Monday, June 29, 2009

A Great Day for a Birthday Party

So, when the morning of James' party rolled around, I was concerned that we would get our 26th straight day of rain. Considering that the evening before we had a torrential thunderstorm, 20 minutes of golf-ball sized hail and lost power right in the middle of my food preparations (homemade potato salad, coleslaw and the dinosaur cake) it wouldn't have been crazy to expect rain.

But--we were lucky and the sun came out in full force to shine down on James' special day.

We picked up a ton of balloons right before the party and James was very excited to hold a bunch of them--I think he thought he was going to float off into the sky!


Here is my beautiful Ella with my handsome hubby.


Our big gift to James this year? A bouncy house! Check out his tongue--HYSTERICAL!


Here is his little friend Colin--he was such a sweetie and the boys played ALL AFTERNOON. Look at James' feet on the right of the pic above--another funny one! Gotta love that sport shot setting on my camera!


We set up a pack and play in the shade next to the bouncy house so that Ella could see all of the fun--I think she really wanted to play with the big kids!


James had such a blast in the bouncy house--I love his huge smile in this photo.


Colin was funny--he would dive into the bouncy house, jump around, and them come hurling out of it and down the slide, and then run to Baby Ella and kiss her, or touch her face or hold her hands. It was a little game they were playing!


The bean bag toss is always a hit! An old friend of Chris' came down with his son for the party. I hadn't seen them in YEARS and it was so fun to reconnect!



A dinosaur must have visited during the party when no one was looking, because these huge tracks led all the way down the sidewalk right up to the door!


We let a couple of balloons go for the kids (crossing our fingers that no birds would be harmed) and I snapped this shot of my sister-in-law and her son Matthew. Adorable!


Here are my friends Tara (on the left) and Stacey (on the right). I met Tara in 1994 when we were both working in regional theatre and she has been a steadfast friend ever since. She flew out to Vegas to help me back with the kiddos! And Stacey and I worked together when I got my first "corporate" job ten years ago. I missed them terribly when I moved to Vegas--and when we moved back it was like the five years had never happened and we fell right into our old ways again. It has been such a pleasure to know them--authentic, honest, sweet and funny--I love them both dearly.


Cake? Did somebody say cake? Yes, I made this dinosaur cake. You can get the instructional video here. For a good laugh, you should watch it--the cake decorator ices it in about 30 seconds. IT TOOK ME AN HOUR. Seriously. Next time I will leave the cake making to the experts, like my friend Katie, who made James' first birthday cake!

What a great day. Thanks to our friends and the weather--James' party was PERFECT.

6 comments:

Sarah@VintageChic said...

The cake looks WONDERFUL! Great job! The balloons are beautiful. I really love the colors! Glad the weather cooperated for James' big day!

Kelly said...

...what a beautiful day. Everyone looks like they are having fun. I have to say I miss those days very much. I remember Matty's 3rd birthday. Matty's 14th birthday is Wednesday. It will be just as much fun, but I do miss those very cute baby years!! :-)

Liz said...

ps - that's a great shot of Kimmie & Matthew!

Liz said...

Great recap!
I was thinking about Dinosaurs for Wyatt's 2nd bday. But he still really loves Sesame Street so I will hold onto that for as long as I can. :)
My nieces have that bouncy house and they still blow it up for every gathering and they're 7 & 8! Love it!

TeresaR said...

The skies smiled on James for his big day! :)

It may have taken you an hour to frost the cake, but it is spectacular!

Allison said...

Thanks everybody!

Sarah--I know what you mean about the balloon colors, they were repeated in our homemade decorations too. Fun for summer!

Kelly, I am already clinging SO TIGHTLY to these young years!

Thanks Liz. It was so fun! That is great that he loves Sesame Street--James was really into Elmo and then all of a sudden POOF and he was done. That is great to hear about the bouncy house! It was a good deal and so easy to set up!

Yes Teresa, you are so right, the skies did smile down on him! And thanks--I am already thinking that I might tackle Ella's cake--how soon we forget the trauma related to a project when it comes out good in the end!