Happy Dirt-Day

So Brian always gets after me for asking the kids what kind of party they want when their birthday is three plus months out, but I believe it was before Christmas that he brought up getting a dirt bike for Jackson’s fifth birthday just like his father had done for him when he turned five. And since it was Jackson’s year to pick the theme, he was super excited to roll with the dirt bike party idea.

Next on the list was to watch the online classifieds to find a good used 50cc dirt bike and get to work on the party plans. Knowing both kids would want to go out and ride right away after opening presents, we decided to take the party to Upton since there are places to ride less than 5 minutes away and it would be less driving for Grandma’s and Grandpa’s.

After Brian took a 10 hour turn around to Billings, MT for the dirt bike it dawned on me that we needed to keep the motorcycle to sewing machine ratio in check. I also knew that Ellie would love to have a machine of her own that she could just go and sew on, or we could have our own little sew parties, just the two of us. You’ll see that Jackson wasn’t nearly as excited as Ellie about getting a sewing machine to share.

And then it was time to move out to the garage and unveil the last gift for the kids. By this time I think Ellie realized what was in store but Jackson was really excited that he finally got rocket boosters put on his bike.

Where the Road Ends the Fun Begins

After a quick trip up to “Airport Road” we unloaded the little bike and strapped helmets on. Ellie was the first to give it a go and she did a fantastic job at letting up on the throttle in the corners and steering clear of the big ruts in the road. Jackson on the other hand, was full speed from start to finish. We were surprised he didn’t take a spill in his first corner but he held on like a champ. I am so thankful that we can regulate the speed. I couldn’t see the kids’ smiles through their helmets but it sure reflected greatly in Brian’s big grin. 

The Dirty Details

I was gifted a cutting machine from a good friend at Christmas and since we needed fewer invites this year it seemed like the perfect time to learn how to use it. After a little research and practice I was cutting out dirt bike riders, little dirt hills and pop up cards. But why stop there when you can cut out custom envelopes too?

Once I had the cutting machine figured out there was no stopping and the paper cutting adventure continued right on to making dirt track cup cake wrappers and little dirt bike rider toppers. For his Dirt-Day cake, Jackson had picked chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles so having these wrappers on the bottom and the dirt bike cake picks on the top just kicked up the dirtness a bit more. The frosting was a bit of a challenge because I had never made chocolate frosting from scratch before but it turns out if you add really good cocoa to really tasty homemade frosting you have really, REALLY good and tasty homemade chocolate frosting. Ellie was super excited that she got to decorate the cakes this year.

The rest of the decorations included the Happy Dirt-Day banner, a poster from the front of the invites and food labels to identify Jackson’s menu in a dirty way. This year he chose to have Sloppy-J’s [sloppy Joe’s], Mud Tracks [waffle sweet potato fries], Dirt Piles [coleslaw and potato salad], Muddy Tires [apple rings with almond butter], and Rocket Fuel [raspberry lemonade].

In making sure I continued to utilize this fancy cutting machine, it made sense to make some custom t-shirts for the kids to wear at their party. Of course Jackson picked a graphic that included a dirt bike. When it came time for Ellie to choose, I mentioned to her that I thought her shirt should say “I’d rather be sewing” as a joke between us girls that sewing is more fun that riding a dirt bike. She loved the idea and was excited to wear her new shirt at the party.

Kickin’ Up More Dirt-Day Pictures

This year seemed to have gone by faster than we wanted it to, and now, with a dirt bike to ride, I’m afraid they are just going to get faster. We don’t believe dirt bike racing is in our family’s future — the risk just doesn’t seem worth the reward for us. But we know where there are a lot of good trails to go bump around on and we just want to instill the love of riding motorcycles and sewing in the hearts of our two amazing kiddos. We are so grateful that our family was with us as we celebrated their birthdays this year. And a special thank you to Grandma Mary for letting us kick up some dirt at her house.