Kemper's Superhero Birthday Party!

Kemper requested a Superhero theme for his birthday party this year. I figured that this would be the first year that he would really "get" the whole birthday party thing and I was more than happy to oblige his request. In fact, since this request was made back in February, I decided that I would get everything ready for the party BEFORE Hudson was born. Therefore, I set my sights high - capes for all of the kiddos as their party favors! I found a tutorial for capes made out of t-shirts on Pinterest and thought to myself, "Hey, they look so easy that even I can handle that!" HAHAHA! All I can say is thank goodness for a mother in law who rescued me when my handheld sewing machine (should have known it sounded too good to be true) failed me! I didn't come close to getting everything done before Hudson was born (more like nothing at all) but with the help of family and friends, I was able to pull off a Superhero party for my 4-year old superhero!

Our superfamily!!!!  Even Hudson had a Batman onesie for the occasion! 



The dining room was the Batman room.  Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate and vanilla icing at the birthday boy's request.  Little Batman cupcake toppers (thanks to a free printable I found online) and some balloons made this room good to go!  The kitchen/living room was the Superman room.  The capes were hung up and waiting for their superheroes to arrive.  Each cape had the first letter of the child's name on the back (siblings got identical capes with their individual letters to reduce the risk of future fights over the capes!) so that they could easily identify their cape. 

Everyone lined up in front of the capes for a quick picture then the transformation began!!!  They seemed to be a big hit!  Capes were flying all over the backyard!  

It was finally time to begin the superhero games!  First up, the Dizzy-Batman Race!  I think this ended up being more like an attempt to herd cats but they enjoyed themselves and we got a good laugh out of it!  The little ones (Hi Sam and Haley!) sat this one out but enjoyed watching the big kids!

Next up was Vaporize the Villains!  I printed off pictures of Superheros and Villains and James stapled them to the fence.  Each child was given a can of silly string and told that they had to save their superhero friends by spraying only the villains.  They had a BLAST and did a pretty good job of picking out the villains (some were unfamiliar except to Kemper who is pretty on top of his superhero knowledge!).  

Finally, we tested out their super strength with the Super Strength Balloon Pop!  Seeing how each child chose to pop their balloons was funny - Kemper employed the "push down with 2 fists" method while Caylee decided on the "plop down with my bottom" method.  Pops were heard all around and we determined that we had some super strong superheroes on our hands!  

We rounded out the evening with a little cupcake action followed by the opening of presents.  Kemper was one very lucky (and grateful) little boy who received quite a bit of superhero gear to add to his collection! 

A big thank you to all of our friends who were able to make it and help make his party special!  I've said it so many times, we are truly blessed to have an amazing Army family!  Living away from our families can be hard at times but we have an amazing group of friends who are there for us whenever we need them and we are truly thankful!  For people outside of military life, it may be hard to understand but you come to rely on these people and lean on them through difficult times and rejoice with them during good times.  I have many friends who I know would do just about anything for us and vice versa.  To all of those friends reading this, you know who you are and we're so thankful to have you all in our lives! <3 

Catch Up

As usual, I'm playing catch up!  (Click on the pictures to enlarge them!)

While Aunt Neci was here, we took cupcakes to Kemper's class to celebrate his birthday!  It just so happened that the class Easter egg hunt and party was that day so we were able to help with that.  Neci and I both left thanking our lucky stars that we are not preschool teachers! :)  After that, we spent the afternoon dying Easter eggs.  It was Kemper's first time and he enjoyed it.  Patience still isn't his strong suit and we had to convince him to leave the eggs in the cups long enough for them to actually hold some color but we ended up with a dozen colorful eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide!

(Clockwise from top left: Mrs. Trish and Kemper while his class sang happy birthday, Mommy and her boys in Kemper's class, dying Easter eggs, concentrating hard, Neci helping Kemper, Mommy and Kemper) 

For Kemper's birthday, we spent the day in Nashville with Joey and Casey at the zoo!  Apparently, the busiest day at the Nashville zoo happens to fall on the Saturday before Easter.  This is when they have their Eggstravaganzoo (Easter Egg Hunt).  Also, the day before and day after are the second busiest days of the year....we happened to be there the day before.  I've never seen the line to get in wrapped so far into the parking lot.  Since we'd made the drive down and Joey & Kemper were dead set on going, we braved the crowds.  It wasn't so bad once we got in and we all had a great time! 

After the zoo, Kemper requested the place that cooks with fire for his birthday dinner so off to the Japanese steakhouse we went.  He and Joey had a great time (and gave our chef a hard time in the process)!  A little superhero play rounded out Kemper's 4th birthday (Batman and Stargirl showing off their capes).  

