Our sweet Jonathan turned 3 on August 24th.
To celebrate we had a Monster Jam birthday party for him on Saturday the 21st.
I ordered the cake from Costco and then added my own cake topper. I didn't have to go far to find the "cake topper"... just a few steps to the boys' toy box!
We decided to have the party at KCA. The preschool playground and the covered lunch tables actually make for a perfect (and private!) little party spot. Afterward we joked that the school should lease the space out for private parties on the weekends as a fundraiser of sorts.
I had planned a couple of games...pin the wheel on the monster truck and "Hot Wheels" (like hot potato) BUT the kids were having such a good time playing on the playground, in the bounce house, in the sandbox and on the slip-n-slide that I didn't bother with the games. No one even noticed.
Jonathan thought it was pretty cool that his initials spell out JAM so I made a little sign that said, Happy Birthday MONSTER JAM. It was a SUPER windy day and the only way we could get these cute signs to stay up was to plaster them with ugly duct tape! Oh well.
We have a little birthday tradition for the kids in our family. On the morning of their birthday parties (starting at age 2 when the kids actually care about what they're wearing!) they get to open a gift from their siblings. It is always a t-shirt that goes with the theme of the party. You can't see it terribly well but Jon Jon is wearing his new Monster truck t-shirt. He loved it!
The kids had a blast pushing all the dump trucks down the slides. This kept them entertained for quite some time.
And they did their fair share of sliding themselves
Thank goodness for "Grandma" and "Great Grandma" who helped me tremendously by keeping an eye on Elizabeth (among other things...bringing food, helping set up, etc.) Seriously, that little girl was all over the place and I'm quite certain she would have gotten herself into quite a bit of trouble that day had it not been for these two ladies! I was preoccupied with the party and was relieved to know someone had their eye on her! And many thanks to "Grandpa" for helping set up, and for taking lots of great pictures!
She is obsessed with drinking out of cups and bottles and Great Grandma is so sweet to indulge her...backwash and all!
For lunch we served hot dogs/polish sausage, fruit salad, veggies and dip, and chips.
Nice and simple!
We had cute Monster Jam plates but it was too windy to unwrap them ahead of time. In fact, it was so windy that a gust of wind actually flipped over my plate when it was loaded with food! Crazy!
The master griller...it looks so orderly!
Dishing up the boys' plates
Silly Boy
Cute Sissy
Isaiah (lives across the street from us)
Darla (Isaiah's sister)
Lisa (my neighbor/friend) with her son Isaiah
Lucas
Yes, he's licking the ketchup off his plate...
A sweaty face, ketchup on his chin, and a mouth full of lemonade and I still think he's adorable!
The slip-n-slide was a huge hit with the kids!
We'll definitely be doing that again at future birthday parties!
This picture cracks me up! Daniel often teases me because I like to physically wipe the water from my eyes when they get wet or splashed, whereas he simply blinks the water off his eyes when they get wet. Aden is like me in this matter (but 100 times worse!...in a 5 minute span at the beach he'll get out of the water 5 times to come towel dry his eyes!) and Jonathan is just like Daniel. He just blinks and keeps going! Anyway, this picture shows it all!
I love this picture because you can see how happy he was! This was the official day where his post-accident restrictions on physical activity were lifted. He ran and climbed and slid and jumped to his heart's content! Sweet boy!
Haven't YOU ever just wanted to lick a slip-n-slide? And I love the yoga pose.
Such a sweet moment captured!
"Hey brother, let's do that again!"
She loved it!
Did I tell you that this girl eats/chews/bites EVERYTHING!
I wonder what he's thinking about?
The slip-n-sliders
Face to Face
You can see the soap bubbles...Daddy and Grandpa added a little dish soap to the water to spice things up on the slip-n-slide.
Oh looky there, Elizabeth is chewing the label off the soap bottle. Surprise, surprise.
That's one way to get a drink!
Sweet Kamu (our pastor's grandson)
This little guy had a blast! It was fun to see him enjoy himself so much! He had a smile on his face the whole time!
Oh, the anticipation!
He looks so grown up and mature here!
We really had to work to get and keep those candles lit. The wind was not our friend!
I wonder who all saw this lovely maneuver. I certainly didn't, until I saw this picture! Little stinker!
So the party blowers these days don't make the fun honk noise that they used to. I was disappointed. That noise just goes hand in hand with kid's parties...don't you think?
Take a look at that HUGE piece of cake that Daddy dished up for him. It's no wonder at all he had a belly ache that night!
So, these were on sale at Walmart for $3.00 each. I went a little crazy. Although there were only going to be 6 kids at the party I bought a dozen!
Pretty cool party favor if you ask me...
He got this soft little stuffed weasel and as soon as he opened it he held it close and snuggled it up to his face...JUST like Sissy did with her kitty.
The loot
Here he's snuggling the weasel AND his new turtle and you can see some of his gifts
He got a new car/truck book and he stopped right in the middle of unwrapping his gifts to "read" the book from cover to cover. He was very interested in it and he sat there and read it as if he were alone in a quiet room. This was at the tail end of the party and I think he was ready to take things down a notch or two. Shortly after this we cleaned up and headed home for naps.
On Jonathan's actual birthday he woke up to find presents, cards, balloons, and his birthday banner displayed at the breakfast table.
I still don't think he understood the whole "Saturday was your birthday party but today is your birth day!" But hey, more presents and fun stuff on the day's agenda...he wasn't going to complain!
I decided to make cupcakes for Jonathan to share with Aden's preschool class since all of the kids know him and when we got there the teacher said he could stay for the whole morning. This was a dream come true for him! He was SO excited to get to stay and play with all the toys and all the kids and to finally get to "go to pweschool wif Aden". He did really well and as it turned out two weeks later a spot opened up in the preschool and now Jonathan is on the roster and gets to "go to pweschool wif Aden" every Tuesday and Thursday. He's quite happy!
Anyway, that afternoon/evening we drove to Kapaa and went to McDonald's for dinner. The boys each got to get a Happy Meal (which is a treat for them!) and then we walked over to the Fun Factory (an arcade) to show the boys a good time. It was pretty cute, we told the boys that we could spend $5 on whatever games they wanted and they made a bee-line for the ride-on toys that you find in front of grocery stores.
First they rode in the red car
Then they chose the carousel.
Then we helped them pick a few fun, doable-for-their-age games...
We had to pull them out of this game and the funniest part is they were never really playing it. The little game snippet/preview kept playing over and over and the boys thought they were playing. The game was way too advanced for them so we didn't even bother putting coins in...especially since they were so thrilled with the previews!
Afterward we took all 17 of their tickets up to the prize counter and picked a 2" plastic, glow-in-the-dark gecko and a plastic spinner top. Proof that it doesn't take much to put a smile on their faces.
Next we walked over to Cold Stone and got Jonathan's free birthday sundae and another sundae for us all to share. Jonathan picked the "pink ice cweam (strawberry) wif stwawberwies on top" and we had some crazy coffee and chocolate concoction.
And to end the day, Jonathan opened one last present from Grandpoo and Grammy...a new pair of "tool" pajamas for him and his brother. These are now their favorite pjs!
