Drew's Birthday and Party

Drew's 4th birthday was last Sunday and his party was the very next morning.  The four year old privilege is to get out of a car seat and into a booster AND not to have to take a nap.  He can opt for a nap or rest time in his room now.

His birthday morning we went to Mass and he got his birthday blessing from our priest.  Then we came home and opened presents.  He had already opened his gifts from my side of the family at the beach and so he only had a couple to open on Sunday morning.  He got a Mass kit, a Nerf gun, and two painted peg superheros that I painted him.  You can tell what's important in this family...our God and our guns.  :)  And don't forget the superheros!  The children also made him some special gifts.

 He chose to go to Barley and Hops which is our family favorite on Sunday nights because they have two free kid's meals for every one adult meal.  That is a rare thing at restaurants, where we can get four free kid's meals, and it saves us around $25-30.  So, good choice Drew!  I'm not ashamed to say we made the suggestion that we go there.  ;)  They don't sing to the kids there, but they did give him a giant bowl of ice cream for free too.

He's a beautiful boy if you don't mind me saying so.

Monday Brian took off to help me at the birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.  We chose a Monday morning because I am not a fan of a crowded Chuck E. Cheese and thought most kids would be in school.  Wrong!  It was a teacher in service day or something.  That's the first thing that went wrong.  Second, we arrived just before 10:30am to throw our own party (meaning I didn't hire Chuck E. Cheese to run my party because I am too cheap,) but the website was mistaken and they didn't open until 11am.  So we improvised and had cake first in the gazebo out front.  When the cake part was over, they were opening the doors so it worked out okay, but it had me a little stressed.

The cake, by the way was a complete cheat.  I made Lego brownies.  Way too easy.  But it worked, and I have a newborn still.  Well, he's kinda is a newborn.  He's two months today, but his head is still floppy so it counts as having a newborn.

These Lego head favor bags were a cinch to make.  I just used a Sharpie and made the faces.  Then I baked rice crispie treats and lemon cookies to fill them.

We bought the pizza, drinks, and tokens.  Then the real fun began.

Bobby slept through it all.  Judah had fun sitting on rides that I didn't put tokens in to carry on my mother's tradition of tricking the kids into believing that is what they are for.  Who needs the Bob the Builder Truck to actually move?  Use your imagination, right?

Problem number three came when some of our friends who I hadn't invited because I thought they were going to be in school showed up as a complete coincidence at the same time.  I felt absolutely awful!  We invited them to join us anyway with my deepest apologies for not inviting them.  I didn't know school was out until two days before the party.  Strike three and I'm out!

Drew got this Spiderman sleeping bag for his birthday and he brings it down for movies (and the Republican debates) and has slept on the floor in his room with it too.

This actually makes sounds just like the Chewy in Star Wars.  It's been a popular toy.  Thank you, godparents!