Bentley's 4th Birthday

How can it be my baby (not so much a baby anymore) just turned 4?!

To celebrate we had two parties! One for friends and one for family. I struggled to decide if I wanted to do a friend birthday party (mainly because we just moved the day before Bentley's birthday and we haven't sold our old house yet). As I gave it more thought, and talked with Bentley, he really wanted to have friends over. I am so glad we made that decision. I expected to be stressed with the move and planning a birthday party it was anything but stressful! 

Bentley had 5 little friends come to his birthday party. A couple of them are his friends from preschool and a couple of them are family friends. All but one of them were girls (that is the way Bentley rolls, he likes his little girl friends).

A couple siblings came as well, which was great!

 
Bentley insisted that he wanted to have a ninja turtle party (sorry, ladies)! Since I didn't really have time to be pinterest-y, I decided to throw some rice in a bucket and put it on the rug. I am pretty sure that is the only thing the kids played with. Rice was everywhere, but fun was had by all (and was easy clean up). Even better....the kids played so well together the adults were able to chat and relax. 

I am pretty sure the adults had as much fun as the kids! Everyone was so kind.

P.S.- Bentley has good taste in friends, not only are they cutie pies, but their parents are awesome too!

Thanks to one of the sweet moms who picked up my camera and took pictures, otherwise I would have none to share!!

We, also, had family over that evening. This is the only picture I have of the family event! Photo credit goes to Gandpap!

 

I think it is safe to say, he had a great 4th birthday! Now if he could just stop growing......

Pete the Cat Activity

Clayton loves to read. He really loves to read Pete the Cat books (lovingly known as Pete Cat around here). Jeremy and I also enjoy reading these books because the morals of the stories are great. When Clayton starts getting upset we often say, "would Pete Cat cry?" and Clayton says, "Goodness, NO!" and giggles. They are definitely some of our family favorites.

Right before we moved, I was reading the Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes. As I am reading a light bulb went off in my head. I had the perfect idea for an activity for the boys to do. It was quick to set up and the boys LOVED it. They actually loved it so much they ask to do it at least once a week.

I quickly drew a two shoes and laminated them. I am not an artist and they were not fancy, but the boys didn't seem to care!

In the book Pete Cat walks through a pile of strawberry's and turns his shoes red. So we painted the shoes red.

Next, Pete Cat walks through a pile of blueberries. We painted our shoes blue. (Right on top of the red).

Then, Pete Cat walks thought mud. We painted the shoes brown. Again, right on top of the red and blue.

Finally, Pete Cat walks though a bucket of water and his shoes turn white again. So, we had a bowl of water and a towel. The boys dipped their "shoes" in the water and washed them and dried them and they were back to white.

The moral of the story was: No matter what your going through, keep on going!
 

I often try and do activities with the boys that I find on Pinterest. Very rarely do they work out how I think they are. This one was a hit! Super easy and kept the boys attention for a long time!