No pictures of a birthday party!

Our days go quickly, but I have to admit that I am really enjoying this season of life.  We are busy, but not too busy.  We have time to play together, learn together, and just be together.  And as fun as it is, there really isn't too much exciting to take pictures of a lot of the time.  Or maybe it's just that I don't want to pull out my phone to take the pictures!

Anyway, Finn's birthday was on the 17th but we were unable to hold his party until the 24th.  He got to celebrate his birthday for an entire week straight!  He took in birthday treats to school on the 20th and then with his party on the 24th he was hearing "Happy Birthday!" for a long time.

We had his party this year at Sundance Gymnastics Academy, which is just a mile or so from the house.  I will admit to being disappointed in the party.  I thought it would be more structured and that games and activities would be provided for the kids.  Instead it was just open gym time.  The kids all seemed to have a good time, though, so I guess I shouldn't complain.  I don't think we'll do that for a party again, though.  I paid too much money for a free-for-all.

Because the kids were running everywhere and we were in a gym, I did not have my phone to take pictures.  So the only pictures we have are ones that Reid took of Bree.  She had a grand time being thrown into the pit by her dad, walking on the beam, and hanging from the bar.  She also really enjoyed the trampoline.  Finn wanted his party to be all preschool friends, so we invited friends that he hasn't seen in a while and he had a great time playing with them.  They ended up playing a jack-in-the-box type game for quite a while (they built a tunnel out of mats and then covered it up with one of them in it and then they popped out).  It was funny to me that they could run and jump and swing and they chose to do that, but hey, they were playing together and happy.

After an hour in the gym we went up to the party room.  Oh my!  The acoustics in that area was awful.  One little whisper got magnified and echoes.  So imagine the sound of 10 happy little boys bouncing all over the place.  My throat hurt from trying to get their attention by the time we were done...and we were only up there for 30 minutes!  I'm glad Finn had a fun party and was able to see his friends.  And I guess a crazy party fits Finn's personality perfectly, so what can I say?!

During the week the kids got on a scrambled egg kick.  Finn likes his green (think Green eggs and ham) and Bree wanted pink eggs.  They also love to help out in the kitchen.  I constantly am putting chairs back at the table after Bree drags one into the kitchen to help me either cook or do dishes.  This was Thursday for lunch.

Yep, this looks the same doesn't it.  But it's another day and another food.  This is pineapple that she is eating while standing in the kitchen to help me cook.

One of Finn's preschool friends gives really interesting presents.  (He came to Finn's party last year, so I can confirm that interesting presents are a trend with this kid.)  He spent all day writing notes to Finn and then wrapped them up and filled that yellow basket (the party wasn't until 3pm.).  Of course the notes were nothing that Reid or I could decipher, except the one that said, "A B C D E" and so on.  After opening a few at the party we brought the rest to open at home.  Imagine Finn's surprise when the last note contained $1.  I took this picture to text to the kid's mom to show them that we did indeed finish opening all of his notes to Finn.  Good thing I didn't just throw them out, which is what I wanted to do!

She knew just what to do when she got on the beam. It turns out there is a Special Agent Oso episode about how to walk a balance beam.  I thought she was a natural but it turns out she is just an Oso addict!