Finally! I'm posting about something that doesn't have to do with Chloe and one of her activities;)
On May 17th, we celebrated Evan's 4th Birthday with a Disney Cars theme party! We decided on the Cars theme a few months earlier when Evan's one request was to have a Lightning McQueen cake at his birthday party.
I talked to Evan about possible places to have his party. Not very much to my surprise, Evan wanted to keep it simple and we threw his birthday bash in the gazebo of our neighborhood park.
I used Pinterest to find some cute and simple ideas for the party spread! (Chloe's dance recital was earlier in the day, so I knew that I wouldn't have much time for food prep.)
I made menu cards to place on our food table, but forgot to set them out. We had Mater's Taters/potato chips/tortilla chips (technically not "taters"), dip sticks/veggies, fruit "race cars", and Luigi's Casa Della Tires/Oreos. Chris also grilled some yummy sliders, hotdogs, and sausages.
Evan got his Lightning McQueen cake. We had a few mishaps before the party and Lightning McQueen landed on a random spot of the cake...
The "Refueling Station"
Party Favors
We used the cars for races on the track that Chris custom built for the party.
The kids had blast racing their cars!
(If you happened to notice that Chloe is wearing makeup, please know that she wore it for her recital. It's not her normal look. Ha!)
We also rented a bounce house. I wasn't sure of how it would fare in a public park, so the VIP Passes served dual purposes, as party favors, and, as a way of keeping unwanted guests out of the bounce house. "Pit Pass Required." To be honest, I would have allowed any random kid in the park to jump in the bounce house, but just in case it got out of hand... Luckily, there wasn't any traffic in the park during the party, except our party guests, of course:)
All the while, Chris was hard at work manning the grill!
A bonus of having Evan's party in the park was that the newest addition to our little family was able to attend. Meet Luke:)
Our sweet almost 4 year old blowing out his birthday candles!
He was so excited about opening his presents this year!
Here he is opening his gift from Chloe. Can you tell that she wrapped it herself?
Lastly, we broke open the piñata!
Perhaps, the most memorable moments of our piñata fun involved Chloe. Seriously, would you look at that face?! She was bound and determined to break open the piñata!
Happy 4th Birthday, Evan!
Thank you to everyone that came out to celebrate with Evan on his special day...and an extra big THANK YOU to my brother for being our party photographer:) Evan's big day wouldn't have been the same without all of you!
Disclaimer: My blog is perpetually backlogged these days, so please forgive the random order of my posts. I'm getting them done by any means necessary!
On the third Saturday in May, Chloe had her dance recital. The new studio that she attends this year doesn't have a winter show. Also, her dance class was in the early afternoon, so Chris dropped her off at every single practice. The one and only time I was in the studio was on picture day, since only dancers and moms were allowed on that day. Needless to say, I was excited to see what she had been working on all year.
The entire recital had a patriotic theme and was appropriately titled "God Bless America".
She performed her tap dance first. Most of the shots were from dress rehearsal because I had a better view, but the pictures still didn't turn out all that great.
She then performed a sweet ballet.
The recital was held at the beautiful Davis Theater. I've taken pictures at the venue before when we've gone to watch the Montgomery Ballet perform, but I've never taken a picture of the full stage. It's gorgeous!
The girls took their final bows!
We had most of the usual fan club there to support our girl.
Chloe and Aunt Dana
Nana, Evan, and Chloe
Chloe, Evan, and Lola
Chloe and Granddaddy - The outdoor lighting was really harsh at this time of the day if you can't tell by the squinty eyes.
Chloe and Uncle Jose
We also got a family picture. Hooray!
I'll close this post with one last silly photo of Daddy and Chloe. Thank you to everyone who came out to support Chloe!!! We love you and appreciate it!
Chloe's class had an end-of-the-year party following her last day of school at a local gymnastics and cheer facility.
You might remember her dress from the first day that she met her teacher and classmates. I thought it would be fitting (no pun intended) for her to wear the dress to the end-of-the-year party.
It was really hard to get a good shot from where I was standing, but here are a few from the day.
The final class photo:(
The party room was very small and cramped but I crammed in for a few minutes to get a couple of photos of Chloe eating lunch with her classmates (for the last time!) and opening up her end of the year gift.
Chloe saying "good bye" to Mrs. Helms.
Mrs. Helms left a lasting impression on me from the very first night that I met her when she asked the parents to pray that she would be the teacher that our children would need. Chloe loved her to pieces and was always excited to see her. We know that this will not be our last time to see Mrs. Helms. We have requested her to be Evan's teacher next year and we hope that we will be seeing her lots more next year.
She was so sweet. As an end-of-the-year gift, she gave each student a personalized beach towel. For the parents, she also sent home a bound book of art projects and a DVD with pictures that she had taken during the school year.
We feel so blessed to have found this school and Mrs. Helms. And, we couldn't have asked for a sweeter bunch of kids. I felt like I knew each one of them personally through all of Chloe's musings about her school day. Chloe made sure to say "good bye" to each of her classmates and she seems to be handling everything pretty well. She is excited to be starting "big kids' school" next year. There were so many bitter sweet moments on this day. Although, I'm sad to see one chapter of Chloe's life coming to an end, I'm excited to see the beginning of a new chapter.
To say May was a busy month would be a understatement. In the midst of tee ball season, we had a culmination of school year-end events and recitals. We weren't able to sleep-in on Saturday even once in the month May. That must be a crime!;)
This year, Chloe attended a new studio that taught baton, gymnastics, tap, and ballet.
The first Saturday in May, she had a recital where she showcased her baton and gymnastics skills.
I took a quick picture of Chloe before the recital. (This is totally random, but I never realized how tacky dance could be. Seriously, this leotard looked like it was straight from the 80's and the scrunchie that she wore in her hair was the icing on the cake. Ha!...I'm possibly the meanest mom ever, or, the most honest....Either way, Chloe rocked her 80's leotard!)
First up was Chloe's baton routine. (Some of these photos were taken during dress rehearsal and some were taken at the recital, so you may notice slight differences.)
Gymnastics!!!
Afterwards, Chloe had time for a few photos with her adoring fan club;)
Chloe did a great job! I hope to have the videos that Chris and I took with our phones uploaded soon.
