CAMP NOLAN

My sons' birthday parties are two of my favorite days of the year. It's so much fun to plan a theme, design the party, and invite our best friends over to celebrate another special milestone. I've been saving the camping theme in the back of my mind for a couple of years, and I thought that four was the perfect age to run with it. Originally, I had pictured more of a kitschy, woodland animals party. But as time went on, I wanted a rustic camping look, with antique camping pieces as decor, and red and green buffalo plaid on the paper goods. 

Here are all the details (especially for all my family members out there who I WISH were able to be here.) :)

 I always want to delegate the cake and have someone else make it, but when it's crunch time, I decide to bake it myself and save some money. This one was easy, it turned out pretty, and it only cost us $12.44!

One of my favorite parts of the party was the s'mores bar. We had grahams, cookies & cream white chocolate, milk chocolate, and Reese's peanut butter cups. And then for marshmallow options: toasted coconut, strawberry, classic, extra-large, and chocolate filled squares.

 

My mom made the sugar cookies, and she definitely out-did herself this year! I am amazed that she wrote "CAMP NOLAN" on the canoes, and made "4"s and patterns on the tepees. Not only are they beautiful, they taste amazing. Thanks so much, Mom! 

 

I designed the invite, and then I used the same basic graphics for the wall signs.

I had a 24x36 inch engineer print made at Staples, and it was the perfect visual centerpiece for the mantel.

We were able to borrow so much of the camping decor from Steve's parents and our friend Rich.  Some of the pieces were antiques, and I think they really brought the party theme together.

Nolan got this tent for his birthday, so we went ahead and set it up on the porch :)  I'm sure plenty of fun memories will be made playing in this tent!

I didn't get many photos of the food table, but we had hot dogs cooked on the fire, fruit salad, chips, popcorn, and lemonade.

 

I love my sweet plaid-wearing family! 

In the backyard, we had a campfire set up for everyone to roast marshmallows for the s'mores.

Some fun new s'mores combinations were made :)

Nolan opened some wonderful gifts! 

One of his favorite things is a "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" dress-up set, and he has been wearing his Jake bandanna nonstop :)  His friend Autumn also got him a singing Jake card, and we have heard the theme song about 1,000 times so far. The boys love it!

 

He got a Jake Duplo set, and a Batman Duplo set, and they are awesome!

Steve and I can't believe our firstborn is 4! He is the most spirited and bright child I've ever met, and I can't wait to experience this next year with him :)

Nolan 03.09.15 || three and a half

Yesterday, Nolan Bruce turned three-and-a-half! It does not seem like that long ago we were celebrating his birthday, so how can this be?! We marked the occasion with some donuts and a candle after dinner last night. Why not get excited over the little things like half birthdays? :)

I have to say though, three-and-a-half might just be the perfect age!

I did all of the monthly updates on Ephraim this past year, and I didn’t really talk much about Nolan’s development. It seems like one day you are writing down each new word that your child says, and then all of a sudden, they start conversing with you in full sentences, and you can’t write down everything anymore. Sometimes when he says funny things, I find myself running for a Post-It and pen, and jotting down his words as fast as I can before I forget them.

A few of the cute things he’s said recently:

“I want three baby brothers. Their names are Ephraim, Max, and Ivy.”

As Daddy was leaving for work: “Daddy, be very careful in the snow, in the car. Be very careful on your way to teach school.”

Yesterday, as I was packing up a box to put in the mail:
Nolan: “Mommy, what are you doing?”
Me: “I’m packing up a box to send in the mail.”
Nolan: “Is it the mailman’s birthday? It’s the mailman’s birthday probably! We have to put a birthday toy in it! We have to make him a cake!”

“Dear God, thank you for my girlfriends, Natalie and Kiki. Amen.”

 

There are still some words he doesn’t pronounce quite right—he has trouble says his “L”s, so even his name comes out more like “No-yan”. And yellow comes out more like “Ye-yo”. On words that are S+ consonant, he drops the S. . . snack is “nack”, stool is “tool”, smell is “mell”, etc. Because I’m with him all day, I never have trouble understanding him.

He collects Thomas trains, Disney “Cars” diecast cars, tools for his toolbox.

He loves painting, coloring with crayons and markers, and drawing on the chalkboard. I have to keep all of his craft supplies up high though, because he likes to be sneaky and color on furniture.

He has started building some really creative towers with Duplos! He will make a car with wings, or a truck with an extra tall body.

His imagination is in full force. He role plays with the PlayDoh containers and the creations that he makes. He likes to serve us PlayDoh food from his toy kitchen.

Everything has to have a family. If he has two or more different sizes of any toy—one becomes the Daddy, one becomes the baby, one becomes the Mommy, etc. I’ve even seen him line up the lids to my pots and pans and assign each size to a family member :)

He wears his red tie almost every day.

The show he loves to watch is Octonauts. He goes in streaks with different shows.

