2008 BACK TO SCHOOL PARTY

We had a great Back To School Party!!! Our theme was "Gator Games." These kids all attend Swartz Elementary and our school mascot is a Gator. Their school has an end of the year gator games, BUT i wanted it done my way! I planned to have nothing but games to do for the children. I had sooo much fun planning this party, I think more fun than planning my own children's birthday parties! I decorated in white, blue (school colors) and green! I used some summer stuff like colorful platters and i used summer goody bags filled with candy, neon glow-in-the dark necklaces, various game related toys, water balloons, punch balls. And since it was summer related I got each one a water gun, which they LOVED! I had a beautiful and yummy cake made for this special party. I got the cake from a local bakery, and they have done several cakes for me in the past, and they are the BEST tasting cakes in the world!! I told her want I wanted and she came up with this AWESOME cake. She even took a picture of it to add to her collection of cakes! Thank you Zoey's... you are the best!! The theme was a great one, for boys that is. They did ALL sorts of things. We first went to a local fun center. Excalibur is a great place. The kids did laser tag, go-carts, baseball hitting cages,and played GAMES. We were there for a while and they decided that it was time to eat! We headed home, i pre-ordered Johnny's Pizza. I wanted to get this special kind of pizza because their school has Pizza Pig-outs during the school year and all students who go on this Tuesday night pig-outs get chances to win pizza and cookie parties. So, it was kinda getting them ready for many more Pizza pig-outs to come! After pizza, we lit our relight candles on our cake, it was soo funny to watch the "surprised" look on their faces when they blew the first time and they realized that he was not going to "blow out" They blowed and blowed and finally gave up, there was soo much spit on that cake, I didn't eat a piece of it! We had cake, and they started to go from room to room with games I had set up. I had the Playstation 3 with Guitar Hero in Caiden's room. The WII was set up in Bailee's room. I had the Flat Screen on Little League World Series. I had all sorts of little snacks set up for them too. We had chips, chocolate, Hawaiian Punch, popcorn, and left over pizza, for their munchies at 2:30 am! They did Karote, and traded baseball cards. You are probably wondering why there are no girls here, but I have to tell you that I asked Bailee who is wanted to invite, and she told me this.. "Mom, I don't want to invite anybody, I just want to hang out with the boys." That's my Bailee, she is such a tomboy, just like her aunt Erin! She would rather do "boy" things. BUT, she still loves her barbies and playing dress-up, so she DOES have a femine side to her! I was a little concerned about where they would all sleep, BUT, they all camped out in the living room, with LOTS of blankets and pillows.. AND pillow fights, and MORE eating... they put some food a way... and I need to remember next time to make sure I have more FOOD! They finally fell asleep at 3:50 am, and when i went to check on them, they were SNORING hard! I feel soo good about our party! I planned a lot and my efforts paid off... they told me several times thank you for such a great time. And isn't it all about making them happy! When had planned to go to Kay Kay's house to swim, but with the rain and baseball practice there wasn't enough time allowed... BUT our party is over.. we plan to STILL go swimming the 1st day of school.. lets hope the rain has stopped! I am sad that summer is over...BUT the fun does not stop here... there will be MANY more adventures to come.. MANY more times to have friends over for this and that... There are more parties to come... I feel GOOD about our summer times... they never have to end... they are just BEGINNING........

The fun begins........HERE

Friends Forever



I cannot believe that Caiden did this...he thinks slides are for babies

So many games to choose
Trying to hit the Jack Pot
My Bailee LOVES basketball and she is quite good at it!
They ALL are wanting to hit the Jack-Pot!

They thought they were so cool, now all they need are military trucks

Caiden
Luke
Luke
Bo

They were soo excited and proud of their scores! Bo came in first place..way to go Bo! They loved Laser Tag the best. They wanted to do it again, but I told them that if they wanted to do all the other things that were there, we must move on... and they agreed, they wanted to do EVERYTHING! I love to see kids having fun, it warms my heart that I have the means to make this happen for them!

They were having a contest on who hit the most balls
Hey, Batter Batter...SWING

Batting Cages: BASEBALL, BASEBALL, BASEBALL!!

Waiting for their TURN

Luke
Bo
Hunter
Bailee Grace
Ready for some fun. Caiden would not let me take his picture!!

The boys has soo much fun with the water guns, since this is a summer ending, what not have water toys! They got soaked, but then again they were already wet from the sweat of playing
baseball, football, basketball.... AND just from running CRAZY...boys will be boys!!
A DIRECT HIT
Bubba has to see all the drama!

HAPPY BACK TO SCHOOL BOYS

It amazes me HOW MUCH boys can eat, 3 HUGE pizzas and other snacks, they wiped them out!

which kind should i get??

Bo knows...basketball!
Football
Bailee decides to join in the fun!
These boys love sports..lucky for them..I do too

Boys showing affection.... you don't see that often!

Guitar Hero is here and being played ALL NIGHT LONG! The boys love to play just about any game on the playstation. They played baseball and football. Caiden has soo MANY games and they didn't get to play all of them. I love having soo much company! It makes me happy to see them having fun!

They had fun with these cheap little toys from Dollar General
But, I should have got ALL the same colors!

warming up left over pizza... 2:30 am snack



Popcorn Pig-Out 12 am snack

I used "trick" candles! they were so fun to watch!

