a wild things birthday

So we had a "Where the Wild Things Are" Party this year for the boys' birthdays.  I bamboozled my friend Jessica into helping me plan it since her little boy Jonah's birthday is the day after Gus'.  We figured it would be an appropriate theme for a party for our three wild little boys.  There were lots of examples to follow on the internet, but we wanted to come up with a few ideas by ourselves to be original.  I made a Pinterest board to keep it all organized. We couldn't possibly do it all, but we were pretty happy with how it all turned out.  Honestly, I couldn't have done so much with out Jess.  Seeing as I tend to overextend myself on these things, it was really nice to have the help.  Of course, since the boys' birthdays are right on both sides of Halloween, costumes seemed necessary  (and, of course, I made different ones for Halloween, but that is another story about how I am crazy).  Jimmy was so excited for this day to come that he literally woke up at 2 am and refused to go back to sleep for two hours because he wanted to wake up for the party.  Gus stayed awake for the whole party and was surprisingly cheerful the whole time, despite his horrible night of sleep as well.  I was exhausted, but had a great time.  This time my insanity was worth it. 

"Let the Wild Rumpus Start"

 "That night in Max's room a forest grew..."

 
Our Party Favors
(Including "Where the Wild Things Are" pencils from the Target Dollar bin! Score.)

Some of our wild creations we found online.:

 Our "Terrible Teeth"

 The big cardboard box from Uncle Pete became a wild things cave.  

This last minute decision on my part was probably the hit of the party for the kids.

We had a story time and I read the book to the kids.  All the kids helped act like wild things and were really good at making a Rumpus.

  Oh, and Zach sort of likes scaring children by being a wild thing, too.

My friend Nicole also dressed up her little girls as wild things.

 Jimmy and Bradonna are pretty good at "Roaring their terrible roars, gnashing their terrible teeth, showing their terrible claws, and rolling their terrible eyes." 

 Gus was busy giving bike rides.

 "And an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max."

...and apparently a bunch of other people too.

My dad always comes through with something awesome and this time it was a giant Pin-the Tail on Max.

The best part was that the face popped out to make it into a photo booth:

My boys are cute and all, but this one was secretly my favorite:

For the cupcakes we just printed little cake toppers of Wild Things:

 Our Three Birthday Boys:

Jimmy turned 4, Jonah turned 2, and Gus turned 1.

 Jessica and Jonah:

 Gus ate his cake up, he loved it so. 

 I will eat them up, I love them so!!!

The green frosting was quite lovely on everyone.

Gus made it back into the costume to go out partying later that night, but he passed out on the way home so we took some funny pictures of him sleeping:

 And because we just couldn't get enough Wild Things, Aunt Angie and Jimmy made this Wild Things Pumpkin the next day.  

Now on to Halloween...

gus' first birthday

I can't believe Gus is ONE!!!  Wow, this past year flew by and he has gotten so big.  He is walking, climbing, waving, blowing kisses, and getting into absolutely everything.  He is the light of our lives, but he has still earned the inevitable nicknames of Fussy Gussy and Guster McFuster (to name a few of many).   He is saying Mama, Dada, Hi (usually on the phone), Bye (usually with a wave), Here (usually when he hands you something or wants to be held), There (or Der or something like that, when he wants you to take him somewhere), and Uh-oh (when he drops something or knocks something over).  He thinks his brother is so cool and tries to copy everything he does, but he also has stood up for himself a few times by hitting, hair pulling, and even biting.  We aren't encouraging this behavior, but Jimmy is sort of asking for it a lot of the time.  On the other hand, Jimmy adores Gus and tells me all the time, "Mom, I am so glad we got the cutest baby."   Jimmy was very excited for Gus' big day.  I think he secretly knew it meant there would be more toys around our house for him as well, but he also just loves birthdays and is happy for any reason to celebrate.... and get cake.  Gus is used to having "Happy Birthday" sung to him on a regular basis because Jimmy likes to pretend every day is Gus' birthday, but Gus was excited none the less when we sang it to him that morning.

Jimmy picked out bowling pins as his present for Gus so it was the first thing he opened in the morning. 

That evening we had a family gathering with Baabee, Danny, Mimi and Johnny, and the Burches.

The other kids all helped open the presents, but Gus did his part, too.

Then Uncle Pete, brought over his present for Gus:

A huge cardboard box.

Needless to say it was enjoyed.

It was like a giant game of peek-a-boo for Gus.

He also opened this large box from us.

And Lucy enjoyed hiding in it.

Gus really like the Little People Garage that was inside of it.

And Jack really liked the paper that was inside of it.

Finn and Jimmy just loved telling stories with Mimi.

I suppose Gus will be really sick of Halloween things on his birthday someday, but while he is too young to know any better, I will take advantage of it.  These were pumpkin flavored cupcakes that also look like pumpkins and were wrapped in pumpkin cupcake holders designed by Baabee.  What can I say, I love pumpkin.

Our big one year old boy.

He demolished the cupcake.

And then he went for the candle.

And this was only the first party of the season.