PDO Party

Carter's Parent's Day Out class celebrates the kids' birthdays and does a good job of making them feel special. Cooper's birthday was yesterday and Carter's is today so they celebrated together today.


The teacher's apparently had Carter try on his crown (that he got to take home) the other day because there was already a picture of him wearing it outside the classroom door this morning.


I brought cookies to Carter's class today for the kids to have during their snack time. I made sugar cookies (from scratch) and added frosting and sprinkles. I usually use the pre-made dough but it never holds the shape of the cookie cutters well once they are baked so I tried a recipe that is supposed to be "no spread". It worked well and the 3s actually look like 3s! The teachers also said they and the kids all loved the cookies. I'm not the best baker and this apartment oven stinks so I'm really happy they turned out okay!


Carter's class is preparing for Thanksgiving. Their project in class today was to make "Blessings Mix". It contains Bugles, pretzels, candy corn, nuts, raisins, M&Ms, and Hershey's Kisses. Carter wanted to eat his as soon as we got in the car. The first thing he ate was all the candy corn. He had to eat each color separately. He'd bite off the white, then move on to the orange, and finally the yellow. At least it lasted awhile that way!


There were a bunch of pictures and a couple of projects hanging on the wall outside the classroom door today along with the birthday stuff. I got a better look at what all the kids are thankful for (Daddy, a duck, stars, toys, God taking care of us, food, me, and snow). I guess Carter's answer of "food" was just as random as some of the other responses!


There was also a really cute class picture ...


Back Row (L to R): Sophie, Abigail, Sarah Kate, Carter, Maggie, Claire
Front Row (L to R): Caidin, Cooper, Evan, Logan

Carter's Birthday

We had Carter's birthday party on Saturday and I think he was a little confused on when his actually birthday is. When I went into his room this morning and told him "happy birthday", he asked something like "I'm 3 now?" in a really confused tone. Then he ran to find Brian and tell him that he's now 3.

We celebrated Carter's birthday this morning since the boys can be crazy/moody in the evenings and we never know when Brian will be getting home.

We had birthday pancakes to start the day. Please ignore my horrid singing in this video!

After breakfast, we let Carter open up his presents from us. He also had a few from Brian's parents and one from my mom.


The first few presents Carter wanted to have opened right after he ripped off the paper so he could play with them immediately. But then he just wanted to keep opening gifts without really even looking at what he got.

All of our presents to Carter were bought at the Target toy clearances in January and July ...




Carter had school today so we didn't do anything very exciting for his birthday. Rylan took an afternoon nap after I picked Carter up and then I fed the kids dinner before Brian got home. We had celebratory brownies and sang "Happy Birthday" to Carter one more time.



Carter likes cake and cookies but apparently not brownies. He took one little bite and then handed the brownie off to Brian. He ended up with a leftover cookie from his preschool celebration instead.

Happy Birthday

Our little man turned 3 today!

Fort Granger

We didn't have much going on yesterday so we took the kids over to the playground at Pinkerton Park and then walked around Fort Granger which is adjacent to the park.

Franklin is known for it's civil war history and Fort Granger is one of those important sites.


There were several maps and information boards around the fort ...


The fort is atop a hill with deep trenches remaining around the fort. All the leaves had already fallen off the trees but this spot is probably pretty when the leaves are changing colors or as a picnic spot in the summer.


These boys love their sticks ...


The trench around the fort was a neat walking trail ...



Carter enjoyed "sliding" down the hills to get down ...


"Come on, Rylan ..."


Daddy and the boys ...

Cooper's Party

One of the awesome things about Carter's PDO class is that they are all really close in age. All of Carter's classmates turn 3 between September and December. Four kids have birthdays between October 9th and 15th (Carter's birthday). This morning we went to a party for Cooper (or as Carter calls him, because he doesn't pronounce "C" well, Pooper).

The party was at Shipwrecked Playhouse. We hadn't been there yet, but it's a neat little place with a pirate ship and several play stations (including dress up, a kitchen, ball pit, and Legos).



Cooper's mom was nice enough to include siblings so Rylan got to come along. He very much wanted to be included with the big kids and really wanted to sit at the table and have cake as well. Luckily there was enough room which prevented a major meltdown (Rylan missed his morning nap to come to the party). Rylan was a little piggy and ate an entire piece of cake (more than most of the older kids).

The Playhouse was open for free play so it was a little crowded with other people there, but the kids didn't seem to notice and all had fun. Carter is still so independent and played by himself most of the time. However, most of the other kids did too. They are really just starting to play with one another occasionally.

