Birthday Fun!

We have a four year old!!  Ok, here comes a super cliche (but true) thing to say...  Where has the time gone?!  How can we have a four year old already?!  Even though Mitchell has looked like a four year old for quite a while already (well, he has actually been mistaken for a 5 and 6 year old before because he is so tall for his age), he did not actually turn four until May 9th.  We did our best to make his birthday special, which was quite a bit of work this year since I had just given birth to Colin and I was also really sick (I had a sinus infection, and bladder and kidney infection).  But thank goodness my parents were here to help, and Chris did a lot of the legwork for the party.  This was Mitchell's first year having a birthday party with his friends, and he was super excited.  His party was pirate themed:  the kids dressed up with eye-patches and mustaches, had sword fights, pirate themed snacks, and even went on a treasure hunt.  Everyone had a good time and Mitchell loved being a king Captain for a day!  Happy birthday baby boy (you'll always be our baby:)

On the morning of his birthday, Chris took Mitchell to the store to pick out some donuts for his birthday breakfast.  But I think Mitchell was more excited to ride in his favorite shopping cart.  He LOVES riding in this cart; he calls it HIS yellow race car.  And we were very happy to see it was available for him on his birthday, because we have had our share of tantrums from this boy when we go to the store and this cart is not available.

Oh my goodness!  So many choices!  He felt very big getting to pick out the donuts for everyone.

Not that there is really a "wrong" way to eat a donut, but we thought it was cute how he dove right into the middle of the donut.  Hey, his birthday his rules:)

So, about a week before Mitchell's birthday, we asked him what he wanted as a present.  He said, "A sword!"  So, we ordered him a sword from online and didn't really say anything else about it.  Well, the day before his birthday, a plain brown box/packaged arrived and he wanted us to open it.  We told him the box was for him and he would have to wait until tomorrow (his birthday) to open it.  He immediately said, "Yes!  I can't wait to open my sword!  I'm going to play with my sword on my birthday."  Haha, boy, am I glad we actually got him a sword.  I thought he might have forgotten about it, but nope.  He loves his sword:) 

The next day (May 10th) is when our schedule worked best to have Mitchell's actual birthday party with his friends.  Here he is with a couple of his friends, Emmy and Alexander, in their pirate gear of patches and mustaches.  Mitchell's extra cheesy smile here just cracks me up!!

Here is an action shot (sorry for the blurriness) of the kids playing with their swords.  Which are also water guns that Chris stayed up the night before making for all of the kids; he's such a cool dad:)

Here are the kids enjoying some "pirate" snacks: oranges (to ward off scurvy), cannonballs (cheeseballs), and some pirate's peg-legs (pretzels).  Around the table are his friends Paisley, Alexander, Aiden, Emmy, and Jackson.

Here is Mitchell's birthday cake; a pirate treasure map.

Getting ready to light his candles... He really has mastered the cheesy smile as he is yelling "Cheese!"  Lol!

Time to open presents!  Haha, Chris was supposed to be policing the gift situation, but all the kids ran over to them like a horde of elephants and it took him a few minutes to fend them off.  Lol!

There we go... a little more order.  Haha, and this lasted about 2 minutes before we had to remind all the kids to stay back and keep sitting down in a circle so we could all see Mitchell open his presents.  Lol!  I just love their enthusiasm; they all wanted Mitchell to open the present they brought him (and most of them told him what it was before he opened it).  Gotta love four year olds:)

Enjoying the present Alexander got him:)  This big ball was a hit!

When we decided to give the kids these "pirate" swords, we thought the day could go one of two ways: either the kids will have a blast with them and everything will be fine, or one kid (or two) is going to end up hurt & crying and their parents are not going to be too happy with us.  Haha, well, the kids needed a few warnings here and there to be a little more soft, but overall they had a blast with them and no one got hurt!  And I love Jackson telling Mitchell to open up his presents... seriously, all the kids were so excited for the presents (I mean, can you blame them though?!).

Blowing out his birthday candles!!  Haha, we had no idea when we bought these that they were trick candles; but it was hilarious to watch Mitchell try and try to blow them out.  Until the poor kid started to get frustrated... "It not working!"  Haha!  And I absolutely love his expression as everyone is singing to him... he's so excited and happy!



Of course, you can't have a pirate party without a treasure hunt!  Ok, full disclosure... I was really sick during the party (I was only functioning at the party because I was on a lot of meds at the time, Lol!), and I hid the puzzle pieces about 15 minutes before the party guests arrived.  I planned on having these cute rhymes written out as each piece was found, but in between taking care of Colin and sleeping when I could, I didn't make time to do that; so I made the rhymes up off the top of my head as the kids went along in the treasure hunt.  And, as you will see in the video, I totally forgot where I had even hidden one of the puzzle pieces!  (Hey, give me a break, I was sick, sleep deprived, and on some pretty strong medicine.  Lol!).  I eventually did remember where the puzzle piece was, so no harm no foul:)  Hey, all that really matters is that the kids had a blast!  The treasure hunt led them to their goodie-bags, which were originally neatly put together, but they destroyed when they found them.  Haha!  It was all actually really cute!  Happy birthday Mitchell!  We love you so much!