Broken record--too many pictures and not enough time. Whew. I'm pushing through for you, grandmothers and great-grandmothers!! Even a couple weeks late, I want to document our Disney trip. Slowly but surely, folks...
Ryan had a business trip to Florida for a couple days, which so happens to be about 20 minutes away from my Aunt Joanna's house. And her house happens to be a little less than an hour away from Walt Disney World. So Ryan comes home one day and says, "What about you and the kids coming with me to Florida, stay with Joanna, and us go to Disney for a couple days?" Ummm...YES, PLEASE!!! So we had about a month to plan (not much time!) and we hit the road at 5 am the Sunday after Gavin's birthday party. (Yes, that was a crazy decision, but crazy busy is generally how we roll!)
We got to Joanna's in the afternoon and the kids loved playing with their new toys from Gavin's birthday. Aunt Amanda made Henley this AMAZING makeup kit she found on Pinterest since Gavin was getting so many toys. Who better to practice on than Cousin Madison??
The kids couldn't stand it and had to get in the pool--even though it was pretty cold and February, for Pete's Sakes! :)
It didn't last long, but they had fun!
So we decided to wait 'til we got to Joanna's to tell the kids about Disney World. Gavin gets so excited about everything (don't know where he gets that from!) that we didn't really want questions for 12 hours straight! :) So I packed little goodie bags of all Disney things, we'd been talking to them about Disney for weeks and talking about one day going there, watching videos of the rides, etc. I thought for sure I'd get SOME sort of reaction out of them. NOTHING. Nada. Zilch. It was painful. And so thankful I got it on camera:
Party Planners Anonymous. Somebody sign me up. Except they may kick me out because I love parties and I'm not ashamed of it!! Seriously. I look forward to my kiddos' parties for months in advance! So without further ado, and you know I'm going to be overly detailed and share more pictures than anybody cares to see, Gavin's 4th Birthday party...
(Old School Billy Blazes shirt off eBay for $.99. Woohoo!)
At Christmas, my sister-in-law Megan introduced Gavin to Rescue Heroes. Oh.my.goodness. Obsessed is not a strong enough word for how Gavin feels about these guys. So on the way home from my parents' house at Christmas, Ryan said, "What if we did a Rescue Heroes birthday party for Gavin?" If you know me, you know the eyes-wide excitement I got thinking about this. So I grabbed my phone in the car and started googling ideas and decided that had to be our theme!
So again, I got Meg Jones to do the invitation because, let's face it, I can't even attempt to do anything like this! All I gave her was the wording and the pictures of Gavin dressed up as different Rescue Heroes and told her I wanted the logo on it somewhere, and this is what she came up with. Amazing!!!
Sign on the door that explained our party theme:
Favors for the kiddos thanks to eBay! The book had a slot to put their picture in the back and each page had a different hero: doctor, policeman, fireman, army man, etc.
I really should say, "This party has been brought to you by eBay and Craigslist" because that is where I was able to get EVERYTHING for the party (including presents) for crazy cheap. Rescue Heroes started in the late 90s and Fisher Price is remaking them, so I was able to get old school Rescue Heroes stuff off eBay--even balloons!
And the Happy Birthday sign:
I had a dress-up center available if the kiddos wanted to dress up as Rescue Heroes during the party:
I printed off Rescue Heroes pictures offline and had them out for kiddos to color while we waited on the missions:
I go a little crazy with theming the entire house as my neighbor Abbey says. :)
It is too easy when the Library has amazing books to go along with my birthday themes!
We love love love our neighbors the Eadys. Earlier in the week, I texted Kim to ask for their help. They went above and beyond the call of duty and got into dressing the part.
Gabe was our bank robber for one of the missions and they made these money bags for his part. I mean, come on people! How awesome are these kids??
So here's Bank Robber Gabe, Wendy Waters (Abbey), and Ariel Flyer (Laney).
My Party Planning Partners in Crime!
Even Uncle Cole dressed for the occasion! I dressed up as Rescue Hero Al Pine the snow boarder.
Gram and Papaw were watching Gavin's Chattanooga friends Asher and Nora for the weekend, so they were able to join us!
My favorite part of any party is theming the food.
Maybe I'll start my own party planning business one day. Except people generally aren't as dorky as me so I don't think it would go over well! :)
Gavin picked out these awesome plates for Billy Blazes, his favorite (and first) Rescue Hero:
The main dish: Billy Blazes' Four Alarm Chili (for the 4-year-old!)
Wendy Waters Drink Station:
Hal E. Copter's Helicopter Blades:
Jack Hammer's Scoops:
Rock Miner's Rocks:
My favorite--Roger Houston's Moon Pies:
Hmmm...maybe this is my favorite--Captain Cuffs' Donut Holes served in Gavin's police car Easter basket! Ha!
