Halloween 2018

Happy November 1st! I hope you all had a safe and Happy Halloween. We had SO much fun this year, especially now since Brayden understands Halloween and the festivities a bit more.

He dressed as Bingo from the Disney Jr show, Puppy Dog Pals (which he has coined "Puppy Duppy Dogs")! We also found this costume at the little Disney Store inside of JC Penney and Brayden loved it.

Brayden loved the dog's costumes...they did not! 

Our evening started out early (5 p.m.) due to the threat of heavy rain later on in the night. We began at a local church where they were hosting an event filled with games and jump houses. Brayden's not too much into jump houses yet, so we played a few games, then moved on to the next event.

The amount of popcorn and dum-dums consumed last night was pretty intense!

Despite that, we had so much fun last night!

Our next few events were trunk-or-treats hosted at local churches.

The dino and shark were HUGE hits! Brayden stared at the shark for a few seconds, gave him a high five, then a slow grin came over his face and he said "BABY SHARK"! It was too funny!

After we finished there, we stopped by my mom and dad's house to say hello!

We had a wonderful evening and loved hanging with our little guy! He enjoyed himself so much (especially the suckers) last night!

Around 9 p.m., a crazy storm passed through with the threat of a tornado. Thankfully, we didn't have to relive that one again. 

What did the adults do to enjoy Halloween? Well, we took an educational, historical, for-a-good-cause tour that happened in our hometown last weekend!

After visiting plantation homes a few weekends ago, my mind has been consumed with historical things and life in the 1800's. When I read about a local project happening the weekend before Halloween that had to do with historical things around my home town, I immediately knew I wanted to do it!

You see, there's several graveyards here that have been around since the 1800's and have fallen under disrepair. After a "great fire" in 1910, many many hurricanes, flooding, and just normal wear and tear, they were in need of serious fixing up.

Also, the great minds behind this project wanted to give remembrance and honor to those who formed our city. There's a lot of rich history here, and some of that history I never knew about, even living here my entire life.

This event went better than expected (sold out at 600 tickets) and was called the Living History Cemetery Tour.

At our first stop, we met several familiar names to our town - we mainly recognized them because roads and parks were named after them. This was an awesome way to hear their story and how life was like in their time. All of the actors at each site were standing near the grave of the person they were portraying and the monologues were spot on. This seriously was one of the coolest things I've ever done here!

Brayden plays quite often at a park that was named after this lady! I had no clue the story behind "Lock Park" and it was neat being able to put two and two together!

This was a self-driving tour where we drove to four separate graveyards that were only about a mile apart from each other. Each graveyard had about 4-5 characters present.

This guy was a steamboat captain and captivated us with his tale. Out of all the actors, he was my favorite!

This lady portrayed the only woman to ever be executed by the electric chair in the state of Louisiana.

Our final two stops included graveyards where our town founders are resting. It was really neat to hear their tale of how our city became what it is today! If you're interested in seeing video, check out my instagram highlights under the "Louisiana" tab!

When I say this was one of the coolest things I've ever done here, I mean it. This tour was educational, it brought life to our city's founders and important people here, and it helped keep their memory living on. They also raised several thousands of dollars to keep these cemeteries clean and repaired. Everyone on the tour was incredibly respectful of the lives that were resting there and I heard nothing but praise for this event. Having been a first year thing, I think it went off incredibly well!

I hope you all had a great Halloween! Any fun Halloween events take place in your neck of the woods?

Puppy Dog Pals Birthday Party

On Saturday, we hosted Brayden's 2nd Birthday party, themed after the Disney Junior show, Puppy Dog Pals.

 
Puppy Dog Pals is a relatively new show that revolves around Bingo and Rolly, two pug brothers that "Go On A Mission" in every episode - their missions involve exciting places all over the world and it's just a cute little show. Brayden fell in love with it last fall and I knew that it would have to be his birthday paw-ty theme for his second birthday!

In my search for ideas for Puppy Dog Pals themed parties, I discovered a consistent standard - hardly anything exists when it comes to ideas and items for these parties. Every idea I came across was homemade or something that could be purchased off of etsy.

Y'all know me - I love a good challenge! Mission: Accepted!

At the entry way, we had side walk chalk paw prints leading to the front door. I'm not an artist, so I used a paw cutout as a stencil for these paw prints. It worked perfectly! His party day was also very rainy and wet, otherwise I would have also added the paw prints on the walkway leading up to our front door.

On the front door, the signs read "Welcome to Brayden's Paw-ty" and "We're Going On A Mission"! (This is a common phrase used throughout the show.)

Just inside the front door was the entry-way table which contained "TWO" letters, a digital picture frame of his studio portraits from birth to now, a couple of centerpieces, and a "growth track" file I purchased from Etsy.

