Tyler's Carnival Party!!

Tyler had his 3 year birthday party today and it was so much fun. My mom and I started planning it back in May. I'm glad my mom and sister were here to help. It was a lot of work, but worth it seeing Tyler so excited. This morning he woke up he said to Scott, "Daddy, you sing Happy Birthday to Ty today." And he also kept asking me, "Mommy is company coming yet?"

It started with Tyler's birthday invitation, which I got on etsy. I think it turned out very cute. When the kids came, they had a bag with their name waiting and got to take tickets for the games. For the games, we had Mystery Fishing, Bean Bag Toss, Can Toss, Lucky Ducky, and the photo booth. At each game, they had to turn their tickets in. You can see the ticket cans on the corner of the tables. I covered baking powder cans with paper and then had the word tickets in a circus font on the front. The cans were great since they have that little opening at the top.

The birthday boy didn't want to dress up, but some of his friends enjoyed it.

After playing games, the kids and adults were ready to eat. We had hot dogs, ham & cheese sandwiches, chips, fruit on skewers, and pasta salad. You can see in the corner of the pictures the little red baskets I had for the kids to eat on.

We had cupcakes, cake balls, and animal crackers for dessert. I bought cute cupcake toppers on esty. In the background, you can see one of the banners I made. It was, Tyler: A Year in Review. It had a 2 year picture at the beginning and then one for each month until he turned 3.

This is the other banner I made. It hung over the fireplace and we put the presents under it.

When the kiddos left, I had popcorn and cotton candy for them to take with.

Baby Shower

Some friends and I threw our sweet friend, Rachel a baby shower this past Saturday. Rachel is due with James, boy #2, for them the middle of August. I can't wait to meet him.

I made Rachel these two banners.

Birthday Boy

I can't believe my little baby is already 3 years old. He's such a big boy now. Tyler was up bright and early this morning at 6:25 ready to open gifts. We've been doing all the things he loves to do today. We went to the library, to PetSmart, and met Daddy at Chick-fil-A for lunch. This evening we're having chicken for dinner because that is what Tyler asked for. We'll have cake, which I need to go make. And we plan to do lots of playing outside (if the rain holds off).

Things you are doing now at this age:
-you have been potty trained for about 2 1/2 months
-you loved to play with your tools and fix things-that is a daily activity
-you loved to do crafts and play in Mommy's scrapbook room
-you love to be outside-at the park, pool, on walks, eating lunch
-you love your stuffed doggies:Heartly, Kit, Blue Dog, Charkey (I'll have a post on them soon)
-you are a Daddy's boy!!
-you still love watching Curious George and Clifford, but now also like Handy Manny, Micky Mouse and Shrek
-you are so sweet and love to give us kisses
-you can be stubborn and like to test us
-you love to help with any project Daddy does
-you are talking so much and say the sweetest and funniest things
-you love to read and go to the library
-you surprise me by how much you notice, observe and remember
-you are such a joy to Mommy & Daddy and we love you so much!!

Before & After

Our poor TV has been on our table now for 2 years and 4 months. The cable box and DVD player have been on a plastic container. It's not that we thought it looked nice, we just couldn't find a TV console that we liked. We'd look and then Scott would get tired of looking and give up. Once we found one we liked, but it was on back order; then went to being discontinued-just our luck. We finally found one the end of May. It looks so much better.

The Dentist

Today, Tyler went with me to get my teeth cleaned. When I was finished, Dr. Cribbs, looked at Tyler's teeth and counted them. Next time we go, Tyler will get his cleaned too. Tyler did great and was so cute while I was having my turn. He kept telling me, "good job momma."

Our weekend

This weekend, my best friend, Dana, was here with her two boys and her sister. On Friday, they took her son, Brady, to Morgans Wonderland, so Tyler and I babysat Grayson. He is 3 1/2 months old. Tyler did really well with Grayson. He helped feed him, got him blankets, and showed him his toys. He'll be a good big brother some day.

Scott's brother, Brett was also here this weekend. Scott and Brett were able to play golf Friday night and Saturday morning. Tyler had fun playing with Uncle Brett.

Instruments

In one of the Curious George shows that Tyler watches, George makes instruments. Tyler has been wanting to for quite a few days now. These were the best I could come up with.

One shaker has buttons in it and the other has rice it in.

First, I made the one with the cookie cutters, but it didn't make much sound. The one with the spoons was much better.

Our week

This is what we've been up to this week. Sunday night we took Tyler to see the fireworks. This was his first time and he loved them!! Next year, I think we'll even get sparklers.

Tuesday, Tyler went to his first movie with his friend, Emily. One of the theaters here was showing Madagascar for only $1, so it wouldn't matter if we made it through the whole movie or not. They had a little kids pack for $4 that had a drink, popcorn, and a fruit snack. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good picture in the theater.

Today, we went bowling. We went last year a few times and Tyler really enjoyed it. This is our first time this year. There were a few different groups there today, so they ran out of shoes in his size. He's ready to go again and telling me which friends he wants to come with him too. If you go to http://www.kidsbowlfree.com/, you can find a place in your area that will send you coupons each week for the kids to play up to 2 free games per day.

June Crafts

Tyler asks to do crafts all the time. In May I bought lots of the wood crafts for him to paint. He loves to paint and it was easy for me. We've pretty much exhausted that, so I've had to find some more neat crafts. I got most of my ideas from http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/ and http://www.lyndsxo-glamourmoms.blogspot.com/.
This is the picture frame he painted for Scott for Father's Day. Since Tyler loves eating watermelon this craft was perfect. He added red and green paint to the construction paper for each part. When it dried, we glued it together and added black buttons for the seeds. These are his strawberry sundae and his apple tree. The sundae was made by dipping his finger in paint then making it into ice cream on the paper. For the apple tree, I cut out the trunk, he painted the leaves and then we glued on red pom poms for the apples. This is Tyler's octopus he made at Mom's Day Out. The black in the left hand corner is Shamu.

Tyler's Octopus. I recommend not using glitter because every time he shakes it, glitter comes off.

The moon & dark, starry night.

This is Tyler's lollipop. We added paint the color of the construction paper to each layer and then had to add glitter.