Aiden's Hoe Down | Zoomar's Petting Zoo (Part 1 of 2)

I divided my blog post into two parts: Part 1 will be about decors and party favors. Part 2 will be about venue and catering services.

Note to self: I’m starting to hate watching my babies get older.

My goal was to create an atmosphere (without going beyond and spending outrageous money) to make my guest feel as though they’ve arrived at the Wild West. It took me exactly one month to plan for Aiden’s birthday. If you know me, you know I love to plan birthday parties for my kids or any parties, in general. I always start off with an idea/concept and envision how I want things to be.  You have to know what you want to make it come to life and need to set a budget.  Since Aiden loves animals and Toy Story (the movie), we had to figure out how to incorporate this into his birthday. It wasn’t rocket science.  We chose Zoomar’s Petting Zoo for his love for animals and the “Wild West” theme to go with “Woody” from Toy Story. Taa-daaaa!

We were allowed 30 minutes to set up prior to event start time. I knew from the very beginning that I had to lay out my ideas at home in order to execute quickly.

My cake table took me one week to plan. I wanted to make sure I had elements that would remind people they’re in the Wild West. I knew I wanted décor items and picked them up from Michaels, Joann Fabric, Home Goods, IKEA, and Target.  The cake, by Taylor Cake Creation, was inspired by a cake she designed before. The cow cake pops was created by my lovely cousin and “crazy” cousin, which turned out nice. Mini-cupcakes were purchased from My Sweet and Saucy. Red velvet cupcakes were purchased from Costco.  As a gift to Aiden, KC and E provided chocolate covered Oreos and pretzels from Intricakes. To top it off, my good and amazing singer friend, Vivian, made the customized cookies to fit the theme.

I took pictures of Aiden the day before his birthday party and printed 10 of his images at Walgreens. It was the only place I could think of that was available at 9 p.m. at night. Each picture was placed in a frame purchased at IKEA for $2.99 and placed on the tables at the party. What a deal!

For party favors, I wanted to make sure all the little kids would look like cute cowboys and cowgirls. I purchased fake mustaches, bandanas, sheriff badges, and hats from Oriental Trading. Because I’m an organize freak, I made sure these items (minus the hats) were package nicely for each kid. I placed all the items in a lunch bag and placed a nice “Thank You” tag on the outside of it (which I printed). Each kid giddy up’d with their very own pony on a stick that was purchased from Joissu. I ended up paying more for the ponies because my guest list changed. I wanted to make sure each child received one. In addition, each kid got their very own pet cow walking balloon.

Besides this, each kid received a ticket to board the Zoomars mini-train, pony ride and a basket of carrots or pellet cone to feed the animals.  I’m sure it was heaven for all the little ones.

Remember, I’m a wife and mother. I am obsessed with my boys – this is the reason why I always put my heart and time regardless if it’s going to make me exhausted for them. They’ve change my perception in life. Love, love, love them! P.S. I want more. Haha!

Thanks to everyone who came …. Stay tuned for Part 2.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Aiden!

Dear Aiden,

3 years ago today, I was nervous to meet you. My contractions were painful and I held on for as long as I could. I vacuumed the house numerous times and found excuses to not go to the hospital. I was afraid, not to meet you, but to be hospitalized for the first time. I kept thinking about the needles. O’ needles, I hate needles.

3 years ago today, I didn’t have a son who would tell me he farted or ask me questions that he knows the answer to. Nor did I have a son who would walk into my room on a Saturday morning to say, “o mama, I forgot to say morning to papa” (only because papa had already left for work).

3 years ago today, I didn’t have a son who would walk by the Victoria Secret store and say “mama, I see butt”.

3 years ago today, I didn’t have a son who would ask me if he could help out whenever I clean or cook (yes, I do cook). You’re always asking if you can help and every time I ask you why you’re helping me, you would respond, “con muon giup mama, em, papa”.

3 years ago today, I didn’t have a son who fell in love with reading books like his mama. You would ask me after your bubble bath time “mama doc sach cho con” (can you read a book to me?) every night. Once in awhile, you’ll ask if we can take you to “Barnes and Nobles” and would raise one of your eyebrows because you’re cool like that. You would say “Aiden good boy. Aiden muon di Barnes”.

3 years ago today, I didn’t have a son who would ask me “tai sao mama di lam” (why are you going to work mama?). before I can respond, you would say “oh, mama di lam mua sua cho aiden?” (oh, you’re going to work to buy milk for Aiden?) Yes, you love to speak in third person.

3 years ago today, I didn’t have a son who would ask me if I liked how he sang his heart out to these songs (ABCs, twinkle twinkle little star, the wheels on the bus, the itsy bitsy spider, etc). You love getting words of encouragement and I never have a problem saying you just sang beautifully.

