A Tom and Jerry Home Depot Party

We just got home from Little Brother's 4th Birthday Party at Home Depot. He chose a Tom and Jerry theme, which is perfect since he watches it every day after school. He invited a few friends from school and a few more family friends. All the kids had off school today for the Thanksgiving weekend, so it made it the perfect day for a party! Daddy took a long lunch and brought over the pizza to celebrate with us too!

Tom and Jerry isn't an easy theme- so we improvised and made it ourselves!  First off, I made the invitations and had them printed at Costco:

The "cake" was cupcakes from Costco with Tom and Jerry characters I bought on Ebay. A few birthday candles and sprinkles and there was one happy little boy!

We heard that Home Depot did birthday parties, but had never been to one. It turned out to be the perfect place for our celebration. They gave us a room for 2 hours, 2 helpers, and building kits of the kids' choice (about 6 to choose from). In addition, a woman volunteers to decorate a special hat and apron for the birthday boy and each kid gets their own apron to take home (as well as their finished project).

The kids had to wear safety goggles and listen to some directions before they started their projects. Ironically, the man in charge was named Jerry and he shares the same birthday as Little Brother! The kids listened, learned their safety lessons and went to work!

Big Brother wore 2 pairs to be extra safe, I guess...

Little Brother made a Home Depot race car and Big Brother made a spy periscope.

Here are all the kids with their creations. Little Brother got knocked in the head just before this photo, so there were some sad eyes!

Little Brother agrees with the balloon above. This was the best party ever!!!

Fun Run and Limo Ride

Big Brother's school does an annual fundraising event each year. They ask friends and family for donations and run in a 45 minute Fun Run. This year, our family rallied, and he raised almost $400 for his school. Considering our bond and levy just failed in the election, we need all the fundraising support we can get.  Little Brother and I met him up at the school back in October to "donate" our laps to his class. He was pretty grouchy- so no photos of the little guy!

As a reward for raising over $200, kids got to go to lunch in a Hummer limo last week. It was his first time ever in a limo. He was in line to get on when I got there to pick up Little Brother from pre-school. (He's in the camo jacket and blue pants) It was fun to see his reaction. They put the girls in his grade in one limo and the boys in another. He loved that there were mirrors on the ceiling and the limo driver played really loud rock and roll music the whole way there. He had a great time and we are so grateful to everyone who donated in order to make this day happen for him.

Halloween: 2011

All was safe in the neighborhood with these 2 watching out on Halloween:

We started the day with a party at school. All the kids in school got to dress up except Little Brother's preschool class. I have a feeling the teachers didn't want to help all the little super heroes and princesses go potty all day. So, I helped out in Big Brother's party and got to see his school-wide costume parade. After Little Brother got home from school, he immediately put on his costume. That's how I found Batman raiding my fridge for a yogurt drink!

After school, we had pizza dinner at the neighbors house and headed out to trick-or-treat. It was a fun night, just our family this time. We even trick-or-treated at Big Brother's teacher's home! He was so excited! She even gave him 4 pieces of candy!!! About 7:30, Big Brother started to ask to go home. He wasn't really himself. I should've known we were in for it. He woke up the next morning with stomach flu. Poor kid!