Drew Turns 4! (2 1/2 months ago)

We had a wonderful birthday celebration with Drew this year. Months before his birthday he began to discuss his "theme" with me. We had a lot of good ideas this year....fighting, soldiers, pirates....but, he finally decided on super heroes. I'm not sure how he got into superheroes, since he doesn't really own many, or watch shows about them, but somehow he discovered them on his own. It's usually through books he sees at the library or book store. Anyway, once he came up with his theme I started "googling" ideas. On-line I found a cake idea, a fun game, and a way to make costumes. With this age, I realize you can't do too much or they get overwhelmed. Here's some pictures of our fun day! (FYI- I was 6 weeks pregnant, and this was the last weekend I felt good. So glad my nauseau waited until after Drew's big day) Here we are in the preparation stage. Drew was making sure he could run in his costume. The costumes were SO simple and inexpensive. The cape is made from a plastic tablecloth. 1 tablecloth= about 8 capes. I made the labels on the back myself, and just used the first initial of each child's name. The video for making the cape was on YouTube.

The masks and wrist bands were made out of foam sheets. I used elastic for around the head, and velcro to attach the wrist bands. Each band had a different shape drawn on them to add some interest.

The morning of the party was exciting because we had a bounce house being delivered. Here are the boys watching the set-up. I was pleasantly surprised that the cost of renting one was so reasonable.
Drew's superhero bounce house.
Here is Drew helping me to bake his cake and cupcakes. We had just gotten this hat in the mail and he needed to try it out.

Here is a close-up of the cake. It was definitely not perfect, but when I priced out cakes that I wanted, it made the decision to try making my own much easier. I always use box cake mixes, but I make my own buttercream icing and I think that helps it to taste pretty good. :)

Here's the final cake with the topper and cupcakes.

Knox hanging out at the party.

Using the stomp rocket with our friend Callie. It's a really fun and inexpensive toy for anyone interested. We even use it inside.

Brothers

Here's Drew openning a few toys. We got him a Leapster. I really debated about it, because I don't want a video game kid. But, Drew loves it and he respects our limits on it. He's usually allowed to play it every other night in his bed after we tuck him in, and then he can play until we say lights out. He's never whined about it during the day. I can't believe how quickly he picked it up. He's way better at it than I am.

This year he got a bike from Mimi and Papa. Now that it's hot he rides it a lot inside the house around the dining room table.

The one activity I found on-line had to do with a "bad man". This was how the kids would be earning their costumes. I gathered the kids and told them that today they would all get a chance to be a super hero and that I would need their help. Andy (I mean), the Bad Man rushed out and the first thing he did was drop a load of bombs (black balloons). The kids had to diffuse (pop) all of the bombs. Once the did this they all earned their cape.



Next, the bad man dropped kryptonite (green rocks from Michaels). The kids couldn't touch it, so they took turns with tongs putting them in a safe bucket. I didn't really get good pictures of this, but here's Knox playing in the bucket of rocks. The kids then earned their wrist bands.

The last thing that happened is that Bad Man stole a present. The kids grabbed water guns and had to chase him and spray him until he gave up. They all earned their masks.

Here is Drew once he earned everything. The kids seemed to really enjoy it. It wasn't much planning and it added just enough to the party to have something fun for them to all do together. Most importantly, Drew loved his party!! A happy boy=a happy mommy. :)