Party Day

My kids don't usually have as many expectations for their birthdays/parties as I do.  There.  I said it.  And frankly it takes a lot to focus ONLY on the things that really matter TO THE KID.  Well, Noah had about a handful of things he had been obsessing over and would mention anytime his birthday brought up.  The Happy Nato Cake.  Charlie.  Jarom.  And Charlie and Jarom coming over.  He was very excited about his two most favorite cousins coming over.  SO when we found out it might be difficult for Jarom's family to come out for the party we decided to take matters into our own hands and go pick him up!  And as long as we're driving out to West Jordan, we might as well stop at the Gateway on our way back right?  And stop at the Discovery Museum?!  Just make a day of it!  Of course.  So that's what we (last minute) planned to do.  And since Charlie was invited to his party that night as well, we decided we just had to have him come to Discovery with us. 

Things went a little differently than we had planned, we accidentally took a few detours.... I like pointing that out because it was as a result of Nate and I getting carried away in a conversation we were having and losing track of what we were doing.  I like that we can still have that much fun together :)  So yeah, we were a little behind schedule and didn't get to spend as much time as we had wanted at Discovery after stopping for lunch for some hungry little boys :).  We really only had about an hour there.... so that was a bummer.  But they still seemed to have fun.  We had to get home for the big kids to get home from school.

We got home and got all ready for the party.  I made another Happy Nato cake.  Much simpler than the first one.  No sink AND no computer.  And a Triple Chocolate Cake because I wanted some chocolate cake :) but NOah had picked Strawberry.

I'm not sure what happened with this party.  I normally have a set routine that I like to follow for the order of things at a party.  You eat.  Play games.  Dish up the Cake and Ice cream.  Then open presents.  Well, we pretty much did the opposite.  And simply because Noah wanted to.  Yeah, he's spoiled.  I tell ya, he's just like his Dad.  There's just something about him that makes you just want to do it his way.  And you don't even question it at first!  Weird stuff.  But whatever.  I don't think anyone else cares.  Just me. 

He was way cute opening his presents.  I ended up just using the video camera because I was so happy with how much he was doing on his own.  Plus I'm sick of the opening presents pictures not turning out.  I can never capture the right face.  He sure has improved even since his first few gifts on Christmas morning!  January is a good birthday month for that I guess.

He got lots of fun presents.  Thanks everyone for that.  And thanks to everyone who came to the party!

Kelly made the Pin The Nose On Larry for us.  She did such a cute job.  Noah didn't want to have anything to do with this.... mainly because he had brand new toys to play with instead.  A good reason to wait to open presents.

We even got Grandma Hatch and Simon to play that game and Charity won.

We played a game called Pass The Larry/Cucumber (we couldn't settle on a name).... Noah actually played and I think most of the kids liked it.  Just like musical chairs, but passing a cucumber.

Then we had the pinata.  Noah had picked out the helicopter one since they (sadly) didn't have a Happy Nato one.  I'm still kicking myself for not making one.  Would have been so simple with a long balloon and then a round one.... oh well.

I'm pretty sure this was the most exciting moment of the evening.  When Grandpa Hatch took a few swings at the pinata.  That sounds like an understatement for some reason.  Grandma and Simon took cover.  It was really hilarious. 

And the picture of Brent swimming around on the floor making all the kids cry because they thought he was stealing all the candy didn't turn out, so we're just left with this boring one.  Yeah, I'm still wondering why we put so much candy in these things when it's mostly our kids doing it.  I don't even see Charlie there.... hmmmm..... all in the name of fun I guess.

And then the cake and ice cream. 

And then of course Noah had had enough and konked out on Grandpa.  So cute. 

This is about the time that all of my kids started showing signs that they were not feeling well.  Including Charity throwing up and Luke's fever.... how nice for all of our party guests.  Sorry everyone.  We had no idea.  And that was that.  I thought it was a good night.  Good food, good fun..... And a Happy Noah :)