Pokemon Birthday Party!

Yesterday was Josh's Pokemon birthday party.  It was pretty epic, and I bet you're wishing you had been invited.  Sorry - the guest list was pretty exclusive.  A few weeks earlier I made these invites and sent them out to Josh's friends.  (I'll admit - I saw a similar invite online and copied the idea for the front.  Because I'm cheap and can't bring myself to spend $20 just on invites.)

The front

Inside top

Inside bottom (with pertinent info left out - just in case you felt like crashing our next party)

The day before the party I made his birthday cake.  Can you tell what it is?

That's right!  A Poke Ball. Don't feel bad if you didn't know - I didn't know what a Poke Ball was either, until a few weeks ago. Apparently the Pokemon fighters keep their Pokemon in them until they battle.  Or something, I don't know, I'm still a little unclear on the whole thing.  Whatever.

 
I wasn't too thrilled with the results, but Josh came home, saw the cake, and said "This is the BEST CAKE EVER, mom!  It's just like a Poke Ball!!!"  And all was right with the world.

On the morning of the party we dropped Spencer and Josh off at the church for the annual Primary Program Practice and Pizza Party.  (SO glad I'm not in charge of that anymore!!) ((Sorry, Sarah...:)) Then we got to work on the back yard.  We decided it would be easier and cleaner to party in the back.  Plus, the weather promised to be perfect.  Plus plus, Josh really wanted to have water balloons at the party.

We set up a table in appropriate Pokemon colors.  The little boxes on there are the party favors I made.  They're the plastic boxes that Crystal Light comes in (Again - the cheapness.  Oh - and the greenness!) and they had a Pokemon pencil, some Pokemon cards, stickers, and little figures.  Ebay is awesome for cheap Pokemon stuff, in case you were wondering.

Then we hung up lots of balloons and pictures of different Pokemon.

 

And, of course, the PIKACHU PINATA!!!

The boys came home and I heard Josh in the back yard "Oh my gosh!!  It's just like I dreamed!!  This is awesome!!"  And all was right with the world.

The kids started arriving and everyone had fun playing on the swing set and running around.  No one was interested posing for pictures.

Lance played goalie for a bit, which the kids loved.

Action shot of Andrew!

Then it was time for Pin the Tail on the Pikachu.  The birthday boy got to go first.

Josh's best buddy, Kent, takes a stab at it.

Dominic was pretty excited to try!

Spencer had a little help from Cole.

Lance and I were a little worried that it was going to be too easy for the kids.  Our worries were unfounded.

Then it was time to Feed the Munchlax.  Apparently the Munchlax is a Pokemon that likes to eat.  A lot.  Who knew?  (I didn't.  Thank you, Internet!)

Easton was pretty serious about feeding that Munchlax!

*nom*nom*nom*  Feed me!  (Don't you wish you could draw as well as me?  Hah!)

Kent throws while Bergen looks on.  (She really wanted to win this game since she won Pin the Tail on the Pikachu.  No dice.)

Next it was time for the water balloons.  The kids were SO excited about this that we couldn't really get them to do the actual water balloon toss.  So we just let them go to town and have a big fight.  As Lance said, 45 minutes to fill the balloons, 45 seconds to pop them.  (Lance was Mr. Awesome because he filled them all for me because I had badly burned three of my fingers on my right hand a couple of days before.)

Look at that AWESOME action shot of Justin beaning Spencer in the face!
 

This followed right after:

Finally, the grand finale: the PIKACHU PINATA!!  Everyone got three attempts to hit the pinata.

Bergen really wanted to wail on it.

So did Spencer.  He was pretty sure he was gonna destroy it.

But no one could break it!  We even let Cole take a few tries.

Instead, Lance had to tear it apart, ending with this:

All the kids made a mad scramble for the candy.

After everyone got their candy it was time to light the cake and sing the birthday song.  A slight breeze had picked up by this point, making it quite difficult to get those dang candles lit.

While I went inside to dish up cake and ice cream Lance helped Josh open his gifts.

 

 

Sweet!  Pokemon games and toys!

I just think the look on his face is funny.  (He actually really likes the gun!)

It was actually a bit warm by this point, so everyone was quite happy to dig into their cake, ice cream, and pink lemonade.

 

Then all the kids decided to take a look at their party favors, comparing their cards and figures.  Spencer was in his element, explaining what each Pokemon does and its power level and whatnot.  I dunno.  Whatever.

I'm not sure Bergen really understood all of it, but she sure was interested!

In true Joshie form, he wouldn't let me take any good pictures of him.  But rest assured - he had a great time, which made all the work and effort worth it!

Annually

Ah, fall. 

Each year you bring:

• shorter days
• brisk air
• changing leaves
• the smell of smoke
• flocks of geese
• brilliant sunsets

And...

