Welcome to Emma's 3rd Birthday

When my girly~girl declared she wanted a firefighter party for her 3rd Birthday, I was not a bit surprised since she makes me promise on a regular basis that she can fight fires when she gets big. Immediately I started searching for party decorations and had very little luck, so I dreamed up my own.

The announcements were designed by our photographer, Darla DiStefano Photography. She also gets the credit for all the photos included in this post. Darla, thank you so much for capturing so many wonderful memories of my little ones THIRD celebration.

A party is not complete without balloons (Polka Dot Market) and a birthday banner (Love September).

Table set up in entry with fire hydrant water sprinkles for the little ones and a basket full of chocolate covered oreos for each guest to take as they leave.

Cupcakes in a jar for the taking and they were oh so YUMMY!

Little metal firetruck held gifts and added a little cuteness to the decor.

One of the few things I was able to locate in the store to go with our party theme.

I created these tissue flowers and poms that could be found hanging from the ceilings and growing out of pots. Super easy to make, directions can be found on Martha Stewart's website.

Cake table that held cupcakes, pictures, party hat, plates and napkins. My sweet girl could not keep her hands off this before the party got started.

Cake was designed by a local lady and she is amazing. Every single thing on this cake was edible and so detailed.

Birthday crown I purchased from a sassy little site, True Love Found.

Cupcakes made by Mommy & Daddy for Emma's special day. The cupcake holders were polka dot, striped and some had Dalmatians on them.

When the cake was delivered, I thought it was PERFECT. The little girl had red hair, green eyes, a few freckles, hair in pig tails and 2 big yellow bows just like my EMMA. It had to be one of the cutest cakes I had ever seen, so very personal and super YUMMY! Leigh, we are customers for life.

Mix & match plates and napkins that tied in with the firefighter theme.

The kiddos enjoyed eating off these little uniform shirts and a couple adults did too.

Not your typical party food and very RANDOM. We decided to let Emma design the menu and she chose all her favorite foods.

Chik Fil A chicken nuggets, fruit, peanut butter & jelly (fire hydrant shaped, thanks to a cookie cutter), Cheetos, Goldfish, Juice and Sweet tea could be found on the menu.

So super easy, Chik Fil A actually delivered it to our front door along with lots of ice.

Drinks, Drinks and more Drinks.

All the desserts were red, white, yellow & black.

Sixlet candy in our party colors.

Marshmallow pops dipped in colored chocolate and sprinkled.

Oreos dipped in colored chocolate and sprinkled.

Basket full of treats for the little ones to pick up on the way to the Fire Station Tour.

Each little girl got a Firefighter umbrella from Western Chief along with a goody bag stuffed with lots of firefighting goodies.

It was so much fun searching for all the striped and polka dot red, yellow and black. It was not easy but we got our hands on lots of it.

Goody bags were filled with wooden firetrucks, stickers, tattoos, cupcake in a jar, chocolate covered oreos, fluorescent yellow glow bracelets, a fireman hat, badge, candy, Lego firetruck kit and man (boys) and umbrellas (girls). The little ones each got a bag and a fire hydrant water sprinkler.

I have learned that all kids love to hit a pinata and Emma requested to have one at her party. We had a lady make this one off ETSY and it turned out perfect.

We were able to find a local company that actually had a Fire Truck moonwalk for rent. It was so cute and we got in it the next morning and jumped some more.

Popcorn machine that matched all the red decor.

Giant fire hydrant and fireman hats used on one of our patio tables.

One of our friends was kind enough to loan us this hose from his station and we draped it over the fence behind our swing set.

Emma's got this playhouse from us for her Birthday and all the kids loved playing in it all day. It has a kitchen, table and 2 chairs. Daddy is mounting a marker board in there soon.

You are looking at one happy little girl that had a great Birthday party. After cake and ice cream, we went to the fire station in our neighborhood for a tour.

These bookmarks were out on the table for the kiddos to make their own firefighter bookmark. It was super hot outside, so we wanted to have an inside activity for them to do while they cooled off.

Happy Birthday to you Emma, she was so excited to blow the candles out on her cake. Rosette tank was ordered from Modern Frills.

We had the best time celebrating with lots of family and friends. At the end of the day, I was so thankful Emma picked out her party theme and menu. I struggled with it in the beginning, but had a great time thinking outside of the box and not sticking with a traditional theme. This party was all about Emma and her favorite things.

Bag tags that were also designed by my wonderful, creative & talented photographer. Notice the license plate on the front of the firetruck, our last name.

We love you so much Emma Caroline and hope you had the best THIRD birthday ever.

Firefighter Party Coming Soon

Emma's 3rd Birthday has come and gone and I look forward to sharing every detail with you. I am hoping to have the pictures posted later today. Looks like I might have to divide them up, there are a bunch of them.

Thought I would share one of my favorites with you. She was so cute when we sang Happy Birthday and she blew out the candles. I still can not believe she is THREE years old. More to come, I promise.

Slidin' into Summer Time

Five bucks bought our kiddos a whole bunch of fun last night. If you have not bought an old fashion slip~n~slide for your kiddos this summer, I encourage you to run to the nearest Wal Mart and pick one up for loads of giggling fun.

Nothing like sharing life with a sibling and these two know how to have a good time together. I can not help but be so grateful that we had our children 20 months apart and look forward to them growing up so close in age.

