Caleb's Superhero Bounce Party!

We sent out the above invitation to our friends and family to invite them to Caleb's 5th birthday party. This year, he specifically told us he wanted a party. Our friends Chris & Lisa had a Doubletake deal for "That Bounce Place" that they gave us to use, so the bounce house rental was half price (thanks, friends!).

Caleb wanted to be Captain America, so we bought him the costume. I found the iron man costume for Joshua then, and they were thrilled to wear them on Saturday morning, July 6, even though it was HOT and humid.

 I picked up the cake from Giant (the only place that had anything "Avengers") at 8 am. I didn't realize that his cake topper lighted up, etc. until AFTER the party was over and I was throwing out the box. Whoops!

 The bounce house people arrived a little earlier than 8:30 am to set up the superheroes bounce house.

We purchased extra masks if any child wanted one, and we bought Avengers plastic cups as giveaways, filled with M&M's (Caleb's favorite candy) as the thank you gift for coming.

The snack table was also "Avenger" themed, but the only helium balloons we could find were Spider Man. Oh well! It's all super heroes, anyway!

Caleb's friend Isabella came dressed as Wonderwoman!

Her baby brother had on a super heroes shirt that said "BAM, ZAP, POW!" and had a little cape on the back. Poor Ryan did not have a costume or a shirt, but he didn't seem to mind!

Here are Daddy & Caleb jumping in the bounce house!

 Surprisingly, I think Ryan loved it the most out of anyone there! He kept begging to go back in for "more bouncy house." Even with it being in the 90s and humid, he was LOVING it!

In addition to the bounce house, the kids had a blast playing baseball with our real bases and pitcher Uncle Brian.

Here's cousin Jordyn and Ryan playing beach ball in the shade. Did I mention how hot it was!?!?!

 Soon it was time for the birthday boy to blow out his candles!

He had friends Julia and Sam from his preschool class last year (not related at all), cousins Grant & Jenavieve and Ben & Jordyn from Shawn's side and cousins Daniel & John from my side, and our family friends the Grube's. We kept the party intentionally small since there was a child & weight limit for the bounce house. :) :) :) Plus all the grandparents were traveling or away that weekend.

We served cake, three kinds of ice cream that Caleb picked out, Doritos, pretzels, grapes and snacks, along with lots of juice boxes and water. After everyone was finished eating, we let Caleb open his gifts. He was excited to get this new water gun & a new football, a sprinkler and pool rings, some super heroes, craft items and paint brushes and other fun toys.

 
After a majority of the friends had left, we invited Chris & Lisa and family to stay for lunch. We had pizza and then we all bounced in the bounce house afterward. FUN!

They left early in the afternoon, and our family bounced the rest of the day until the folks came to pick it up at 6 pm.

 
 The kids would do silly moves and we would go back and forth trying to do silly things like see if we could jump high enough to hit our head (only daddy could) or bounce on our bums, etc. The boys LOVED it, even though it was super hot!

After the folks came and picked it up, we took the boys out for more fun for dinner. Shawn suggested the McDonald's play land in Willow Street as a place we'd never been to before. It sounded like an adventure, so we said sure.

There was a little boy there between Caleb & Ryan's age who played with our kids and was having fun. There was a tree house to climb and a basket-a-ball thing for Ryan to try and an air hockey table, etc.

When we were done, we drove through County Park, but it started to rain so we ended up not getting out of the minivan.

Instead, we went home and after playing for a little while, we gave the kids a bath and then got them in their pajamas. Caleb requested that snack time be more cake and ice cream, and we said okay to that request. It was his birthday weekend, after all!

 
 We had had a really fun and very exhausting day!

 Ryan LOVED the bounce house! Caleb was thrilled to see his friends at his party and to have all his new gifts to play with!

 

Can you tell someone little enjoyed cake at this table? See the hand print? What a fun day!

