Winnie the Pooh party

Amy loves planning parties for two reasons: 1) the creative outlet and 2) there's nothing better than getting together with friends and family. This is an overview of the party she planned for Sean's 4th birthday.

The big Winnie the Pooh party! Ever since Halloween Sean talked about several different party themes. The front runners were Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Star Wars and Winnie the Pooh. I thought for sure he would settle on Star Wars, but nope... the classic won! Needless to say I was thrilled. What momma doesn't want her 4 year old boy not to grow up?

 

We went cheap on the invites, and sent them via email. I found some cool graphics on Google Images that were posters for the Winnie the Pooh movie (2011), and dropped in the wording in the middle. Love it.

 

And what was so cool about this party is we have SO MUCH Winnie the Pooh stuff in our house. Sean has honestly loved Pooh & his friends his whole short life. He now owns all of the Pooh characters in plush (thank you Grandma Shelly for Kanga! She was the last one we were missing). And he's collected all of the Pooh pez. And I didn't even capture all of the little plastic Pooh characters we had thrown about the house.

Our bathroom was transformed into Pooh's "Thotful Spot". The framed photos are in our bathroom, and normally feature black & white photos from Ireland. Instead, I downloaded scenes from the Winnie the Pooh movie from Google Images, printed them out and placed them in the frames. I love them so much I think they are going to stay for a while.

The front door featured a faux wooden sign pointing in the direction of the "100 Aker Wood", and I transformed our family room into the Hundred Acre Wood. The trees were quickly created from a big roll of painter's craft paper, and a couple sheets of green poster board. We did have to put one staple into each tree to keep it from falling. Painters tape just wouldn't do the trick. The banner was homemade, and I love how it fit perfectly between the trees just like the banners do on Winnie the Pooh (honestly did not measure! God was kind to me). The pictures on the wall above the banner are normally snapshots I've taken, but again I downloaded movie posters and added some of my favorite Winnie the Pooh quotes. I also printed photos of Sean with Winnie the Pooh & friends down at Walt Disney World. He has met them in person on several occasions, so it was only fitting.

 

The week before his party I worked a little bit every day getting everything prepared and cleaned. It really went so smoothly, and everything literally fell into place. That is until the night before the party and I settled in to make these cake pops. I was originally going to make these Pooh ones, and glad I didn't because I would have certainly hurt someone in the process. I decided on these bee cake pops I found through Pinterest. Yes, they are super cute. And yes, they were super yummy (I ate at least half of them myself). But honestly, just like his dinosaur cake last year -- they were a pain in the neck! At least half of them were ruined because they fell off the stick as I was coating them in the candy. I made Jeff promise to stop me from trying to make these again. Never. Again.

 

The treat bags were a cinch. Brown craft gift bags, and I printed out another movie poster and added each kid's name. My Godson Luke is modeling the Pooh ears I picked up from Party City. And the kids loved playing pin the tail on Eyeore. This was a download from the Family Fun website.

The plush birthday Winnie the Pooh is actually Luke & Mackenzie's. Grammy/Grampy & Jeff and I bought this for them for their first birthday down in Walt Disney World. The perfect centerpiece to the food table.

I got a number of appetizer ideas off Pinterest, including Piglets in a blanket, Veggies from Rabbit's Garden, and Tigger's Tail Mix. They were a huge hit! Sean's cake is hard to see in this photo, but it is uber adorable. No, I didn't make it (remember, I promised I never would again!). It's from the Jewel, and I can't get over how perfect it was!

The best part of the day? All our family & friends. This is me and my mom & sibs... from left to right: John, me, Mom, Mike & Kari.



Hannah didn't disappoint on the cute factor!



Sean wasn't too thrilled about taking photos with everyone. He is a horrible model right now.
Starting at the top, going left to right: Uncle Mikey...Aunt Sue & Uncle Frank...Aunt Kari & Hannah (Kevin is missing!), Second Row: Grammy & Grammy...Grandma Shelly...Uncle Todd & Aunt Kim
Third Row: Christopher... Drake (Sean's friend), Reed & Christine... Uncle Johnny, Marisa & Corey.



Big Greninger Family... Kevin is in this picture! And yes, I am wearing a Tigger shirt. Sean wore a Piglet shirt, and Jeff was Pooh!





Big Hipelius Family



The day was magical. Truly. Honestly. Everything came together without an ounce of stress, and Sean loved it all. My little boy is four years old. Hard to believe.

“If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.” -- Winnie the Pooh

Our Disneyland Vacation - May 2013

What led us to adoption?

This is us years ago, before we were even married. We're the couple who talked about all the kids they were going to have before even talking about marriage. We had names picked out, and desired birth order. We even planned when we would take all said kids to Disney World. But life rarely turns out the way you plan. 

We tried to conceive on our own. After a year of no success we underwent various infertility treatments including multiple IVF attempts, trying like heck to conceive a child. We were finally successful after five years, and after a risky pregnancy we gave birth to our son, Sean. Aha! We had it figured out, right? Nope. We went through all of the controlling treatments again trying for another child without success.  After the last procedure, our doctor came to see us. He said everything went well and now all we do is wait and pray. He understood that science can only do so much to conceive a child. It takes God. 

It’s been a journey. We’ve learned a lot, but mostly we’ve learned about letting go. God’s will be done. And His will is going to be infinitely better than anything we can control. Heck, I have a hard time roasting a chicken for dinner sometimes.

Lord, I give you my womb. I had to repeat this meditation over and over again. Hoping to let go of all the control we thought we had over the process. But it was hard. And then, out of the mouth of our four year old - "It’s ok. Don’t worry. God’s working on it.”

And that, my friends, was the answer. We knew we would get through it. We always do. Just give up the control and leave the plans to God.

It was then that we knew God was leading us to domestic open adoption (more like nudging us really hard!). This path to building our family has been in our hearts since the beginning. We're excited to follow God's lead and share our love with a new son or daughter. We love being parents and the thought of having another child to love gives me goosebumps. It's an amazing feeling.

Lord, I give you my womb. Your will be done. The sun will rise again tomorrow, and we’re hopeful.

When life leaves you high and dry...

I told Jeff this is his song. He raised his eyebrows and said, "huh?"

Clearly he doesn't know it, but this song could be his mantra. This is how I see him. And why I love him so deeply. The opening lines... "When life leaves you high and dry, I'll be at your door tonight, If you need help, If you need help."

This pretty much sums up his personality. Bingo.

For our wedding I picked out the gospel reading from John 15 and he wholeheartedly approved simply because of verse 13 "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends "

He'll drive miles out of his way to pick up my grandma for a party. He not only loans his tools to friends and family, he's there next to them fixing or building whatever. He does the dishes. And washes floors. He took Mary, the teenager next door, out driving the other night because he wanted to give her experience and hours driving a large vehicle. He gets up with Sean in the middle of the night. And wakes up with him early so I can sleep in. During severe weather he has the weather radio on and prepares everything in case we have to head to the basement. My eagle scout.

And at the end of the day there's no place I feel safer or more loved than in his arms. I'm so so so blessed God chose him for me. My backbone. My cornerstone. The pulse that I've always needed.

Like a drum my heart never stops beating for him.

Coming Soon!

We're getting ready to blog. Stay tuned!