Cooper's 7th Birthday Shenanigans

This last weekend we celebrated as Cooper turned seven! We had a busy, fun Mountain Man style party right here at home :)

Cooper's friends from school, church and around the neighborhood, along with other friends and family, were here to support him- he was beaming the whole time! The kids shot bows and threw knives, hit a bison pinata, and were given little suede drawstring bags I had made, along with a few glass beads that they could trade around. Of course I got two pictures the whole time... I've seriously gotten horrible that way! It was a really great night though- we're blessed with wonderful, thoughtful people in our lives that make both simple times and big events better :)

Cooper and I the morning after his actual birthday...

and the Memorial weekend before below. Just him and I drove briefly through the 1,000 flags field here in town one night. I was so impressed with him as we were there- he was really respectful and asking questions, soaking it all in. 

Cooper is silly and goofy, excited and busy, smart and curious. He's often moving on to something new, soaking it deeply in and then looking for the next thing. He reads well and enjoys reading. He loves his bike, organizing his bedroom desk, wearing pants only when he absolutely has too, spending alone time with his Dad, and playing over at the neighbors, to name just a few. More than anything he loved mountain men and learning about frontier times. When he gets something in his head, he's always been "all in" on it and right now that is where his heart really is :)

He's not always patient or calm, he gets frustrated both with himself and with situations, and it boils him over sometimes. He doesn't seem to get it when enough is enough and thinks over-the-top silliness is the best thing ever. But he is loving and thoughtful, kind and desirous toward good. His spirit and happiness just shine through him. We love you, Cooper! :)

In other Buffat family news, too... we visited my Grandpa Huffaker's grave on Memorial Day with all of my siblings and my Grandma. I think this is the first time the boys have been here and it was just a nice time. We went to a park after and just enjoyed each other. I couldn't help thinking that it's the moments of our everyday lives, our decisions and our heartfelt efforts, that Grandpa is most present in our lives, more than here in the cemetery, he's just with us. :)

Taron and Keaton are with us again now for longer bit of time this summer! They make our life better for sure and I just want to soak up every bit of time they're here. The little boys come to life more fully with them around and I seem to operate at a higher energy level too. They complete us :)

Adorable Taffy Kabob Party Favors

So I recently threw a baby shower for my friend. And wouldn't ya know it, I took seriously NO pictures of the whole thing! :P I was so irritated at myself when I realized afterwards! Anyhow, in the process of getting ready for it, a facebook fan asked how I made the taffy kabobs I had made for the All Boy Baby Shower I posted a couple of years ago. I laughed because I was right in the middle of making them again and trying to take pics to share them with you! I've used these several times for shower favors and they always turn out stinkin' cute! I love the rainbow of colors you get with taffy. My boys always hope I have some left over so they can have one themselves :)

Cooper Conner Is SIX!

Cooper is turning SIX years old today!

Amidst hanging streamers and balloons and all the prep to make it a fun day for him,

I of course can't help but me a bit sentimental in thinking back.

DIY Pinatas for any Party or Gathering!

Today I am posting as part of McKenzie from Girl Loves Glam's Summer Fun Series-

I've tried to come up with a really fun, and simple, idea-

I hope this will be something you can

enjoy and really use this summer!

Cooper Conner Turns Five!

Our Coop is now a true blue five year old!

Thought I'd share a bit of our excitement before it got to be old news :) 

He woke up to this fun balloon banner and loved it!

Indeed, it had to be restored three times during the day,

but that wasn't as many as I might have expected actually...

We had left a few small presents on the counter for him to open first thing and then the star of the show (his new, bigger bike) just outside off the back porch. One of the small presents was a bike horn and he had to go searching for what he could use it on :) He walked right past the new one looking for his old, familiar bike, of course :) It was pretty great to see his thrill when he saw this one! And yes, I've already often regretted having bought a horn for it... ;)

Showing off his shark swim set- right up his alley :)

Then we spent some time getting all ready for his little party. It was a simple affair- fun and comfortable for his little friends I hope. :) I didn't take really any pictures of the few little things Cooper had helped me think of and create for it- just this one of a few extras when it was all over with. He put a shiny little whistle and a gumball in each of these cute paper containers for little favors. He also labeled a brown paper sack with each of his friends names and some stickers so they had a place to put this and pinata  goodies :)

 They all loved jumping on the tramp! I think they liked how short it is and I was relieved that they could still all jump on it together. Two summers ago my Dad suggested on a whim that we try taking out the tall pieces of the legs on the tramp and it has worked great for keeping the little guys safe!