Family Photos July 6, 2013

These pictures were our family photos that we had taken at the mall on Friday, July 5th. I specifically called to make our appointment this time and asked when our favorite photographer would be working. When I was told she had an evening appointment, I made it family shots instead of just Caleb's birthday pictures and asked Shawn to come to get updated family photos. I loved them and can't wait to get them back! I sort of put them in order of my favorites, with the top being one of the best ones we got. Enjoy the pictures along with the events from that week...

It had been awhile since we had a date night, so on Wednesday, July 3, I asked Miranda to come and watch the boys so we could go out since Shawn didn't have to work the following day. I was planning on grabbing a bottle of wine and heading to the Conestoga House & Gardens, which we haven't done yet this year. Unfortunately, the vineyard wasn't open during the week and it rained so we skipped the gardens. It was still nice to go out, though. We started with wings at the 915 cafe since we hadn't been there in over a decade. It was shadier than we even remembered it, so we enjoyed our wings appetizer and left. We ended up going over to Tobias S. Frog because the rain had stopped and they were wiping down tables to let folks enjoy the outdoors again. Shawn told me to get a drink and stop worrying about calories. So, I asked for recommendations and got something chocolate-y. I'm not sure if it was that I didn't know what to order or what, but the waitress asked for our IDs. She then took them to scan! I'm sure we look over 21, even though she appeared to be older than us. We laughed and assumed maybe she was looking for a bigger tip. It's been years since we've been carded! We had fun just people watching and talking without interruption. The boys also had fun playing.

On Thursday, July 4, we went to Panera Bread for breakfast as a family (talk about calories!). We all ate bagels with cream cheese and I got a chai. YUM! We ate outside at the picnic tables, and it was fun for something different. Our original idea was to eat at Oregon Dairy, but they no longer take reservations and the wait was too long for kids. Bummer, because I was hoping the boys could enjoy playing at their playground. Maybe another time, and maybe not...

Aunt Missy was at our house when we came back, dropping off a birthday gift for Caleb Luke (thanks so much!). The kids enjoyed seeing her and playing. After she left, Shawn & I tackled some yard work. One of the severe thunderstorms had attacked the trees in our backyard (maybe they were hit by lightning and then split or maybe it was the severe wind that broke them?!?!). Shawn cut off broken branches and I drug them to the minivan, where he had taken out the seats so I could fill it with yard debris. We took several loads to the dump that day. We now have a random hole or two where old trees couldn't be salvaged. It would be nice to get the whole thing removed and replaced with a fence. But, when we called an arborist and asked for a quote, he recommended keeping the barrier to the school up for sound, etc. He didn't give us a price but suggested we merely thin it out. Well, it's time and money we don't seem to have, but hopefully some day we'll clear even more of it out. It was a long day of hard work! Poor Shawn was covered in poison ivy until the end. I mowed the yard as he kept trimming. I ended the day by going for a run since I hadn't exercised yet. When we were done and showered, we took the boys to see fireworks, which I'll post about later.

Friday Shawn had to work. With my upcoming surgery, he didn't want to have to take off any more vacation days than necessary. So, he went into the office that day. I cleaned the house and had a meeting with one of my clients here at the house since I didn't have a good babysitter option. The boys were extremely well behaved - Ryan napped and I let the other boys have electronics in their room. After the meeting was over, we went to Old Navy to get Caleb a black shirt and then got ready for family pictures that night.

After family pictures were over, we ate at the food court. We got Burger King for the boys and Shawn & I split Chinese. My Chinese fortune said "There are no greater riches than a sound body." After we finished eating, I took Caleb up and down the escalators as a special treat - he LOVES that, and it's fun to do something simple and special to celebrate (after all, this was his birthday weekend, we kept reminding him). We ended the evening at the arcade with what little cash we had taken along.

Saturday morning we had Caleb's birthday party, which I will post about later.

Sunday we took the boys swimming at Universal, taking only the older two boys this time and letting Ryan play in the kidmazium. We also played some family board games that afternoon while Ryan napped. We ate dinner at Caleb's choice, which was Infinito's Pizza Buffet.

That was the end of the weekend leading up to Caleb's 5th birthday. We had created lots of fun family time and memories.

Enjoy the rest of the pictures...