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.