Max's 6th Birthday

What a great big brother Max is! I have tons of photos to share...
I hope you had a great birthday. We love you so much!!

He had a backyard beach party ... these are the cupcakes I made. I even dyed the vanilla cake blue and put two swedish fish in each one - get it? :) Fun little surprise for the guests. I even found the cute beach ball and flip flip cookies at the dollar store. Cute? Yes. Gross and hard-as-rock? Oh yes.

Max and I headed out to get his free birthday breakfast, just the two of us. It's a bday tradition to go out for breakfast (free grand slam at denny's!). He has his bear, Jack, so we could take him to Build-a-Bear and get him an outfit (he got a $5 coupon in the mail so I told him we could do it on his birthday.) I don't know what other 6-yr-olds are into, but I love that he's still a little boy who loves his teddy.

He still wanted to ride with Bert & Ernie at Toys R Us, too. :)

Those stores sure know how to suck you in .. they sent a $3 gift card

for Max and of course you can't find anything in that store for less than $10. 

We had fun looking around, though, and he picked out a small toy.

Party time ...

easy decoration ... random fabric scraps just strung on a piece of twine. i thought it would work well to play beach ball volleyball, too, but i don't think that ever happened.

 snacks in the shade tent ... sun chips, capri suns, and otter pops.

Simon liked the slip-n-slide...

this is max sitting on the curb watching for his friend Jackson to arrive ... his bed buddy from Missouri days! We were so lucky they were in town visiting family and able to make it!

opening presents ... lots of yelling and excitement and hugs to everyone. it was cute/funny.

this little friend thought, hey ... i get the slip-in-slide to myself! who cares about presents for someone else!

ahhh the pinata. Max has been wanting a pinata for, well, probably his entire life. I finally let him pick one out at the party store. What a great idea ... candy + wildly swinging bat + small children= chaos! But for some reason they love it!

I should have gotten a better picture of all the kids scrambling for the candy. But then again I was probably making sure nobody got trampled!

Oh there was a full size beach cake that matched the cupcakes. I figured it was easier to blow out candles on the cake. Max said he was the bear who got off his towel and hopped in the water (click to see the cake up close) -- funny.

Simon was in heaven all afternoon ... treats galore and being outside ... his favorite things!

Max and Jacks - such cute buds. Wish we still lived close to these guys!

so glad that I finally got to meet Aimee's adorable twins. They are still so cute and tiny.

I wish I'd taken better photos ! Hosting these bday parties always take it out of me and I lose track of stuff.  We were lucky to have lots of other cousins and friends at the party, too. Thanks to all who came -- especially  Chris and Gretch who came from Idaho. What a fun weekend!

Now back to life ... Monday morning coming soon.