Celebrations Galore with Guest Appearances by Spider-Riles and Snow Princess Maggie

 On April 24th, we celebrated Joel's 25th birthday by having a Low Country Boil at Mom and Dad's house. Kelly made him some awesome artwork and we created quite a family memory when Dad decided to purchase the Xbox Kinect gaming system for us to play that weekend. We had a blast with the bowling and dancing games. Maggie and Riley created their own masterpieces in Grandmama and Papa's bathtub using some pretty colorful bath paint.

 For Mother's Day this year, I was treated to an extra special supper prepared by Chris. He made eggs benedict and stoneground grits served with a side of bacon and some mimosas. I was able to have a pedicure with my mom and sister the day before and brunch at a great place in the Arboretum. What a wonderful privilege it is to be the mom to these two sweet peas!

  Two days later we woke up to a very excited 5 year old boy! Riley designed his own special breakfast by creating some Spiderman eyes out of waffles, strawberries, and whipped cream. And he opened a few presents from us including a Leapster (to replace the one that he loved and accidentally broke) and a Spiderman "hide-out", figurines, and bookbag.

  Chris took off the day before and we went to Chuck E. Cheese as a family (Riley's pick for his favorite place to celebrate). And on his actual birthday, we grilled out cheeseburgers--the birthday boy's choice of course! Grandmama was able to join us for supper and Spiderman cupcakes.

  On Memorial Day weekend, we invited some friends and family over to celebrate both Riley and Maggie's birthdays in one big party. I loved how excited they were about their different themes-super hero Spiderman and Frozen's snow princess. Riley helped me put up this spiderweb with streamers and the food menu was fun to come up with as well:

• Beverage Station included Green Goblin punch, Hero H2O, Spiderman's Power Punch, Melted Snow (water), and Glacier Juice
• Spiderman's half of the table featured: Hero Sandwiches, Spidey 7 Layer Dip and Chips, Babel Spiderwebs, Peter Parker's Web-Slinging Pizza Bites, Venom-ous Berries, and POP-corn
• Frozen's menu consisted of: Anna and Hans' "We finish each other's...sandwiches", Kristoff's Swedish Meatballs, Sven's Antlers (pretzels), Olaf's Nose (carrots and veggie dip), and Olaf Statue Replicas (cheese sticks), and Anna's Snowballs (powdered donut holes)
• And of course, cakes with each child's favorite character

 Isn't this the cutest Spiderman you've ever seen? :)

 So glad Mommaw and Poppaw were able to join us again this year!

 Riley helped make his birthday list this year and was thrilled to receive some of the toys that were on his wish list.

 Nan and Pap made some more of this little superhero's dreams come true too!

 Maggie tore through her presents like a Tasmanian Devil! She was super excited about all of her special toys.

 Parker, who is Riley's age and a friend who lives just up the street, was able to come with his mom, Terri.

 We were thrilled to have some of our QCP gang (Alice, Blake, Delaney, Brandy, Callie, and later John Parker, Mallory, and David) with us and especially honored that Marc and Krista flew down for a visit and participated in the festivities with us as well.

  I think the birthday menu was a success with the kids (especially the sweets, go figure!).

 

 

I decided to have a few outdoor stations for the kids to try out since the weather cooperated. To go along with our birthday themes, here's what we had:

• "Let it BLOW" Bubble Station
• Web-Shooting Practice Station-use the cans of silly string to wrap up the bad guys
• Make Your Own Troll Rock Station
• Detonating "Bombs" (aka balloons) Station
• Web Target Practice-throw the cotton balls onto the sticky web
• Do You Want to Build a Snowman? Station with fake snow

 Ha! I love this picture!

 Take a selfie with Poppaw!

 Riley couldn't wait to construct one of his several Lego kits.

 And Maggie, the Snow Princess, belted out partial lyrics to all the Frozen songs on her new boombox!

 That night, Pap read the kids a superhero comic book before bed (courtesy of Uncle Marc who is sharing his love for comics). It was so awesome to have everyone there to celebrate our munchkins newest milestone and year of life!

 

 

On Thursday, May 28th, we had our first (of hopefully several) graduations! This one was for Riley's 4 year old preschool program at Woodland United Methodist. Our sweet boy led his processional line because they were in order from tallest to shortest. The graduation was super cute with a welcome from Ms. Juliette (who taught Riley Chapel lessons each Friday) and a message from Ms. Chella (the director who also became a full-time helper in his classroom after Christmas break when Ms. Michelle left). The kids sang two songs with hand and body motions; one about being ready for Kindergarten and the other thanking God for making them unique.

 

 Towards the end of the program, each student was asked what they would miss the most about preschool to which Riley held the microphone and answered, "My teachers and the playground." :) After a handing out of diplomas and hugs from the teachers, the graduates received some special gifts and got to eat some tasty snacks.

 This is a picture of Riley and his best buddy, Caden.

 We LOVED that Nan and Pap and Grandmama were able to attend the graduation celebration with us.

 This is a picture of Riley's other buddy, Landon O.

 After graduation, we took Riley to lunch at a new restaurant in town called Brenda's Corner Café. And Riley was able to order his favorite food of all time-a cheeseburger! He also opened some cards from all of us and collected some monetary gifts that he wants to save for a new Lego set.

 To bring the celebrations to a close, we got to honor our darling daughter once more on her actual 3rd birthday (June 2nd). Daddy wasn't able to take off work for the day, but we let her open a few presents before he left. She received some new dress-up shoes, a bowling set, some books, and a fairy doll. Then later that morning, I took her to Monkey Joe's (a bouncy house play place that is her first choice for entertainment) with Riley. Grandmama was able to meet us there and was sweet enough to treat us to lunch at Jason's Deli (or as Maggie called it-Jason's "Belly"). That night, I fixed Maggie's favorite meal of chicken nuggets and fries and we ate some chocolate cupcakes that the kids made and decorated earlier that day.

Uncle Edward, Aunt Amanda, Tripp, and Liam hit a homerun this week by sending some extra special costumes in the mail for our super-obsessed Spiderman and Elsa! I'm not sure I'll ever get them in regular clothes again!

I'm so thankful that we were able to have so many wonderful milestones to celebrate together as a family! And I look forward to experiencing many, many more!