Dawson's 4th Birthday Party

On Saturday, May 11th we had Dawson's 4th birthday party!  When he turned one he had a barnyard bash with a farm animal theme; for number two he had a dino-mite time at his dinosaur themed party; and last year his obsession with construction equipment led to a construction themed party.  Really since Dawson was two and was given his first John Deere (the ride on tractor that he still loves!), he has LOVED tractors.  We always try to theme his party after something he's been really interested in during the previous year.  This year, there was no conversation or debate-we knew exactly the theme:  tractors!  Dawson specifically likes John Deeres (really just because he has more John Deeres than other kinds of tractors), so we chose green and yellow as the color theme even though we incorporated other colored tractors as well. 

We sent out green tractor invitations that read:

Start your tractor and put it in gear,

Dawson's 4th birthday is almost here!

Four to six on May 11 is the date.

We hope you'll plow on over to celebrate!

 

Dawson's Tractor Supply

Our Home Address

 

Be a "Deere" and RSVP

 

I was really pleased with how the invitations looked, and Dawson loved them too so I knew we had picked the right theme for his party!

We were nervous the week leading up to his party because we were planning to do it in our backyard, and there was a 70% chance of thunderstorms forecasted for that day.  When we went to bed on Friday night we were discussing the possibility of rescheduling it.  Saturday morning, however, it had dropped to a 10% chance of scattered thunderstorms, and it didn't rain at all during his party!!  In fact, the weather was perfect.  It was a little overcast with a light breeze and in the 70's which was perfect for the kids and adults to enjoy being outside!!

Dawson's one request for the party was to have a real tractor parked in the backyard.  (He doesn't come up with easy requests, haha!)  After much searching, we found someone willing to park their 1930's Massey Ferguson in our backyard for the weekend...AND leave us the key!  Dawson was thrilled.  I think if we had done nothing else for his party, he would have been just as happy with this!  We had the tractor parked in the backyard, the kids took turns climbing on and off and checking it out.  At the VERY end of the party, Dawson's Pop decided he would try to start it up!  (John and I took one look at the numerous levers and pedals and knew it would be dangerous for us to give it a try since we had no idea what we were looking at...and, and of course nothing was labeled.)  Pop knew what he was doing though and he took the tractor on a spin across the backyard a few times.  Dawson absolutely loved this, and so did the other kids!  This was the highlight of the party for Dawson.

For other entertainment, we had a bounce house obstacle course that the kids really enjoyed going through-even Carter!  We also decided that now that Dawson's four he is old enough to have games at his birthday party.  So, we first played Pin the Wheel on the Tractor, a game that I made up.  I drew a tractor and gave the kids all wheels.  We covered their eyes with a John Deere Tractor baseball cap and spun them in circles before letting them try to pin the wheel where it belonged.  They had fun doing this, and the winners (Corbin and Ashton) took home a small farm themed prize.  Next up, we had a John Deere pinata.  Dawson had been really looking forward to the pinata especially since he came with me to pick out the candy we stuffed inside so he knew there was good stuff in there!  :)  All of the kids took turns hitting the pinata, and finally one of the wheels broke off and the candy slowly fell out as the next several kids hit it.  This was perfect because all of Dawson's friends had a chance to get candy! 

We also had dinner for everyone at the party since we had it from 4-6.  To stay in line with the tractor theme we served Bailer Burgers (hamburgers), Harvester Hot Dogs, Combine Chips, Farm Truck Fruit, and Hay Stacks.  The drink container was labeled "Keep Your Engines Cool!"  John did a great job grilling dinner for everyone!  We had a John Deere tractor cake that I made and ice cream for dessert.

We had a sign on the favor table that read, "Thanks for being a Deere and helping Dawson celebrate!  Please take a favor!"  We had favor bags labeled with each childs name that said, "Deere Henry, Thanks for plowing over to celebrate my 4th birthday!"  Inside the favor bags were sheets of John Deere stickers, a John Deere notepad, and some homemade lime scented John Deere green playdough!

We were thrilled to have the following family members come: Lolly, Pop, Uncle Logan, Nana, Grandad, Aunt Em, Cousin Drew, Eric, Hailey, Rachel, Corbin, and Ashton, and of course Carter, Mommy, and Daddy helped Dawson celebrate too.  Dawson also had a lot of friends come to his party:  Jay, Wesley, (and their parents), Henry, Thomas (and their mom-thanks for driving all the way from Asheville!! You guys are awesome!), Charlie (and his Dad), Sylvia (and her mom).  I'm thankful that Dawson has so many great friends, and we missed a few friends that couldn't come on Saturday-but luckily Dawson gets to play with them a lot!  

