saturday was a beautiful day - a little humid, but nice & sunny all day!
we went "playground hopping" (cause u know, it's hard to decide which of the 4 or 5 local playgrounds we should go to when there's 3 kids voting ~lol~)
gabby is the monkey bar queen! (and she has the calluses to prove it! ~lol~)
mommy & daddy watching from the shade ;0)
daddy teaching everyone how to skip rocks at the river - daddy is a rock skipping PRO!
we stopped for some ice cream....and ate it in the shade
then grilled out for dinner & had another campfire - we just can't get enough! :0)
sunday morning, after breakfast, curtis went on a walk through the neighborhood with the girls & then took them to the playground for an hour or 2 while jaden & i worked on the aliens for his cake....it was so cool! he really got into it & it was neat having him enjoy working with me on his cake.....he was pretty specific as to the alien's colors & features & he created most of them....if i was working on one, he was supervising my work ;0) read this post for a detailed description of his cake & it's alien creatures.....i made sure to write down their names & what makes them special (according to jaden) while we were working together
we had planned to have jaden's party start off at our church fellowship hall.....last year, we did the entire thing at the pool & found out it was difficult having the cake, presents, etc. there because of the limited space & the heat (heat + icing = disaster!).....we had crafts, cake & ice cream, presents & favor bags at the church and were planning on then heading to the pool to swim for an hour or 2.....well, the rain started just as jaden & i were beginning to set everything up at the church.....by the time everyone started arriving, it was POURING - complete with thunder & lightning! jaden was so sad....i kept telling him that hopefully the rain would be over when we were done at the church & we could still go swimming
jaden with his aliens
jaden, gabby & deandra (my niece) painting ceramic figures
nana helping bryan (my nephew) with his alien
uncle joe (my brother) and matthew (my nephew)
katie (my sis-in-law) helping corinn
even my brother cj painted! (with jaden & my cousin ricky)
some of the finished crafts
blowing out the candles
eating cake & ice cream
present time!
halle (a friend) got jaden a dino head & feet!
cool, a dinosaur
he LOVED the tent, sleeping bag & fishing pole that ma & dad got him!
he begged us to let him set up the tent in the house last evening (it was raining again by the time we got home)
it poured the entire hour & let up just as we were finishing up at the church......BUT, there was some lingering thunder & the pool wasn't letting anyone else in :0( i thought about trying to arrange for everyone to meet up at the pool another eve this week, when my brother suggested we just go to mom's house & play in the sprinklers.....after making sure that was ok with my parents, we decided that was a good idea.....the rain was over & everyone was game - jaden was still a little upset, but as soon as we were there & playing, he was totally over it....i promised him we'd have a make-up pool trip soon too
even matthew was loving the water - up until recently, he hasn't been a fan AT ALL, so it was very entertaining to watch him & his first real experience with sprinklers! :0)
he said "wook at my toes!" ~giggle~
the girls got fishing poles too! (we always get the other 2 kiddos a lil something on their sibling's bday - funny tho, they never expect it & are always surprised we've included them) - they were standing out in the rain just to try them out (it was sprinkling in this pic)
they're casting pros already & can't wait to go fishing with daddy!
we went "playground hopping" (cause u know, it's hard to decide which of the 4 or 5 local playgrounds we should go to when there's 3 kids voting ~lol~)
gabby is the monkey bar queen! (and she has the calluses to prove it! ~lol~)
mommy & daddy watching from the shade ;0)
daddy teaching everyone how to skip rocks at the river - daddy is a rock skipping PRO!
we stopped for some ice cream....and ate it in the shade
then grilled out for dinner & had another campfire - we just can't get enough! :0)
sunday morning, after breakfast, curtis went on a walk through the neighborhood with the girls & then took them to the playground for an hour or 2 while jaden & i worked on the aliens for his cake....it was so cool! he really got into it & it was neat having him enjoy working with me on his cake.....he was pretty specific as to the alien's colors & features & he created most of them....if i was working on one, he was supervising my work ;0) read this post for a detailed description of his cake & it's alien creatures.....i made sure to write down their names & what makes them special (according to jaden) while we were working together
we had planned to have jaden's party start off at our church fellowship hall.....last year, we did the entire thing at the pool & found out it was difficult having the cake, presents, etc. there because of the limited space & the heat (heat + icing = disaster!).....we had crafts, cake & ice cream, presents & favor bags at the church and were planning on then heading to the pool to swim for an hour or 2.....well, the rain started just as jaden & i were beginning to set everything up at the church.....by the time everyone started arriving, it was POURING - complete with thunder & lightning! jaden was so sad....i kept telling him that hopefully the rain would be over when we were done at the church & we could still go swimming
jaden with his aliens
jaden, gabby & deandra (my niece) painting ceramic figures
nana helping bryan (my nephew) with his alien
uncle joe (my brother) and matthew (my nephew)
katie (my sis-in-law) helping corinn
even my brother cj painted! (with jaden & my cousin ricky)
some of the finished crafts
blowing out the candles
eating cake & ice cream
present time!halle (a friend) got jaden a dino head & feet!
cool, a dinosaur
he LOVED the tent, sleeping bag & fishing pole that ma & dad got him!
he begged us to let him set up the tent in the house last evening (it was raining again by the time we got home)
it poured the entire hour & let up just as we were finishing up at the church......BUT, there was some lingering thunder & the pool wasn't letting anyone else in :0( i thought about trying to arrange for everyone to meet up at the pool another eve this week, when my brother suggested we just go to mom's house & play in the sprinklers.....after making sure that was ok with my parents, we decided that was a good idea.....the rain was over & everyone was game - jaden was still a little upset, but as soon as we were there & playing, he was totally over it....i promised him we'd have a make-up pool trip soon too
even matthew was loving the water - up until recently, he hasn't been a fan AT ALL, so it was very entertaining to watch him & his first real experience with sprinklers! :0)
he said "wook at my toes!" ~giggle~
the girls got fishing poles too! (we always get the other 2 kiddos a lil something on their sibling's bday - funny tho, they never expect it & are always surprised we've included them) - they were standing out in the rain just to try them out (it was sprinkling in this pic)
they're casting pros already & can't wait to go fishing with daddy!