We’ve rented “Planes: Fire and Rescue” several times from the Redbox (just watched it last night!), and he adores it!

He is crazy about books—Corduroy, Clifford, SkippyJon, Arthur, Max & Ruby, Curious George. . . and he even loves to read Mommy’s collection of Fancy Nancy, which makes Mommy very happy.

There are days that Nolan is a complete handful! He is a true first born and likes to argue for the things that he wants. He has mostly gotten over throwing fits, but we still have the occasional whining and carrying-on. When he gets tired, he becomes a wild man and bounces off of the walls!

And little brother tasted his first donut!! Loved it, of course. ;)

Nolan Bruce—you keep us on our toes every single day. You are the most fun little buddy, and we can’t wait to watch you learn and grow more every day. We love you!

twinning

A little bit of adorable for your day . . . Nolan and Ephraim in matching PJs. :)

Even though it’s currently snowing, it’s the first bright morning in days—perfect for a few photos!

     
You only have a minute before the little one crawls away. . .  :)

Now I’m on the lookout for cute Christmas PJs!

party hopping

This weekend, we were excited to have invites to two special boys’ birthday parties! On Saturday, we went to the cutest party that my friend Amanda threw for her two-year-old son Ethan. It was at a pavilion on the beach, and it was the most perfect weather day. I documented what was probably my last day of wearing shorts for the year :)


We are big fans of Super Why at our house, and loved all the decor! We left full of pizza and candy and all good things :)


We were surprised to see Dr. Kelly at the party with her husband and kids! I asked her to take a photo with Ephraim so that I can someday show him the doctor who delivered him. She is the nicest person!

On Sunday, we drove down to Coleson’s fourth birthday party! My friend Briana has her own invitation business, and loves throwing creative parties! The theme was a Scavenger Hunt, and it was so much fun for Nolan and the other kids.


She sent out 8x10 invites which were paper clipboards and checklists for the party. Then she had the same paper clipboards for the kids to cross off what they found at each activity station. They had set up an obstacle course—army-crawling under twine, a wall made of pallets that they had to scale, a balance beam, foam noodles to run between, and a rope swing across the balloon-filled kiddie pool. There were jewels to excavate in the sandbox, jars of bubbles in the kiddle pool, and other tokens to pick up along the way. How cool, right?!

At the end, we watched the kids wading/crayfish hunting in the creek behind the house :)

And a little dose of cuteness thanks to Ephraim and a cute friend we saw at Petco yesterday :)

Happy October!!

friday favorites

  
F R I D A Y   F A V O R I T E S

It’s Friday again—TGIF!! And I’ve got a random list of favorites to discuss :)

FAVORITE ONE: Being a boy mom.

On Saturdays, we get to do things like go to Lowe’s and hammer together little wooden toys with tiny nails. This particular Saturday, we got to visit the Walmart parking lot to “Touch the Trucks”. I’m proud that I’ve actually learned the names of these trucks and can identify them as we drive around town—bulldozer, excavator, cement mixer, crane, dump, tow. Nolan got to climb into some of these, plus a fire truck, semi, and John Deere! It was a red letter day :)

And then we ran into Walmart and bought some donuts. So predictable… :)

FAVORITE TWO: Fall is here.

I am really not that happy to see fall, but it sure is beautiful! I will miss the summer sun, my sleeveless shirts, and the long bright nights. But there are things I won’t miss—like bug bites, which I currently have too many of.

 
And fall means we get to go on walks with hoodies. I do like this! :)

Speaking of fall, the camo is a little excessive in this area. Oh, hunting season. Piece of trivia: The kids here don’t have school on the first day of deer season. It is a holiday!

FAVORITE THREE: Hot chocolate, again. And popcorn.

I know I’ve mentioned my daily love of hot chocolate before. But my Walmart stopped carrying my brand of choice (Land O Lakes)! I have since found it on Walmart.com, and I order in bulk. Mmm!

I am basically always homesick for Chicago, so when I see things that claim to be “Chicago Style”, I impulsively buy. This caramel and cheese popcorn really does remind me of Garrett’s. Now if only I could find some Chicago pizza out here! (Or even better—find a recipe close enough :)
 

FAVORITE FOUR: New Toms Desert Wedges

I talked about these on Wednesday, but I’ll say again, these are my new favorite shoes!

We went to a wedding on Saturday, and I wore them for the first time. They instantly made my outfit fun!

 

It was a beautiful day! (Congrats Brandon & Julia!)

 

And FAVORITE FIVE: Eugene Cho’s new book “Overrated”.

I wrote about it yesterday, and am giving away a free copy. If you want to get motivated about doing the Lord’s work, it’s an inspiring read. Check out the giveaway here..

Hope you’ve enjoyed your week! Have a wonderful weekend!

Follow me on Instagram—@floralandfudge

Linking up for Friday Favorites with Andrea, Erika, & Narci.