Showering Sammy!

 Sarah and Susie threw Sammy and me THE BEST baby shower!!!  Ever since Sarah threw Brodie's monster-themed first birthday party, I've been DYING for my OWN monster party :)  This theme worked beautifully as a baby shower!  The company, food, decorations, activities, and did I mention company? were PERFECT :)

Dining room all decorated

Monsters overlooking the munchies!

Susie made these adorable monster sandwiches!!!  How clever!  Chicken salad on croissants with cherry tomato eyes!  There was also ham and cheese on croissants with green olive eyes.  I think I would like to eat all of my sandwiches like this from now on, I think :)

Activity #1: Thumbprint greetings!  Sarah brought the plain white matting, stamp pads, and Ed Emberley's Complete Funprint Drawing Book. 

 She made a sample of the Bascom family out of thumbprints and left the rest for everyone else to decorate.  

 The finished product:  Everyone made a thumbprint representation of their family, and they turned out SOOO cute!  Each person included such fun details!

 Activity #2: Birthday cards for Sammy!  There were scrapbook supplies out along with numbered popsicle sticks.  Each person was to pull out a popsicle stick and then create a birthday card for Sammy for that birthday.  For instance, if you drew #4, you made a card for his 4th birthday.  

 There was even a super cute keepsake box to keep them in.  These will be SO fun to open over the next SIX years!!!

 Monster cupcakes and decorations: Sarah made chocolate cupcakes filled with ganache and topped with blue cream cheese frosting.  They are quite possibly the yummiest cupcakes I've ever had!

  Monster cookies!

  A cute diaper cake decorated with monster eyes on top, of course!

 We were blessed with so many fun, new things for Sammy from our friends :)

 Ready for a little present opening!

 Susie made these adorable monster favor bags!  The bags were multi-colored, trimmed with feathers, and stuffed with orange cloths and monster eggs! 

  The monster eggs were plastic eggs filled with chocolate--BRILLIANT!

We talked about taking a picture of Susie, Sarah, and me, but we forgot :(  Here is Sarah and me at least in front of our house :)

Jackson and Josh had a fun morning hanging out and then met up with the rest of the Bascom clan for lunch.  They got back for the end of the shower, and then he got to play with Maddie and Brodie.  We skipped naptime, but did let him have some "rest time" to watch some TV in our bed.  

I found him like this when I went up to get him!

After we rested from the super fun shower, we had the pleasure of babysitting for the Bashore kids while Rachel and Jake went to the JAG Ball.  Jackson was SOOO excited for Levi to sit with him and watch a show :)  It was so sweet!

 Two quotes from the day:

At the beginning of the shower, Hallie was one of the first guests to arrive.  Jackson and Josh had just gotten home after a little hike in the woods.  Jackson was telling me about it, and it went something like this, "I want to go back on a special trip and look for an owl, and a fox, and a frog, and Miss Hallie is here!"  

Sarah gave Jackson a Big Brother present at the end of the shower, and his monologue went like this, "Spiderman, Spiderman, TREATS!"  (There was a Spiderman coloring book and story book and then some fun cotton candy treats.)  

February in Virginia AND Preschool Plans!!!

Not really relevant, but LOVE this picture of Jackson and Josh enjoying Cousin Amy's newest book Chopsticks!

I have not been very good at taking pictures, BUT we've been having a really fun last week or so!  The overall theme is how much we love winter in Virginia :)

Last Wednesday: We had a playdate with some new friends!  I met Sarah through my neighbor, Aimee, and she and I have been trying to get our boys to play for quite some time, but schedules kept getting in the way.  Her son's name is Jackson, which we all got a kick out of!  The boys had such a good time playing with cars and having lunch together :)

Last Thursday: This was the start of our streak of GORGEOUS weather!  I think it was in the 70s?  I opened the windows and got the house all clean!  Jackson and I got outside and took down our Valentine's and winter decorations and put up a St. Patrick's Day flag and window decals!  Spring, we are ready for you!  We met Rachel and her mom for lunch at Panera, and of course, Baby Levi was Jackson's date :)  He was so excited to see them, and he immediately started calling Rachel's mom Grandma!  LOL  He sure loves a grandparent :)  After a late nap, we spent the afternoon playing outside in the beautiful weather!

