Jamie's Appleseeds: Our little man's mustache bash!

Logan turned 3 & started preschool this month!

It's been a long time coming but I've been looking forward to him starting preschool and the day has finally come! It's going to be so good for him to be challenged & experience new adventures with his new friends at school. He already knows most of his colors, numbers & he sings his ABC's- so I'd say he's ready.

For his birthday I wasn't sure what kind of a party to throw him. Jared gets after me for going over the top with the party ideas, but it's so much fun to see the delight on their faces knowing a party is being thrown just for their special day. (Not to mention there are TON of great ideas out there on party blogs and now pinterest.) I was about to do an apple harvest rustic farmyard party when I started thinking about Addyson. She's Logan's cousin (most of you know this) who's birthday is 2 days before.

I asked if she'd mind if we threw Addyson a combined birthday party with Logan this year. Of course she said she would love that!

So, I invited Addy & her big sister Kadey over for a pre-party brainstorming, there was one party in particular I'd seen done before and I've always thought was soo cute so I showed Addy some pictures and she didn't need to see anything more, she was very excited for a

Tutu's & Tie's party for the little princess & my little man!

I wanted to have a photo shoot prior to the party of the two of them together all decked out in their party attire, unfortunately it never happened but, here are some photos I did take of my boys.

The Birthday Duo (Addy playing up to the camera and Logan, well just doing what he always does when a camera comes out...pouting!)

I found a tutorial for how to make ties & bow ties for the boys, it was actually pretty easy and I was able to sew a tie in about 45 min or less. I made one for each of my boys and one for Kooper and then a few extra for guests. I found another tutorial for tutu's and asked Steph if she would mind making a few for her girls and & the guests Addy would invite. Now that I know how easy tutu's are to make I've made a few myself (one for me to wear to the party & a couple for photography props). And, they are cheap to make, too! I think all together the tulle was less than $10, I got a huge deal at Hobby Lobby on some pink tulle that had a few tears in it but we knew no one would ever see those! And my mom donated a few yards, too. I must say, though, that this party was the cheapest one yet! We kept the costs to under $100 by making most everything ourselves!

I set up a photo booth in hopes that my kids would think it was fun to have their photo taken. It worked for Hunter & Grady. Logan still is not sure how he feels about the paparazzi. The only light in the room were a couple of lamps (not ideal for a photo booth) but we made the most of it! Stephanie also helped make the tissue paper poms & and her & Gretchen helped set everything up with me the night before, which was great!

Hunter, Addy & Kadey

Me & Grady

Stephanie & I cut out some photo props I found on pinterest and printed from home.

Hunter

The kids with Jared

I love these pics!

Kadey's outfit was so cute! We matched :)

Me & the special birthday girl

Jared & I

Gretchen & I in our tutu's

Grammy & her girls ♥

Andrew being funny with a tutu!

I ordered the cakes & cupcakes from, get this, Walmart! I think they turned out pretty cute. Thank you Gretchen for purchasing & picking these up!

Our cousin/aunt, Jonette is a baker for Divine Bites. So, I called her up and asked if she could make some adorable themed cookies for the kids. (You may remember, she did the cookies for Logan's 1st birthday party, too!) She knocked it out of the park! THANK YOU! She made ties & mustaches for the guys and for the ladies she created lips & tutu's with real tulle tied on with hair ties. They were adorable! I wish I would have taken better pictures.

{Note to self, next party hire someone else to photograph the party details so I can just enjoy it!}

We served pink lemonade, orange juice & blue Gatorade "Aqua Agua" to go with the party colors and everyone brought a little something. We had crostini's, fruit kabobs, veggie trays, pigs in a blanket & deviled eggs. (Poor Steph, I asked her if she would want to bring those since she's raising chickens because I thought it'd be easy, but she soon discovered farm fresh eggs are not ideal for this sort of an endeavor! ha ha oops! Had I known or remembered this little fact I wouldn't have suggested she use her own eggs. Apparently farm fresh eggs are too soft shelled and nearly impossible to peel, though I thought they looked & tasted great! I don't think there were any left at the end of the party.)

In lieu of gifts we asked guests to bring a toy, book, game or toiletry to donate to children in need for Operation Christmas Child. We got a lot of great things donated! (Thanks Tara for going above & beyond!) We look forward to delivering the shoe boxes soon. I will post photos of all the loot we got for this charity.

Here are some of the other family members taking their turn in the spot light.

Time for fire cake! (That is what Logan calls birthday cake with candles)

Here you can see the excitement on his face!

Grady sneaking a swipe of frosting from Logan's cake.

I made a little something for Addy but forgot to take a picture, it was so cute! Click here to see what I made. Except hers was in cream & lime green polka dots with hot pink accents and strips of vertical ribbon glued at top & bottom to allow a place for her favorite clips to the stay on the outside. I think this is a great (easy & cheap) gift to make for someone who has just had a baby girl. It can hold all of the headbands babies tend to wear. Addyson's a bit older so I converted it to hold more clips, on the outside, since her headbands just will slide off the container. :o/

Logan got a pretty cool gift from the grandparents. An orange strider balance bike! (He also got clothes, a helmet, horn, and personalized license plate accessories from family members.) I can't wait for him to really start riding. So far he's a little nervous about it not having pedals, he'll learn! Kooper & Grady took right to it!