Braden's Birthday!

Today was an Awesome day! Braden had his first ever birthday party! He invited his entire daycare class, and, counting the siblings of his friends, we had about 15 kids. The nice thing about a party at this age is that the parents stay the entire time, so there were almost as many parents as kids. We bounced on a moon bounce, played with all of our sports equipment, blew lots of bubbles, grilled hot dogs, ate cake, opened presents, and had a great time! We also sweated a bit after the sun came out...

I love that picture of Aaron--he has a mouth full of Cheetos and evidence is all around his mouth. Such pretty red hair! Aaron and Braden stayed with the same babysitter (Maria) when they were little, so whether they know it or not, they have been friends for a long time.

I made Braden's cake. I looked at buying one and thought, "heck, I can make one for a whole lot cheaper." It came out okay. Not quite professional, but Braden loved it, and that's what counts, right? I don't have a great picture of it--my friend Courtney took one, though. When she emails it to me, I'll post it. It has Diego running in the grass next to a river/waterfall. Most importantly, the cake has a big number 4 candle!
Braden received wonderful presents! One of the fun things about having a birthday party is that friends give gifts that we never would have thought of. Zachary W. gave him a huge tub of Tinkertoys that he is playing with right now. Aaron and Bobby gave him a really cool DVD Bingo game--we played it tonight with Papa and Sherri, and Braden won both games. Zachary L. gave him a set of little Tonka trucks (and we all know how much Braden loves trucks!). Skylar gave him a Spiderman hopper that he immediately wanted daddy to inflate. He hopped on it all afternoon! Sophie gave him a pirate board game; we played it this afternoon and laughed hysterically at the word "booty"! Catelyn's parents told me that they spent awhile letting Catelyn pick out the perfect gift for Braden, and she finally settled on a Home Depot step stool full of toy tools. I know he will use that to "help" daddy with all of his projects. Eila gave him a really neat first words book with magnetic letters that he can use to spell the words--perfect because he is so into spelling right now! She also gave him a cute dinosaur t-shirt. Chelsea gave him pajamas (and matching ones for Garrett), bubblebath in the shape of Lightning McQueen, and two Cars books. Jack gave him a set of Matchbox cars which he had opened and was playing with before the party was even over. He also gave him some stickers, a book, and some pencils. Every gift was just perfect!


We rented the Moon bounce from Aggieland Moonwalk(http://aggielandinflatables.com/). They delivered it about 10:30 and picked it up around 8:00, even though we had only paid for a four hour rental--how cool is that? After the party was over, Garrett took a nap and rest of us rested, then our family went out jumped for a good hour or more. If we bought one of these things, we'd all be in great shape!

Yea!! What a day!