"Tot School" Catch Up

I didn't do a Tot School post the last two Fridays as I was busy planning Brennan's Olaf party. Now that the party is behind us, I wanted to catch you up on some of the activities we've done during the last two weeks. I didn't get a ton of pictures, but here are few of the things I did manage to capture. None are that "tot schoolish" but we had fun nonetheless.

Bryce has been showing more and more interest in looking at books instead of simply pulling them off the shelves. :)

We had several snow days during the last two weeks and it has been bitterly cold for so long. I wanted to do something new with Brennan to make staying at home again a little more fun and decided to pull out vinegar (with food coloring) and baking soda. I made him a 2nd tray of it because he was having so much fun.

I pulled out our hand-me-down tunnels and both boys had fun with them. 

I put the shapes from Bryce's hippo toy on one end of the tunnel and had Brennan start at the other end and find the shape I was asking for. It was a super simple task for him, but he was laughing the whole time.

Brennan asked to play "Noah Says" after he played it at AWANA. It's the same as Simon Says, but you ask like different animals. 

They don't also play nicely together, so this was great to see.

Brennan's Olaf Party

I absolutely loved planning Brennan's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd birthday parties. But leading up to his 4th birthday I just was not super motivated to party plan. Once he decided he'd like an Olaf-themed Frozen party, I started pinning ideas, but it wasn't really until this past week that I finally got excited to start working on it. I am happy with how everything came together. Brennan and I both love the movie Frozen and listen to the soundtrack on repeat in the car, so it was a fun theme to work with. I always have such high hopes to get some really good pictures during his parties and then I get busy and forget. I guess it's good sign if I'm having too much fun playing to think about taking pictures!

Here's Brennan wearing his new shirt that my friend Lizzie made for him!

This was our kitchen table.

I probably should've varied the height of objects more, but I ended up running short on time and just sat everything out. I taped three strands of Christmas lights onto the wall last night and then taped two rolls of cellophane wrap over them. I wasn't sure I liked the look, but adding the snowflakes made it look nice. It looked a lot prettier last night in the dark, but I still liked it today. I was super happy it all stayed up overnight and all through the party.

The snowman cups in the back were the party favors. I used white paper to wrap the juice boxes up and decorated them like snowmen too. You can see his Olaf cupcake cake in the middle. I had a bowl of M&Ms and a bowl of Hershey Kisses with a sign reading, "I wanna stuff some chocolate in my face." The veggie tray had "snowman noses" and other veggies. I also included a cheese and cracker tray with pretzel sticks and raisins so you could "build a snowman". The Doritos didn't have anything to do with the movie, but are just a favorite of ours. I printed some signs and put them in little Dollar Tree signs as decorations and printed the picture of Brennan with Anna and Elsa from Epcot in January.

I didn't even get a picture of the kitchen counter where I had a sign reading, "Hot and cold are both so intense, put them together; it just makes sense!" and then pointed to the HOT dogs and COLD drinks. I cooked hot dogs in the crockpot again this year. Not the most creative idea, but so super easy and inexpensive. You just throw them in there for 4 hours on low and they are good to go! I had white cups out beside the drinks that were also decorated like snowmen.

I hung three tissue paper puff balls from the center light in the kitchen and then here's the fridge.

It was super cute because when Brennan got up this morning and saw all the decorations in the kitchen he said, "Thank you so much for all this stuff!" I know lots of times these parties are just as much (if not more so) for the Mommies, but it made me so happy knowing he was already loving the party and his friends weren't even here yet.

Our basement makes for a perfect birthday party location. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of all the balloons hanging from the ceiling. We put away some of our regular basement toys, but left many out including the train table, trampoline, and tunnels. We also added a corn hole board for "Snowman Bean Bag Toss". I used six rolls of toilet paper to make "Snowman Bowling" and that was fun for the kids.

Brennan kept asking if it was time to open presents, but we told him we had to eat first. I think he ate a piece of celery and three bites of a hot dog, but at least that's something. :)

Then we did let him open his gifts. He is blessed with a group of such thoughtful friends!

Brennan really wanted to play "Pin the Nose on Olaf" so we did that after presents. I didn't make a big deal out of it because I know organized games don't usually go great at young birthday parties. Some of the kids took a turn and some didn't. Brennan might've taken 8 turns! It was a cute.

Then we had a little more play time!

Finally...CAKE TIME!

Now the boys are sleeping (Kyle included). I'm so glad Brennan had such a fun party and love that we are able to have them right in here in the comfort of our home. We have some new toys to play with and a sugar high that might last us a week; definitely a successful party!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I meant to get this posted last night, but once I get the boys in bed, I just want to sit on the couch and do nothing. Blogging has certainly taken a back seat. But here are a few pictures from our day yesterday. 

Another snow day here started with Brennan getting a few Valentine's Day gifts while Bryce slept in.

Once Bryce got up, I tried to get some pictures of him, but it's hard to get a clear one. He's almost always on the move!

I didn't even manage to get a single picture of them together, so I just had to share these from last year's Valentine's Day! Bryce has changed so so much!

"Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, LOVE extravagantly. And the best of the three is LOVE. Go after a life of LOVE as if your life depended on it - because it does." 1 Corinthians 13 (The Message)