Joel's Birthday Party!

Two weekends ago we celebrated Joel’s 3^rd birthday!  Hard to believe he is already 3.  It ended up being a bit of a strange and crazy day, but we had a really fun party and Joel really enjoyed himself.  It was probably the first birthday party that Joel really truly had fun at.  The morning started off with Vince’s basketball game, then I went to work and my mom watched the kids.  On my way home from work my mom told me that Brad was taking my grandfather to the hospital (he is doing ok now).  When I got home my mom only had a few minutes to help me do a few things for the party before she had to leave (she was in a dinner play at her church that night).  She had already made the sauce for pasta and the house was clean so I didn’t have much to do.  Luckily she stayed long enough to relay Brad’s new idea for a birthday cake to me and help me with it before she had to leave.  After she left I worked on finding Brad a ride home from the hospital (1 hour away) and I also finished getting things ready for the party.   A big thank you to Aunt Carol, Alyse and my grandma for getting Brad home!  It worked well that no one arrived exactly at the starting time and 30 minutes after the start time Kristy and her family were the first one’s here and arrived only minutes before Brad, Alyse and Grandma.  There were no cars in the drive way, the kids were watching a movie and they thought that they had the wrong day or time for the party since they were the only ones here!

Our beautiful cake!

Beautiful veggies

 

Fruit Pizza, almost too beautiful to eat...but that didn't stop us!

Cecilia loved the pasta

Our private party with the Bonomo's

Joel was really excited to see his cousin Dunkin

The night before the party I cleaned and Brad baked the cakes, mostly because he didn’t want to clean.  My idea was to make cupcakes and two small round cakes and then stack the round cakes and decorate them with some Mickey Mouse toys we have too many of.  Brad baked the cakes and cupcakes and I was going to frost them after work the next day.  While I was at work Brad decided that we should just make Mickey Mouse, so he baked another cake but this time a very large circular cake using a frying pan.  Before he left the house on Saturday with my grandparents he got the dry erase board out to put the cake on.  So my mom and I put the cake together, frosted it, and decorated it with very limited supplies, because it was such a last minute idea.  It turned out super cute and we were all very proud of it!  Joel loved it and as a bonus it even tasted delicious!

Mommy helping Joel up to blow out his candles.

G.G., Mommy, and Joel

 

Joel tasting Mickey's ear

Aunt Sarah and Grandma Diane helping Joel open gifts

Alyse and Grandma

Joel doesn’t like when people sing.  He is ok with Brad or I singing, most of the time, but large groups of people singing generally irritates him.  Really it is mostly when adults sing, he doesn’t care when kids sing.  I had told a lot of people that we weren’t going to sing “Happy Birthday” to Joel, but I forgot to tell everyone.  Strange, I know.  Then Joel started singing “Happy Birthday” to himself and everyone joined in.  He was not happy about it, but he was nice enough not to throw a fit about it.  Although, he did mumble “no, happy birthday.”

The birthday boy eating once of his favorites....pasta

G.G. and Cecilia looking at the bubbles

Kristy and Luke

We also took a different approach on presents.  People just gave Joel his presents whenever they felt like it without a big deal and lots of people watching.  It worked great!  Joel had fun slowly opening his gifts throughout the night.  Cecilia had fun trying to steal all of Joel’s gifts slowly throughout the night.  He was not amused!  One of the presents Joel received was a bubble machine.  All the younger kids were really excited about it.  Aunt Alyse and Kristy worked together to get it going, then it would only work sporadically.  Once they got it going they were squealing louder than the kids!

Cecilia stealing Joel's football

Aunt Alyse working on the bubble machine

It works!

Kristy and Alyse

Joel and Logan

Aunt Sarah and Aunt Michelle dressing Cecilia up in some fancy clothes.  Cecilia loved it!

Before it got dark out Brad hooked up Ray to the wagon and took the kids for rides.  Adults were welcome to go too, but it was only the kids who jumped on the wagon.  At one point I believe there were 9 kids on the wagon ranging in age from 3-16 covered in a plethora of blankets!  They made so many laps around the house and yard and made a few stops to let kids on and off.  Ray was working hard for over an hour!  Cecilia was mad I wouldn’t take her outside (it was cold out and she really doesn’t like riding in the wagon) and went from window to window saying “Hi Dadda!” every time she saw Brad.  At one point it was down to the older kids and they had music going on Brad’s phone and were having a blast.  Brad enjoyed hanging out with his nieces, nephews and little cousins!

A wagon full of fun

Cecilia keeping an eye on the wagon and her daddy

Maggie, Mary, Millie and Karoline

So many laps around the house

The highlight of the party for Vincent was having his best friend Logan here and his Uncle John.  Together Vincent and Logan, wearing their super hero capes, tried to take down Uncle John several times, but they weren’t successful!  They did make Uncle John run a little bit though.  

Vince and Logan showing off their belt buckles

Super Vincent and Super Logan attacking Uncle John

Vincent being tossed into the air!

Towards the end of the night we had a dance party and made a Harlem Shake video.  Actually we had to do it twice because my camera didn’t work the first time!  I need to figure out how to get that posted.

Dance party!

It was a great night and we would like to thank everyone who helped us get ready for and celebrate Joel’s birthday!

Daddy and the birthday boy!