Beneath the table was a basket of the kids goodie bags.

 Each goodie bag contained several items - a set of five stickers, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and a Puppy Dog Pals Grab & Go pack!

Our living room and kitchen were the main "party spaces" I had to fill. A couple of banners were made using my Silhouette Cameo and decorations were hung in the windows. We also purchased balloons from Party City. The bug balloons you see on the ground were purchased on Amazon and filled with helium at our local Party City.

One of my favorite banners is the one you see hanging across our entertainment center. I attempted to utilize symbols from the show in the banner, so you'll notice a lightning bolt like the one on Bingo's collar as well as a yellow dog bone like the one on Rolly's collar.

The paw print banner at the fireplace was made with ideas from Pinterest and the cardstock was purchased at Hobby Lobby. On the Mantle you'll notice photos that were printed from his 2nd birthday session.

For this party, I also searched in my "party bin" to find decoration that matched this party color scheme. I found most of the items that you see hanging in the windows as well as a few extras here and there already on hand. Score!

Water bottle labels were made in photo shop and printed on card stock. If you're looking for a super easy way to make these, I just use packing tape on top of the cardstock to affix them to the water bottle.

 It's super easy and adds a fun little touch to the party!

At the cake table, we had a patch of turf I found on amazon, desserts, a couple of centerpieces, and the giant "2"/two letters.

These centerpieces were scattered throughout the house - the fire hydrant being my favorite! I found this idea on pinterest and it was SUPER easy! We made four total and used toddler formula cans, empty toilet paper rolls, red bowls from Walmart, a ribbon holder, and a water bottle top.

Other centerpieces included a flower pot that was spray painted red (re-purposed from last year's Mickey Mouse party).  Inside was a piece of green felt to symbolize grass, a doghouse cut out from the silhouette cameo, and a couple of Puppy Dog Pals figurines.

One of my favorite touches to this party was the sugar cookies! A lady in the next town over made these for the party and oh my goodness they were precious and added the perfect touch!

 Brayden's cake also came from a local lady who makes cakes out of her home. I sent her a picture and she re-created his cake almost perfectly! The "Happy Birthday Brayden" piece was cut out from the silhouette cameo and the figurines on the cake were purchased from the Disney Store. I found the "2" candle at a local craft store.

 For food, we served "Arf's Famous Pulled Pork" and "Hissy's Hot Dogs".

I also found the paw print napkins at Party City and mixed them in with plain blue napkins I already had on hand at home.

These dog bowls were my FAVORITE find! I came across the exact same bowls on Amazon but also found them at the Dollar Tree (you know, where everything is a dollar) for WAY cheaper! Score!

Themeing the food was so much fun! We had "Fetch Sticks" (pretzel sticks), "Pawtato Chips" (potato chips), "Paw-Berries" (strawberries), "Chew Toys" (Twizzlers), "Pup Corn" (Pop Corn), and "Ruffage" (Veggies)!

Brayden's outfit for the party was a two-parter...a friend made his shirt and I found the shoes at JC Penney in the little Disney Store! So cute!

There's the birthday boy! He was SO EXCITED to see everyone at his house! He would walk around the living room with a huge grin and would stomp his little feet out of excitement. It was adorable!

He also discovered that he could reach the "Pawtato Chips" and it was his birthday party, so you know...whatever goes!

Brayden did way better than I thought he would with opening presents. You never know what you're going to get with a 2 year old but I couldn't have asked for better!

Of course my dad purchased him a wiffle ball and bat!

Although I tried and tried to teach him how to blow, he didn't have it down by his party...next year though, it's on!

Brayden LOVES the Happy Birthday song! He went through a very short time last fall where he wasn't a fan, but he's so much better now! Thinking back, I'm pretty sure it scared him one time at a restaurant and that's what he associated the happy birthday song with. Once I realized he was scared of it, we started listening to the happy birthday song on pandora and he fell in love. He even asks for "more" "please" after it's over! So cute!

We sat our two toddlers on the couch for a picture and everyone was trying to make them smile. Did we get a smile? Nope. But we sure were funny in the process!

Now it's time to PLAY!

...and that's all, folks! Mission Accomplished!

 I posted all of this in hopes that it might help someone else who is looking to throw their own Puppy Dog Pals party but has no idea where to start!

Brayden's second birthday party by far outlived any expectation I set. Actually, I didn't set any expectations because my dad warned me not to from horror stories he'd heard from other people. So yes, to say that Brayden's party was exactly what I hoped and prayed it would be is spot on!  It truly was a great day and we had so much fun celebrating our precious blessing! We just love him so much and I'm already looking forward to party #3! Stay tuned for a full 2 year Brayden update coming in a few weeks! :)

For a video recap of the party, check out this YouTube link below: