Noah's 5th & Lydia's 3rd Birthday Party!

I cant believe it... another party, and another two children, each a year older, just.like.that.

Not fair. I want them to be babies forever.

*Que whining to Husband about having more babies*

The kiddos were super hero's for Halloween, as were most kiddos their age. So I decided to do a cute super hero theme for their party. The primary colors fit well in the Gymboree Play & Music, where we had their party, and the equipment easily turned into roof tops and sides of buildings to scale.

 

 

I invited Noah's class to his party, and much to my surprise 4 of his classmates came. It was wonderful being able to spend some time talking to the other moms, more so then the "hi" and "bye" in passing at school. One mom just stood with her mouth open- Her son had never went to a birthday party before and she just couldn't believe how well he was adjusting and how much fun he was having.

Let me back up the bus.

Its a little bus. And it has some really, really cool kids on it :)

Noah is currently in an SDDPre-K4 (Significantly Developmentally Delayed Pre-kindergarten 4 year old) class. We say SDDK because
1. its easier to say.
2. it sounds a whole heck of a lot nicer.
He is in a class of 8 boys, all on the autism spectrum with varying needs.

I have had to bow out of a party or two because of Noah's meltdowns, but in the last 12 months he has been doing really well. So I understand this mommy's amazement. I was able to put my guard down because Noah was use to the party's surroundings (Hes been to Gymboree many times) and there were a lot of familiar faces around him. All the special needs moms huddle together, with intense eyes on their child. As they talked to one another, rarely the woman's eyes would meet eachothers because they were watching their boys. It was something that I know all too well. Just as if we were at anothers gathering and I'm in constant panic mode as to "Wheres Noah?" "Whats he doing?" and "Where is he going?"

Briefly we were able to talk about healing, and the many forms it can come, but how the Healer is the same. We talked about practicing wisdom in helping and assisting our children. We talked about "THE BOX" society tries to stuff our boys into. It such an wonderful feeling to know the secret language of a special needs mom and speaking in that language about God's love, mercy and grace.

Lydia, my little SuperGirl, had so much fun running with all her cousins and friends. She's so smart, so tiny but so feisty. Her ability to lead FEARLESSLY at 3 years old is something to marvel at. I'm learning how to nurture and maintain her confidence without raising a brat, lol. She has her moments, but so far, so good :)

Ok, so I had put on the invitations for little ones to wear their super hero costumes. And to fit the theme, I decided to make super hero capes for the party favors. I am so stinkin' thrilled as to how cute they turned out!

Just some felt, glue and scissors and I was able to whip up some SUPER HERO MAGIC!

*Insert Holly doing the Cabbage Patch*

I also had a Spider Man cape and Wonder Woman, but forgot to take a picture before they were snatched up at the party.

I would say to not skimp out on some quality fabric glue. Felt absorbs the glue quickly, so you need something tacky and thick to hold. I wouldn't suggest using a hot glue gun on felt, as it can melt the fibers and show hard patches through the fabric. When cutting felt be sure you have some super sharp fabric scissors. I like Fiskars Heavy Fabric Cutters. The one thing that bothered me, as the perfectionist I am, was that I just couldn't seem to cut the fabric perfectly straight, The scissors did such a good job cutting that it was easy to veer off my patterns. I'm sure there's some trick to cutting felt that I have yet to discover, If you have one, do share!

Speaking of patterns- I didn't really have any. I just printed images off the web and scaled them to fit my capes. Here are some you can use:

Max California is a great sewing blog where I picked up these stencils:

(via Google images)

TO THE BAT CAVE!

For food we just had pizza, pop and cupcakes. What Noah and Lydia would eat every meal, every day, if we let them.

For tunes I was able to put together a pretty sweet song list on my Spotify:
(Download and enjoy!)
Super Hero Party Song List (Spotify)


In true fashion, I was way to busy to take any blog worthy photos of the party. But since the party, the left over capes have been getting great use at home:

Superman LOVES left over Birthday cake!

"Hey Spidey Girl. You wanna climb the Christmas tree and I'll fly up to save you?"
"SURE!"