Charlie's Birthday Party

And yes, this blog post is coming nearly a month late. But Charlie's birthday fell on a Saturday and we got to celebrate all day long. All that Charlie wanted to do was go to Pizza Caboose with a couple of his closest friends. I planned the rest of the day around a Pizza Caboose lunch and we all had a wonderful day with friends and cousins. Charlie wanted a Cream of Wheat breakfast with strawberries so he helped me make that when he woke up. We enjoyed breakfast as a family, then Charlie got to open his gifts.

 

He liked the Monster trucks that Miles picked out for him.

One of his gifts was an OMSI membership that I bought a month earlier when I saw a great deal on Groupon. We haven't had a membership there in 2 years and he has been asking to go. We were waiting for his birthday to activate it. So I made him this sparkly ticket and then I got to tell him that we just needed to get ready and go right away.

 Charlie was so excited to go to OMSI but the best part is that our cousins met us there. My boys ask to play with Gwenevere, Grace, and Everett nearly everyday, but the 3 hour drive makes that pretty hard. He was so excited to see them in the parking lot on our way to go in OMSI.

 They made the tower!

 

 Charlie had to have a little talking to after running away from us so many times.

Once Miles found the water area, he was there until the end!

 Just after noon we made our way over to Pizza Caboose to have some lunch, cake, and meet with some friends. Charlie was so excited that Tali was already there. We have been having a break in our Tali preschool since both Charlie and Tali go to a new preschool on alternating days.

 Ty is another one of Charlie's friends from Church and he gets to come over a lot when I give his sister piano lessons. The pizza was chowed down, Hawaiian of course, Charlie's favorite.

Charlie made and decorated his cake. I helped with the cooking and frosting part but he decorated it exactly how he wanted to. 

  I was kind of random with my picture-taking. Elizabeth and the kids joined us too, and Grandma Sharolee, and Grandpa Don, but somehow they didn't end up in the photos. But CHarlie got this awesome Lava lamp from his cousins.

 After the food and presents, everyone ran around looking at the trains and games, and Everett and Miles were planning a way to get the toys out of the claw machine.

After Charlie's party we made our way to a friend's surprise party who was celebrating turning 50. It was a fun way to keep celebrating with friends and enjoy a nice dinner. And there was a pretty great photo booth that my boys were excited about so here are some phone photos of that.

It took Miles awhile to realize the mustache goes above his lip instead of on his chin.

 

Anyway, it was a fun day and I had to do very little planning so it was a win win! And Charlie loved his birthday and turning 5! Thanks to all his friends and cousins that took the time to celebrate with us. I know it meant a lot to Charlie!

Park day photos

So, a couple days before Charlie's birthday I wanted to take some birthday photos of him. I wasn't sure of a location, I was thinking of a spot by his preschool but then all the fall leaves were raked up and it didn't look nearly as magical. The morning we were going to go take pictures I asked Charlie what park he wanted to go to and he said "Purple park" I almost turned it down because it is at an elementary school, but then I realized it wasn't a school day so we could try it. On our way there, we got a little lost and ended up coming up to the school from the opposite direction and noticed a beautiful forest covered in Fall color and sun rays shining through the morning mist, illuminating all the colors!! It was a dream come true. And that wasn't all. There was not one complaint that we weren't playing on the playground. The boys were excited to be in the forest and they both cooperated perfectly. I'm pretty sure that never happens. In the end we were soaked through our shoes and up to our knees but it couldn't have been more perfect. And I'm also grateful that I have a baby in the fall and a baby in the spring. It's perfect for their birthday photos. I'm not sure what I'll do with a January (or February) baby. Haha! Most of the photos of Charlie can be seen in his birthday post here but there were more from our park adventures that I wanted to document so that is what this post is all about!

 Dream come true...I tell ya!

Charlie took this photo!

 And here is the boy of many cheesy faces,

 I kind of envisioned all 3 of my boys on these slides...I guess that will be a photo in the future!

 After a whole lot of playground play. We ran in the fog and played a game of kickball with a ball Miles found. The fog and sun were seriously so magical. There was no rain but the grass and leaves were so wet that we all had soaked feet. Otherwise we could have played all day. Well, the boys probably COULD have played all day.

 And I'm a sucker for swing photos!

It was such a perfect day that I told the boys we could either pick up donuts or make hot cocoa at home. We all opted for hot cocoa! Not all our outings turn out this wonderful so it definitely needed to be documented and celebrated!