Party Time!

What a crazy weekend! Nate flew into Chicago Thursday evening and Mom and Dad picked him up on their way down. Don, Barb & Sheila and Brian, Michelle & Lindsey arrived Friday afternoon. We attempted family pictures Friday evening. Marina caught a cold on Thursday and while we were at the park doing pictures she spiked a fever and felt terrible. So if one picture turns out we'll all be soooo surprised. Saturday morning she woke up without a fever - so we decided to keep the party on. Our plan was to have it at the park -- so I thought that kids would be running around and not in close quarters -- just hoping that the germs would disperse and not land on anyone. BUT - at about 3pm when Don and I were ready to head to the park and get set-up it started to sprinkle. Argh! Our rental house is a bit snug thus the park plan. So Don and I drove around Chillicothe trying to find another party location - no such luck. With less than 1 hour left before the party, a messy house with no decorations we punted and everyone pitched in to make the birthday party happen. The real kicker -- it never really rained...oh well....better safe than sorry.

We did one craft to start the party. I had a foam covered journal for each short guest with their name on it and then princess/castle/frog stickers and glitter glue to decorate them with. It actually held their attention for a while. Anthony Vail - 4 (the little boy in blue) was by far the most focused artist!
The next activity was an egg race. I had Don and Uncle Brian demonstrate for the kids - little did I know it would become such a competition for the big kids too.
OK -- so getting off the starting line was quite a challenge. Half of our group was 3 and under so balancing the egg on the spoon was quite the concept.

Except for Lindsey (17 mo) -- she thought -- what's the big deal? You have two hands - right?!?! The youngest AND the smartest!
Malia Ames - 3 and Paige eating supper. Malia is the daughter of Shana - a dear friend that I met when I was working at Illinois State University. They live in Peoria (about 20 min away) so it's great to be able to see them more now.
The kids menu was PBJ, grapes & Pringles -- rough life! The main request this year was a castle cake!!!

Lovin' the girly gifts!

I just had to include this pic because I thought -- oh my word, she looks so old with her legs crossed listening to Don explain her new kitchen utensils.
Lindsey loves her Daddy!
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The family picture in front of the white flower! We are going to have to come up with a new background...just for the sake of variety.

We tried to get a nice group shot of all the kids at the party...but as you can see someone had a hard time not using her new camera. As the snap-happy mom - I can totally understand. :)

The little boy in green that is holding Hudson is Kenrick Vail - 6. The Vails just live 15 minutes away and are already our special friends. Our girls love playing with Kenrick and Anthony. In the pic Hudson is smiling at Lindsey. All weekend Lindsey would just go up to Hudson, lean in and say awwwww -- it was so cute.