Aunt Neci headed home the night before Easter (we were so sad to see her go!) so that left Mommy on bunny duty.  Baskets were successfully assembled and deposited but just as eggs were being hidden, a certain someone decided that I wasn't paying enough attention to him so only 6 eggs ended up hidden for Easter morning.  Kemper lost interest after egg #3 though so no harm there!  After checking out the Easter baskets, Casey and Joey came over and we got ready to head onto post for what has become our annual Easter Brunch (p.s. Casey - you are coming back to Clarksville next Easter to continue the tradition, right?!).  We met up with Jenny, Sam and her parents and had a great time!  Kemper especially enjoyed the chocolate fountain!

It appears that our phase of being scared of holiday figures is over because Kemper was obcessed with the Easter Bunny this year.  He wanted him to be at our table the entire time and couldn't wait to have his picture taken with him.  He gave him hugs, insisted that the bunny give me hugs and was constantly asking where the bunny was.  At one point, he told me that he saw a girl inside the bunny but I was able to convince him that the Easter bunny had to be tired from delivering baskets all night so his helpers were probably at the brunch.  Thank goodness he didn't decide to play 20 questions after that explanation.  

This little guy is doing so great!  He has his moments, as all newborns do, but for the most part he's such a good, sweet baby and we're all completely wrapped around his little fingers.  We were lucky enough to have Aunt Neci here for the first week of James's trip to Ft. Carson and then, after a particularly rough night flying solo, Grandma Rita came to my rescue and came back out for another visit.  We all enjoyed their visits and the company! :)  I am truly grateful for their help - even though Kemper is pretty independent and a big helper with Hudson, I was (and still am) trying to get into a good routine with both boys and was completely overwhelmed with James out of town.  He's got another trip coming up next week but hopefully we'll all survive with as few meltdowns as possible!  Kemper and I had our routine down to a science when we would fly solo but it's amazing how adding a new little person to the mix can shake things up so much! 

Since James was at Ft. Carson for Kemper's birthday, we decided to hold off on having his party until James got back.  His party is deserving of it's own post though - everyone had so much fun!  

Hudson is 1 month!

Hudson - you are 1 month old! 

You are wearing mostly newborn clothing still but occasionally some 0-3 sized outfits.  A few of your newborn onesies are getting tight so we may be making the move up to 0-3 for good here soon!  You are a little piggy who likes to eat every 2-3 hours (but we'll take it - I like seeing those little cheeks of yours plump up!) and have been kind of all over the place with your sleep habits (but honestly, you're a good sleeper at one month, I'm not complaining!). 

You really enjoy bathtime as long as Daddy is the one giving you a bath.  Not sure what magic touch he has but you just lay in your tub so calm while he pours water over you and makes you smell so sweet.  Mommy does the exact same thing but you tend to scream the entire time.  Oh well, you usually sleep great on the nights Mommy gives you a bath - all of that screaming wears you out!

You are not a fan of tummy time.  Aunt Neci and I put you on a blanket for tummy time and Kemper tried to "entertain" you but you proceeded to roll yourself right back to your back.  Cross my heart - I have a witness.  One day before you turned a month old you rolled from belly to back.  So yeah, that's what you think of tummy time. 

A rare moment of calm during tummy time 

After MeMe and Pops headed back to Virginia, Mommy and Daddy had one week with you and your brother before Grandma Rita came to visit.  I think she's a pretty big fan of you, too.  We had a great visit with Grandma.  I think Kemper kept her on her toes and going the entire time she was here.  You went to church for the first time while Grandma was here and did pretty good.  She spent a little time walking you around the lobby but for the most part, you slept and just hung out.  You've decided that grunting throughout the night is pretty fun (even while you're sound asleep) so Grandma was kind enough to give Daddy and I a bit of relief from your grunting so that we (ok, who are we kidding, Daddy sleeps through it - Mommy) could have a break and get some uninterrupted sleep between feedings.  It's amazing how 3 hours of sleep can feel so refreshing! 

Daddy had to leave for Ft. Carson, Colorado for 2 weeks of training so Aunt Neci came down to help Mommy out for the first week.  We took Grandma to the airport then headed to Opry Mills to do a little shopping.  You were such a good baby and slept most of the time.  We were able to get your brother a new pair of tennis shoes (HOLY COW - size 11!!) and some summer clothes since he's growing like a weed and we're not going to be able to squeeze another summer out of his old clothes. 

Looking forward to seeing what month 2 brings with our boys - life is definitely a bit more hectic but we're loving every minute and wouldn't trade it for the world! 

Grandma and her boys

Aunt Neci and Hudson

Sweet Hudson

Aunt Neci and Kemper with their Easter cookies

And, finally, a comparison.....