Birthday Fun!

Milo's birthday conveniently fell at the beginning of the World Cup. The World Cup people! The biggest sporting event in the world. Seemed like a good birthday theme to us (especially since the ABC party didn't work out!). We knew it was meant to be when we found these amazing soccer jerseys for all the kids. World Cup birthday party, here we come!

We were so happy not only to have Milo's friends and their wonderful parents in attendance but Granny and Dad came down for the day, Lynn and Lanita were here of course and "Uncle" Brad and Maryann both came by to celebrate.

I am continually amazed at how much effort goes into having a party. It is so outside of my normal realm of abilities and generally Mark ends up doing most of the prep work. We managed to pull it off though (with a lot of help from Dad and Lynn and even Lanita) and we all had such a great time! It was a wonderful day with family, friends, neighbors and so much fun and 3-year-old craziness!

We might have shared some margarita recipes along the way... and even had some in the house to sample. Granny and Lanita were our testers.

I love me some Maryann! It was extra special that she and Brad came since being at a little kid's birthday party can be a bit of insanity if you aren't used to it. Thanks so much you two!

We got Milo an ice cream soccer ball cake and Mark baked another cake just in case there wasn't enough. Milo blew out his candle twice for good measure (even after it fell in the icing)!

If you look closely here, you can see Milo's injury (look at his eyebrow). I swear. If the kid is going to damage something, 9 times out of 10 it is his face. About 30 minutes before the party he was running back and forth on the couch and rammed his head right into the countertop. The swelling came up immediately and was about the size of a golf ball. He still has a black eye and a little swelling almost a week later.

When Mark suggested the World Cup theme I asked him if we could find soccer decorations and he just laughed at me. He was right.

The kiddos played inside and out and it was good to see so many of Milo's toys get used for once! This little guy is Marcus. He and Milo have a special friendship and they played together every day at Unity. If they were out of each other's line of sight at the party for even a minute they would always ask where the other was. I see some playdates in our future...


I love that they are all getting old enough that we can pose them! The boys hung out pretty well while we were all snapping our pictures and Gracie even joined the group for part of the photo shoot. Sweet girl!

We delayed opening presents because all the kids were pretty hyped up, but once things settled down a bit we pulled them out and got busy.

After presents, there was a little more play time. Here is Milo with Cameron and Gracie. I saw a picture the other day of Milo and Cameron when they were babies. They have certainly changed a lot since then!

Everyone started to head out pretty quickly after all the presents had been opened. Little Andrew definitely held his own with all the older kids during the party!

We were hoping to get a family photo after the party since we had all been running in opposite directions the rest of the day. Milo was not having it though. Mark and I got our picture anyway!

Milo really had enough of us shortly thereafter because we all had to hold him down to try to put ice on his ouchie. I think we all hated making him go through that after his big day but what are you going to do? I think it helped... Of course it was still seriously swollen two days later so who knows?

Since it was his birthday, we pulled out all the stops and let Milo take his solace in the "beet", Roff and Bear. There isn't a whole lot in Milo's world that those three can't cure. Within an hour of everyone leaving our little guy was cleaned up, tucked in and sound asleep. I am pretty sure he went to sleep, a happy 3-year-old, with a smile on his face!