Pumpkin Party

Joshua's birthday party was held in our backyard this year at 10 am. I had went out Thursday morning with Caleb while Joshua was at school and bought all the pumpkins, paints, brushes, sponges (and food!) for the party, and Shawn helped me get everything set up that morning. Here's the craft table waiting for our guests to arrive. Aunt Missy came first, but I'm not sure who was next. Either Brian & Gayle with Grant & Jenavieve or my sister and her kiddos. Not long thereafter arrived Aunt Alicia & Jordon, followed by Mom & Ken and Nonie & Poppy. Aunt Becky came later.

As soon as all the kids arrived, we got them started painting their pumpkins. Joshua LOVES pumpkins and was very excited that he was able to paint these lovely things that Daddy had cleaned the day before. While he's wearing a white shirt, he didn't get one drop of paint on him, unlike some of the other kiddos. He is meticulously clean! The picture to the right is one of my favorites of him from the day. Look at the smile on his face! He was happy everyone was there and painting with him.

His favorite color he told me is green, followed by purple and then blue. He painted his pumpkin mostly green, and before he started adding red to it, it looked like a globe to me.

Caleb was not as clean as his brother. His favorite color is yellow, and he began painting his entire pumpkin yellow at first. Soon he got other colors and started wearing them. Silly goose!

The parents and "older kids" watched as the younger ones had fun!

I started snapping pictures of the different kiddos. Here's Faith:

And Grace, who gave her pumpkin a face:

Here are cousins Jordon and Grant:

I thought the picture of Grant below was cute. I just now noticed the green on his shirt. I didn't use washable paint because all the research I did said that non-washable acrylic paint was the best for adhering to pumpkins.

Jenavieve was enjoying painting her pumpkin:

And little John enjoyed eating the paint. I had to get a picture of his red lips:

Caleb sat next to John and Daniel.

Daniel's favorite color is also green. I thought this picture of him painting was cute:

And here's Emma with her pumpkin:

Next to Emma was Joshua at the end, with the balloons tied to his chair.

I kept snapping more pictures as they were painting, and so did Daddy. I just picked out the favorites from the day. Look at Caleb's face below! So cute!

And Jenavieve's blue face and pretty smile:

And here's Joshua before he started painting the stem. Our pumpkins are now proudly displayed on our back deck table. :) :) :)

The weather that morning was gorgeous! We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.

Here's the birthday boy in action!

Mom & Ken came to the party. Unfortunately, Grandpa Georgia was sick this past weekend, so he didn't make it.

And Mamaw took a picture of Shawn & me that day. Joshua was so happy that it was his birthday and so thankful for his party that it made us all smiles. He's a good boy!

And here's a sampling of the finished pumpkins, drying as we continued on with other activities.

When they were finished, the kids got up and started to play outside. Here's a cute picture of Jordon.

They all liked to hang out at the stone wall behind our house.

Jordon & Joshua are so cute together. His older cousin is so sweet to him. Shawn captured these pictures of the boys together.

After everyone was done, we let Joshua open his gifts. He got some really neat things! I think his favorites included Harold the Helicopter and the King (from the Cars movie), new DVDs of "Letters" (or, Words, actually) and "Johnny" (a cute Cars-themed video from Focus on the Family), and new stickers. He was also blessed with some craft items, a real chef's hat & apron, new preschool workbooks, new books and puzzles, a talking Woody doll, new big boy undies, a new dress shirt, and more! He was so excited!

Here's him opening his gifts with his helpers. He loves stickers!

And the crowd watched as he ripped open his gifts and got excited. Once he opened "the King" (which he told us he had to have once he turned four), he wasn't sure if he wanted to open anything else. :) We should have saved it for last. Thanks to everyone for all the amazing gifts that blessed him on his big day!

Here he is giving Jordon a hug for his King the car and Harold the Helicopter.

After he was done opening his gifts, we got out the birthday cake and cupcakes. This year, he helped me make his birthday cake. Normally I order cakes, but I thought this would save money and make it special as another activity we did together. Since we just did a fall theme for his birthday, this also worked out just as well. We had funfetti cake topped with chocolate butter cream icing below and cupcakes with decorative icing and spider rings below them.

Both boys enjoyed helping to bake the cake. We washed their hands good and then they helped dump the ingredients into the bowl and held onto the mixer while it mixed the batter, etc. Here's the spread of food we had for the party: cake, ice cream, grapes, watermelon, bananas, pretzels, milk, juice, water, soda and coffee. Unfortunately, I fear that my coffee make bit the dust that morning. :( :( :(

Joshua came up and we sang happy birthday to him.

He loves songs and he loves the attention of it being his birthday. He told us that Caleb's birthday is all done - now it's his turn!

When it came time to blow out the candles, he didn't have enough air to do so. So, Daddy & Caleb helped him.

Then everyone got plates and ate their birthday cake and snacks. Here's a few of the kids at the kids table.

Other folks sat on chairs in our lawn.

Don't you just love the Bean's face in the picture below? He was beaming all morning. Thanks, everyone, for coming to make Joshua's pumpkin-painting party fun! More pictures & stories from the rest of the Bean's birthday to come!