Tanner's Star Wars party- 4th Birthday

Last night we celebrated Tanner's 4th Birthday. I can hardly believe I have a 4-year old. I'm sure that with each passing year, I will feel this way, but really- it's insane.

Tanner requested a "Star Wars" party this year. I knew this party was coming, since my little man has been obsessed with "Star Wars" for a while now.

This year was our "small party" year which made it easy for me. I could have easily gone overboard with this party, but knowing it was a small party year, helped me stay in check.

Here's the finished product.

 

 

For the food, we kept it super simple. We drank "Yoda Soda" for our beverage

And then "Han Burgers" for dinner.

 

 

I did make these little "R2-D2" cups for everyone to drink out of. Tanner flipped over these cups. He absolutely loved them!

 

Oh and the cake. I made this cake for Tanner. He told me he wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. So that's what we did. I rolled out some black fondant and then cut out the letters and stars to decorate. I love how it turned out. More important, Tanner LOVED it!

Here is a picture of Tanner and I with his cake. He was so cute and gave me a big huge an thanked me for his cake.

When we sang, we lit these awesome light saber candles.

 

 

Oh and we grabbed a few family pictures.

 

 

Tanner got this awesome card from Mimi, when he opened it, it sang the "Darth Vader" theme song. Tanner loved this card so much!

Pretty much Tanner had the best birthday ever. He loved every single present he got!

Thank you to everyone for making this boy's day so special!

 

When I say he loved his presents, I mean he was so excited he couldn't sleep. He literally didn't fall asleep until almost 11 pm last night. He just kept sneaking out of bed to play with his new toys.

It was hard to get mad because he was just so dang happy.

Happy birthday to my sweet little man! You bring so much laughter and happiness into our home. There isn't a day that goes by that Tanner doesn't make me laugh. He's a wonderful, loving big brother and he's Daddy's buddy. We are so happy Tanner is in our family!!!

Frisco Festival

Today was the Frisco Festival. As part of the festival we took a train ride from Rogers to Springdale and back again. I'm pretty sure Tanner thinks we planned the whole festival just for his birthday.

HE LOVED THE TRAIN RIDE!

Here's a picture of us, with the kids wearing their train engineer hats.

 

It was especially fun because Mimi was still visiting. Also, Nanny, Papa, Uncle Joseph, Aunt Julieta, Aunt Laura and cousins Aaron, Stephanie and baby Blake came on the train ride with us.

Tanner has missed his Nanny and Papa so much.
He was pretty much in heaven!

Seriously, how precious is this picture?

Papa wore Bailey's hat for a while because she didn't like it. I love the matching hat picture of Tanner and Papa. Oh and we had to grab one with all the grand kids who were there. We were only missing baby Max!

During the train ride, the Conductor announced Tanner's birthday. He then led the entire train car in singing "Happy Birthday" to my boy. This made his day, but to top it off- he got to wear the conductor's official hat. LOVE this boy!

Once we got off the train, we had to grab a picture with the awesome conductor.

Then a picture in front of the train. I love this picture. See the Ferris wheel reflection?

After the train ride we hit up the carnival rides. Bailey wasn't tall enough for most of the rides, but she was big enough for a pony ride. She was the first to notice the ponies and when she did, she started saying "Please Mommy, my pony. My pony please!"

How could I say no to that?

She loved the pony ride so much!

 

Then I rode the roller coaster with Tanner. He's such a pro at these rides. He was so excited and held on so tight and loved it!

Then Chris took Tanner to ride the teacups. He was big enough to ride them alone and he loved it.

 

Tanner found this random R2-D2 painted on the fun house. He was very excited to find it and insisted on getting his picture with it.

The last ride Tanner rode was the swings with his Nanny. He's never liked the swings before, but he didn't want to get off these. Must have been Nanny's calming presence.

Bailey enjoyed most the festival from her Daddy's shoulders.

 

When we finished with the rides, we decided to grab some lunch. We ate lunch at "Braums" and then came home for naps and to do some party prep.

The festival was lots of fun and we look forward to going back next year.

I'm pretty sure it made Tanner's day!

 

Stay tuned for Tanner's birthday party!

Tanner's 1st Day of Preschool

Today Tanner started preschool. I seriously cannot believe how big my little man is getting.

We enrolled him at "Noah's Ark" twice a week. He goes every Tuesday and Thursday from 8-12:00.

Here is a picture of him before we left for school this morning.

How I love this boy!

Tanner said he loved preschool. He said they learned about colors, had "circle time", played on the little and big parks (playgrounds) and then had a snack. He also described his snack for me. (Pretzels and cheese- in case you were wondering).

He said he really liked preschool, but he didn't want to go back for a while. haha.

Luckily, he has all weekend until he gets to go back.

I think we will really enjoy preschool, but I don't think he liked missing out on anything we did while he as gone.

 

As it was, Bailey and I had an entire morning to ourselves. We took Mimi to the library to do some genealogy and I took Bailey to the "toddler music class".

I was such a darling little class. We sang and danced and did rhymes. Bailey loved it.

Here is a pic of my girl and I at the library.

 
 

After the library, Bailey and I took a walk downtown. We went by the fountain and walked in the flower garden. Then we went to the "Wal-Mart Cafe" and got ice cream. The cafe is so cute. They give out little ice cream hats and coloring books. Bailey thoroughly enjoyed all the attention she got.

The girls who worked at the cafe thought she was so cute, they took her picture for their fb page. haha. She loved it!

Oh and we rode the truck outside the "5 & 10".

I think she could get use to having mom and Bailey time twice a week. But she did ask for her "Tanner" every 20 minutes. She loves her brother so much!!!

 

Then we picked up Mimi and headed back to Tanner's school to pick him up.

Then we all went to "Chick-Fil-A" for lunch and let the kids play at the play place.

All-in-all, I think it was a successful first day of preschool.

 

Eureka Springs

While Mimi has been visiting, we've been trying to show her around the area. We spent Tuesday afternoon in Eureka Springs, AR. It's such a funny little town. It's darling but it has this super hippy vibe to it. But the little shops downtown are precious.
We decided to do a trolley tour. It was especially fun because of my kids' obsession with the show "Daniel Tiger". On the show, Daniel rides the trolley everywhere. So when I told the kids we were going to ride a trolley, they were pretty excited.

Here is a picture at the trolley depot before our tour.

We tried to grab a family pic on the trolley but the kids were a little distracted. There were so many cool sights and awesome buildings to looks at.

Here is one of Bailey and I on the trolley. Love this girl!

After riding the trolley through the entire downtown area, we finally got off and decided to explore the little shops. Tanner really liked the old stairs that ran between shops and streets.

Bailey enjoyed riding on Daddy's shoulders for the majority of the time. Chris doesn't mind holding her because she loves to tickle his hair and head while she sits up there. It's a mutual appreciation situation.

Then we stopped at the candy store. It was hysterical to see them inside the candy store. They got so excited when we gave them the little paper bag and told them they could fill it with taffy.

Then while they enjoyed eating their taffy, they watched the old fashioned machine pulling taffy.  

Then we went to the toy store and the kids each got a small little toy. Mimi let them each pick out a toy and Tanner got a parachute man. Bailey picked out a tiny, palm sized plastic dog. She then proceeded to name him. When I asked her what the doggie's name was, she told me his name was "Little Fella". I about died laughing. She's so funny.

 

Then we hopped back on the trolley to catch a ride back to our car. The kids were so sad when the ride was over. They really enjoyed it.

The kiddos make every day such an adventure and I love doing things to see them smile.

I hope Mimi had a good time because we sure did!