My 30th Birthday – Part 4 (The Fun)

If you missed them, you can catch up with Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

For me, most of the fun of my party was just having so many friends and family show up and getting to mingle with them all. But I did plan one activity that I wanted, which was a car rally/scavenger hunt which I got my brother Derek to create for me! Whoever wanted to participate showed up earlier and I think there were about 6 teams who joined in. We were all given a set of directions that would lead us on a designated route. Sometimes these directions were something like “turn right at this sign” or “drive until you have to turn left”, etc. Along the way, there were blanks to fill in of street names or other pieces of information that we had to look for on signs. There were also bonus items for certain things to look for that we had to take pictures of or questions to answer like, “how many garage doors on the house at the second driveway on the left after you make this turn”. Also, a couple times during the rally we had to record our time and our mileage so that my brother could make sure we hadn’t taken a detour or that we weren’t speeding! It wasn’t a race, but it was more about being the most accurate and getting the most points. Joe and I went with our kids, with Joe driving and me navigating and calling out the bonus items we needed to be on the lookout for. Having my iPhone was definitely helpful, but I think we had an advantage since it was our home turf and we were very familiar with the area. In the end, we did win first place and my son Justice was pumped that we were the winners! Here is my brother announcing the placings – I was really proud that he did such a great job at creating the game!

Later in the evening, my husband surprised me with a fun poem that he wrote in my honor. He got some good laughs and I felt really loved and special!

The only other “activity” that I planned was having a photobooth set up outside where I demanded that everyone go get their picture taken, using the bin of silly props that I provided. This was a great thing for people to be creative and have fun with and the kids especially enjoyed it! Here are just a few of my favorites…

Daughter and Father enact a miraculous healing!

Hubby with the kids & me with my little girl

My parents smooching & my brother & sister-in-law

Crazy kids & my silly son

My goofy friends

Me & my friend, Me with my sister & the little guy

More silliness

A friend’s family & me and my hubby

All right folks, we’re almost to the end of this marathon. I think one more post and we’ll be done documenting this milestone in my life. Thanks for hanging in there!

Family Fun

Yesterday, Joe and I went to take out our new double stroller for a walk with the kids to have a picnic lunch at a nearby park.  It was a cool spring afternoon, so we needed to bundle up a bit, but we were looking forward to going out for some fresh air and to let Justice run around and play.  However, it’s not unusual for things to get a little chaotic when trying to prepare for a family outing and we were both getting a little frazzled.  As we were walking down our driveway, Joe was getting frustrated with something and sort of snapped at me, so in response, both to express my frustration and to also try and lighten the mood a little, I growled loudly, “WE’RE TRYING TO HAVE SOME FAMILY FUN, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!”  Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a similar situation – I wasn’t really angry, I just wanted to vent in an overly exaggerated way to bring attention to the fact that we were being silly to get so uptight.  Before I did though, I did briefly look around and saw that there was nobody in sight, as I didn’t exactly want to throw a fit in the public eye.  But not a few seconds after my little vent, we heard a chuckle and saw our next door neighbor sitting on his front step talking on his phone and we knew that he had heard me.  I couldn’t help laughing and thought it was terribly funny and it kept me laughing throughout our little excursion.  Just a little reminder that there is always someone watching and to be careful what you say and do!   But we did have a good time with the kids and enjoyed our family fun time together.

 

Love Boxes

So, I recently read about this idea for a “Love Jar” on Rachel Meier’s Blog, which she described like this…

Here’s what it is: Couples individually write out an agreed upon number of “requests” or “ideas” that would make them feel loved or special. Put them somewhere (a jar perhaps?) and then once a week each spouse draws from the other spouses ideas and does it sometime that week. 

This could require some restrictions like as to how much money can be spent, or the length of request. (Paint the whole house may be a bit much)

So, when I told Joe about this idea, he was totally all for it & insisted that we have a craft project and make our own little love boxes.  Here is how they turned out…

I love how our self-decorated boxes totally reveal our different personalities – lol! We had fun making them and I have already benefited from it by receiving a couple very wonderful head massages!

Thumb-sucking

Well, Justice finally discovered his thumb!!  I think he really enjoys the suction power he has on that one finger as opposed to trying to suck on his entire fist.  I love how he’s holding his thumb in place with his other hand!

 

However, it’s still pretty hit and miss with the thumb – he continues to enjoy many different finger combinations!  He often enjoys a 1-2 combo (thumb and pointer), or a 1-2-3 combo, or as seen in the pictures below, the 3-4, the 4-5, and the 3-4-5.    The purple moustache is from our recent attempt at Gentian Violet to see if it will cure some breast pain I’ve been having.   

  

I love my fist!!

In the last month, Justice has become quite taken with his fist!  Whenever possible, he is jamming his entire hand into his mouth – he hasn’t quite figured out the thumb-sucking thing yet.  But if he can’t get his whole fist in, his favorite fingers to suck on are his pointer and middle finger together.  He will stick them in as far as they can go and today I couldn’t help but laugh as he repeatedly made himself gag by doing this!  (Click on the picture below to see it full-size.)

First Trip to Grandma and Grandpa's

This weekend we took Justice on his first trip outside the city to go visit my parents.  They both held him for pretty much the entire time we were there and were in their glory!  My dad has mostly only seen Justice sleepy and quiet, so he was thrilled when Justice finally opened his eyes and made some good loud shrieks for him.    The funny part though was when Justice decided to christen his grandparents by first puking on my mom’s shirt and then just minutes later, peeing on my dad’s shirt – lol.  They didn’t mind in the slightest though – they’re just so delighted to be grandparents and loved getting to cuddle him. 

Photo Challenge

A friend of mine is having a giveaway on her blog & in order to earn tickets in the draw, you can participate in a series of challenges.  I came upon this contest a little late, but I just couldn’t pass up this week’s challenge which was to post a funny picture.  However, my problem was which one to pick!!  My favorites are the ones of my husband – he makes me laugh on a daily basis – and since I couldn’t decide on just one, I made a collage – enjoy!

My Family

Feel free to try this laughter-invoking activity at home – Instructions: keep your lips as loose and flappable as possible, then shake head from side to side rapidly, take picture (using a fast shutter speed). Warning: may result in piercing momentary headache.

If you want to participate, please post your pictures on your blog and leave a comment here with the link!