Water gun fight!

I made this video while riding in the go-cart with Bailee, she was driving! So you are seeing "live" footage! this was soo much fun!I can't remember who came in ist!

Caiden playing fast pitch baseball...I don't think he is ready for it.. needs to stick his level!

I have never seen so much rowdiness in my life!! But they were loving it!

READY TO GO.....

Supplies are READY TO GO

Clothes are READY TO GO

Breakfast is READY TO GO

Caiden and Bailee... are not ready.. they are sad summer is over, BUT they get to make new friends and new memories that will not be forgotten: I will miss you both too. I hope you both had a great Ist day Back To School . Don't worry I will be there every step of the way. I will be there when you make Principal's Lists. I will visit you to eat lunch with you, and more than anything, I will be there to help educate you in areas that teachers cannot, I am your mother, and I will teach you about what's most important. The love of life..

WE ARE READY....

FOR SCHOOL, I finally feel "completion" on it. This preparation has been going on for a month now and I finally relax(somewhat) my brain! Starting school is so stressful, not only for children, but parents as well. There are soo many things that have to be done. Let me start first with the school supplies. They give you this long list of supplies, and you very rarely find them all in one place. I had to go to SEVERAL places to get completion on it. Some of these supplies will never be used and will wind up sitting in the "supply closet". They are very specific about what to get. Never use "off" brands, for that will not suffice. And boys and girls have to bring different supplies. AND it was very time consuming writing names on EVERYTHING, I am the type of mother that feels the need to be totally organized and I DO NOT want "other" children taking my kids stuff, so I label EVERYTHING so not IF it gets stolen, for it WILL get stolen and WHEN it does, they will know that it belongs to someone else. NO. 2 pencils.... HOW MANY can one child use???? Certainly not over 60... AND to replenish throughout the year..PLEASE! BACKPACKS.... Can't use the roll kind, and my children being that they like having the "BEST" had to have 60 dollar ones.... I tried throwing around the "it will get dirty and stepped all over the ist week" BUT.. no can do... they STILL wanted it, and yes, i'm a sucker, so they GOT it! CLOTHES.. same .. have to have the best and the "STYLE". BUT luckly, I got EVERYTHING on sale and it worked out beautifully!! HAIRCUTS.. we must always look our BEST the first day of school.. this is "crucial" for children at the age they are now. A nice clean haircut shows others that you take pride in self-presentation and it shows great personal hygiene. As Caiden always says.. "Gotta look good for the girls!" BUT Caiden hates getting his hair cut, so I have to remind him he's doing for the girls! AND Bailee, being the nine year old girl she is takes full advantage of the opportunity to go the the salon.. she adores it! SCHOOL FEES AND LUNCHES... I have already made my checks out and we are all set for that... that DEFINITELY takes a load of my mind because the first day of school to me is making sure my children feel comfortable with the new surroundings of unfamiliar faces of many teachers and I want them to have the most of an unstressful environment as possible, PLUS they don't care about seeing me write MULTIPLE checks to teachers...BORING. BREAKFAST FOODS.. are very important to me when it comes to school. My children NEED a good nutritious breakfast for such an long day. It is a proven fact that children who eat breakfast have a better learning capacity and can think better and use the most of brain power... so lets just say that I have A LOT of breakfast food... I want my children to be the best they can be when it comes to learning! THE LAST DAY OF SUMMER.. is spent now with the satisfaction of being prepared for another year of school, and having GREAT SATISFACTION of a great summer and knowing we did ALL that we wanted to do... SORRY Caiden and Bailee... ITS HERE... the enviable..... TIME FOR SCHOOL.....TIME TO GET OUT OF BED AND GET DRESSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell that Caiden isn't happy about his haircut! He was like, "mom, when can we go home?"

Bailee "loves" getting her hair washed!

The lady could not BELIEVE how much hair Bailee had!

Can you BELIEVE the clothes?! I went to Old Navy and got EVERYTHING on sale!!

GUITAR HERO IS HERE!!

The wait is finally over...Caiden got his Guitar Hero!!! He was pumped about getting it that (of course) he called Bo to go get it with us. Caiden has been very patient and when i told him that he could FINALLY get it, the look on his face was priceless! I love the joy I get from giving, and when it comes down to my precious children... well, lets just say that giving to them, whether little prizes or just lovin them makes me the happiest! Caiden promised me that he would take really good care of it, SO MUCH that he seat belted it for precaution and safety reasons.... I LOVE HIM!!!

CAIDEN AND BO: THEY ARE TOGETHER EVERYWHERE THEY GO

If you see one, you can bet you will see another, for Caiden and Bo are ALWAYS together. I have watched this friendship blossom so much over the last 6 years. They love spending time with each other. They both share the LOVE of baseball! I love to watch them interact, sometimes they act like grown men. They love to play PlayStation, football,basketball, and trade baseball cards. They see each other everyday, and Bo is ALWAYS welcome at our house! They have had a great summer, and they are ready to start school and see other friends as well! So, don't be surprised to see them always together, they are glued at the hip!! Yes, they even dress alike!

Aren't we soo cool

Watching Baseball

CannonBall!!

The Pond

Baseball!? Of course!!!

Best friends forever!

I caught them them in the act of good old karote and singing! Gotta love them!