Birthday Party Planning Time!!!

I have been forcing myself to wait until 2011 to start planning Jacob's third birthday party since he won't actually BE three until 2011. Truth is I started googling ideas back in October. I have so much fun planning the kids parties and coming up with the perfect theme. I figure I only have a few years to pick everything out myself because before long they will have their own opinions on what they want.

The theme for Jacob's party this year was easy. Toy Story. The boy is OBSESSED! He had never watched a movie until he broke his leg and since he was stuck in a cast for 7 weeks in a semi-sitting position pretty much all he did was watch movies for those long 7 weeks. While we were in the hospital the gifts started pouring in. He received countless DVD's including Elmo, Curious George, Mary Poppins, A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, Dora the Explorer and Toy Story and Toy Story 2. We also own every single Disney DVD that has ever been released from the "vault" and a handful of Pixar movies including Monsters, Inc. so I figured we would be good to go. I put in Monsters, Inc. and he watched 10 minutes and then started to cry. I put in Finding Nemo and 10 minutes later there were tears. I put in Curious George and I don't think he even lasted 10 minutes before the water works started. We finally tried Toy Story and he was hooked. Not only did he watch the entire movie, but as soon as the movie ended he started yelling, "Wooody! Woody!". We learned real fast that "Woody!" meant "Play it again!". He must have watched that movie 100 times before we finally convinced him that Toy Story 2 had Woody in it as well and was just as good. He has now seen both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 at least 150 times. He knows almost every word in the movie.

Needless to say, when I started brainstorming ideas for his party (shortly after Grace turned one in July....I kid you not) Toy Story was number one on the list!

I have been scouring the web looking for cool Toy Story ideas and I have found quite a few I wanted to share with you.

I did cookie favors for Grace's birthday since her first birthday was mostly adults anyway. For Jacob's birthday, I have decided to do goody bags for the kids and I found these adorable green alien bags on Etsy. As soon as I found them I had to have them! Mainly because I have decided to do cupcakes again since Grace's Watermelon Picnic themes cupcakes went over so well. You can click here to see her cupcakes. For Jacob's party, I am going to do the alien cupcakes I found here. They look relatively easy and go perfect with the theme and favor bags. I also found these cool cupcake wrappers just to add some more Toy Story flair to the party. I found a Junk Food tee at babyGap that has the Toy Story cast and aliens on it and we bought it so he can wear it to his party. He has already worn it a handful of times and I am hoping it still fits come March. This boy is eating all.the.time and growing like a weed (finally!).

Those are the ideas I am sharing so far, but I am also in the process of creating an invitation and searching the Target $1 bins for cool finds to throw in the goody bags.

We are going to have so much fun with this party and I can't wait for his birthday to get here. I can't wait to see his little face when it all comes together!

2010 in Review

Looking back through all of my pictures so I could write this post, I was amazed at the number of things that happened this year. The first picture I came across in my album was a picture of a 6 month old Grace. I can't believe she was ever that small in 2010. It feels like a lifetime ago that she was an immobile baby! I am so used to her walking, running, talking, etc. We definitely have so much to be thankful for and I am looking forward to all that 2011 has in store for our little family.

Without further adieu I give you 2010 - A Review in Pictures:

We started the year off in January with a 6 month old and a 22 month old! Grace tried solids for the first time, but was not a fan of rice cereal!





In March, we celebrated a certain little chicken wing's second birthday!





In April, we took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and headed into Boston for an afternoon at the Aquarium and we explored the North End. We also took a walk through the Common and Public Garden.





In May, we took a road trip out to Pennsylvania and stayed at Sesame Place for a few days.





We spent our days in June at the playground, eating ice cream and playing in our pool in the back yard.






Gracie turned one in July and we celebrated with a Watermelon Picnic themed birthday party.






Pretty much the entire month of August was spent dealing with the aftermath of Jacob breaking his leg. An event I don't hope to revisit in coming years! :(




September was the month Jacob got his cast off and we spent one weekend at the Bourne Scallop Fest. We had fried dough, rode the ferris wheel and train and listened to the Toe Jam Puppet Band!






We went apple picking at the beginning of October and wrapped up the month with a trip to the Pumpkin Patch!







There are basically no pictures from November and December since at least one of us has been sick every week since Veteran's Day. It has been a rough couple of months, but we are hoping for good health to kick off the New Year!

Happy New Year to all our friends, family and readers! May 2011 bring you and your family many blessings!

CSN Stores Giveaway WINNER!

Drum roll, please! The winner according to Random.org is.....

