Now I do not know what is more suprising, the fact that time has flown by so fast that the Boy is 5, or the fact that he has actually survived for five years with us as his parents! Anyway, in keeping with tradition we - and by we I really mean mostly me - had a crazy, chaotic, calamitous, cacophony of copious children! Owen is a very social person, he likes to be with friends (In fact, most mornings he wakes us and asks us if he gets to go to someone else's house that day - like he doesn't want to hang out with us...can't say that I blame him) In the end we ended up with 15 children and 14 adults.
Luckily we have a large backyard, allowing us to entertain the children with three pools, a slip and slide, waterguns, and 197 water balloons! (It was supposed to be 200, but of course there are some casualties in the filling.)
The kids aren't quite old enough to get the slip and slide idea, but they had a lot of fun doing there own thing! (It could also be because the ground is hard as concrete and wasn't the nicest thing to slide on. I had spent the entire morning getting all of the rocks and limbs and twigs out of the way, but that doesn't help if the ground itself is just plain hard.
Now you may have been wondering how we managed to get so many parents to hang out at a birthday party. I know that you have been to one of those parties when most of the parents just dump their children off and then go and enjoy an afternoon of restored sanity, while those who stay at the party are forced to deal with everyone's unruly children! Well our parties are different - First, Owen has good friends whose parents like to be around them. Second, the food is awesome! Yes there are hotdogs for the children, but then there are Spicy Italian Sausages for the Adults as well as fresh fruit salad and homemade Strawberry Lemonade! But really the key to getting parental involvement is to actively encourage them to get their children wet!!
The kids got little water guns, but the parents got the big ones. (Owen managed to get one of them from a parent...when you are the birthday boy you can sweet talk your way into things like that.)
Be honest, if you had a chance to drench your child, wouldn't you?
Usually the parents get first crack at the water balloons, but the boy jumped the gun and got them out on his own, so mass pandemonium ensued!!
It took about an hour to fill the 197 balloons (We had bought 300, but we didn't enough cooler space for that many...) but it only took about 4 minutes to use them all...good times!!
Yeah...this did not end well for me...
The children were throwing balloons at anyone and everyone!!
Owen actually climbed inside the cooler to get the water balloons and hand them to people, then he couldn't get back out!
But the real fun starts when the parents turn on each other!!!!
Into the pool with you!!!
In case you missed the last post where I showed a sneak peak of Owen's cake, here it is again:
I have had people ask me where we got it, and I am trying to not be offended. They are just so overcome by the awesome that they cannot believe that such awesome can be achieved by a regular guy like me. That's right, I made this Spiderman cupcake cake myself!!! But if you remember what I did last year, this was easy!
(To help you remember, here is the one from last year...)
Anyway, the cake was a tremendous hit (of course) and makes it so easy to get everyone served because there is no cutting and no plates, the kids can just come and grab one!!
Singing some "Happy Birthday"
Birthdays, the only time you blow on the food before serving it to your guests!
Yum!!!
Opening presents was an exercise in patience for all parties involved, except the boy - he was pretty laid back the entire time. The other children tried to sit so that everyone could see, but it is hard to not come up and play with all of the new toys!!! Trying to take pictures was nigh impossible, so you are getting what you are getting!
Owen's best friend Dean and Scott's present was first of course!
This dinosaur actually walks and roars...I like to set up the cars and let him go all Godzilla on them!!
Francesco!!!!!!! (He's from Cars 2)
Owen didn't do a good job of holding the present for the camera, luckily Frankie was there to help out!!
This giant book is full of all sorts of coloring things and games and word finds and such, good times!!
If the present takes two kids to carry it, it must be Awesome...
And it is awesome! Owen's first remote control car!! (It is pretty tough too, it can go over rock piles and logs and stuff...)
A giant bulldozer that will go nicely with his dumptruck...
You know the present is good if all of the children rush around it!!
More Legos!!!!
More Cars!!!
By this point, while Owen continued to open presents, the other children were busy playing with the stuff he had already opened!
A new Puzzle!!!
Ever since I went to the eye doctor and got new glasses and a pair of sports goggles, the boy has desperately wanted some goggles...
Super Awesome!!!
But of course the thing everyone wanted to play with was the remote control car!!
Only 11 more years until he'll be trying this with the family car!!
The big activity book has stickers inside...is this the Boy warning us about tattoos in the future?
After all of the guests left we opened some cards from family far away...
Unlike previous birthdays, Owen now understands what these green pieces of paper are!!!
Papa made him take the time to read the card. (Oh, by the way, don't know if I've shared this, but the Boy can read.)
One of the disadvantages to living so far away from family is that they have to ship presents...this can be a good thing, as sometimes the birthday celebrations last for days, with new presents showing up every day.
Monday brought this giant package from Tia...
Which contained a Perry the Platypus Guitar!!
The Boy immediately began to play...
And Papa immediately took it away and tuned it!!!
I think the boy may have watched too many rock videos from the 80's...
On Tuesday another package came, this time from Grandpa Coins and Grandma Carolee...
While it looks like Cars 2, it is also Legos...mind is blown!
They had to be put together immediately!!!
Super Awesome!!!
It really is hard to believe that the Boy is 5, but every day is another wonderful adventure! Now we have another year to plan his next party!!!
By the way, I am excited to announce that on the day after the party NOTHING FELL in the back yard!!!! In case you forgot, this is what happened the day after Owen's party last year:
And this is what happened the day after our Easter Egg Party...
A big storm came through, and we watched out the window waiting for something to fall, but we lucked out this time!!!
