birthday party!!!

On the Saturday morning after Luke's birthday we had a little party for some of his friends in the backyard. Here are just a few pictures: there are tons more on the photo site.

The yard before the party--no, it does not look like this all the time,
as some one asked me! We just moved some furniture down from the deck, out of the house and borrowed some from friends. And added a beanbag game that we made.

Over here is a ball toss game under the tree and by the fence is an art center for painting.

Bubbles on the little table and balls. But the biggest hit was the bubble mower. I was amazed how the other boys, especially, fought over that silly mower.

Luke, elbow deep in the sand table, with Mimi and Beth

Luke and the bubble wand...

Snacks, ho!!

Hanging out on the picnic blanket with some popcorn snacks...

How many kids can fit on that little slide?

Luke and his buddy, Raul on the swings

After a quick lunch, make-your-own ice cream sundaes!! The most popular ingredients? Marshmallows, sprinkles and whipped cream on chocolate ice cream. My personal favorite was vanilla with chocolate syrup, strawberries and chocolate chips.

Henry the box head, blowing bubbles....

Where poor Henry spent a fair bit of the party...on the sidelines, hopefully with someone he knew. He was quite confused, I think, except at eating time. Then he knew right where to go!

In a borrowed tunnel that was part of the obstacle course, but more popular
as a stand-up hiding place

Luke the clown!! Since the theme was kind of a carnival theme, in
the goody bags were these clown noses.

Luke really enjoyed himself and thanked me at bedtime for such a fun day. And several people commented on how nice home birthday parties are and how rare nowadays. A bit more stressful, but not much more than having to pack it all up and go to a separate location. And it was nice not to have to clean up and be out of there by a certain time. Too bad about having summer birthday kids--it was pretty warm by the end of lunch!!

And a special thanks to Auntie Beth and Mimi for coming and helping out with the party. Sam was sacked under with auditors all week so without them I would have not been sleeping at night!! And they were in their natural teacher element with all those kids--it was awe-inspiring to watch. Hats off to teachers who hold down more kids than that everyday and manage to teach them something!