He's 4!

Well his birthday finally came; He asked everyday, and I think he thought it would never come. With it being 4 year olds I decided to only invite a small number of kids, those whom he plays the most with. Kade is really into Cars and Diego so I combinded the two for the invitations since we hadn't planned the rest of the party and we didn't know what kind of party we'd do.Whenever Kade talks about










birthdays he always talks about a pinata, balloons, party hats, friends, birthday cake and ice cream. We covered his bedroom floor with balloon last night and so we were excited for his reaction in the morning; There was none. He didn't notice them because it was still dark so we went in later and he covered his mouth with excitement and stood there excited for quite a while. I can't get enough of seeing my kids so happy or excited. We had it all this year. This was the first year we've done a friend party. Darryl's parents had to come up for business and so it was fun to have them here for the day. Darryl also came home for the party and ran a few fabulous rounds of Dora, Dora, Diego (aka. Duck, Duck, Goose.) We played Piston Cup Red Light, Green Light; A Diego Animal Rescue where they searched for hidden cut outs of animals with their "Click" cameras(I found these perfect party favors at Walmart. You can see pictures of animals when you look in the camera. I think they were 4 for 98 cents!) The kids were so cute they walked around looking for the animals like tourist looking through their cameras and clicking like crazy. When it was time for the gifts we gave each child their gift and they all tore into them and proudly held them up when they had it unwrapped. It was so funny, however I felt bad because Kade didn't really get to thank each kid and see what was gifts were from whom. We learned for next time. Then it was off to the pinata. Rescue Pack turned into a pinata for Kade's party. He was pretty excited about that. I couldn't believe how long the pinata lasted. Each kid put a pretty nice hole in it but it didn't completely give all the candy until Darryl shook the stick a little. They all dove in and started collecting the candy in their little baggies then Garrett enthusiastically stood and held his bag up for all to see. He'd picked out all the bubbles and had no candy. We let him keep a majority of the bubbles since that is what he obviously wanted but we did trade out a few bubbles for candy so the other kids could have a bubble-- too funny.










I could only find Barbie party hats so I opted to make my own. I think they ended up looking like Dunce caps but Kade thought they were cool. Kade wanted cupcakes instead of a cake so I decorated some cupcakes with Diego fruit snacks. They all sang and Kade's little buddy Braxton helped him blow out the candles. Seven kids, all 4 and under, with cupcakes and ice cream-- turned out much less messy than I expected. It was a bit of a whirlwind but SO MUCH FUN! Kade was so sad that we had to take his friends home; I think he thought they would stay all day. : ( Unfortunately Granny and Grandpa had to leave too before the storm picked up. We spent the rest of the night playing with bombs(balls), trucks, glow sticks, block cars, spill the beans game, cookie game, builder book, and coloring with markers. He really wanted to do the finger paints too but that may have to wait until the grass is available. : ) It was such a great day for Kade.
I had to add the story behind the Pinata for future reference. I decided that a store bought pinata would be too hard for the kids to break so I decided to make my own. This was the beginning of a long road. The first mistake and the major mistake was that I blew up the balloon too much; It took me over and hour to do 1 layer. Then it had to dry for about 24 hours. Then repeat, repeat, repeat. I wanted to speed up the process so I turned a heater on in the room, well the heat made the balloon expand and warp and so it popped the layers I'd done. So I added a repairing step to the process. The pinata wasn't very sturdy so we added 2 layers of glue. Then 3 or 4 layers of paint, and a Diego Rescue Pack smiley face. Then reinforce the top with duct tape and insert and attach a hanger and Voila! you have a pinata. I'm sure I spent more money than one from the store would have cost and the time and mess surely wasn't worth $10. However to see the kids excitement when they would slam a hole in the pinata made it all worth it.