Dad turns 50!

Big Jimbo hit a milestone last week, which gave us a reason to throw a party. My Mom and I started brainstorming a while back for different party ideas for Dad's big birthday. Because of Pinterest I had some extravagant visions in my head, but in the end we settle on the perfect theme for my Dad - beer and barbecue. 

The man loves barbecue. Famous Dave's is one of his favorite local spots, so that made the food decision pretty simple. When it came to fun decor, or party ideas my Mom and I turned to Pinterest. I've always been picture obsessed, and when you're throwing a 50th birthday party I feel like old photos are a must. I had so much fun shuffling through boxes of old pictures, and finding some real gems. After seeing some of these, I asked him more than once, "what on earth are you wearing?" Since they're too fun not to share, below are a few of my favorites. 

 

The party was a complete success, and I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time despite the rain. We ate a lot of food, drank a lot of beer and reminisced about Dad's good ole days. He even showed off one of his 50 fun facts... at the age of 50 he can still touch his toe to his nose without any issues. Now that's talent people! Happy Birthday Daddy-o, hope you had a great party. Cheers to 50 more! :)

The Friday night before my Dad's party, it was brisk summer night - perfect for a bonfire. After smelling the smoke from our neighbors pit, we decided to start one of our own. We had a fun night eating pizza outside, teaching Harper to roll down the hill, star gaze, and of course countless trips down the slide! It was such a fun night, just spending some quality time outside with our little family of three. We've been spending as much time as possible outside, because it'll be covered in snow before we know it.

Lastly I have to share my latest Harper dilemma. So remember when I blogged about how cute and charming baby Crocs are? Well, I've created a Croc monster. She refuses to wear any other shoe. I know, I know, I'm bigger than her and she's not the boss. I should be able to say, "no, we're wearing these shoes." Unfortunately it doesn't always happen that way. This week we went one day without wearing them, and that's because Mitch hid them. He had to pull out the old, "Oh no, they're lost. We'll have to wear these nice white sandals." That day, it seemed to work. This morning? Not so much. I grabbed these super cute glittery Hello Kitty mary janes thinking with "Kitty" on them - she'll for sure say yes. After a lot of distracting, I finally had both shoes on her feet. Within seconds, the velcro strapped was removed and those puppies were off and she was requesting her pink crocs. I just shook my head, and decided not to put up a fight. She won today, but tomorrow - we're shoe shopping.

Until next time...
The Helleen's