• my annual fight with Josh about how it's too cold to wear shorts and he now HAS to wear pants

Usually annual happenings are comforting.  But sometimes they're just obnoxious.

Happy Sixth Birthday, Josh!

**Note: I started this post yesterday and then burned a bunch of fingers.  Ouch.  So, future Josh, in case you're offended at the lateness of this post, that's why.  Oh - and push your glasses up.**

Yesterday was Joshie's 6th birthday. (And, consequently, the 6th anniversary of the LONGEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE.  Yes, I'm gonna link to his birth recap again.  And I'll probably do it again next year.  Because it was the LONGEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE.  Please excuse the PTSD.)

First, let me just say that I really enjoy Kindergarteners.  Seriously, they are so cute and (generally) happy and I thoroughly love having one in my home.  There is something extra-special about a Kindergartener having a birthday.  I can't quite put it into words, but trust me - it's there.  Josh was all aglow with birthday excitement!

That morning we had a very Joshie breakfast: Cherry Pop Tarts, fried eggs, and bananas. It should be noted that I enforced the bananas - Josh would never willingly choose to eat fresh fruit! (Shouldn't the cherry filling in the Pop Tarts count?)  But let's not judge the birthday boy too harshly. 

That morning I took Josh (and thus all the other kiddos) to school so I could drop off the official birthday cupcakes I had stayed up late to make.  I had planned to make them that afternoon, only to discover that I was out of dang cupcake wrappers.  But I was able to tun to the dollar store that night and found some wrappers that even came with birthday flags.  Score.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I had lunch with Joshie that day.  It was fun, enlightening, and made me appreciate only having 2 children at home for lunch.  (As opposed to 100 kindergarteners.)

That afternoon I let Josh have his first birthday present: a 64 count box of Crayola crayons.  Josh is really into coloring lately. A week or so he was doing some coloring for a homework assignment and I kind of got after him for just scribbling and not staying in the lines or even trying to make it look nice.  I guess those were some magic words, because he's been coloring and drawing very deliberately and carefully ever since.  Hooray!  I finally have a child interested in art!

I had been working on some posters for his birthday party that Josh was only too happy to help color.  He happily worked on the posters for over an hour!

The sticker the birthday boy got from school.  (Not sure if that's a cursive "o" gone wrong or his teacher made a mistake...)

Trying out the crayon sharpener.  That stupid sharpener has become the bane of my existence, since Josh has the tendency to sharpen too hard and break the crayons.  The horror!!

The birthday boy chose to go to Tepanyaki Grill & Supreme Buffet for dinner.  You wouldn't think that Josh would want a Chinese buffet, but this place also had a dessert bar, mac and cheese, pizza, french fries - all sorts of kid friendly food.  I had kind of low expectations going in, but was pleasantly surprised.  Was it the best food ever?  No.  But it was all pretty good - especially the coconut shrimp.  I love me some shrimp.  I would say this is probably the best buffet in Lafayette; a little pricey, but perfect for special occasions like this.

We let the kids eat (and not eat) whatever they wanted.  Spencer tried a bit of everything, including lots of my shrimp.  Josh mostly ate mac and cheese and desserts, which was to be expected.  Cole ate pizza, mac and cheese, and lots of fruit.  And Tess gorged herself on strawberries and french fries.  So healthy.

The kids were actually pretty well behaved there, which was something of a birthday miracle!  Although Josh decided he didn't want a picture with his brothers.

Gotcha - kinda - Josh!

After dinner we went home for presents.  I had convinced Josh that we didn't need a birthday cake since: 1) there was a dessert bar at the restaurant, 2) he had cupcakes at school, and 3) he would have a cake at his party on Saturday.

Josh was pretty good about it - especially because some of his gifts included candy.  (Like this cotton candy from the dollar store, which my kids luuurrve for some reason.)

I got lots of great shots of the birthday boy opening gifts.  He sure was happy!  Here's the Spongebob projector nightlight from Grandma Susie and Grandpa ElRay.  There was much rejoicing over this!

Tess enjoyed the ribbon.

Here's the Wii game he had really, really wanted: Super Mario Party 9.  Hooray!  Too bad we only allow the Wii and computer games on the weekend.  The sadness!

Some glow-in-the-dark bubbles from his siblings.

And Twister, also from Grandpa ElRay and Grandma Susie.  He wasn't so sure about this at first.

But then I pointed out that it was for players who were 6 years old and up - and that Josh was now 6 years old!!

Tessie enjoying the view.

Afterwards we played some Twister.  I then realized just how old and not-limber I now am.  But the boys had fun and Tess went crazy going across that plastic mat approximately 397 times, and then having a blast with the spinner.

I would have taken a final birthday picture of Josh, but he was too busy scarfing down gummy Spongebob candies and running around outside with his friends - in his opinion, the perfect way to end his birthday celebrations!