Sprinkles! Sprinkles Everywhere!

"I want breakfast at Mammie's house for my birthday dinner!" 

That is what Caleb said to me a couple of months ago when he was asked what he wanted to do on his birthday.

   Every year we do a combined party in between their birthdays, but on their actual birthdays, we have a few tradtions: sprinkle pancakes (usually with strawberries), a family activity in the middle of the day and a family dinner with grandparents and any available aunts and uncles. We went to Red Robin for Liam's second birthday, back in August and planned on a restaurant for Caleb's. He usually picks a Hibachi restaurant, but this year, he wasn't having any of that. He looked at me and said he wanted a big family dinner with everyone because he loves his family so much, Who can say no to that? Oh, and Sprinkle Pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. What!? I made him eat somethig different for lunch, but he did get two meals of his pancakes and bacon. 

I can't believe he is 5! Next year he will start Kindergarten! Where has the time gone?!?! I really want to bore you with 5 years of pictures, but I won't do that. Ok, maybe just a newborn shot!

It was love at first sight, that is for sure. He has not stopped amazing me since. 

I hate how grainy this shot is but I didn't have time to adjust my settings before he blew out the candles and dug in. 

   Honestly, this was a pretty easy dinner to orchestrate and good too! Although, I doubt I'll be making pancakes any time soon. I made around 150 pancakes that day. The 4 of us, plus 8 grandparents and 4 aunts and uncles that could make it (there were 4 that couldn't) and miscalculations on how much one batch makes led to a lot of pancake flipping.  

1. pancakes fit for celebration. / 2. & 3. Blueberries before and after the syrup making process. / 4. browning butter for that fabulous granola. / 5. Prepped pancake batter.  / 6. A mountain of Oatmeal Cookie Granola. 

1. For appetizers we had, pigs in a blanket, sausage balls and a granola station. 

2. For dinner we had pancakes, sausage, bacon, hashbrown casserole, breakfast casserole and fruit.

3. We also had a coffee bar or a gourmet chocolate milk station if you were a child. 

When I asked everyone if they could make to my parent's house instead of a restaurant, they all volunteered to bring things. My mom took care of all meat products and the faux peach bellinis (not pictured) and the hash-brown casserole. One set of in laws, brought breakfast casserole that is a Christmas family tradition. My other set of in laws brought fresh fruit (gots to get something healthy in there), although had I thought about it, I would have had my father in law make his sausage balls. He makes the BEST sausage balls! I could eat my weight in them and I normally HATE them. Finally, my other set of parents brought the coffee bar. When they asked what they could bring, I naturally said coffee since my Dad runs a coffee bar every Sunday at church. Of course, they went full coffee bar for their oldest grandson. I made pancakes and the granola, plus fixings for the parfaits. 

  

 At this point, he was wired and there was no calming him down, but he knew he was loved and that is what really matters. Plus, I think we all spent less than we would have had we gone to a restaurant to eat. 

xoxo, 

Ashley

Favorite Thing Birthday Paty

Ahhh!!! This party is the one that got away! 

   I loved it, we had a blast, the kids enjoyed this one so much but the stupid rain came and broke my heart! I had the cutest set up in my head and a sudden down pour ruined it all! Here is the only pic I have of what was going to happen.

   I was finishing cupcakes in the kitchen while my Mom hung streamers and banners when I snapped this picture. She hung more after this was taken. The tables had a grey and white geometric print table cloth. The small square one was for the hummus, salsa and chips the rectangular one in the middle was for the three types of cupcakes and cookies. The other one to the lemonade and tea station. I had gold dinosaurs, a gold tub for the ice and gold frames for the menu and pictures of the boys. We had tables to set up for a bubble station and cute crates for the water guns. The weather had other plans and I have to make peace with it. Cue my over dramtic nature! 

Water Fight!

   

The kids (big and little) had so much fun with the pool, water guns, and water balloons. So much fun that we forgot to get out the bubbles, sprinkler and slip n slide. I didn't matter they were perfectly content. Every time my husband tried to dry off dome one attacked him again. It was awesome!

Pinata!! 

   Caleb has been begging for a pinata for years but the overprotective mother in me was very concerned about kids, blindfolds and bats! This year I took my husband party shopping with me, and he convinced me that I should give in. I'm glad I did. He loved it and we have candy for weeks! The other up side, I didn't have to buy any thing for treat bags. I already grabbed three packs of bubbles in the Target Dollar Spot earlier this summer so each boy left with candy and bubbles.

   After two rounds blind folded and a broken plastic bat, we let the boys take turns without the blindfold and grabbed a big stick. That finally did the trick when the older cousins took their third turns.

Of course Liam thought he did some major damage! After he first connected with it he said "oooh got you!" 

 The Table Decorations and Food!

   Since the tables couldn't be set up according to plan We did the best we could and I have to say that I'm pretty pleased. We used the menu and gold dinosaurs. Luckily the cupcakes were still inside when the rain hit so they were fine and my toppesr didn't get ruined. I will do a DIY post on them in a couple of weeks. I have to make another round of them. I love them! They turned out so cute. 1/3 of them were pictures of their favorite TV shows and the rest were our favorite snapshots of them. everyone thought they were cute but the boys loved them. They both picked out their favorite characters for their cupcakes.

We picked their favorite flavors for the cupcakes and cookies.

Chocolate Cream Filled Cupcakes

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream 

 This one is a new flavor...

  I like to call Rainbow Sherbet Cupcakes.

We also had their favorite cookies.

Honey Cookies and Chocolate Chip Cookies.

   I don't have a picture but their was also hummus with pita chips and my Mother in Law's homemade salsa with tortilla chips. I could drink that stuff it is the best salsa on the planet! I considered drinking it with a straw then I realized that would rude. 

Lemonade and Sweet Tea Bar!

   How cute would this have been outside with the streamers and trees in the background? Oh well, it was still a hit! I used fruit and other fun things to make the flavored syrups. We had lemonade, sweet tea and unsweet tea to choose from. The possible combinations were endless!

I also had the cotton candy there for the kids to make magic color changing lemonade.

We had: Strawberry Rhubarb

Honey Suckle

Peach Mango

Pina Colada

Kiwi

Blackberry Hibiscuis

Mint

Cherry

Cotton Candy

Those tags did get soaked by the rain and caused some of the neon to run. 

Oh well, what are going to do?

Of course I had some cute paper straws. Love them.

I added some cute framed picture of the boys too.

Now you have seen it. It didn't live up to my expectations looks wise. But it definitely was a winner in fun, and in the end that is what matters!

xoxo,

Ashley