Carter didn't spend much time on the ship, but I coaxed him up to get a quick picture ...


And of course Rylan had to follow ...


Carter preferred to hang out in this Lightning McQueen car ...


The boys had fun and are very worn out taking a good afternoon nap right now.

Boys in the Woods

Party Details

I didn't start off having a theme for Carter's birthday since it was at the gym and didn't really need one.

I made an invitation using a template on a photo website and printing it myself ...


I just picked a cute generic invitation but realized that I could use it to develop the theme. Which was circles. It seems random, but it worked out well.

I made Carter's birthday banner using scrapbooking paper and cutting out circles. I had left over letters from Rylan's birthday banner that I was able use.


Whenever I asked Carter what he wanted for his birthday, he always said cupcakes. I was trying to get him to tell me a type of toy, but food rules. I decided to make cupcakes myself this year because they haven't been that good lately when we ordered them. To decorate the cupcakes, I added circle sprinkles and made these cupcake picks.


I put either the number 3 or three similar stickers on the circles since this was Carter's 3rd birthday.


To hold down the balloons that we put on the tables, I wrapped cans in cardstock that I stamped "HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER" on and added some circles to.


The favors were in paper bags that Carter helped me stamp "THANK YOU" on. We put the kids' names on circles.


And I added this to the back of the bags ...


To keep with the theme, I tried to find some round toys. So the kids got Playdoh, bubbles, a Slinky, and glow bracelets.


Carter helped me make the thank you notes by stamping his name on them.


I'm glad not to be cutting out any more circles but nothing was actually too difficult or time consuming to make. It was actually fun and it was cool that Carter got to help some too.

Carter's Birthday Party

We had Carter's 3rd birthday party yesterday at Harpeth School of Gymnastics. We've always done parties at our house, but with not having one right now, we had to find somewhere else to have it. With it starting to cool off, we didn't want to commit to anything outside so we needed somewhere indoors to host it. Missy suggested this gym, and besides being more affordable than most other places (like Monkey Joe's, Monkey's Treehouse, and Gymboree), it was so much fun!

We invited Carter's preschool class and Missy and Heather's kids. We had a total of ten guests (including baby Luke). It was a great size.

The party room wasn't much, but we decorated a little and it was perfect. Besides, the kids were there to play more than hang out in here.


As the kids arrived, they played in the pit. One of the kids moved the slide to the edge of the pit and they loved sliding into it. (It took Carter awhile to get out once he crawled so far in - he's in the green shirt.)


We had a coach who ran everything and she was great! She had lots of activities organized for the kids but if some of the kids weren't interested and wandered off to another part of the gym, she let them. I signed up for the "Mommy and Me" version of the party so parents could come into the gym with the kids and help out. It worked out really well.

The kids started off by stretching ...


And then they did an obstacle course. Here are Carter and Claire ...


The rope swing was a big hit ...


Next was the runway and trampoline. The runway was a long trampoline that the kids could run or bounce along ...


Carter liked bouncing off the trampoline and falling down ...

Carter was awesome at the balance beam. He never fell off and just walked along with full confidence. Here are Carter and Sarah Kate on the balance beam ...


Carter got much better at somersaults. The incline helped a lot!

Birthday boy ...


And his copycat brother ...


The last thing the kids did was the parachute. They had a lot of fun running under it ...


And they all got some crazy hair!


Then Carter got presented with a t-shirt and medal ...


We spent about and hour and fifteen minutes in the gym and then spent the last fifteen minutes have cupcakes.

Carter enjoyed everyone singing "Happy Birthday". He loves blowing out his candle but apparently Maggie loves doing it too ...

The kids got their sugar high and then we sent them home for naps. Hopefully the sugar kept them awake long enough to drive home and then they all crashed! (The party was from 12:15 to 1:45 pm.)

We waited to open presents until we were at home. I'm used to opening them at the party but at the party we went to a few weeks ago, they didn't. When I asked Missy and Heather, they said they've never been to a party where the kid opens their presents there. So we waited.

Carter got a ton of awesome stuff ...


He played with the toys all evening and has been playing with them all morning too. He keeps talking about all his "presents from my friends".

Now we have Carter's actual birthday on Tuesday. He has school that day so they'll do a little celebration with his class. And then we'll celebrate again with family over Thanksgiving. He probably think a birthday lasts two weeks instead of one day!