Dawson had such a blast at his party!  He is still talking about the tractor, pinata, bounce, and all the friends who came to his party.  He has seriously told EVERYONE about it since Saturday!  It was so much fun planning his birthday, because I knew he would love this theme so much!  We're glad he had such a great party and so much fun!

Now on to the good part...pictures! (The pictures are out of order again, sorry!)

 

 

Combine Chips, Farm Truck Fruit, and Hay Stacks

The food table.  Bailer Burger and Harvester Hot Dogs on the left.

Ashton hitting the pinata!

Dawson got to take the first turn hitting the pinata!

Charlie hitting the pinata!

Jay hitting the pinata!

Dawson taking another turn!

Dawson and some of his friends at his birthday party!  Carter is on the tractor int he back, then left to right:  Charlie, Corbin, Hailey, Dawson, Ashton, Wesley, Jay, and Henry.  A few friends (Thomas and Sylvia didn't make it in this picture).

Here's another shot that has Sylvia in it!

The kids had a blast on the inflatable bounce house!

Dawson and Charlie going through the bounce house obstacle course!

Charlie especially loved the inflatable!

Pop starting up the tractor!!

Pop was working to start the tractor, and I love this picture because you can see how excited Dawson is in the background! He was jumping up and down!  Love it!!

All of the kids loved seeing Pop driving the tractor around!  You can see Carter (orange shirt), pointing as Pop is driving!

After the party, Dawson got to go for a ride on the tractor...he was in heaven!!

He says he is going to be a farmer when he grows up, and he has told us this for quiet some time.  He loves tractors so much!

Dawson even got to go for a ride in his pajamas before he went to bed after his party! 

After the tractor ride, we let Dawson open his birthday presents!  We had put "no gifts" on his invitation, but some friends brought gifts-which he loved!  And he got gifts from his grandparents, John, Carter, and I too!  He loves this new Wack-a-Mole game!

There's the party invitation in the bottom right, and the table I set up inside for gifts.

Dawson was thrilled with this playdough set too!  It's a construction set...perfect!

One of the gifts from us was a new bug net, a bug box, and a magnifying glass to look at the bugs.  Here's Dawson learning how to use a magnifying glass!

The most exciting gift from John and I is this remote control monster truck.  He loves it, and already went through the first set of batteries in just three days!  Here he is driving it before bed.

I'm not sure why this picture is sideways, but this picture was hanging in the backyard during the party!

Here is the result of the pin the wheel on the tractor game.  A lot of kids got close!!

Dawson's birthday cake!

One of the favor bags with its contents!

The day before the party the tractor was delivered, so the boys and I had fun sitting on it.  Dawson AND Carter both loved being up there!

The man who let us use his tractor, was SO nice to take Dawson on a ride on it through our neighborhood before parking it in our yard!  Dawson LOVED this!  (I'm sure our neighbors wonder about us!)

Since we had a full day of festivities planned with Dawson's party on Saturday and his actual birthday wasn't until Tuesday, we decided to only celebrate on Saturday and not do much on Tuesday.  This was easier for Dawson to understand, and it was more fun!

Here he is with his breakfast bagel which was his birthday breakfast request-a chocolate chip bagel from Panera!!

Birthday boy!

The morning of the party, we had everything ready so we decided to take the boys to a nearby tractor show! (How perfect that this was happening on Dawson's day?!)  Dawson loved looking at the tractors and going for a ride in this barrel train!

One more barrel train picture!

(I'm trying to convince John to make one of these to pull behind the mower for the kids!)

Carter didn't get to ride in the barrel train like Dawson, but he had fun sitting in it and turning the wheel!

At the birthday party the kids also had fun driving Dawson's John Deere tractor and John Deere Gator around the backyard!

Hailey driving Corbin around in the Gator!

Farmer Dawson with his tractor!

Carter wanted to be with his big brother at the party!

Daddy and Carter.

Dawson on the tractor.

Keep your engines cool!

Bailer Burger and Harvester Hot Dogs

Some of the favors!

Farm Truck Fruit and Hay Stacks

The Grill Master!  :)

The kids loved the inflatable!

Everyone enjoyed the food.

Our birthday boy in his birthday shirt with his cake!  He was SO happy.  It really was the perfect day for him!

Dawson with Mommy and Daddy

(and Nora Kate-26 weeks pregnant)

John Deere Pinata

Pin the Wheel on the Tractor

Dawson loved hitting the pinata!