Taron and Keaton actually helped me design and set up a cool obstacle coure for them all, but I didn't get any pics taken of that part! They had to slide down the slide, hop over some pool noodle arches, pop a water balloon with their bum or belly, crawl under the tramp, then jump back across from the other side, stomp over bubble wrap we staked in to the ground, and then finished by digging through  a bin of spaghetti noodles to find a quarter! It was pretty fun- I think Cooper liked it best of all :) He thought the noodle bin was great, but I think most of his little friends thought it was just weird. Oh well!

Then they played the little game where you run to the end, put on the silly clothes and run back for the next teammate to put them on. They got a kick out of each other for sure! The pinata was the last thing- I'm hoping to post a little somethin' about how I make these soon! They are so tough and cheap! And indeed, Taron got the pleasure of being the muscle to crack it open in the end :) Stephen held to rope with the pinata on it and tormented the kids to no end lifting it up and down while they tried to swing! If you know my husband at all, you can surely imagine how it went! ;)

Later that night, Cooper got to blow out his candles on his cupcake pyramid. We put little glittery lizards on top of each cupcake and borrowed some of the bugs from the set my parents gave him to decorate it too :) Overall it was a great day and he was very happy with all of it! I was exhausted by the end of the day, honestly- larger birthday parties like this are few and far between for us- we normally just celebrate with family, but this was fun to do for him for a change too!

We love our smart, busy, excited, impatient, stubborn, so-very-special five year old!

This was taken just the day before- of me wearing a weed flower he picked for my hair :)

Five years ago, you made me a whole different, hopefully better, person, my Cooper :) I love you!

PS... I just realized that this also marks four years that I've been blogging! I think my very first post ever was when Coop turned one :) 

'Cool' Birthday Invite

Somehow it seems turning the big 0-5 warrants a shindig around our house ;)

It sure seems like Cooper has been counting down the days until his birthday since Christmas!

A long while back I asked him what he thought he wanted for his birthday and he said, "A party!"

Made me smile for sure :)

Last week he delivered the invitations and helped me with the details of them even.

I saw this cute paper popsicle idea and thought that the real deal would be even better!

So he helped pick out which popsicles he wanted and wrote his friends names on little tags himself.

It was stinkin' cute to see him hand these out to his little friends!

He's really been very involved in the details of his party- we're excited for it to finally get here!

If this is an idea anyone else could use and make their own, here is the basic portion of our simple invite you can grab as a printable- just click, then right click and save. Create a type layer in Photoshop with your own details for the bottom, or use a text box in Word too. :) I also did a pink one for the girls! Grab a bag of your kid's favorite icy treat, hole punch and tie with a ribbon and your set!

Just thought I'd share- isn't this the cutest little dingbat font for boys?!

I thought it was perfect for Coop and used it to create a divider on the invites!

You can find it for free here :)

Any dingbat makes for a cute little touch to these invites-

use a separate text box or type layer and add to your own too if you like!

I love how dingbats make it so easy to add graphics!

Anyhow, Enjoy! Next time I post, my #1 will be #5! :)

Happy Birthday, Ryder!

TWO already? No.... really? 

Just ask him, he'll tell you-
"Two"
(while holding up his index finger and thumb kinda like a gun) :)

We love you, Ry Ry!

Celebrating this year while camping :)

For These Last Days

Do you ever look at your kids and just have it hit you that, indeed, they have been saved for these last days? I sure do! Yesterday we celebrated Taron's 13th birthday! He is now a teenager! And I couldn't help but think multiple times through the day (as I've often thought before) that he has been saved, that he is as good as they come.

During the day we played around making homemade goo and making a moderate mess across the dining room. The boys all really enjoyed it- so did I! Taron was totally fascinated by mixing two parts corn starch to one part water... if you haven't ever tried it, you should! It is so interesting to see what our friend, high school physics teacher, Steve, calls "sliquid." Meanwhile, Ry was enjoying the road I made him across the living room out of flattened moving boxes.  :)

Then later in the evening we had our usual friends and neighbors over for a backyard bbq. Taron had requested tri-tip and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Stephen has become a grilling genius on our new grill and did not disappoint yet again! I secretly filled the cupcakes with cream cheese filling too- yum! Taron took three and I'd say the little boys enjoyed them too...

As we hung out and visited (and tried not to freeze), Taron was playing and wrestling with his brothers and friends on the tramp. This picture below just makes me smile so proudly! Taron is such a phenomenal older brother- he really does awesome with the little boys and Keaton too. I know that this young man was saved. Saved for these trying times. I have faith in him to become whoever, whatever he wants to be! Thanks, Taron, for all you add to our family when you are here! We love you!