Rocky Canyon's Rock Candy--chocolate rocks from World Market. I cannot say how much I love World Market for party food! The ingredients are better than regular candy and they really do have some unique stuff!
Al Pine's Arctic Ice Cream:
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I am the way that I am. My mom decided to make up her own Rescue Hero--Chick A. Dee. Her twitter was #feedthebirds. Ha! Oh, how I love you, Mom!
My Dad dressed up as Roger Houston, complete with a rocket strapped to his hat. This is fitting because he and my Uncle Brent go to rocket meets and built rockets to shoot off!
After a few snacks, I had the kiddos sit down to watch their Rescue Hero Training Video.
On each episode of Rescue Heroes, they get a video conference call letting them know what emergency has happened and what they need to do to help. So late one night, Ryan and I threw this together with no script (obviously!). What's really funny is that Ryan really got into it. He actually wanted to find his old X-Box Live headset to look just like Billy Blazes, but sadly couldn't find it. I think the end result turned out pretty hilarious:
So after the kids watched the video, it was time for them to complete their missions!
Mission #1: Billy Blazes Firehouse
Ryan and Cole decided to put dry ice on the building to make it look like it was actually on fire. Genius!
So the kids ran in to save an animal from the burning Animal Shelter...
...and brought them to Ariel Flyer (Rescue Hero Veterinarian) to get checked out:
Mission #2: Al Pine's Avalanche
The kiddos had to find army men, firemen, and policemen that were trapped in a snow avalanche:
Braden, aka Perry Trooper, found the best way to get the job done!
Mission #3: Jake Justice's High Speed Chase
Oh, Gabe Eady, thank you so much for helping with this one! It was hilarious!
Mission #4: Perry Trooper's Parachute Launch--I have no pictures!
Mission #5: Rocky Canyon's Rock Climbing Wall:
The kiddos had to climb up the climbing wall...
...and then pull Cliff Hanger to safety:
Mission #6: Roger Houston's Meteor Shower:
Gavin ended up helping Ryan throw out the "meteors" while the rest of the crew had to keep them from hitting the "Earth":
At the end of the missions, I had a Rescue Hero badge to present to each kiddo.
I didn't mean for it to happen this way, but it ended up like an Award Ceremony and everybody stood around and clapped while each kiddo walked up to get their badge. It was super cute!
Birthday Boy:
The Baby Faced Burgler, who said, "Isn't it ironic that a bank robber is getting a police badge?" Ha!
Braden and Gavin. Best buds since birth!
Braden's little brother Sutton was Billy Blazes for the party! Elizabeth, if I were handing out awards for costumes, you and the Eadys would tie for 1st place!
Poor Henley was half asleep the whole party! She was a little snotty beforehand so we gave her a little Benadryl and she was sooo sleepy the whole time! Thanks for all your help with her, Papaw!
She loves dressing up in Gavin's construction stuff, so she was Jack Hammer for the party:
After the missions, we came inside to open presents:
Aunt Amanda and Cole may have started a new obsessions: Rescue Bots! Like Rescue Heroes but transformers. Oh my!
Gavin got lots of Rescue Heroes that he has been requesting. Rocky Canyon has been #2 on his list since Christmas! Thanks Kim and Rev!
#1 on his list to get was Perry Trooper, which was fitting for Braden to give him!
So thankful the camera was rolling when he opened him up:
Ariel Flyer gave him Ariel Flyer! You look just like her, Laney!
After presents it was time to chow down on Ryan's yummy chili:
Laney decided she wanted to eat in our "new" Rescue Heroes Ball Pit I got for $10 off Criagslist! I am telling you what, my Mom is right--when I pick a theme, it's like Manna from Heaven!
Cole decided Aunt Amanda needed saving from a fire. :)
Speaking of Aunt Amanda, I think she outdid herself this time! Gavin's favorite Rescue Hero episode is about a volcano erupting and the Rescue Heroes saving people from the lava. So Gavin requested a volcano cake, and Amanda did an amazing job! We have all the Rescue Heroes (and 4 little hero candles off eBay!) coming to save the day:
Per my request, Ryan picked up some Dry Ice at Kroger to make the volcano look like it was smoking:
It was SOOOO neat! Totally worth $5!
Gavin was a little in shock! :)
Aunt Amanda, you are our hero for all our birthday parties! Thank you for all your hard work on these kiddos' cakes!
It was SUCH a fun party. October seems so far away to wait to plan another birthday party!
And if anybody is still with me on this post after going through aaaaallll of those pictures and details, I should give you a prize! :)
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