Prepping for Nate's Birthday Party

For Nate's Birthday in July, we scheduled a pool party. The day before the party the weather was really stormy, and the forecast said the next day was going to be the same. Well, needless to say, I panicked. I started desperately searching for some good backup indoor games. Nate was going to be the youngest there, as all of his guests were adults or aged 4-12. That created some problems in coming up with things they could all do.

I decided to do a bean bag toss, a marble race option, a treasure hunt dig, and a balloon pop. Here are the bean bags I made for the bean bag toss. I used rice, and each has an inner pouch and an outer pouch. These were made the day of the party. For the marble race option, I cut 2 pool noodles in half length wise. These ended up not being used for the party since the weather was nice and we were outside, but Nate has enjoyed playing with them since.

For the treasure hunt dig, I shredded paper and hid a bouncy ball, and a ring pop for each kid to find. I also had a batch of 40 army men for them to find for the birthday boy. The balloon pop was in place of a pinata. I put candy into balloons to have the kids pick from and pop before they left. I did enjoy popping the last of them after everyone left, since I had over-stressed myself that day.

All of these were things I had seen on Pinterest in some form or another. I don't know that I could have pulled these together on my own otherwise. Thank you Pinterest.

Nate the Great

Sorry, I  have been a little AWOL. Between having a two year old and being pregnant, I can't say I'm getting much done. I have been working on my Hexies mostly, since his favorite thing right now is "Monkies" as he calls Baby Einstein. I always thought it was silly that this had become a thing, until I started watching them with Nate. I must admit there are times when I can't pull myself away from it. He is starting to mimic some of the signs, sounds, and words that he hears on them. It is surprising how quickly he seems to be growing and learning.

This picture was taken in July, I believe. We had gotten him this truck for his first Christmas. He still loves it. I think he was trying to tell me that he wanted a ride on toy. He actually rides around on it like this a lot. It makes me smile. Now he has a real ride on toy, so maybe this one might still survive to see Baby #2.