Today? It's all about Drew. My sweet sweet sweet boy, Drew. 

Do you ever feel that sometimes your focus has to go onto one child more than the other? I feel that way with my boys sometimes because Dylan requires my attention a little bit more than Drew. You never know when that child is going to drop his pants and go streaking. 

I also feel like I often need Drew to act a little bit older. I feel so bad for that. I have to stop myself sometimes and remember that he too is still a little boy and requires lots of Mommy attention.

I have no worries about him though. He is seriously the-most-kind child ever. He has a heart of gold. He is always always worried about others before himself. And he is only SIX. He had to have learned it from somewhere, right? It makes me feel so so so good that he has grown up to be this awesome caring little boy. It makes us as parents feel like we have done something right.

It was not easy to get here. We had a few tough years with Drew. (Ahem...crazy 2's.) We had lots of not listening and not paying attention. We had lots of people looking at us thinking that I had a child who never behaved. But ya know what, he was still a baby at that point. He was still in the learning age. 

I think some people are so quick to judge parenting. There is no wrong or right way to do things. Every single child is different in the way they learn, behave, and act. For instance, time-outs? Never ever worked for Drew. Counting to 3. Totally worked. Heck, I still do it. Once I started counting, I never got to 3. Sometimes, I got to 2 1/2. Ha. 

And look at where he is now? He has turned out to be an amazing amazing kid. 

Just a few examples of his loving heart.

Whenever I ask him what he wants for dinner, his reply 95% of the time is: "Whatever you want for dinner." Like, this child is the pickiest eater on Earth and he wants what I want? I often tease him and throw out some random crazy food items. 

He says Yes, but in all reality I know I'll be cooking him some dino nuggets.

 

The love this child has for his brother is indescribable. I just get chills thinking about their brotherly bond. Dylan started his first sport a few weeks ago, Soccer. What does his big brother Drew do? He literally runs up and down the field coaching his little brother telling him what to do. It is by far the sweetest thing I have EVER seen. It totally brings me to tears when I think about.

Yesterday, as we were going through book bags I pulled out his library book. He told me that he got a book for Dylan because he knew Dylan would love it. Seriously???

Oh.My.Goodness. 

Melt my heart a little more please.

Selfless? Totally.

See. He is always so happy to make others happy. I, myself, am that way too. I love to please others and make others smile. I am so glad that this is a trait that my child has as well.

I love to be able to document this so I can look back and remember these sweet moments.

I love when he comes up to me and tells me he loves me out of no-where.

I love his big tight (super tight) hugs.

I love his sweet little voice.

I love his love for his family.

I love when he sings in the shower.

I love to hear his laugh.

I love to see his smile.

I love to see him do his spinarooni's on the dance floor.

I love everything about him.

 To be where he is now in life, I just can NOT wait to see the person he becomes in a few years, five years, ten years...

I really did not want to have a party for Dylan. Until I told him we weren't having one and he balled his eyes out. 

"I want my burfday party at Grawndpa Bruce's."

 Ugh. So party it was.

I did, however, vow to not spend a whole lot of money on it. I have become super cheap these days and feel like I have wasted so much money on party decor in the past.

 I now feel like it's all about the entertainment!

So I called upon one of my favorite places to party shop: Lauren Haddox Designs for his invite.

Is this not the most darling invite??

Since I was all about not spending lots of money. I kept the decor very very simple. 

I did get a little crafty and spray painted some lanterns to look like bobbers. They totally made the decor! I also filled up some vases and mason jars I already had with water and threw some blue die in them, and floated a bobber. 
Woo hoo.
Way to craft it up Brista!

Well I guess I kind of got crafty with the banners as well. I had to snap on the bobbers to string that I already had. Took a whole 2 minutes. But I have to say that was probably my favorite part of the decor. Just a simple bobber banner.

And can we just talk about the cake for a second? My goodness. Larry's House of Cakes did a fabulous job! They sent the cake to a store that was closer for me to pick up and all the workers were coming from the back just to see it and take pictures of it.

 It was seriously ahhh-mazing.

Dylan wanted a bass on top of his cake. Why? I don't know. He's not a normal boy.

And the way they did the water? Eeeek!!!

The girl who did this is just beyond talented! I really did not want anyone to eat the cake.

I wanted to just stare at it all day.

They also did these amazing cake balls into bobbers for me as well.

Which were amaze-balls.

 Haha. Get it?
Yeh, I'm a dork.

Want to see what I baked for the party??

