Hurricane Season Kinda Stinks

If you live anywhere near the coast {especially the Gulf Coast, since we seem to be the target of all these tropical systems} you know that hurricane season can be a pain in the behind. After a major hurricane like Katrina I think everyone is a little more cautious about any storm that rolls in...which was the case with Hurricane {though it was a Tropical Storm the majority of the time} Isaac. Just to be safe {and because Jason had to go to work and stay overnight}, the boys and I loaded up and headed to my grandparents' house which is a little further north and a little further east than our house....but not before making sure that everything in our yard was secured.

 Jason strapped down the trampoline and moved a bunch of stuff up close to the house and out of the wind. We also turned over the picnic table and moved all of our patio furniture inside the house just in case a big gust of wind came though.

 Jason also had to anchor the Airstream down.

 Then we packed up and loaded my car...

 ...with all kinds of hurricane stuff!

 We spend a little more than 24 hours at my grandparents' house {Tuesday morning through Wednesday afternoon} playing games, watching the weather, and pretty much having a fun hurricane party. Yesterday the storm seemed to finally be moving out so I headed home with Grant and Eli {Henry went to stay with my mom since the boys were out of school again today} hoping that Jason would be home before dark. 

However, Isaac had other plans! Jason ended up stuck at work until around 10 pm, and then he had to drive through terrible weather to get home! We had worse weather last night and this morning that we had during the first two days of the storm...flooding roads, tornado reports all around us, and the power went out {though thankfully it was only out for about an hour}!

Thankfully we haven't had any damage...just a bunch of rain and wind! But it looks like today will be another day stuck inside watching the weather and hoping that this darn storm finally decides to move somewhere other than here!

How to Plan a Surf Party

Birthday parties are big deal around here! I love to put together a fun themed party with all the bells and whistles...but I usually don't have a lot of time or want to spend a lot of money. This year we decided on a Surf Party for Grant complete with a fun inflatable water slide and fish tacos {aka surfer food}.

 The first thing I nailed down for Grant's Surf Party was this inflatable water slide! We got a great price from some people that go to my parent's church...and even though it cost a little more than what I would normally spend on a birthday party, it was worth it to have this fun slide at our house ALL weekend long. {And yes, Jason and I tested it out with the boys a few times Saturday morning before the party!} If you didn't want to spend as much on a rental, you could always do a couple of slip n slides, sprinklers, and kiddies pools!

 To decorate, I picked up a couple grass table skirts and some cute wave scrapbook paper. The table skirt came from Hobby Lobby and with my 40% off coupon it only cost $6! I spend about $5 and a little over an hour with my Silhouette to make the cute Surf's Up banner that I hung on the boys' skimboards.

 We has some yummy surf themed food:

delicious fish tacos {I just baked up a couple of boxes of frozen fish sticks and served them with flour tortillas, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and couple different sauces},

starfish sandwiches {PB&J cut out with a star shaped cutter}, 

pretzel goldfish {served in cute blue and white party cups},

 fruit kabobs,

wavy chips,
and gummy sharks!

 We also had a snow cone station under the Airstream awning complete with a grass skirt and a couple of surfboards! 

Plus a yummy cake with a surfboard and palm tree:)

 All the kiddos wore their swimsuits and I picked up this cute swimshirt for Grant to wear mostly because it said "Hawaiian Surf Legend"...and because I got it on clearance at Target for less than $5!
{Silly boy was tired of saying cheese I think:)}

 We sang Happy Birthday and he blew out the candles...

 ...then opened a bunch of presents:)

 The party went on for a couple of hours...it was hard to drag the kiddos away from that fun inflatable water slide. But when they did finally head home, they all took a cute box of Swedish fish with them as a party favor!

And that is how you plan a surf party!

7

Today this kiddo turns seven years old!

It seems like he should still be a toddler running around the house following his big brother. We were looking back through some old pictures yesterday, and it is so hard to believe how fast they grow up...it seems like yesterday he was this cute, chubby faced baby: 

 But he's not...he's growing up {way too fast}! 

We are celebrating with a Surf party this weekend. So to go along with the surf theme, I made some shark cupcakes for him to share with his class today. They were SUPER easy to make except that I learned the hard way why the package of almond bark says not to add food coloring:) Let's just say these shark fins spent a little time in the freezer before they could go on the cupcakes.

 I also made a fun surfboard cake for us to eat tonight after dinner...because every birthday boy should be able to blow out candles on their actual birthday:)