Gabe's 5th Birthday

 I CANNOT believe Gabe is already 5!  That is just so crazy to me.  I feel like he should still be a little toddler still.  He is growing up so cute!  He can already read simple books, do simple math in his head, and draw some pretty awesome pictures.  Gabe is still a mellow, easy going, happy little guy.  We sure enjoy having him around.  I hate the thought of sending him off to school all day :(

In the past couple of months, Gabe has enjoyed playing Mario Kart with daddy (and sometimes mommy), and also watching daddy play Mario Galaxy and watching the Super Mario Bros Super Show on Netflix.  Basically, Gabe really likes Mario and all of the characters, so I thought Mario Bros would be a great theme for his birthday party for him.  Don't get me wrong, Gabe still LOVES trains, but I thought since he's already had two train parties, it was time for a change.
Putting Gabe's party together was A LOT of work!  Being on a budget doubles the work, I think.  I tried to keep it simple, but it always seems like so much work to me. And I'm always scrambling around at the very last minute.

Gabe really likes Yoshi from Mario Kart so I got him a shirt off of Etsy with Yoshi riding a motorcyle with his name and age.

The decoration and food

We had a pretty good turnout out and I think the kids had such a fun time!  We served pizza and I threw a tablecloth on the ground in the back yard so all those kids wouldn't mess up my house. 

I love this picture because you can see how much fun Gabe was having!

I really went crazy and made Gabe a Yoshi pinata for his party.  I haven't made one in years but I think this one turned out really well.  I just can't believe I forgot to take a picture of it!  I guess you can see it okay from these pictures.  It was a lot of work, but it was fun work.  I filled it with a TON of candy and goodies.  Yoshi weighed a good 10 pounds at least!  Other party games included smashing foam blocks with paper coins in them and popping balloons on our stiff Texas grass.  The kids actually made up the later, I didn't plan that but the kids sure thought it was the best thing ever!

And on to the best part: presents and cake!  Gabe sure got spoiled!  He got a rocket (from daddy) lego trains (from me), a toy gun, a remote controlled flippy-car, play dough, paints, and a couple of other things.  Gabe's favorite toy definitely had to be the Lego train I got him.  He played with it for weeks afterwards!

Happy Birthday Gabe!

Close-up of the cake.  Its kinda gimpy.  I was so focused on making Gabe's pinata that I didn't have a lot of time to spend on his cake.  Well, Gabe liked it anyway.  Or at least, he liked the plastic Mario cake topper.

And last but not least, happy 31st birthday to Erik!  Poor Erik has to share a birthday now.  At least he got to have some fun playing with Gabe's Lincoln Logs from Grandma. 

What's this?  Some presents for Erik?! Yes, I did get him some cologne and teeth-whiting strips.  Now that he's an old man, I need to make sure he keeps himself up :)

And something for Elisa!  I wish I would have gotten her something to open while Gabe was opening all of his presents; she didn't seem to understand why she couldn't open them so she threw a big crying fit.  I'll have to remember to do that next year.

Gabes 5-Year Portraits

 Gabe's portraits this year turned out really cute! It helps to have a really cute kid though :) I wasn't planning on the cowboy theme...it was definitely last minute, but also definitely appropriate since we are now Texans :)
Gabe is usually pretty cooperative when it comes to getting portraits taken.  We just love this kid, I can't believe he's already 5!!
 

 

 I didn't plan on Elisa being in the pictures.  But here she is anyway, and I think her outfit and the background and Gabe's shirt all coordinate perfectly!

 Aren't they the cutest?!

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't get a print out of this one, but I think it is one of the cutest pics of Gabe!

This is the one I got a printout of

He's going to be such a handsome man!

Mardi Gras 2014

 One of the perks of living so close to New Orleans is that we get to celebrate Mardi Gras!  Galveston has a couple of really cool parades and we had the opportunity to go to one of them with some friends, way back towards the end of February.  That was the first time ever going to a Mardi Gras parade and I think its one of the most fun parades I've ever been to! I was amazed at the amount of beads, candy, and toys thrown out to us.  The last couple of parades we've been to didn't even throw us a mint.  The kids had tons of fun at this parade.  Gabe would only wear blue beads around his neck so Elisa ended up with most of the beads--she could hardly walk!  The kids also got a couple of toys.  Despite how much fun the parade was, poor Gabe cried about not getting enough blue beads.  Then he got whacked in the eye when some beads were thrown to him from a float.  But he got over it all real quick.  Now I just need a good idea for what do do with all of those beads--maybe a bead curtain?  I bet the kids would like that:

 A week later (early March) we went to another "parade" called Yachty-gras.  It was located on the Kemah board walk.  Basically people decorated their boats and threw beads at all the people standing on the pier.  We went with some friends after ice skating (I'll save that for another post) and dinner at Steak 'n Shake.  It was fun but we didn't catch near as many beads as the Galveston parade.  A good amount of beads ended up in the water!  I didn't take any pictures of this parade, they wouldn't have turned out any good anyway since it was dark out.

Last but not least, we got to try King Cake for the first time.  I bought it after Mardi Gras was over at the so it was just a couple of bucks instead of $7 or $8.  It was actually really good--it tasted like a cinnamon roll with bavarian cream.  It even came with some necklaces and a little baby, which Elisa liked.  King Cakes have some religious meaning to them, but nobody really knows or cares about that anymore.  All I know is that the little baby is supposed to represent the baby Jesus and whomever finds the baby in their piece is supposed to buy the cake the next Mardi Gras:

Valentines 2014

 This last Valentine's Day was a busy (but fun) one!

I saw a pin a pinterest that looked fun to try:  Rice Krispy Treat Kisses!  They were slightly time-consuming but they turned out cute.  I made them for Gabe's preschool valentines. Last year we were lame and just did the cheap store-bought cards so I thought this year we should have a little fun with the Valentines.

Elisa was really upset the morning of Gabe's preschool Valentine party because she thought she was going with him!  She was so ready to go with that back back on! Silly girl.  Oh, and Gabe got a new shirt for Valentines day.  He really liked it!  Aren't they both so cute?!

After Gabe's preschool party the kids dove into his box and enjoyed some candy!

I painted some hearts on his hands and cheeks before preschool that day...he sure got a kick out of that!

Elisa enjoying some V-day treats.

Gabe enjoying his V-day treats and cards.

Enjoying the spoils


The kids also got some books sent from Grandma.  They still like to read them

On the day of Valentines day, I made some french toast roll-ups.  They would have been really good if the strawberries were riper.

The Resiterns group had a little Valentines party for the kids.  Gabe and Elisa enjoyed it!

I let the kids blow bubbles and draw with sidewalk chalk while I made some sugar cookies to bring to yet another party.  Elisa also got a new dress for Valentines day!  It was a really nice day to be outside.

One of my friends hosted a cute little Valentines party for the kids.  The kids enjoyed doing some crafts for about 5 minutes, but the real excitement came from harassing a poor cat out in the back yard.  Elisa was obsessed with it!  I was great to catch up and chat with friends.

Erik came home with some treats for all of us!  I got Erik a great gift, I like to call it the gift of me saving some money, others might call it nothing.

And last but not least, here is little Elisa helping me making more sugar cookies, since it is tradition now for me to make them!  They are so soft and yummy.  If only I had remembered to take a picture of the finished cookies!  Oh well, image a heart-shaped cookie with some pink frosting, and that's about what they turned out to be :)