Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Henry the 4 year old

It has finally happened. Henry is officially a 'kid.' We gave him the choice between presents or a party this year and he picked a party, "but my friends will bring presents, right?" he made sure to clarify before settling on a party. 

Originally he said he wanted a Mario party and I was all over it and had it planned 2 months ahead of time pretty much. Then he changed his mind to pirate. Since there was more stuff I wouldn't have to make with pirates, I went with it. Then he tried a week or so before his party to change it to a 'Brobee' party. Nope. So we stuck with pirates and he even managed to be excited and happy about it. 

He was however sad that mommy said no preschool friends at the party. Between them and the kids in the ward, it would just be too much, no way they could all fit. So we compromised and I took cupcakes to preschool on Thursday and let him invite his favorite preschool friend on the sly. Henry kind of has a thing about hating the birthday song, he gets mad almost every time its sung so we had an extensive talk about not getting mad when the kids sing and our talk ended with me asking, "so what are you going to do when they start singing?" "I am going to say thank you and enjoy it." haha. 
While he didn't appear to enjoy it much, he did listen and say thank at the end. Progress, right? 

                                     

So then Friday we had Henry's pirate party. We managed to cram 10 kids and 6 adults into our little place. It was fast and furious but all the kids seemed to have a good time and there were no disasters or problems. It was crazy but went well and quickly. 


The birthday boy or captain Henry

Bandanas, blowers and pirate ship & buried treasure cupcakes 

Table centerpiece

 The calm before the storm. Very happy to have had the grandparents here to help. 10 kids was a lot easier divided amongst all of us than just Johann and I 

With his Abuela and Grammy 

 Some of the crew

We played pin the treasure on the X

 The results from the kids who played

 This picture makes me laugh every time I see it. Sweet little Marley just couldn't bring herself to thwack the pinata...haha

Henry, however, not an issue

Grandpa lending a hand to get that candy out 

Henry's friends/family and their parents were spot on with the stuff they got him and very generous-thank you! 

 After singing Happy Birthday-cupcake time

Henry had fun and is, of course, still talking about his party and having fun with all his new toys. We were all pooped afterwards but I'm glad he was able to have such a fun party. 

 He continued to be spoiled when on Sunday his sunbeam teachers brought him a hotwheels car for his bday. He was so excited they remembered his birthday. We love his teachers. 

Then Monday, his actual birthday, came. I had bought most of Henry's summer clothes at a big end of summer online clearance from Old Navy last year and had pulled stuff out as needed but managed to keep a couple shirts, a pair of short and some shoes to give to him on his birthday morning.

He was pretty darn excited about this green lantern shirt. 

When Papa got home from work we headed to Red Robin per Henry's dinner request. The best part-thanks to our little reward card, Johann's meal was free so it was a rather cheap birthday dinner-woot.


 And of course they brought him a special little ice cream treat. 

Afterwards we went to the park to launch the rockets he got from Karen and Shannon. He loved it! So did Johann and I. We had lots of fun launching them and trying to be the first one to the rocket or to catch it. They glow in the dark too, so hopefully over summer at Grammy's we can do a night time launch. 

I feel safe in saying that Henry had a pretty darn good 4th birthday. I hope he enjoyed it, but after the past 4 years I think I have decided that with every other kid we won't do a party except at 1 and then starting at 5 they can choose to have a party or presents; 2-4 we can have a little family celebration with cake. We'll see if I stick to it.

Happy Birthday Henry Dean! We love you and love seeing you grow and change each and every year!

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