Henry taking a turn hitting the pinata!

Charlie hitting the pinata!

As hard as he could!

Jay hitting the pinata!

Sylvia wasn't too sure about the pinata, but she did enjoy the candy!  :)

Wesley preparing to hit!

Hailey hitting the pinata!

April 2013

April was a great month!!  The weather was hit or miss ranging from some really chilly and rainy days to some perfect days for playing outside.  We took advantage of every nice day there was by spending a lot of time outside.  Carter is following in the footsteps of his big brother in loving to be outside.  Most days when I pick him up out of his crib after nap, the first thing he does is point out his window and say "Out!" Then he signs more, to go outside more. 

Unfortunately the pictures are WAY out of order  (I'm not sure if it's our computer or the blog that's causing them to be out of order), but keep reading to see what we've been up to in April!

 

The last weekend of April we went to Huntsville to attend a bridal shower, visit friends, and check on our house there.  We visited Bridgestreet Town Center (the outdoor shopping mall) while we were there.  Carter loved having the freedom to walk around by on his own rather than ride in the stroller while we were there.  See how proud he is of himself above and below!

Our wonderful friends, the Houghs, again welcomed us to stay in their home while we were in town!  Their little boy, Henry, is about 5 or 6 weeks older than Carter.  Henry has this Cozy Coupe-style John Deere ride on that Dawson and Carter were immediately drawn to.  Here are my boys on Saturday morning still in their pajamas going for a ride in the John Deere.

Dawson, Carter, and Henry munching on some Cheerios.  We put a few Cheerios on the table and all three boys gathered around! Haha!

On Friday evening when we got to Alabama, our friends the Williams had us over for dinner and playtime!  Dawson loves playing with Jude (4 years) and Jasper (2 years).  Here are all three boys swinging in the backyard before dinner.  Seriously, almost every picture of these three playing came out blurry because I'm convinced they did not stop moving the entire time they were together!  These boys had a great time, and I only wish that they could play together more!

On Saturday night while we were in Alabama, the Houghs had everyone from our old small group over for dinner and fun!  Here are all the kids.  Left to right: Dawson (3.5 years), Carter (12 months), Connor (4 years), Henry (14 months), Chloe (21 months).  Dawson had a blast running around with Connor while the adults visited!  Again, I wish that these two got to play together more often!

The bridal shower that I attended on Saturday afternoon was A LOT of fun!  I only wish we were going to be able to go to the wedding in Mexico at the end of May!  They had these cute name tags for everyone, and I just had to share a picture of mine because they included Nora Kate's name on it too!  :)  Her first bridal shower and her first name tag! 

Carter enjoyed having a buddy to eat beside at every meal!  Check out these two cuties enjoying their dinner!

In early April we purchased a van!!!  I never thought I would be so excited to have a minivan, but I absolutely love it!  The extra space is so nice.  And being able to push a button on the key so Dawson's door opens so he can climb in while I'm buckling Carter is so nice.  Anyway, we are loving the van, and we know the extra space will be necessary come August when Nora Kate arrives!  We were excited to get to take the van on its' first road trip when we went to Alabama!  Here are the boys in the backseat riding on the way home from Alabama!  I love those sweet smiles...and this was after we had been in the car about 3 hours already!  Also, when Carter turned one we rotated his carseat so he's forward facing, and he loves being able to see so much more now!

The last Monday of April, we went to pick strawberries at Rutherford's Strawberry Patch with some friends.  Unfortunately it rained for a couple of days before we went, so it was pretty muddy.  We didn't mind though.  At this point I was entertaining Carter in the grass (away from the mud), and John and Dawson were picking berries with friends.  John and Dawson are in the left of this picture in the red shirts and khaki shorts.  I'm hoping to go back one more time while strawberries are in season!

After we picked some strawberries, Dawson and his friend Colt hopped in the back of our van and ate a few strawberries!  YUM!

Some of the delicious berries we picked!

We have still been enjoying going to storytime at the library.  Now that the weather has gotten nicer, we have been able to enjoy the park behind the library after storytime too!  Here are Dawson and Carter on the bridge in the park after storytime. 

Dawson in the park after storytime.  One week we met several friends in the park gazebo for a picnic after storytime and then walked through the park and fed/chased the ducks!  Another week the boys and I enjoyed the park and then walked downtown and had lunch at John's mom's bakery! 

