Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Party Time

On J's actual birthday, we headed to Red Robin (his favorite restaurant) for his favorite dinner (mac & cheese, oranges and milk) along with Gramma Joan.  Dinner was followed by an ice cream sundae that he devored on his own, after being sung to by a few waiters. He said he'd like to have them sing to him, but I wasn't sure if he truly would enjoy it...but aside from looking a little nervous, he appeared to love every minute of it.  He then enjoyed opening gifts from his grandparents, one of our neighbors and us and had a hard time deciding what to play with with first.


This past weekend, after a laid back celebration last year, we decided to throw J a bit of a party for this birthday.  It was also very well deserved given all the changes he's put up with over the past few months.  With his love of Dora, we couldn't think of a better theme for the party, even though all the decorations were a bit feminine.  

On Saturday, our families and a few of our close friends and their kids came over to celebrate the birthday boy.  With life being so crazy lately, convenience won out - decorations and the cake were store bought, and the food was provided by Qdoba.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the food though (and we have enough leftovers that I didn't have to cook for a few nights - love that!) and the cake turned out great and received many compliments.

Jackson was completely spoiled by everyone, receiving all kinds of great gifts and he was a busy boy the rest of the weekend, playing with everything.  He was having so much fun on the day of his party, he skipped his nap (for the first time ever!) so that he could keep playing.  He handled it much better than I'd expected - he just started to look a bit sleepy in the car on the way to a park later that afternoon.  The missed nap meant an early bedtime (7:15 vs. 8 or 8:30), and he feel asleep within minutes of his head hitting the pillow (rather than the 60+ mins of singing and talking that usually occurs).

We all had a great time celebrating Jackson over his birthday week.  It's always such fun to experience an event like a birthday through a child's eyes.

Jackson was obsessed with counting down to his birthday.  It was so exciting to remove that final ring on April 23!




Addy & Wyatt playing so well together

Biggest and best balloon EVER from Auntie Sara and Auntie Kelsey


Cole had to dress for the occasion

Jackson and Hadley

Present time!  Wyatt was the best helper, giving Jackson presents to open.  And I love how Addy and Henry are eagerly scoping things out.

Addy and her little bro Henry





Hadley and Ellie, who both have 1st birthdays coming up!






A "Boots" shirt with Jackson's name on it - he loved it and looks forward to wearing it to school this week.

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