More Than Meets The Eye

Since Dylan's birthday is July 6th, our 4th of July now consists of mostly party prep. As usual, my parents (aka awesome grandparents) flew up for the occasion and helped us prepare. As the weather wasn't so hot, we mostly stuck to the house, cleaned, cooked, and decorated (and ran errands as party needs arose).

Also, it being the 4th and a time when lots of folks may have had long weekend plans, we decided to have the party on Sunday afternoon...which just happened to be Dylan's actual birthday. Pretty special to have a party on the date...doesn't happen every year. And since he was so aware and excited about it all, I really tried to lay on some extras to make the day super special for him.

For me, the day started at 6am. I wanted to get in a bit of exercise and go pick up some birthday breakfast for my oldest son. Before I left, I placed a stack of gifts outside of his door in case he woke up before I got back (which he didn't). I ran down to Dunkin' Donuts and ran back. By the time he woke up, birthday donuts were set up and ready to go! Then he got to open gifts from me and my parents.

Cade playing with Dylan's new Monster 500 cars.

While Dylan and Cade played with new toys, the adults all got to work. We had baking, decorating and cleaning to do. Why is it that no matter how much I try to get done in advance, there's still way too much to get done before the party? And I really tried to scale back\keep myself in check on this one. Always too much I want to do for these special days of course. Some of the things I did in advance was lots of planning (obviously), ordered and printed some special things from Etsy, played with my new Cricut machine and did some printing for decorations, party gifts and even had food catered so food prep would be minimal.

Sign That Greeted Guests at the Door

Special "Dylan is Turning 5" Water Bottle Labels

Balloons, Masks and New Sweatshirt for the Bumblebee Lovin' B'day Boy
(Even though it was really warm that day, we had a hard time getting him to take off that sweatshirt!)

Rock Candy Colored Centerpieces and AWESOME Cake by Mimaw

Close Up of Mimaw's Wonderful Creation
She really outdoes herself every year and this was no exception.
Dylan asked for Megatron and Bumblebee on his cake and that's what he got!

Cake and Ice Cream Table

Deceptacon and Autobot Cookies

Quick Picture with My B'day Boy Before the Guests Arrived

Transformer Taco Bar!

Energon Cubes (aka Jello)

I really had planned several games and activities and thought this party might be more structured then some of our others. But with not enough time to get them all together and a hot day, we fell back on our usual hang out, have food, splash in the pool and run around.

Matt, Ethan, Isabella and Caroline

Ethan Hamming It Up

Molly

Oh, and we also had "Megatron's Maze" which was a huge, inflatable obstacle course. Way more fun than a bouncy house for the kids of all ages at the party.

B'day Boy and Wyatt

Reagan and Alicia

There was a point in the party where it seemed like everyone was falling apart. One child crying started a domino effect and I thought we were going to lose half our guests prematurely. So, Mom to the rescue! I sent everyone outside for the one big surprise I had gotten together for the party. A silly string battle! All the kids shook their cans, the adults help me take off the stickers sealing the tops on, rules were laid down and practice squirts were done.

Layin' Down the Law

Ready for Battle!

And GO! It was a blast. Even though some of the younger kids weren't quite able to manage spraying by themselves, the adults ran by and helped. The older kids and adults (older, older kids) had a blast too. In fact, the only 2 people that didn't seem to love it were my kids! Stinkers. Dylan did enjoy watching the battle from his post on the swing set. Cade tolerated the battle after I picked him up to carry him around and promptly removed any string that got stuck on him (he has a thing with hair and other stuff being on him....really hates it).

See - Dylan is smiling! (Thanks Auntie Maureen and Emily!)

I think my friend Eleni was the one with the camera. She got some great shots - thanks, Eleni!

Dylan's friend Libby came up to me as the battle was winding down to show my her silly string ball. Now, I knew the silly string would be a hit and decided to suck it up and just deal with the major mess it would cause. However, after Libby showed me that, I had the lightbulb moment and declared a "who can make the largest silly string ball" contest. All the kids circled the yard, picking up tons of silly string and smooshing it together for silly string balls. I will forever be thankful to Libby for that idea (and for the parents that also chipped in to help with clean up) because there really wasn't much left in the yard for us to pick up the following day.

Then it was time for cake. Dylan, being the little planner that he is, told me how the cake thing was going to go down. Pretty much every year at this point in the party, he tries to hide under the table and I have to struggle to keep him up. And though he's still not exactly the center of attention kind of guy, this aspect of his birthday definitely saw improvement. During the singing, he just looked down, then slowly started leaning in to me and hugging me. He then opted to not blow out his candles and asked his brother to do it for him. Cade was ever so happy to step in to help.

Deep Breath....

Love this picture of that lower lip out...the end of his blow out.

Then it was time to eat the cake. That, Dylan was totally into!

Then it was more play and fun. The kids were inside, outside, dipping in the pool, and climbing through the maze. The adults were spread throughout watching over the kiddos and out on the deck enjoying the day.

Cade (with the ever so popular gift, Zoom Zombie) and Isabella

Cade and His Good Bud Caroline

Bob, Kate, Matt, Ethan, Eleni, Chloe (at table)
Clara, Papaw and Dan (behind)

The Deck Crew
Maureen, Joe, Jim and Kristina

Jacob and Dylan Inside, Corwin Outside

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee
(Wyatt and Dylan)

After most of our friends were pooped out, packed up and out, Dylan decided he would like to open presents outside. So we moved it out where family and best friend Isabella helped him open his gifts. Lots of Monster 500 (spooky racing guys\cars) and Transformers. He loved it all!

Opening Presents

Cute Emily Driving Around Cute Cade

Love this picture of Uncle Joe playing with Dylan (taken through the window)

With the kids out of the way, I mean, er, gone, the adults took over the party. The biggest hit for us was definitely Megatron's Maze. It got a little silly, a lot crazy, and downright competitive.

Mimaw Attacked the Maze and Survived....Barely

Maureen and I started to race through the maze.
She got so damned serious, that I started laughing hysterically and just watched her
blaze through the maze without even noticing I had stopped.

Then Mike and Joe took a turn. Those big boys practically killed themselves trying to win.

They may still be in these same positions in the yard.

Mom Optimus and Bday Boy Bumblebee

Joe Racing Emily
Emily won by a long shot...as you can see, she literally flew through!

All of the kid guests got to leave with a goodie bag filled with some Transformer stuff - little tidbits like stickers, pencils, temporary tattoos and the like. The special addition was a crystal (what gives Transformers their energy). Also included...candy!

Bags Decorated with Cricut Machine

Gum Balls - Autobots Roll Out!

Chocolate with a Special Thank you Wrapper

Dylan had a ton of fun and I think (hope) the rest of the guests did as well. I counted it a successful party on my part. Now, I only have 6 months to work on Cade's birthday party. Back to the drawing board!