, KN) By 3ish Cora was konked out in YaYa's arms...

Then hot hubby and I got some fun alone birthday time with the Birthday Boy.

(If you think the fact that they are both wearing green is a coincidence, you are sadly mistaken. You know I love matching! Cora and I are both wearing pink and the kiddos are both in stripes. No matter how you slice it all outfits will "flow" in the pictures.)

Happy 3rd Birthday Eli Benjamin!

We are so proud to be your parents.

When we found out you were coming it was a total surprise and you continue to surprise us everyday with your silly sense of humor, your sweet compassion and your natural ability to be AWESOME!

(If I look tired in this picture, it's because I was!)

How Smoking Saved the B-day Cake

My sister smokes.

(Though I think she is trying to quit)

I hate it.

I'm not anti-smoker or anything.

(Yes I am)

We had Eli's Bithday party at the zoo and we forgot a lighter...

Hot Hubby - "We forgot a lighter. Does anyone here smoke?"

Me - "None of our friends smoke."

Hot Hubby & Me - "Sarah!"

The only time I have ever told her I'm thankful she smokes...

During the Happy Birthday Song Eli was glowing. It was beyond adorable!!More on the Zoo Birthday to come!!

Eli is 3 today!

3 years ago today I birthed a blue conehead zombie troll with no neck and squinty eyes.

He had a face only a mother could love.

<<---And I did!

Still do!--->>>

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Eli's gifties: awesome books and an easel.

He wanted a rocket.

We drew one on his easel.

Eli loves Blues Clues.

Oddly enough Blue came to our house in the night and left a Handy Dandy Notebook and a note. All the clues were fun things we did before his first day of preschool!

Go here to get the graphics to make your own Notebook and clues.

Here is his birthday note.
The 1st clue was on his preschool backpack. And the backpack was filled with new books (Eli is a book worm!)
The 2nd clue was on his new easel.

The 3rd clue was on the waffle mix to make chocolate chip waffles with Daddy (who stayed home from the office).

Eli can write his name. The preschool teacher told us how impressive that was.

And we were like "His name is ELI... not that hard. I mean the "l" and the "i" are basically just two lines."

She looked at us funny..

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Then we headed out to preschool.

It was Parent orientation.

I have the first snack duty for the class... so you know I'm going to rock the snack and set the bar super high. I'm going to be the obnoxious mom who does birthday favors for the class.