Last Friday:  Friday wasn't quite so nice, but we spent the morning running errands and crossing a few things off of my to-do list.

Saturday: We had the pleasure of helping Sarah surprise David for his 30th birthday!!!  The weather was definitely against us since Josh had planned to take Dave golfing to kill the morning/afternoon.  The driving range was out once the forecast showed cold temps AND crazy wind :/  Josh took his job very seriously and delivered the desired result for Sarah.  He and Dave stuck around the house playing with the kids while Sarah and I got out for a little "shopping at the outlet mall" (i.e. running last minute errands to Party City, Costco, Target, and Sarah's dad's house to pick up hidden beverages and snacks).  We came home to feed the kiddos and lay them down for naps while the guys left for lunch and bowling.  Josh cracked me up later when he told me he was taking his time and sitting down between each ball, and Dave sprang up right away to take his turns quickly!  Sarah got a text from Dave saying they were almost finished and on the way home about 4:00.  Josh texted me at the same time and told me to tell Sarah to ignore that text from Dave and they were going to play one more game and be right on time.  LOL  While the guys were gone, Sarah and I decorated, cleaned up toys, made some snacks, and tried not to be too nervous!  Everyone arrived right on time and we all waited in the backyard once the guys were on their way.  I wasn't sure how to interpret the look on Dave's face when he saw everyone, but Sarah said he was definitely surprised and might still be recovering!  The party was SO fun (as all Bascom parties are), and it was fun to celebrate David!

Sunday: Sunday morning started off a little rough due to my lovely hormones and accident after accident for me.  I was getting dinner ready to go in the Crock-Pot when I took a good slice out of my thumb with a large knife :(  I got that under control and off Jackson and I went to the grocery store.  Upon returning home I was taking apart some sodas and banged/cut my finger on the counter.  The third was less severe as it was only yogurt spilled on my sleeves, but it still got a big groan out of me!  We had our neighbors, the Walburgers, over for dinner, and Jackson loved having Ashely and Alyssa over!

Monday: Josh had the day off, and he made sure he and Jackson took FULL advantage of it AND the BEAUTIFUL weather!  I had a doctor's appointment that took up most of the morning, but Josh used the time to take Jackson to the driving range for the first time!!!  Jackson was so excited to tell me when I got home that he hit golf balls all by himself :)  I wish I had pictures, but I know this will not be the last time this little outing happens ;)  After Jackson's nap, we all went outside for a walk and to play outside!  ALL of the neighbors were out, and Jackson had SUCH a good time!  The current popular activity is climbing up and sliding down the skateboard ramp one of our neighbors has set up out front.  Josh started playing basketball, and Jackson was excited to "play hoops" with Daddy!  We played for about 2 1/2 hours and then came in for dinner and a little "Monsters, Inc."

Tuesday: We headed to Manassas with my neighbor, Hallie, and her girls, Izzy and Mary.  Our destination was an amazing used bookstore!  I definitely want to go back when I have unlimited time and attention span :)  We did leave with a few good finds!  We rounded out the outing with lunch at Chik-fil-a--always yummy and fun!  The afternoon was spent playing outside again since it was still so nice out!

Wednesday: Today we headed to storytime at the library, which is usually a pretty big hit.  This was the second time two employees from PNC Bank came to read stories.  They did a great job again--today's theme was Dr. Seuss, and they read some funny stories!  There was a coloring activity at the end and a fun goody bag giveaway!  Jackson and I spent time doing puzzles and looking for new books to check-out.  He also got more stickers to add to his page for the Snuggle with a Book program.  It is a simple and short program the library is running this winter: for each day that you read 20 minutes with your child, they earn a sticker to put on their special page.  So easy and cheap, yet so exciting for a three-year old :)

