Once We Were Turtles....

                       

The incredible singing candle...
that nearly caught our apartment on fire....sheesh

Eli's 5th birthday has come and gone, but in true Eli style (aka Megin style which I have apparently genetically passed on to my offspring), we have been celebrating all month, and basically still are celebrating the remnants.... maybe in a few days I'll convince him it's Eden's turn. We are transitioning to September, and even Megin knew she only got to celebrate for 31 days. Duh. 

Carvel cake with handmade Raph!

                               

Bu of course, my little Raphael, who, I must add, picked the turtle that does reflect his personality- ATT-TI-TUDE, has been a delight. I have enjoyed every second of creating his Ninja Turtle birthday and seeking to carry it to fruition with precision according to his each artistic detail....within reason, of course. Whether it was Ninja bubbles (pictured below) which were his gift to his friends, or making ninja stars that really flew, but sorry buddy, never quite figured out how to make the crisscross backpack with special electronic buttons to hold Leonardo's swords. 

                                                  

Turtle Treats! Thank you pinterest....where would I be without your actual creativity that I simply hijack!?

We made it to Grampy and Grammies, out in Fresh Meadows, for our outdoor celebration with his cousins. Thankfully he has enough cousins to make it like a REAL-LIVE birthday party with all his friends, which is what he requested....In person, with every friend from Owl School! But a las, Corona-virus is something his mommy CAN'T control, so Eli had to settle for the promise that we would have some playdates with Owl school friends in the future and perhaps invite them to a party for Eden in the fall if we can have one. For now, the very next best thing, which really isn't even a compromise because of how much he does love his cousins, was a party at Grampy and Grammie Turtle's house....ESPECIALLY when it included a kiddie-pool, and.....Ninja Turtle weapons!

 In case you can't tell, we've got shells, swords, tsais, ninja stars, staffs, and nun-chucks... basically the whole she-bang. For more detailed pics check out the instagram where I chronicled each of their creations.

We have a picture with Eli in this, but it also shows his cousins, and not every family wants their kids plastered all over the internet, so you'll just have to use your imagination until I can figure out all the photo-shop tools for blurring out kid's heads! :)

Auntie Coco was the life-saver as  usual and came to our rescue with incredible Ninja Turtle cupcakes. Her track-record with baked goods is on par with the Next Great Baker. Where would we be without HER? Back to the store, getting charged $400 for a 5-inch cake, or with plain chocolate chip cookies.

Stole the idea for this from Etsy....wasn't about to pay $50 bucks though, so I made it myself with lots of felt, cardstock, ribbon, and cardboard. Not that hard actually, and certainly easier on the purse strings....aka did not garner evil looks from my husband!

Cute story behind here....These are paper-plates left over from a previous party, and then I glued them to the back of a birthday banner from his 1st birthday! (If you turn it over, you can read all the memories glued onto cute little cardstock and straws and placed on burlap pinnets! ha)! Eli made all the Turtle faces himself. It was RIDICULOUSLY hard for my perfectionism to let him make the faces.....omgeeeee I wanted them to match and be precise, but I couldn't squash his creativity, and he had a blast. I will treasure those memories....and lived through not having perfect Ninjas.

Here is Grampy turtle making our fireman pinata into a Ninja! The turtle pinatas cost an arm and a leg, and then Josh reminded me that if we bought one, we'd be smashing up Leonardo (or some-turtle), and that's no fun.... so a random no-name fireman it was! Kids didn't mind :).

The banner, that only fell four times. Thanks Grampy, Jordan, and Jesse.

Here are our streamers, which Eli requested to walk through while all his family hid and then jumped out and yelled surprised. He was intent on having a surprise party where he PRETENDED to be surprised, but we had to do the jump out twice because 1. at first, everyone yelled TOO loud. and then 2. people didn't hide COMPLETELY, but in an attempt to create a NON-monster-child, I refused to let him go for a third run at the surprise and told him we had to be thankful and content with what we got. Sheesh. Apple. Tree. Hell-to-pay.

This table eventually held a lot of pizza. Because...turtles. And, well, us.

Homemade masks and some from Edna, that we received after I'd home-made 8....dangit! haha But thankfully we had those from her because apparently kids, adults, firemen, and punch needed ninja masks!

Special Ninja-juice....no wine included, although Nicole did think I said that at one point! ha!

This guy had a tremendous day.....complete with multiple renditions and performances of our ninja rap. Amazing fun had by all...thank you Lord for great weather and wonderful family!

It wouldn't be a corona-birthday party without our hand-sanitizer!

Eli's menu: pizza, doritos, cheese and crackers, gumballs, skittles, cupcakes, and lolli-pops. I mean, can you get a more balanced meal??? I think not.

And without further adieu- here is our performance....We performed multiple times because Eli wanted to make sure EVERY friend saw his dance, and he had multiple dances to share....so yeah, Mommy rapped a lot. Took a lot of breath support, but hey, I didn't pay good old M.U. thousands of dollars for a music major that didn't teach me where to breath and what to emphasize! So there you have it friends. You too can have a Ninja Turtle birthday... just takes a months of utilizing old cardboard, markers, and cardstock, and little bit of creativity from a four-year-old-going-on-five-years-old-full-time-perfectionist-divo-performer! Let me know if you are interested, and we'll lend you our services!