Shark Attack! Finn is 2!

There was a SHARK ATTACK over the weekend at our house!  Finn turned 2 years old, and there was a Shark Party to mark the occasion as special!  We are so blessed to have made it this far with this little man in our lives, and we had a wonderful time celebrating this milestone with our family, friends, and our little guy! 

Of course, for me, the party planning was the best part!  Britt and I both decided on the theme, and we got on Pinterest to do some research!  Then, I made lists!  A guest list, a things to make list, a things to buy list, a food list...  WHEW!  Then, we took the red pen to it and chopped it down!  I always have BIG ambitions and BIG dreams for parties, but the realist in the house reminds me of our tiny checkbook, and we whittle it down.  I think it turned out perfectly!

I have put together some pictures and some explanations about the party set up and decorations.  I hope you enjoy it!  CLICK ON EACH PICTURE TO ENLARGE.

Invitation - DreamWeaverPrints

We used a lot of paper printables that we found on Etsy to complete our decor!  I love to support my fellow crafters!  All of the party decor items were from the Pep Custom Designs store.  I used the pennant banner, cupcake wrappers, signs, drink wrappers and 2inch party circles from THIS LISTING.  I will also be using the thank you notes this week!

Outside window decoration by Dad!

Signs on the front door

HAPPY

BIRTHDAY

FINN!  (Banner by Pep Custom Design)

Cupcake assembly! (cupcakes from the grocery store, toppers by boogaboo)

The cupcake toppers were also printables from Etsy!  I got them from the boogaboo shop.  This is the LISTING I used for them.  PROPS to my husband for a lot of the cutting - especially these fins!  They were a bit tedious - but so worth it!  Sometime you need to ask him about working on cutting things out while he was at flag football practice last week...

We printed this DreamWeaverPrints sing as a 16x20 for the party

Of course, his party would not have been complete without a Dream Weaver Prints party sign!  Again, we had so much fun working on this one!  Since I am the designer and seller of these AMAZING pieces of art, I asked Britt to be the "customer" on this one.  He emailed me with all the things he wanted included (themes, colors, sayings, etc), I worked it up, and he approved it!  We ordered a BIG one for a centerpiece at the party.  I am going to hang it in Finn's room this week.

We have FACTOID signs all over the dining room to entertain the adults!

Our Shark Attack table!  Net from Hobby Lobby

The Food!  (Click to enlarge for details!)

Sea Water and Regular water...

And, of course, the party was a blast as well!  I have to share a few pictures from the festivities of our sweet boy enjoying his party!  He loved all the candy on the table, and the "cake cup" (as he calls them) was fun, too - even if he did try to touch the candle flame!  OOPS!

Happy Birthday Finn

More Presents!

Unwrapping!

See dad's hand coming in for the save?

Yum!  Cake Cups!

He got some GREAT presents, but I think one really takes the cake!  My Dad made him this AWESOME busy board that an 2 year old boy would LOVE!  Nana the Wondersitter helped, of course, but Dad dug around in his "treasures," bought a few new things, and made the MOST FABULOUS gift for his last grandson!  I saw THIS PIN on Pinterest a while back, and sent it to my dad, so I am sure it was a great inspiration for him!  We all loved playing with it, and I am sure it is to become a family heirloom!  THANKS, GRANDPA!!!

NAILED it!

Finn LOVES Pistol Pete - and this one behind the door is perfect.

The first time he saw Pete behind the door.  PRICELESS!

LOVES IT!

We ended the party by playing outside on a GORGEOUS Oklahoma fall afternoon.  Broke out the "roller coaster" toy Finn got from us yesterday for his friends to enjoy as well.  it was a hit, just like yesterday!  Best part of this toy?  it comes apart and stores completely in it's own base.  Couldn't ask for more!

Thanks for celebrating with us!  This was a GREAT way to survive a SHARK ATTACK!

Twisters and a Movie

I got off work early today, picked Emma and Lara up from school, and took them to the movies!  We chose to see “Soul Surfer.”  (I think *I* chose it; if I had left it up to them, it would have been Hop or Diary of a Wimpy Kid!)  I had heard a lot of good things about the movie (the Christian radio station I listen to has been talking it up A LOT), I was looking forward to a wholesome, Christian family friendly movie to take my girls to, it was NOT animated (or in 3D), and it was rated PG.  Fit all my criteria - plus this was the first day it was out so E&L's friends couldn't ruin it for them yet!  We had a GREAT time – even did a little shopping after it was over before meeting up with Dad and Jake for dinner!

I really, truly enjoyed this movie!  I love “true stories,” and having known the story behind the movie beforehand, I was pretty sure I would like it.  I had prepared the girls for the “shark attack” scene by telling them this is just a movie, and we know she ends up OK or there wouldn’t be a movie to go to!  (We did see a friend of theirs from school leave soon after that scene and he seemed a bit upset, so know that it is an intense scene!)  Some of the young actors were not great by any stretch of the imagination, but once I got past that, I was OK.  There were also more than a couple of times where the editor forgot how to edit out the arm that was supposed to be missing.  They often filmed the actress from the “other” side so they wouldn’t have to edit out the arm, or that side of her body was covered somehow, but a few times, you could see a shadow of her arm, or the pixilation showed more that it was probably intended, but again, when I stopped looking for it and just watched the movie, I didn’t notice it so much!  Dennis Quaid and Helen Hint did a great job, as did AnnaSophia Robb who played the main character.  She was an amazing surfer, and really made us fall in love with Bethany Hamilton!  Carrrie Underwood played the youth minister from the Hamilton’s church, and I almost hate to say it, but she wasn’t very good.  She looked beautiful, though!  And the church scenes were well done.   I really think they handled the faith aspect very well, and showed how the Hamilton’s faith brought them through this terrible time in their lives.

But my favorite part of the movie? HAWAII!  It is so beautiful!  And it was really cool to learn more about surfing and the competition circuit.  I visited Hawaii 11 years ago, and I hope someday to be able to make it back.  But for now, the pictures I see in movies will have to hold me over – and this movie did a great job of that!

I really had a good time with my girls today!  The best part of the whole evening?  At the end of the movie when Lara leaned over to me and said, “This movie was so cool!”  Then again sometime later when we were in Old Navy and she saw a T-shirt with surf boards on it and said, “That movie INSPIRED me!”  It was a great time for us girls!