HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL!!! THE BIG 04!!

Paul's 4th birthday party (with a Wizard of Oz theme) was supposed to be at a super cool play place, but Mommy got her times confused, and there was double booking, and much wailing and gnashing of teeth until Super Daddy took the reins, notified friends, planned an activity, and bought tons of paint in neat little plastic tube-brushes. Mommy already had all the paper goods, the cake, and a tank and a half of helium, and a house party was born. . .

Cowboy Paul wrangles some doggies, er, balloons. . .

. . .and of course Joss has to do whatever big Brother does.

"Somewhere over the rainbow. . ."

Thanks to Mike, Reiko, James, and Mikeayla for coming early and helping with set-up!

Toys, and costumes, and friends - Oh My!

Couple of balloons. . .

Oh, and a frikkin huge Nemo came by to say hello.

Woah.

(Thanks to Safta Sheila for the remote-controlled behmoth.)

Joss takes a quick break in the kitchen. . .

. . .before heading outside for a little fresh air.

The activity Daddy planned? PUMPKIN PAINTING!!




Joss was outraged that the pumpkins were being abused with paint instead of pureed with bananas. Outraged!

Thanks to Jon, Stacey, Tesla, and Faraday for supplying the pumpkins!

Paul says that Asher is his cousin and his friend (emphasis his).

Paul and his 4 balloon.

After the pumpkin painting - Pizza! Paul managed to find the cheesiest, goopiest slice ever witnessed this side of the mighty Charles.

Pizza party!

Pizza party picnic!

Adorable family.

Cheerful chaos.

Amidst the craziness, Jacob manages to fall into a good book - he makes his aunt proud.

Sonia is the collector and redistributer of balloons. . .

Safta and Bubbie plot their next caper. (Maybe robbing a bank? Really, really slowly?)


Cake time! While the cake looked kind of like a giraffe wearing a party hat, with the proper decorations, once can clearly see that it's the Emerald City and the Yellow Brick Road. Right? (And yes, that is a mini bottle of vodka on the spice rack. Mommy keeps that there for emergencies.)


Happy birthday, darling Paul. May all your wishes come true.

Brotherly love - post noogie/headlock.

Oh, did we mention the cake was RAINBOW inside? Yeah, Mommy rocked the cake this year.

Aaaaaaaannnnd, the aftermath. Once our wonderful guests left, and the party was cleaned up, Mommy baked, frosted, decorated, and packed up two dozen cupcakes for Paul's school on Monday. . .

Whew. So, what should we plan for Joss in February?

Happy Birthday, Dorothy.

I had to stop at the supermarket on my way home to buy a birthday cake for Paul's stuffed triceratops, Dorothy (nee Goldilocks*), who had his fourth birthday today.

Paul announced at breakfast that it was Dorothy's birthday, and ran upstairs to "wake" him up and sing happy birthday. We had to bring Dorothy with us to school, although he wasn't allowed inside the children's school - I had to bring him to dinosaur school. Paul was still talking about Dorothy's birthday when Shawn picked the kids up at the end of the day. And what is a birthday without birthday cake?

*Dorothy was Goldilocks for nearly a year, until Daddy began reading "The Wizard of Oz" to Paul at bedtime.

July 25, 2011