A Dino-mite Birthday!

So often I don't blog personal stuff.  It seems like time marches by too quickly and then by the time I get around to blogging the "every day" stuff, too much time has gone by and it seems like a waste of time.  But I am trying to be better about living in the moment and enjoying my kids as they are growing up so quickly.  So here I go.

I love birthday parties.  I love to plan them and execute them.  Usually I go way overboard and tend to almost die from stress during the process.  My husband is so wonderful.  He deserves a medal for having to put up with me during the week leading up to a party.  This year was a bit different.  Life was busier than usual leading up to Jameson's party, so I had to kind of wing it.  Guess what.....it still turned out amazing.  Perhaps I need to take a more laid back approach more often.  Also, HUGE credit goes to my mom who held my hand through this and did much of the work!  Thanks MOM!

Jameson is really into dinosaurs.  We may (or may not) have let him watch Jurassic Park and since then...dino obsession.  Don't judge.  He is the youngest of three boys and sometimes you get a little lax.  We NEVER would have let our oldest watch that movie when he was 5, but they grow up faster when they have older siblings.

None of the other boys were into dinosaurs and it has been really fun to have a dino-boy in the house.  We have gone to Dinosaur Ridge near our house, the museum, digging for "bones" in the sandbox (although I am pretty sure it was just cat turd from the neighborhood cats that frequent our sandbox-ugh).  So when it came time to plan a party, there was no other theme considered.

After haunting Pinterest, I found the best (read- cheap and easy) party ideas and got to work (a week before the party).  I really wanted to make dinosaur tales, but with it being the last week of school, having a ton of photo shoots, swim practices/meets, baseball practices/games, I didn't think it would happen.  Mom to the rescue. She convinced me to make it happen and as quick as you can say "crazymomasaurus" we were off to the fabric store.  We found some fun fleece and a pattern on Pinterest (you can find the link here) we were in business.  I helped cut out, pin and stuff.  My mom did all of the sewing which was a huge blessing.  They went together pretty easy and they were totally worth it!!!  The kids loved them and wore them all during the party.  The older/younger siblings and cousins were all jealous and wanted to try them on.  The boys even wore them in the car on the way home (which was a little tricky) and I even got a picture the next morning from one of the moms with her son sitting at the breakfast table with his tale on.

T-rex imitation

After all the dinos got to the party, they did a little "follow the leader".  They had so much fun imitating each other.

 Then some of the kids went ziplining while the other kids dug dinosaur bones out of the ice.  I found some cute plastic dinosaurs and bones at US Toy company.  I also found the perfect sized containers.  They were for paint, but they worked perfectly!  The kids had so much fun with all of the hammers and plastic tools.  Yes, I am that mom who gave six 5-6 year old boys hammers and sharp carving tools (no children were harmed in the making of this birthday party).  Then we switched and the kids did the other activity.  They all had a blast!

 

The tails even went ziplining.  

I like Corbin's style

Note the tail up and over the chair.  So cute.

 Cake and presents!  I was able to make the dinosaur skeleton from looking at a drawing online.  I originally did it on wax paper, but I couldn't transfer it.  So, I had to redo it right onto the cake, but it turned out better than I could have imagined.  This cake was a.....piece of cake.  Just what I needed for this party.  We also served Dino toenails (Bugels), regular chips, Dino eggs (Jelly Bellys) and Dinosaur blood (green Koolaid) to drink.

Thanks for coming friends! 

 After the party, we hung out at Nana's and got pizza!  Jameson got his own "cheeseless" pizza.  He was in heaven.  On the way home from the party he said "Mom, you and Nana and Bapa worked so hard to make my birthday party so much fun.  Thank you.".  Made it all worth it!

Happy 6th Birthday JJ!  We had so much fun celebrating with you.

Sneak Peek: Sauer Family

I met this sweet family on a beautiful Monday evening in Golden.  I knew it was going to be a fun shoot when they showed up with their little boys in tow.  Little boys are my favorite.  They are so expressive and BUSY.  They aren't as shy as little girls and open up a little faster.

Evan followed that pattern exactly.  Right from the start this three year old was shooting me with his webslinger.  Good thing I have boys, so that I know what a webslinger is.  He loved the camera and hammed it up all evening.  He is one of the most expressive kids I have ever worked with.  It was a hoot.

Sweet baby Ty took a little longer to warm up to me.  Being only three months old he was a little more weary of the crazy lady with the big black camera.  But I eventually wore him down and got some cute smiles out of him as well.

And there is something special about brothers.

And look how stunning Lisa is.  Would you believe that she had a baby just 3 short months ago?  Me neither.  Both of her boys got her stunning blue eyes as well.  Sorry Jason, you are just like me.  All my boys got the baby blues from my husband.

 I know I say this often, but this session yielded some of my favorite images this year.

This family was laid back and comfortable in front of the camera.  It made our time together fun and easy.  I loved getting to know you and your handsome fellas.

For more pictures, visit my website or my Facebook page.

Adley Turns One!

These sessions are always a little bitter-sweet for me.  I love watching these kids grow before my very eyes.  I love getting to know their moms and dads and take joy in snuggling them as newborns and then playing peek-a-boo with them as they grow.  And then they turn one.  And I stop seeing them every 3-4 months...sniff.  Bitter-sweet I say.

I don't play favorites.  But this little gem is one of my favorites.  She just has a sparkle in her eyes that make me smile.  She was a little tougher this time.  She didn't want to give me the big toothy grins, but she was so happy the entire time.

I love Hollie and Brandon almost as much as I love Adley.  Please, please, please have more darling babies so I can take pictures of them!

Then we got to the cake smashing portion of our session.  Adley was not interested in how it tasted.  She really wanted to touch it, smoosh it and make a mess of it.  Hopefully she actually ate some of her cake at her birthday party!

 I am pretty sure that she liked cleaning up more than getting dirty.

I wanted you to see a little behind the scenes of a cake smashing.  I have titled it "all hands on deck".

Once she was all cleaned up, she did a little showing off for me.

Ha

Happy Birthday Adley!  I can't wait to see you continue to grow and get prettier by the day.  You are a rock star.

For more pictures visit my website or Facebook.