Ruark turned 3!!

I am so excited to present our Candy Land birthday party extravaganza!! I tried to make most of the decor look like candy rather than putting out too much candy. I could just imagine how happy all those parents would have been to have all kids sent home hyped up on sugar. I had planned for each child to decorate their own gingerbread house but finally decided at the party with all the confusion to just send each child home with their own kit.

Rhett was happy to entertain the Grandma's! I didn't hold him for more than a minute or two during the party because everyone was loving on him. He loved all the attention and just smiled and watched everyone.

Four Generations!

I left out all my Christmas decor that had anything to do with the Candy land theme.

Ruark couldn't believe his eyes when he walked out to find the house looking like this! He was running around yelling, "my party!!" "LOOOK!!!!"

We played pin the tail on the donkey and the prize was the Candy land game. We put the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on downstairs for the kids to watch.

The kids LOVED the gift boxes this year and I have to say they were pretty fantastic and full of great toys including ice cream cone shooters, lollipops, spinners, punch balls, candy, gingerbread crayons, pinwheels, stickers and rainbow spinners.

Me and my little 3 year old!

Christmas flew by and days later I was breaking down all the decorations to make room for Ruark's 3 year birthday party!! What to do for the most amazing little boy I've ever known. Well he LOVES the game Candy land, candy and colors are a big part right now. So we pulled it all together and I have to say it turned out FANTASTIC!!!

I started out by covering all the couches with white sheets for the winter wonderland and also to help protect from stains. I covered most everything with buffalo snow which I scored for 90% off after Christmas! It was a great backdrop against all the bright decorations.

We covered Ruark's door with streamers and covered the floor in balloons for when he woke up. He had been talking about his birthday party for days and was so excited when he woke up to everything decorated. It was a long night, but I wanted to spend every minute possible with him on his special day.

Ruark and Rhett after Ruark's special breakfast. I was all set to make a huge breakfast with sausage, eggs, waffles and fruit. But nope Ruark wanted a peanut butter and jelly sand which. His FAVORITE food in the world. He asks for one for every meal. :) He was SOOO excited he finally got one for breakfast!

The huge tree is part of our "licorice forest" :)I found it on Oriental Trading for 15!! On sale from 80.00!

We made lollipops with balloons, cellophane, curling ribbon and balloon sticks. We covered presents to look like candies, using tissue paper, cellophane and more ribbon.

We made "hard candies" by putting balloons inside cellophane and using bright curling ribbons on each side.

Sadie made Rock candies by taking some bright wrapping foil from the dollar store cutting it into squares and attaching them to a wrapping paper roll. They were so cute!

We finished off the night with fireworks, some MAJOR ones my brother brought back from Missouri. We shot off 3 to celebrate 3 years! Here's Ruark with Sam and Noah his best buds and cousins.

We waited and prayed for so long to have kids and we are so excited every year to plan their parties. It takes work but it is totally worth it. Ruark talks every day all day long about his party and how much fun it was. The kids loved it too and I'm already mulling over ideas for next year and Rhett's party in just 6 months!! Our house was full of family and kids running around together, we are so blessed to have so many family and friends who were able to make it to celebrate our his birthday! I still can't believe my baby is 3!!! Oh but what an awesome 3 year old he is, we could not be more proud!

Things happen for a reason

My focus the past few months has not been my blog. I spent so much time curled up in bed dealing with pain and filled with fear that now I'm all about living life! I'm more active then ever before, enjoying my two boys, my husband and my GREAT health! It's been a busy few months.

I've noticed more and more that my balance is REALLY REALLY off. It had been most of my pregnancy. When I was about 22 weeks pregnant I had just got home from church and I was standing in my bathroom when all of a sudden I started tipping over. My arms clung to the side of my body and refused to move and I fell like a tree *TIMBER* and slammed into my tile floor. OW! After years of dance and gymnastics I couldn't understand HOW my body not only fell over but my arms REFUSED to react. I was completely stunned and laid on the floor for a good 20 minutes. Well fast forward to now. My AWESOME brother is finally back in town and opened up his own family practice I asked him to adjust me.

He laughed at me when I told him how I've been really off balance the past few months until he looked at my feet. They were INCHES off. I can't remember the medical terminology but my hips are REALLY messed up. After pulling and pulling they are getting better but still a work in progress. When I asked how they could get this bad he told me I must have hit them really hard to get them this far out.

That's when a huge *A-HA!!* moment came to me!!! For months my doctor couldn't believe I hadn't gone into labour, Rhett should have been born extremely premature. My hips weren't aligned therefore he couldn't descend even with all the contractions. To the angels in heaven who held my arms to my side and shoved me over, THANK YOU!!! I feel incredibly blessed!