Domenic's 5th Birthday-Jake and the Neverland Pirates style!

Domenic turned 5 years old a couple weeks ago and he wanted a Jake Pirate party. So I went on pinterest and got a bunch of ideas and decided what we could do to keep the costs down but still stick with the theme.

Domenic has never had a big party before and this was the first year he actually wanted one (he use to be super shy) but we kept it to his friends, which was the majority from our little nature study group that we see pretty much on a weekly basis.

My awesome sis-in-law grabbed my camera and started snapping away which I am so thankful for!

Fortunately my mom already had a couple treasure chests, this being one of them. It was the perfect place for the guests to put their gifts for Domenic. He colored that Jake picture that he wanted hung above the treasure chest.

So you can go online (sorry I don't know the link) and find all the Disney fonts. I printed out labels for everything. I didn't get pictures of the food because flies on my food totally gross me out, so everything stayed covered. We had water (Sea Water) and lemonade (Sour Water) to drink.

Because of the crazy heat we were having we started the party at 4pm and bought glow sticks/bracelets (you can get a pack of 20 at the dollar store as opposed to the party store where you only get 12 for the same price) for when it was dark out. We also hung a bunch of Christmas lights on the canopies.

Walk the plant was a board and milk crates.

The ship is amazing! We had a wood crate and Robert lengthened it and then added cardboard to the sides. He made the sail out of that big roll/ream of white paper and blue duck tape. He drew the skull  on yellow poster board. It's standing up with cardboard tubes.

We had a dig for buried treasure spot. We filled it up with fun little treasures (from the dollar store) like beaded necklaces, gold de-blooms, little slinkies and pretty rocks.

My mom also had the clock/life saver. Nathan set the time to the party start time. Nathan also drew the blue path to the backyard.

Here is the other treasure chest that we filled with goodies for our guests to take home. Stickers, crayons, pirate note pads, etc.

A bit of a dance party with some music by Sharky and Bones on pandora.

Oh, I also forgot to mention that we bought some fabric (red, blue and pink) and just cut strips to make bandanas for Jake, Cubby and Izzy). We also got a little bit of light brown felt and made pixie dust pouches. We didn't put anything in them but all the kids liked them.

The chocolate cupcakes with fondant tops were created by Tasha Ann's Sweet Treats. They were a hit and super cute! We also had madeline cookies for the adults which were prefect because they're shaped like shells (and way to yummy to just eat one).

We haven't done a pinata at a birthday party before but Domenic really wanted one and this one was little and reasonably priced. It also helps that it's the month of October so candy is cheap everywhere.

We used the bat that had a pool noodle so that all the kids could have a turn before the pinate broke open.

Kiera was the last one so she finished it off!

The bandanas also double as blindfolds for the older kids.

Have to have a Pixie Hollow, compliments of Kiera. There were fairies inside with little furniture that she made.

Tasha Ann's Sweet Treats

So we did a pinata, cupcakes and then asked the kids to sit down while Domenic opened his presents. They did amazing!

Well... Blake was sitting in the sand bucket but at least he was sitting. haha

Woo Hoo Jake jammies! He's such a sweet little guy!

Robert's the best, he had the kids chasing him.

Fun day celebrating our sweet Domenic James!



Our food included -
Hot dogs-pirate ships
ham and cheese sandwiches (on little rolls)-Skurvy sandwiches
Pasta Salad with cabage and kale mixed in - Seaweed Salad
Gold Fish crackers - Catch of the Day
Cut up Fruit - Pirates Jewels

Not food but labeled the glow sticks-Pixie Glow Sticks

Camping in San Clemente 6-28-14

A couple weeks ago my family got to go RV camping with my parents down at the beach. Our first night we stayed in Coronado and I didn't take any pictures (with my big camera) so these are from San Clemente which is where we stayed the 2nd night. They had 1 spot left so we did a bit of dry camping, though we did have water.

Blake had a fever a few days before we left and it was still lingering a bit on Friday, but by Saturday it was gone and his appetite was back.

The first thing we did when we parked at our site was start a fire so we could roast marshmallows.

I found these telescoping skewers in the $1 section at Target, they're pretty awesome.

 Blake having some graham crackers before we were ready to roast marshmallows.

 Space to run!

 See how long the skewers get? Keeps the fire far enough away from little hands.

 So we don't always have chocolate but really, roasting marshmallows is their favorite part anyway.

 And then after dessert we had dinner. Hot dog roasting.

 He was excited to roast his own hot dog.

 After dinner 1/2 of us went for a walk. We did see a skunk, but we saw this first.

 Chess and checkers and a new little friend in the next campsite brought glow sticks to share.

I'll have to add the pictures of the kids eating their huge ice cream cones that my dad got them at the beach snack shack the next day. That was the most ice cream they've ever had at once. haha