Daddy would grab Emma by the arm and leg and throw her down the slide, she loved it and kept begging for more.

This little guy wanted in on the action too, so he got tossed a couple times also. He would scream, "set go" when Daddy would send him flying.

A time or two they took the wild ride together and just chuckled and chuckled when they reached the end.

Daddy was a little nervous in the beginning, but by the end Emma was sliding off into the grass. She must have thanked her Daddy about 10 times for buying this for them. I must admit, best $5.00 we have spent so far this summer.

I am so excited my kids love the water and I can hardly wait to see them building sand castles on the beach in 11 more days.

I have a feeling this one is going to be begging her Daddy to set this little treat up every evening.

We have been spending a couple hours in the backyard every evening and we are all enjoying the fun.

One of the best parts of being an educator is getting to spend 6 weeks off with these guys in the summer time. Looking forward to many more evenings on the lawn, firing up the grill, playing on the swing set, pretending in the crooked house, running through the sprinklers, eating popsicles, enjoying the water ball, splashing in the water table and sliding on our bellies. Life just doesn't get any better than this as far as I am concerned.

Hoping that you and your families are enjoying all that summer has to offer just like the Frazier Four!

Swim Lessons...NOT!

One of our goals this summer was to have Emma learn to swim. She is not afraid of the water, cruises the pool with a kick board or floaties & likes to go under occasionally. I had hopes that she would take a couple weeks of private lessons and be swimming. Not so much, her goals were not the same as ours this summer.

We arrived at the pool this morning to meet Coach John, which just happens to be one of the best swim coaches in our area and also Coaches the swim team at my school. She was real brave when we got there, talked to him immediately, allowed him to get her all goggled up and then something changed.

At this point, I really thought we were good to go and she was happy as could be. She followed Coach John to the edge of the pool, got in on the first step, then the second and then started crying. I knew at that point that my strong willed child had made her mind up, swimming lessons were not for her no matter how much candy we had hidden in our bags.

Enough was enough and she was DONE and ready to get out and go home. At that point Coach John said, "you got 2 choices, you can either tell me she is not ready or I can be the bad guy and take her to the other side of the pool and make her swim." This Mommy decided that we would wait. The last thing I wanted to do was have her become afraid of the water by forcing her to participate. Whether that be the right or wrong decision, I am not sure but it was what I felt was best at the moment.

We thanked Coach John, told him we would be in touch and headed out the gate to the car. Emma decided it would be way more fun to try to catch the ducks then to swim today, so we stood there for about 15 minutes and watched the baby ducks. She may not be a swimmer but one thing is for sure, she is a lover of all animals BIG and small.

Happy Daddy's Day

We decided to celebrate our Daddy for the entire weekend because that is exactly what he deserves. Emma was super anxious to have her Daddy open his surprises as soon as he hit the door from work on Friday. Perhaps because we had worked on his gifts all day.

The kids each finger painted their Daddy a 12x12 canvas to hang in his office. Emma chose all the colors from the store they would use and they turned out super cute. The kids each picked out their own cards for him. We also decided to give Daddy a little book we made that explained what we would do for him through out the weekend, illustrated with stickers that went along with each days activities.

The fun started Friday night by visiting his favorite Mexican Restaurant. Saturday we had reserved tickets for Toy Story 3 (Daddy has been looking forward to seeing this with Emma & Gavin for a long time) & today will be spent having fun in the sun.

We decide to go with a theme for Daddy's present this year, so it started with a chocolate carmeled apple...YUMMY! Next, we gave Daddy a box that was filled with green and red apples and at the very bottom was an IPAD. After that he opened up a box of Apple Jacks that was stuffed with IPAD accessories and an Itunes card taped to the lid of the cereal box. The final bag had a gel case for the IPAD. It was fun to watch him open all his stuff with Emma & Gavin cheering him on.

I asked Emma what she wanted me to say to her Daddy on Father's Day and she said..."Happy Father's Daddy Curtis. You're a good Daddy and I like you because I love you. You make me feel funny and you play with me. My favorite thing is everywhere we go and when I go with you to Pottery Barn Kids. Have fun, I love you."

When I asked Gavin what he wanted to tell Daddy, he said..."hmmmm....he just looked at me and smiled and kept pointing to his Daddy."

Curtis, Thank you for being the most amazing Father in the world to our children. I could not ask for a better life partner to parent Emma & Gavin with or to set a better example for them. You are everything I ever dreamed of when I imagined what kind of Daddy I desired for my children to have.

You are always so kind, loving, sweet and patient to both of them and do more than your share when it comes to the day to day responsibilities. I am so PROUD of you and the seriousness you put into being a Daddy and how much it means to you to be so involved with our kids. You are a one of a kind Daddy and I know there are lots of people out there that would agree that have had the joy of watching you over past three years.

Thank you for teaching our kids what it means to value family, make good choices, be responsible, always speak kindly, love the Lord, share their emotions, always say I love you, be affectionate and take pride in all that they do. Your actions model each one of these things and so much more.

I know when you read these things, you will think to yourself, well that is my job but the truth is you deserve to be thanked for the amazing job you do on a daily basis. Our children are so blessed to have you in their lives and so am I!

We love you so much and hope you have had the best Daddy's weekend ever!