This And That: Birthday Craziness

It has been almost a month, and we've have two birthdays around here in that time so I'm way behind as usual. This post will be super long and boring to most people! Seth and Luke have birthdays two weeks apart, so it's always a little crazy. I really need to do a post about each of them because they have both been growing and changing like crazy, but I'll just start with the birthday festivities. I told the boys that they can have a party with friends every other year if they want, and we will go somewhere or do something with family the other year. This year they both wanted parties with friends, but we also wanted to celebrate with family so with birthdays on Fridays they both had nonstop birthday weekends. It was lots of fun.

Seth had a spiderman party on the day before his birthday. We invited his preschool class plus a few neighbors and friends from the ward so there were ten 3 and 4-year-olds at our house! Of course it poured that day, so we ended up having it downstairs in the unfinished basement. Seth was so shy at first and didn't want to participate but then he warmed up and had a lot of fun. The kids colored treat boxes, did a spider web walk, and played pin the spider on the web. The biggest hit was when I gave them each a can of silly string and let them have at it on the patio. They loved it! Seth shot the whole can out in about 1 minute. Some of the other kids were so little they needed help pushing the trigger! We ate spiderman cupcakes and had presents, and it worked out great. My mom came and helped, and I immediately put Luke to work when he got home from school...so we survived! Thanks mom.

That red frosting was quite messy. Ian enjoyed both of his brother's birthdays thoroughly!

This was the whole little gang plus Luke. The little boy in front with glasses is our next door neighbor Jeff...he and Seth have become best buddies since they moved in last summer. They were all so cute and sweet!

Saturday May 21st was Seth's actual birthday. I can't believe he's four! Luke had a soccer game that morning, so we went to that and out to lunch with Grandpa Boyd and Grandma Cid. Later in the afternoon my parents and TJ and Amy joined us for some mini golfing at Renegade Sports. I went there because I thought for sure Seth would want to do the go karts. He chose mini golf instead but then wanted to ride the karts as they were closing. We had a fun time though so that will have to be another outing. We headed back to the house later so cookout and celebrate some more. The Picketts joined us which was fun...my kids think their kids are amazing (and they are great)! I appreciate them being like some extra aunts and uncles to my kiddos (and of course Blake and Julie). It's great to join our small families together for special occasions. Thanks!

Seth is not a fan of cake or ice cream, so we had strawberry shortcake instead. He loved it and piled the whip cream high. We also had some of Seth's favorites: hot dogs, fruit, and Cheetos on the menu.

The weather was beautiful, and the kids had a blast playing outside. Seth loved all of his presents. My mom made him a quilt...I need to put a picture on...he chose Nascar fabric. Yep. It's very cute though.

He also loved this totally sweet Transformers outfit he got.

The kids also had a little impromptu dance party. Ian especially was rocking it and making everyone laugh. He is a ham! Troy even got to listen to his favorite Justin Bieber for a minute.

Two weeks later it was time to party all over again. Luke wanted a sports birthday, and it actually turned out quite easy. Luke was a fan of the sports cupcakes. His party was the day after school got out, and he bugged me relentlessly until it was time for it to start at 4:00. Blake let us use his school's gym, and it was perfect. I told Luke to keep it small so he invited 5 kids, and it was just right. My mom was once again my helper!

We played some organized games, but the kids spent a lot of time just running around playing basketball, soccer, and crashing a huge beach ball into everything. Luke seems to have some karate kids moves going on in this one.

Little Ceasar's is right across the street, so they ate pizza and drank sports punch. Jer came along just in time to play with the kids and help with the pinata bashing.

We took some music down with us, and Seth was the DJ throughout. He was doing the sprinkler and had his own party going on! I have heard that "Dynamite" song enough to last me a lifetime.

Luke got fun presents and had a blast with his friends. They were great kids!

Saturday was Luke's actual birthday. We used vouchers we got through the soccer league to go to a Real Salt Lake game. I've never been to one before, and it was really fun. We left Ian home on this one. Luke was into the game and Seth was into the cotton candy and kettle corn, so we were all happy.

By Sunday we were about worn out, but we wrapped up the birthday festivities with cake and ice cream and presents with family. Luke loves his cousins, and they always have fun together.