Birthday Party Extravaganza

Yesterday, we had Grady's OFFICAL birthday party, complete with a jumphouse and FRIENDS.  The jumphouse arrived at noon, and (as you can see) the kids were quivering with excitement about that part of the event.  But, the friends didn't arrive until ONE, and all day Grady asked me "when are my friends coming?  Who's coming over?  Are they coming for MY BIRTHDAY?"  I guess it was the first birthday where he really "got" that the celebration was all about him, and he just ate that up.

I knew bouncehouses were fun, but I guess I did not realize the degree of fun to be had when there is one IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD.  The kids seriously jumped, wrestled, "flew," and ran in that thing for about 6 hours straight, if not longer.  Definitely worth the $110.  Definitely.  The fun and excitement were contagious, even if I had hoped for a Hot Wheels jumphouse, and ended up with a Super Hero jumphouse.  Grady thought it was AWESOME.

I'm so proud of this little birthday party, too, because I think we FINALLY managed to achieve that relaxed, hanging out kind of party we always strive for.  We had the bouncehouse set up out back, beer/caprisons/water/some-kind-of-crap-koolaid-drink in the cooler, snacks in the house, music playing, and chairs for everyone.  It was very low key, which was what made it so very, very fun. 
Grady wanted a tractor cake for his party, but there was a little mix-up at the cake lady, so he had a Toy Story cake with Tractor accessories thrown in for effect.  It's hard getting that third kid's stuff all together, ya know!  The first two kind of wear you out!  But, Grady didn't care, we talked up it's awesomeness, and he totally agreed.  He thought it was the BEST BIRTHDAY CAKE EVER, and so really-that's all that matters.

After blowing out the candles, and blowing those crazy little blow things that drive me insane, but that I always buy, we handed out cake to all the kids and directed them to the trampoline to feast-again very upscale and fancy party plans.

Not sure what is going on there with Tanner's face-always something around here.  :)  The kids had a blast having cake on the trampoline though-who knew?  And even when all the kids had returned to the superfun jumphouse, Grady lingered just relishing in his moment, and his day.

Yes, that is cake all over the trampline.  I'm pretty much a genius for that part of our plan.  Absolute genius.  After all the friends left, the Scroggins Clan took a turn in the jumphouse.  The day was so beautiful, I snuck in there to hide from clean up and hope for a nap.  I was quickly caught, and jumped upon by all the boys-including Marley who was completely stressed out by the entire experience.   Finally, it was time to say goodbye to the jumphouse, which I was worried about.  I wasn't quite sure Grady understood the fact that we had BORROWED it for the day, and I was right-but after a little coaxing and bribing, he came down of his ledge, and accepted the fact that the jumphouse was going to go visit another little boy to give that boy an awesome birthday, too.

Four years old.  Man, time really does bounce along.