This picture is WAY out of order, but here are our wonderful friends the Williams who had us over for dinner on Friday night when we were in Alabama!  At this point I think all of the kids were pretty exhausted from running and playing nonstop for our entire visit, but I'm glad we got a picture of all of us before we left!  We had a great time visiting them!

At the very beginning of April, our MOM group had a Spring Scavenger Hunt at a local park.  We let the kids decorate bags (that's what they're doing here), and then they had to find a list of items Spring items to put in their bags like flowers, green leaves, etc. 

The kids enjoyed decorating their bags and playing on the playground more than actually looking for the items, but we all had fun!  Here's Dawson showing me how high he can climb!

Dawson climbing over the dino at the playground!

Carter LOVES being outside and picking up grass, flowers, and rocks to carry around while he's out there!

This is one of Carter's birthday presents!  He loves this Thomas that he can push through the yard, but his favorite part of it is the bubbles it blows!!

Dawson and Carter have a lot of fun together in the sandbox!

Carter grabbed Dawson's shovel and started pointing.  Looks like he's ready to help us with some yardwork!!

Dawson loves swinging on this big swing under a tree in our backyard, so we got a swing for Carter to put on this tree too!  Both boys love being over here and swinging!

We did our monthly visit with our friends to Tumble Bears Gym in April too.  Swinging on this rope has become Dawson's very favorite thing to do there, and he always wants me to take pictures of him swinging on it!

Dawson loves to have lunch at Nana's Bakery because he gets to pick out a cupcake at the end!  Here he is enjoying a chocolate one after storytime one day!

In the middle of April we made our first Spring visit to Dollywood, and we all had a blast!  We went on a Thursday, so it wasn't too crowded.  Dawson loved every ride!  Here is he driving the 50's style cars.  I was the passenger.  When I asked him to look at me for a picture, he said he couldn't because he would crash!  He really is a good driver!

Dollywood has this roller coaster especially for kids!  Here you can see John and Dawson in the back car.  They rode this a few times, and Dawson loves it.

John and Dawson on riding the Flying Elephants!

One of Dawson's favorite parts of Dollywood is feeding the ducks.  It's funny because before taking Dawson if you had asked if Dollywood had ducks, we would have said no because they ducks were not a big deal to us.  Dawson loves them though because they are so tame they will scoop the food right out of the palm of your hands!  While Dawson feeds the ducks, Carter yells at them...or maybe he's yelling about them!  Both boys love animals!

Dawson played a game in the "country fair" area of Dollywood.

Nora Kate and I weren't left out of all the rides.  Here I got to ride the ferris wheel with Dawson!

John and Dawson were proud to win this elephant playing on of the "country fair" games!

Dawson and Carter loved playing in this car in the 50's area of Dollywood!

After enjoying some rides, we decided to take a break and ride the train, Klondike Katie which goes through Dollywood and up the mountain a little.  I was afraid Carter would be afraid because it's loud, but he loved it!  He bounced up and down, clapped, and yelled even when it "choo-chooed!"  I was also worried that Dawson would think the train was boring after riding roller coasters and other faster rides, but he loved it!  He's already asking to ride the train again next time.  Here are me and the boys about to take off on the train!

Dawson loves helping in the yard.  In April he got to spend the night with Lolly and Pop and help them mulch their landscape.  Here he is "helping" with the mulch!  He thought this was a big deal!

Carter had fun getting to walk around some at Dollywood.  Here he is directing us which way to go next!

No month is complete without a couple of visits to the Knoxville Zoo.  We visited on Carter's birthday, and went back again later in the month too!  Here's Owl Dawson!

These two boys love being outside!

I vaguely remember a time when John mowing the yard didn't mean we all had to be outside.  Now both boys love watching the mower and playing on it too of course!

Dawson with his friend Colt during a  recent visit to the zoo!

In Alabama when we visited Bridgestreet, John and Dawson rode the train!  Dawson, of course, picked his favorite color car to ride in!

Jude, Jasper, and Dawson had fun playing inside this cardboard rocket!  Look at those sweet faces!

Not picture, but also this month, John got the opportunity to travel to Dallas for 3 days for leadership training, and we're very proud of him.  We had fun celebrating Grandad's birthday.  We had a couple of playdates with Charlie and Olivia!  Dawson enjoyed going to Tataru's Gym and meeting friends there to play.  He was SO brave jumping into the foam pits off the stands!  The foam pits were his favorite part of going there to play this time.  Carter had fun running around in all the open space at Tatarus!  We also enjoyed a few park playdates with friends this month too!  April was another great month!