Justin's Birthday!

Justin's party was a success! I managed to pull it all together in time for his special day! Honestly I will not put myself under that last minute pressure again. The kids had a wonderful time! As you know we had a solar system theme. I spent 2 hours getting all the cakes baked and decorated. I am not the greatest cake decorator, but Justin loved them and that is all I care about. It was a small family party with a couple of friends! Our home is small so all of our parties are at our local firehouse. Sorry gals, you'll see no flour pictures from me, but trust me I think I had icing in my hair!

At our house you get to celebrate your birthday twice! We actually celebrate on your actual birthday. We gave Justin his gifts from us and then took him out to dinner to the place of his choice. This year he chose one of our favorite Chinese restaurants. We had given him a couple of gifts at home, but his big gift was a lego set. He wanted one of the bigger sets and since he kept changing his mind, we decided to take him to the toy store so he could choose. He ended up choosing two smaller sets and a set of plastic solar system planets. (we gave him a limit of $100 to either buy one big set or smaller sets not going over the amount set) Let me explain to you this is probably our 6th set of planets we have bought him over the years. He loves them and plays with them until they eventually break. Oh we tried hanging them up, and they always come down because as Justin says, mom I just have to touch them! We came home and had ice cream cake to top off the day! The first few pictures are from his actual birthday.

decisions, decisions!



getting ready to blow out the candles....it was an ice cream cake....yum!
one of his favorite gifts. He has asked and asked for this puzzleball set. They are actually puzzles you put together. Very cool!

Party Time!
A close up of the cakes! I think they came out pretty well! they were actually pretty easy. I couldn't figure out what to put them on and the cake boards at the craft store were not big enough...after all it is the solar system. I ended up buying a black foam board and then covered it with clear contact paper. I wanted something I could wipe the icing off if I made a mistake or dropped any icing. Then I just put stars all over it, the little ones are stickers and the bigger ones are large sequins that I just used double sided tape to stick down. The cakes were easy. The sun was just two nine inch round pans and the first four planets were made in muffin tins. Jupiter (under the sun) was just baked in a larger pan I had and the Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were baked in small Wilton cake pans I found in target. The last planet Pluto~yes we know Pluto has been demoted, but lets not go there now~ Justin insisted that Pluto be included dwarf planet or not was just the top of one of the muffin baked cakes. The rings on Saturn and Uranus are just pipe cleaners
these are our moon rocks and they were so much fun to make! They are made from flour, used coffee grounds, sand, salt and water. I got the directions from Family Fun.
They were super easy to make!
we played pin the crater on the moon. Yes people it is a moon. It is in color. I had to explain to a few people that it was the moon and not the sun. The sun is much brighter!


for our craft we made A Universe In A Jar. These were a big hit! Very easy, just take a baby food jar, oh and if you don't have a baby food jar go out and buy them full of baby food and try to force your kids to eat the baby food. That didn't work out to well! LOL. Spray paint the tops of the jars black. Fill the jar with water dyed with blue food coloring. Have some star confetti you know the shiny kind. Some cool beads after all you'll need some planets in your universe, some moon and star shaped gems and finally some gold glitter. Add the lid (I glued them on with hot glue) finally add some glow in the dark stickers to the lid and wa la you have a universe in a jar! Then Shake, shake shake to your hearts content!



a close up of the universe in a jar
Justin putting on his birthday candles. He wanted to be in charge of his entire party and actually stand up and explain to everyone all about the solar system! I am not kidding you! He wasn't happy, but finally agreed!

enjoying his cake. This is his second piece. He chose to eat the earth first and then moved on to Saturn. I let all the kids pick a planet to eat!
Kaden and Katie
I made 14 moon rocks and hid them all over the room. I had all the kids find them and then they got to break them open!
this was what they discovered, Aliens!
more moon rock breaking!
time for presents...with a little help from Kaden.....Mr. Kaden thought it was his birthday!
one of Justin's favorite gifts! A new pillow with a solar system pillow case, handmade by

mom mom!

I love this picture! Katie, Justin and Claire with their heads together. The girls were reading their card to Justin. Too cute!
The party attendees minus Kaden who refused to be in the picture....I decided I wasn't going to subject everyone to Kaden's screaming and shrieking to get him in the picture, because that would be the outcome!

From left to right, Claire (in front) Katie, Justin and Kiara. Justin and Kiara are cousins.
We used Justin's new solar system set as decorations and added a couple of our solar system books and a few stars.

I am not sure what these guys were up to, but I think it was no good. They had lined themselves up and seemed to be considering taking over the world room! They looked pretty menacing to me! Oh wait they are only about an inch and a half tall. I believe I can take them on!

later I found them congregating around the universe in a jar...they were whispering something about the universe WILL BE theirs!!!!


and what party would be complete with out mom mom and pop pop playing a rousing game of balloon smack! They are my parents!

and finally the birthday boy doing his share by vacuuming up! We didn't ask him to, he just wanted to. It's a shame he doesn't want to at home!