August Recap Via Instagram

We started August off with a trip to the pool.

 We spent quite a few days {and nights} watching the Olympics.

 Jason and I started P90X again...which only lasted about two weeks:(

 We took a trip out in the gulf with some friends!

 First day of school for Henry and Grant:

 I tried to be a better homemaker, and pulled out the crockpot to make dinner.

 We had a little fun with some stick on mustaches:{)

 I made back to school apple waffles for the boys and shared the recipe HERE.

 I spent a lot of time in the car rider pick up line in August.

 We {and by we I mean Jason} did a couple at home haircuts on the boys.

 Eli had his first day of preschool!

 Henry and Grant started peewee football.

 I planned a fun surf party for Grant's birthday...

 ...and made cute shark cupcakes for his class.

 This kiddo turned 7!

We celebrated with a fun surf party!

 We spent most of Sunday getting ready for Isaac {and enjoying happy hour slushes from Sonic}.

 We loaded up on Tuesday and headed over to my grandparents' house to ride out the storm.

 The boys had a blast playing in the rain:)

 It continued to rain and rain and rain!

 Our road flooded and we had to evacuate in a National Guard Hummer. The boys were thrilled...I was not!

 The weather finally settled down a little, but Jason still had to work a ton.

He brought me a yummy Cookies n Cream milkshake to cheer me up after the stress of the week...and it worked:)

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!