Summer Birthday Gift Exchange

If you don't already know, I am crazy about my son's birthdays! Being that he is our only (and probably will always be our only), I like to make his birthday really special. I may or may not be planning two parties (one in California and one in Illinois) right now, and I'm sure we will do something fun on his actual birthday too! So, of course, I couldn't possibly pass up the opportunity to celebrate some more with a blogger gift exchange! For the past couple of years now, Liz over at Chasin' Mason has organized a summer birthday gift exchange, and I am so excited to be apart of it this year!

Myles received his present from Sarah and Brantley from Seeing All Sides.

*Please excuse the poor quality of these first few pictures. By the time I realized the lighting was horrible, it was too late to get Myles to move before finishing opening them.

Other than a couple sentences about Myles' likes and dislikes, I never had any conversations with Sarah before we received our gifts. So I am a little inclined to think that some sort of sorcery had to have taken place, because what she picked out could not have been any more perfect! 

In a few weeks we are going back to Illinois to celebrate Myles' 4th birthday, which just so happens to be a superhero party. Of course, Myles (and I) have already been playing dress-up and pretend with his capes and masks, but they will definitely be coming with us as they will be a huge hit at his party! 

He likes Batman the best!

And these On-the-Go Water Wow pads are my secret weapon for airplane rides. The last couple of times we have flown, I brought one with and it kept Myles occupied for like 30 minutes (which is a huge feat when flying)!

I told him he could open and play with one and the other we would save for the plane ride. He said he liked the vehicle one the best, so he would save that one for later (way to exercise self control)!

Thank you Sarah and Brantley so much for your thoughtful gifts! we have been thoroughly enjoying them!

Myles was super excited to send gifts to Arden (Vanessa from Sunflower State of Mind). I told him what she liked and he picked everything out. He is way more decisive than I, so I let him do the choosing. Head over to Vanessa's blog to see if you think he did a good job!

And when your done there, check out the rest of the participants of this exchange!

Ashley and Waverly // Being Brickner

Elizabeth and Mason // Chasin' Mason

Laureen and Tyson // Chateau Deveau

Brittany, Charlie, and Maddie // Just Another Day in Paradise

Desiree and Julia // Macke Monologues

Natasha and Ethan // Schue Love

Sarah and Brantley // Seeing All Sides

Vanessa and Arden // Sunflower State of Mind

Julia and Myles // The Everyday Momma

Traci and Charli // The Hallway Life

Amanda and Lily // Tickled Pink

Laura and Liam // tiny toes, little nose

Whitney and Brielana // Work It Mommy

How do you celebrate your children's birthdays?

{Second Birthday}: The Many of Faces of Myles & Invitation

I think it's safe to say my Myles Monthly posts are over :( but I did want to share everything from his 2nd and 3rd birthdays before I close that chapter of the blog. 

The first movie Myles ever sat the entire way through (in total awe) was Toy Story at about 20 months. I instantly knew that had to be the theme for his 2nd birthday. He was completely obsessed with Buzz and Woody for a llooonnnggg time, so I wasn't worried about him being over it before his actual birthday came. Because we now live so far from our families, his birthday is a big deal to me. I love the idea of a picture invitation; killing two birds with one stone. I can send a new/updated picture of Myles and the invitation as one. Win, win!

Here are the pictures I took and at the bottom is the invitation I sent out. It was one I found on Etsy. I will link it if anyone is interested.

I took a couple more after his nap to showcase his more everyday, natural look :)

And here is the final invite:

Do you ever to picture invites?

Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party

A few months back, a friend of mine from high school posted pictures on Facebook from her daughter's 2nd birthday. I instantly fell in love with EVERYTHING she did. When I decided to start blogging again, I knew I had to share the party she put together. So here is her fabulous Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party:

Let's start with the entrance:

How ridiculously cute is this entrance with the door made to look like a tree and the "Down the Rabbit Hole" sign.

She also placed this welcome sign in the front yard leading up to the door.

Inside she had the dessert table with tons of yummy Alice themed treats.

Here are some of the details:

 She put cute little "eat me" tags on all the desserts, which included marshmallow "Cheshire Cat Tails", mushroom cookies, cupcakes, and Rice Krispies treat pops.

The table also included her daughter's adorable smash cake.

She also had a snack table with a Cheshire cat cheese ball and grape caterpillars.  

Outside was a drink station. I absolutely love this set up with the sign indicating drinks for kids and adults and the straw tags that say 'drink me'!

These signs 'directed' guests to the different areas outside; such a fun way to bring in the theme!

My favorite part of the whole party is the kids table. She made these mushroom stools herself and put together the cutest little tea party set-up. 

She also had some fun activities for the kids like this Queen of Hearts croquet game and a Twiddledee and Twiddledum photo booth.

Cute color themed highchair tulle skirt:

Some more cute chalkboard signs and banner with movie quotes:

And lastly, an Alice in Wonderland book as a thank you and party favor.

Thanks to Kristin for letting me share the amazing job she did on her daughter's second birthday party! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did through the pictures. 

What's your favorite birthday party theme?

{It's the Little Things} Best Friend's Birthday Party

When I started working on Myles Monthly update for 21 months, I found tons of pictures; like 100s that I hadn't shared. I didn't want to cram them all onto one post, so I figured no better time than now to share. In May, Myles' bestie turned 2. He had a super hero themed party complete with bounce house, caps, and yummy cupcakes! Of course the big hit was the bounce house and so 90% of my pictures are from that. The color is weird in these pictures because of the lighting in the bounce house and the fact that I still don't really know how to use my camera!

Singing to the birthday boy!

Getting into the cupcakes:

 He wouldn't eat any of the actual cupcake, only the frosting. And when he was done with that one, he wanted the frosting off of all the rest of them. And when we went to their house later that week he still wanted the frosting on the leftover ones. 

And Myles in his cape that Leesa made. She did an awesome job on these and the back has an 'M' on it for Myles :)

Blurry running toddler pic!

Back to linking up with Ashley over at Words About Waverly for It's the Little Things link-up!

What do your little ones do with their friends?