Party Time!

I'm a planner. An obsessive, worry about every detail, starting planning way too far in advance kind of person. I started thinking about Owen's 5th birthday party, oh, about three minutes after we finished cleaning up from his 4th birthday party. Of course, we had lots of other things to plan in the meantime, not to mention a few curve balls here and there that we didn't anticipate. So unfortunately, this year I found myself at the last minute sweating the details of our big boy's big day.

For all the last-minute printing, shopping, emailing, cleaning, and generally stressing - the afternoon went as close to perfect as I could have ever hoped. Once I knew that the weather forecast was nice, we decided to rent an inflatable jumper and kept it as a surprise from Owen. When the company arrived on Saturday morning to set it up, he was thrilled! Mission Accomplished! Kids and grown ups alike enjoying the jumper and thankfully - other than a couple of head bonks - we made it through the entire 8 hour rental with NO INJURIES!

We set up chairs and picnic blankets in the front yard and just enjoyed watching Owen and his friends playing all afternoon. Owen was very uninterested in blowing out the candles on his cupcakes (Toy Story AND Spiderman!) but was extremely excited about opening his gifts. He was ecstatic each time he opened a gift and just wanted to start playing with his new toys right then and there. We are lucky to have such sweet friends and family who are so generous and giving to our special boy!

Uncle Ricky, Benjamin, and Pop enjoying a break from the chaos inside!

One of the funniest gifts Owen got was this pogo stick! Leave it to Uncle Tom and Uncle Ricky to find the most unique and popular gift of the party - at least with the grown ups. Owen was too busy jumping and stuffing his face with sugar to try the pogo stick, but several brave adults gave it a whirl. Minor's girlfriend Courtney and Uncle Ricky were clearly the best; Miriam and I were VERY clearly not so good. I love this shot of Miriam...ha!

All in all, we just couldn't have asked for a better day. A warm afternoon spent in the company of wonderful people celebrating the birthday of our sweet firstborn son...perfection!