#2

Heather, I have sent you an e-mail with all the information you need! Enjoy your $35 gift certificate to CSN Stores!

We have some major snow coming down today! We already have approximately 4 inches and we have a Winter Weather Advisory in effect until 10 PM tonight. I can't wait to bundle the kids up and head out tomorrow for some sledding! I hope to have pictures posted later this week. It has been quite awhile since I posted some current pictures so I need to get on that!

Have a great day!

CSN Stores Giveaway!

Since starting this little blog back in 2008, I have received numerous requests to host giveaways. Unfortunately, most of them are items I would not want to bother my readers with. For example, the past three requests were for a toothbrush, holiday chocolates and a personalized song by a music duo. Boring, right?

When CSN Stores contacted me about hosting a giveaway for my readers I was very excited! With over 200 stores online, CSN sells everything you could possibly need including home decor, tools, bedding, lighting and even TV stands! The possibilities are endless!

One lucky Life in the Hen House reader will snag a $35 gift certificate good at any one of their online stores! In order to enter the rules are simple:

1.)Become a follower of my blog (right sidebar) and leave a comment telling me that you are a follower. If you are already a follower just let me know in your comment.

2.) Include your e-mail address in your comment so I am able to contact you if you win.

That's it! I will announce the winner on Monday morning! Good luck!

Our Card

I send out "Happy New Year" cards every year from our family.

Last year was the first year I attempted it since the year before I had just sent out "birth announcements" that were really "welcome home" announcements when Jacob came home from the NICU. Since it was September by the time we mailed them I didn't bother sending anything else out.

Last year, I took a picture of both kids together that came out great and a picture of each kid separate which was easy with Grace since she was still immobile, but trying to get Jacob to sit still and not flip over and try to get off the couch took about 52 takes. I was exhausted! Unfortunately, since the card was made by Tiny Prints I do not have a proof of the card that was sent, but here are the pics we used:







Notice the tears on Jacob's face?! This year, I was fortunate that we had just had our family portraits done by Black Thumb Studio and I decided to use Becca from Jumping Jax Designs to make our card. She recently revamped my blog with our new Life in the Hen House theme. She is a work-at-home Mama who is also a preemie Mama just like me! She does fabulous work and I had to share this year's card with you all:



It completely describes how I feel. Blessed.

If you are still in need of a holiday card, a blog design, a logo or birth announcements check out her website! She is great to work with!

Jacob's Orthopedic Follow-Up

This morning I dropped Grace off bright and early with her Auntie Jill and headed into Boston with Jacob for his follow-up with the Orthopedist.

When he got the cast off back on September 9th the doctor told us he would limp for approximately 3 months so not to expect him to stop limping until this appointment. Jacob only limped for about 4 weeks and then was back to jumping with both feet off the ground and running! I cringed every time he jumped or fell for the first few weeks, but he seems to be doing fine. He is doing well navigating on uneven surfaces and I don't notice any difference in the way he walks.

I was not shocked when the doctor remarked on how well he has recovered. I had a chance to take a look at the x-rays and you wouldn't believe the difference from the day of the break to now. There is so much new bone regrowth and it is making his leg good and strong so the doctor said I shouldn't be nervous at all. He actually said it would take a very serious fall (worse than the original fall) to break that leg again.

His right leg is still slightly shorter by 1-1.5 cm, but the doctor said they prefer to have it heal this way since the broken leg tends to grow faster once it starts healing and they want his legs to even out in the end.

Overall, they were very happy to see him up and running all over the place! He doesn't have to be seen again until next Summer and they will do another x-ray to make sure everything is starting to catch up.

I have been slacking lately on posts and pictures, but we are heading to Edaville Railroad this weekend for the annual Festival of Lights and since the railroad is up for sale for a cool $10 million this may very well be the last year we can take the kids. I remember going to the Festival of Lights when I was a kid and I am excited to take my own kids! Hopefully, I will have lots of pictures to post this weekend!

March for Babies - 2011

I am excited to tell you that the dates for the 2011 March for Babies have been announced!

Our walk here in Boston is going to be on Saturday, May 7th @ 12:30 PM and begins at the Hatch Shell on the Charles River. It is a very leisurely 3 mile stroll around the Charles River and has phenomenal views of the skyline and the city itself.

If you are interested in joining Team Chicken Wing, please feel free to contact me or visit our team page here to join.

If you would like to contribute by donating to our walk there is a badge on the left sidebar of the blog. We are attempting to raise $1,000 this year so even the smallest donation of $5 will help us reach that goal!

Thank you for your continued support of this worthy cause!