Woo hoo!!! Chocolate cupcakes from a box with worms. Hey, I'm not a baker. In fact, while I was making these I could not figure out why the batter was so thick.

Yeh, I forgot the water. :)

Don't worry peeps who ate them, I added the water.

That's a wrap on decor. I spent less than $100 on everything. And I kind of like to say I spent even cheaper because Dylan wants a fishing room and I get to re-use some of the items. :)

I definitely wanted to do a Fish Fry for the party. Little did I know how much hard work went into it. Good thing I didn't do it. Haha. My Dad, his friend Roman, and Justin's dad fried all the food.

Good ol' fried fish, pickles, onion rings, and fries.

Gettin all our friends nice and fat! :)

The food was beyond amazing!

They did such a great job.

My sister even hopped in and helped and grilled some hot dogs for the non-eating fish folk.

I was a little worried about having the party an hour away from home. But Dylan was very very sure he wanted his party at Grandpa Bruce's farm so all his friends could fish and hunt with him. I was very thankful our family and friend's took the drive to spend the day with us.

It was very much appreciated!

All the kids had a blast fishing. Drew was the first to catch a fish first thing. 

Then came Dylan.

We could have fished and fished and fished for hours. Well, Dylan could have anyways.

Excuse our sweaty red faces. It was like 100 degrees outside!

Dyl made this face while everyone was singing to him? As crazy as he is, he gets kind of shy too. Hard to believe, I know.

After cake and presents all the kiddos headed out in their swim trunks for some fun in the water. My Mom brought an inflatable water slide , from Southern Illinois Inflatable Party Rentals, for the kids since the weather was supposed to be icky hot.

Thank goodness.

It was a perfect ending to the party for the kiddos.

I was so very happy how the party turned out!

 Simple, cheap, and fun is definitely the way to go!!

This past weekend we had a great time celebrating Dylan's birthday.

After school, Dyl and I headed out to run some errands for his birthday party. While we were at the store I heard someone call on the intercom someone needed help at the fish tanks. 

Who knew Wal-Mart had fish? 

Well, okay I guess maybe I would if I ever shopped at that dang place. I despise Wal-Mart.

 Anywho- I thought "Oh, I'll take Dylan to get a couple of fish since it is his birthday."

He picked out 5 goldfish. These little guys were super cheap. 38 cents a pop. Not too shabby. I knew they would not last long, but it made him happy in the moment.  

He named them all "Nemo."

I'm not kidding when I say this. Not even 30 minutes after we walked in the door. One was dead. He scooped it up in his hands and dropped it on the floor. He couldn't get the little guy back in the water in time. :(

Then we left to get Drew from school and came home and they were ALL dead. I mean, seriously. I knew these cheap little fish would not last long, but could they at least live the whole day?

He cried his little heart out. He was so upset.

Great job Mom. 

Sounded like a good idea at the time.

Later that evening we headed out to our hometown fair. We spend lots of time at the fair each year, it has been a tradition to do so and ya know I'm a sucker for traditions, but this year was extra special since it fell on his birthday.

We met his friends there and we spent the night riding lots of rides. I just love hometown gatherings.

See that Dino coaster right in that above picture? Yeh. Well as my son and others were getting off some little child decided to run and push the GO button. All I heard was screaming and luckily the operator of the coaster stopped it in time. Even my husband said "that was pretty scary."

Totally did not need that moment. We left shortly after. Ha.

Drew and his buddy Keegan decided to be little daredevils and ride "The SCAT".

This was my favorite ride growing up. So after they rode it, another Dad and I decided it would be a  great idea to do it with them. Again, another bad idea. It lasted FOR.EVERRRR and it ripped my earring out of my ear. Ugh. Never again.

The next morning we met all our friends again for the Free Fair parade.

 Are these not the cutest little future lions ever?

Right after the parade we jetted out to get things going for his party.

I was a little nervous about having his birthday party in my hometown, but I knew that is what Dylan wanted. He wanted to fish and hunt at his Grandpa Bruce's for his party.

The party turned out fab and I think everyone had a blast. That's always my goal, is to be sure at least everyone has a good time. I love to entertain. And I was so glad that some of my friends got to see what we do with our family and sort of where I am from and how I grew up.

Sneak Peak...

We had such a great time celebrating Dylan's birthday this past weekend. Thanks to everyone who helped make it possible and spent the time to celebrate with us.

Can not believe my little rascal is FOUR and I cannot wait to see what this year has in store for him!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DYLAN!!