3 years ago today, I didn’t have a son who gets excited to go “elmo” (pee-pee). You always tell me “mama, aiden di elmo. Wait k.” You call it “elmo” because I potty-trained you by reading books on how cool elmo is when he went to the pee –pee room. I kept telling you that elmo had on the coolest undies and you believe me. You’re the silliest kid ever. As of recently, you told me that you’re going to pee like Papa. So now, you pee standing.  After you’re done, you say “wiggle wiggle wiggle”. Is this what Papa does?  Haha.

3 years ago today, I didn’t have a son who loves to tell me things and ask me “mama, remember”.  Actually, Aiden I don’t remember. JK. For the most part, I remember everything we’ve done together.

3 years ago today, I didn’t have a son who respectfully goes to bed and sleeps with all his friends (barney, buzz, grobee, and several of other bear) when ask. Papa would always ask you to say your prayers and you’ll do it. Once in awhile, you like to be silly and say “chua choi con cho mot phut”. (God please let me play for one more minute). Where did you come up with this? I get sad at times when I want you to sleep with me because you tell me you’re a big boy and you need to sleep in your room. *gasp*. Please stop growing so fast.

3 years ago today, I didn’t know what it would be like to have a son until I had you.  Honestly I wanted a girl, but now that you came into my life, I wouldn’t trade you for the world even if I could have that one girl I’ve always wanted. Never, baby, never. How can I go on with my life without your goofiness and love? I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.

Thank you so much for being YOU. I couldn’t thank you more than enough when you woke up from your nap and allowed your “crazy” mama to do a quick 15 minute “3^rd birthday photoshoot”. Yes, I did it the evening before your birthday party. I don’t know how I manage to pull the things I did for your 3^rd birthday. I put my heart into it. Honestly, sweetheart, if it meant, I would lose some sleep, I did it. I did it because I love you and wanted you to have the best time of your life.

Happy Birthday sweetheart  - please stop growing.

Mama thuong Aiden yeu.

XOXO.

i was busy all weekend and didn't have time to post. there are things i would like to share such as papa dang completing his first full marathon, aiden's upcoming 3rd birthday bash, and the crazy thunderstorm that petrified me yesterday. sit tight ... i'll be back. xoxo!

Miles Square Regional Park | Fountain Valley, CA

Phew. We had an extra bag of bread at home and decided to stop by MSP before we headed to my in-laws for our weekly Sunday dinner. It normally doesn’t take long to feed the ducks and geese. I would say 20 minutes or quicker if Aiden doesn’t just toss the entire piece of bread in the pond and request for more. They love, I mean, love the ducks and geese. Honestly, some of the geese are dracula-looking and scares me, but both our boys appear to be fearless.

I think I was more excited because I actually got to go with our boys this time. Normally, they would go during the week while I’m at work with their cool Papa and I’ll just get a picture text.

So, I’m digging these pictures. It evokes a narrative of our lives together as a family. I’ve been documenting their life since they were born and this is still one of the greatest joys. If you have kids, I highly recommend taking pictures frequently of them. It will tell the story of their childhood; perhaps, this is the reason why it’s so priceless.

Honestly, our boys are totally happy and unconditionally loved. We do have our share of struggle, but in the end, we make it through together. It’s how they're raised and I would highly recommend doing it right from the beginning. ………… XOXO.

Here's dilly willy. He's about to feed his "friends" with some of the bread he has.

I think Aiden just threw his entire piece of bread in the pond. He's definitely asking for more.

come fly with us ....

We always find time in between errands or events to take our boys to the park. Well the truth is, the weather has been warmer and we rather stay outdoors than indoors. Plus, we love the way the park makes us feel and it gives our boys the freedom to run and play.

I always bring along my camera. I was flustered when we got home and tried to upload the images and only found about 10 out of 100+. I was looking through the images on the ride home. I couldn’t decipher what occurred, but something happened and it left me almost in tears. All the spontaneous moments I captured were gone. No, really, it was all gone…just like that. Technically, they weren't all gone. I'm being a little dramatic. HAHA.


Also, people always wonder how we find time to take our boys around. It’s really simple. We make time. It doesn’t take up too much time out of our day to take them to the park. We normally spend about an hour there. Plus, I think this is the reason why I’ve been able to lose my pregnancy weight. I still have a few pounds to shed, but I’m ok with it. I keep myself active with my boys. You just have to. Not only does it bring our family closer together, but it makes me feel healthier. It also fosters family relationship early on.

