A birthday party for Mr. Independent

We had a fantastic party for Lex this weekend (if I do say so myself). Lots of family and friends. The weather was perfect, as it has been for his birthday every year so far! I was trying to come up with some organized games, but it was tough because of the age range of the kids and because I wasn't really sure who would even be there. Instead we did a bunch of activity stations, including bubbles, balloon animals (thanks Julie!), ball pool (the hit of Lex's 2nd bday party), face painting, ice cream sandwich making (thanks Ellen!), etc. The kids basically ran around and played with everything. We also have the swing set my parents got Lex last year, a big slide that our neighbor gave us as a hand-me-down, and the new picnic table from my parents this bday. There was lots for the kids to do. We also had lots of food, especially considering it was a 2-4ish party, between lunch and dinner. I have this not-so-odd need to have lots and lots of food available for any event :) Alan's mom made fried chicken and deviled eggs, my mom made tofu salad, and I made a watermelon bowl fruit salad, brownies, and other stuff. It was great. Now we will be eating leftovers for a very long time :) Lex asked for a square cake, so I made him an alphabet block type cake - 4 square cakes layered on top of each other, bordered with Twizzlers and decorated with a frosting "3" on top, "Happy Birthday" on one side, and "L", "E", "X" on the other three sides. It held together, looked good and tasted excellent! :) Overall I think everyone had fun. Lex, surprisingly, took a nap and I woke him up when everyone started arriving and asking for the birthday boy. Not surprisingly it took him a few minutes to warm up to the crowd, but then he had a great time.

I also wanted to add a note about Lex's recent burst of independence. He's been dressing himself and wanting to do some things on his own for awhile, but lately he suddenly wants to do EVERYTHING for himself. He makes his own snack mix (Goldfish, Annie's Bunnies, and dried fruit), pour his own cereal, pour his own milk!, get his own Zone bars, cup of water, etc. It's a little scary, but for the most part he does pretty well. The first day he asked to make his own snack I immediately thought "no way!" but was able to control that impulse and I let him make it (with my oversight and small assistance) and he did really well. So now I'm trying to let him do as much as he wants to on his own, within reason and safety, of course. He even helps with Eve more and more, feeding her, getting things for her, putting her shoes on for her, etc. As I've said many times before, it's so amazing to watch a kid grow and learn and develop into an independent person. We are very lucky to have this opportunity, twice!

(This post was interrupted by some thumping and bumping upstairs. I went up to find Lex with wet PJs and a wet bed, saying "My bed is all wet. I wanted to see what was in my cup" (water cup). The big dresser drawer was wide open (he was trying to get new sheets) and the diaper pail tipped over (he climbed on it to open the drawer). As I was changing the sheets he said he needed a new diaper and promptly dropped his diaper on the floor and headed to the dresser for a new one. I turned around and saw a poopy diaper laying on the floor and Lex dashing across the room. Too much independence!! And poor Eve laying sleepily in her crib wishing we would all just go away. Note that I started a new bar down the side with Lex quotes. He says some great stuff sometimes and I often wish I wrote things down so I could remember them later. So now I will! He's going to be very embarrassed by this blog someday.)

And now the moment you've all been waiting for... Blogger does a terrible job of putting pics inline, which is why I've been throwing them at the end lately. Makes it easier to add captions too. I won't post all 444 pictures here, just a few ;) Here we go...

Eve chillin' in the ball pool before the party got started. Once Lex fell asleep for his nap we all went outside and set up all the activity stations, got the balloons in place, food out, etc.

Drooly girl!

Eve in her party dress. I've decided 1yr is the most photogenic time. Kids are so personable and silly and not at all camera shy. Makes for great pictures.

I thought it would be fun to get a picture of all of the kids sitting on the new picnic table. Challenging, but worth it. What I didn't expect is that all the kids would settle in nicely, except the birthday boy!! Rose and Joyce were snapping awhile (I'll post the whole series on the photo site soon) and still we were unable to get a picture without me holding Lex in place. Oh well, it's a very nice group shot anyway. Maybe someday I'll edit myself out :)

For weeks Lex has been asking to "play running games at my birthday party." And by "running games" he means my modified version of Red Rover. We weren't able to get all the kids playing, but I got these four running pretty fast for awhile. I think it satisfied Lex's desire for running games.

Cake time! It took a group effort to blow out the candles... but notice who isn't helping? :)

Mema and Eve.

Time for presents! This is the first time that I wasn't involved in the unwrapping process with my kids. Rose and Joyce helped Lex, Barney took notes, and I socialized and kept the rest of the party going. It was interesting later that night to go through the gifts and see what he got.

Quick reading break.

What's a party without wrapping paper fights?

One benefit of outdoor parties. They really get some air, don't they?!?

The party tired Molly right out!

The party tired Lex right out too! Jim made him a party mix CD, so Lex spent some time mellowing out, eating a snack and listening to music.

That's one very happy 3yr old!

The next day in the front yard.

I will try and put all (or at least lots more) of the photos up on the photos site soon. I also have to give photo credits to Rosy, Joyce and Barney. My camera wasn't working well and most of the pics came from their cameras (or B using my camera). I love having other people in charge of photography :) Thanks!!