The most exciting part of today, however, was the stop we made before storytime: PRESCHOOL REGISTRATION!!!  Jackson is officially registered for preschool for the fall!!!  I am ECSTATIC!!!  He will be attending Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Playschool Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 9:30-12:30.  I started the preschool search a couple months ago and found a few in the area I liked.  This was the first one I visited, and I loved it immediately!  The biggest perk is it is only about 10 minutes from the house--SCORE!  Unfortunately, registration wasn't slated to begin until tomorrow!  That was later than the other preschools in the area, and I was nervous about them having a spot in the program we wanted.  I went in this morning to pick-up the forms (just so I could be prepared to hand them right over tomorrow morning), and the director let me write my check and turn everything in today :)  I am still breathing a HUGE sigh of relief, and am SOOO excited for Jackson's new adventure!    

 These pictures are from a week or so ago when the neighborhood kids (ranging in ages 2 1/2-12) had a parade taking their baby dolls for a walk!

 This then turned into "naptime" for all on the Wolfe's front porch :)

This was SO cute!  Jackson asked to go get Momo and laid him down for a nap with the girls' dolls.  I suggested he take Momo for a walk that night after dinner in his little stroller.  He LOVD it!  Then the other day we took a family walk with Pax, and Jackson asked to take Momo in the stroller again--he usually rides his bike, but he was so happy pushing Momo along :) 

Jackson's 3rd Birthday Party!!!

We went with an M&M themed-party because Jackson has always loved the M&M guys!  Whenever we were in CVS or the grocery store where they had a "life-sized" plastic M&M guy with a hole in his tummy for candy, Jackson would point and laugh!  I thought it would make a cute party theme :)

 I made M&M invitations: M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand!

For party favors, I made this Pinterest idea: fill balloons with playdough to make squishy balls!

We attached a set of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and brown balloons to the mailbox out front!  The porch railing and columns were wrapped in red, yellow, green, and blue streamers, but they didn't pack quite as much punch as I had imagined...

Happy 3rd Birthday Jackson!

More balloons inside plus additional M&M circles on the walls.  This was totally Josh's idea!  It was a really good one, and he even cut out the additional circles and taped them up :)

 Goody bags!

 I LOVED stocking up on different flavored M&Ms in preparation for the party!  They were all labeled and I think the peanut butter ones were definitely the favorite!

 M&M cupcakes!  The cupcakes were Chocolate Chocolate Chip flavored, but with just store bought frosting, not the Nutella frosting in the link ;)

 Jackson knew he got three candles plus one extra for good luck.  He was ready to blow out all four!

 The table to the left had party hats and stickers to decorate them.  There were more M&M flavors on the tall table along with the photo books from Jackson's first two birthdays.

 Parading around the firepit!

 Josh, Joe, and Mark all matched!

 Mary Jo and Bobby hanging out with Lora

 We were more than happy to enjoy the Bloomin' Pizza Bread and Bloomin' Onion Bread!

Lora, Sara, Susie, Dana, Rachel, Jolene (and Owen), Mary Jo (and Bobby), and Stephanie!

Rachel, Ella, and Jackson "playing" Baggo ;)

 Lining up for Pin the M on the M&M

 There was no blindfold or spinning around.  They were excited enough about taking turns and using tape!

 Reagan and Avery were a hit with their matching outfits :)

 Dinner on the deck!  Josh grilled delicious burgers and hotdogs (as usual!)--YUM!

 Getting a little shy as it's time to hear "The Birthday Song!"

 Jackson blew out most of the candles with just a little help from Daddy!

 Not quite as messy-funny as the first couple of years, but still pretty good :)

We ended the evening with a fire in our firepit.  The kiddos got to wind down with a little Mickey Mouse.  A win, win situation :)

Jackson was SOOO looking forward to his special party!  It was really fun for us to have him be able to look forward to it in advance--for real, not just a few hours, or maybe a day.  He had fun shopping with me for all of the decorations and getting things ready.  He was particularly excited for the cupcakes and candles :)  We had a great time watching Jackson be celebrated by a great crowd of good friends--we are so blessed in that arena especially :)