Anyways, here’s Papa Dang attempting to fly Aiden’s Spiderman Kite. I’m still laughing at this image. You don’t know how many times he was running around trying to get it to go up. It did go up … for a good … 10 seconds. I need to invest more than a buck on a kite. Haha!

 

the little playhouse

 

first off, my husband doesn't know i took this picture because he was too busy building the little playhouse for our boys. secondly, he will probably kill me for posting this picture because he's shirtless (love you, sexy poo bear!). i figured he goes to the beach shirtless so this shouldn't be an issue. haha.

we decided to purchase this little playhouse (from costco - just in case, you're thinking about getting one for your little one) to allow our boys to explore and play. it's really so they can use their wildest imagination because in our opinion, in order to strengthen their development, they need to play. 

we encouraged both our boys to help build their little playhouse after they had breakfast. i must say that they made wonderful little helpers. dilly got really tired after a few hours of "working" and knocked out. aiden continued to assist papa dang. he actually cried in the very beginning because  he started to mumble words and we couldn't understand what he was trying to say. then, we asked him to stop crying. he wiped his tears and said, "i want to help papa". he's a really sweet kid - actually, too nice in my books.

i've learned that both our boys look up to us and will try to replicate everything we do. we want to be sure we're setting a good example to our boys and showing that it's imperative to help each other. hopefully, one day they'll understand the word "love" and how it's captured - because the true meaning of love is being able to share it with those close to your heart.

today, we were able to show our love by spending quality time together to build the playhouse. it was very simple and our boys love it. once the playhouse was completed, i watched them try to rebuild the house with screws and even caught aiden cooking for dilly. i like how they were happy and free. this helped feed their imaginations and created self-reliance. it was very cute. oh, and ummmm.... playhouse can be for boys, too! haha. xoxo.

Pump It Up! | Irvine, CA

 

Okay, so where do I begin when I am a day late with this blog that I promised yesterday. Oh boy. Anyways, this is a fraction of what our weekends consist of and deserves a post because I think it's a cool place for kids. We headed to Pump It Up for my crazy, fun-spirited niece 3rd birthday a week ago. We have heard of this place before but never made our way here. One of the reasons is that we're a member at Froggs Bounce House, which offers the same type of fun but at a different level. Pump It Up is a huge warehouse and offers private indoor arenas with bounce houes for parties.


We had two (2) 45 mintues bouncing fun in two different private areas, then headed to the private party room to eat, sing happy birthday, play, chit-chat ... yes, the whole sheeeee-bang. It was definitely a bouncing success for both our boys even US. I know, right?


I think its soo important to foster the development of social skills in kids. It's not a skill they are born with and have to learn. Birthdays like this are awesome because there are kids everywhere. I must say that I am happy Aiden and Dilly met new friends that day. Both boys can be hesitant or shy when introduced to new people and situation, which is normal for some kids. However, give them time and they'll eventually believe you're the coolest person on this planet.

I didn't carry my camera that day but grabbed my Fujifilm Instax instead (hence the pictures above). I wished I grabbed onto my camera though. I was in awe watching how naturally kids play. It's easy to get great photographs when they're having fun. That's one of the keys element to capturing the moment. XOXO.

Orange County Great Park | Irvine, CA

 



 

Umm… finally. We made it out of the house. My boys (including husband) have been ridiculously sick this past week. It was horrible to see them that way. Our house would have been a mess if I was infected by the virus, too. Whew
.

So, our boys love being outside and today we decided to head to the OC Great Park after church. The park is still under major construction but overall was a very friendly-family atmosphere. Most (in my opinion) were there for one reason -- the kids. They have the farmers market going on, free carousel, playground, and of course, the big orange balloon. I find it interesting to be at the park though. You get to see different parenting skills and various values / behaviors from kids all converge into one place.  Oh boy! Perhaps, that’s the reason why some parents hate the playgrounds. For me, I love it. I’m not there to parent other children anyways. I would never do that. I’m there to ensure my boys have a wonderful time, plus they need to learn that in different surroundings not everyone is sweet. They’ll have to learn to deal with it someday, somehow, when mama and papa dang are not around.

So, I love how Aiden thinks every kid at the playground is his friend. He was amazed that his “friend” was wearing a batman shirt similar to the one he has at home. He kept telling me to look. Honestly, he thought this was the coolest thing ever by the tone of his voice. And for my little dilly willy, he was playing, but for the most part, he took me on mini-walks while holding onto my hands. He does this quite frequently. Well, only to me, because I’m his favorite.  Haha. Well, I am his mama. LOL.

It was another fun-day sunday with my boys. XOXO.

If you look carefully, Aiden and I are throwing the peace sign. We think it's cool.