Three Days of Birthday

Atom's birthday fell on a particularly busy week.

Day #1: We had him open his presents the night before his actual birthday because Jumble wanted to be a part of it and she was gone from 4-10 p.m. on his birthday (to a YW activity in Salt Lake City.) Niles also had a work meeting on his birthday evening. Monday night wasn't a possibility because Jumble had a band concert (which was amazing!) Thursday also wasn't a possibility because Niles had a work meeting for a city up by Logan and didn't get home until 1:00 a.m. (Besides, you can't expect a 4-year-old to wait for his presents until the day AFTER his birthday!) It wasn't like the night we opened presents wasn't busy, though. Niles squeezed in voting and going to the temple after work and I had enrichment night. We still managed to fit in the opening of presents and cake and ice cream.

You can tell it is November 4th--election day, not November 5th. Jet has a sticker for voting in his school's mock election and Atom has a sticker from going with me to vote earlier in the day.

Yes, folks, that is a Mormon Tabernacle Choir DVD--not your typical gift for a 4-year-old boy. But Atom is not a typical 4-year-old boy.

He does like average 4-year-old boy stuff, too. Here he is knocking down pins with his new barnyard bowling set. I would like this toy a lot better if the ball didn't moo and make pins-falling-over noises. But the batteries will wear out sometime soon, and at least it has an "off" switch! Jet is enjoying one of the benefits of not being an only child--you can enjoy your siblings' birthday gifts when it isn't your birthday. I think Jet was as excited about Atom's gifts as Atom was.

Blowing out the candles!

Day #2: This was his actual birthday. He enjoyed playing with his new toys all day and we went shopping for some things for his birthday party. I bought him a "Cars" birthday balloon because I wanted one for his party and I knew from past experience that it would last for weeks--saved me a trip back to the store on party day.

How did he get to be so big?

Day #3: On Friday, we had a birthday party with the boys in the neighborhood and one cousin. I follow my Mom's practice of doing birthday parties when my kids turn 4, 8, and 12 plus they get to pick one extra year. I thought it was a great idea since kids certainly don't need a party every year and the theory was that I could spread out the work of doing parties over the years instead of having them all bunched together a certain year. That theory worked out great until I had 3 of my four children born nearly four years apart! As a result, Atom's is the first of three parties I will be throwing in the next six months. Jet will be turning eight and Minnie will be turning twelve by next May. Oh well. If I could have had my children as fast as I wanted them, I would have ended up with more children total which would have meant more parties to throw.

My husband rolled his eyes when I said I was going to keep Atom's party simple. He thinks I don't know how to keep parties simple. I have to admit that he's right. I can blame this on my parents as well, who did magnificent themed parties for all of us growing up. But I'll save some of those stories for another post. Let's just say that in my family, a party does NOT mean that you pay for a party at Chuck E. Cheese's. A REAL party is at your house with all kinds of fun themed decorations, games, and favors that you helped your parents plan and make stuff for, when you were old enough. And you had the fun of watching your Mom and Dad act a little less like adults for a day while doing fun things with you and your friends. (I don't know if my kids will look back and wish they had the other kind of party someday but I always thought our parties were the BEST growing up.)

Atom wanted to have a Cars party which was easy to come up with great ideas for. Here's some of the photos:

I managed to get my beloved Saguaro cactus into the decorating theme!

Atom playing with the beanbag toss game before the party started. (You can see the wall the former owners never finished painting!)

I had so much fun making these "Lighning McQueen" and "The King" cars out of cardboard boxes for one of the games. The wheels and headlights come off so they can be changed in "the pit" during "the race" and they have removable gas caps on the back so they can also refill the tank during a "pit stop." (The gas can is that orange and white thing in front.)

I love that black and white checkered crepe paper I found.

This is the cake. Niles and I consulted on the design--he is the one that actually made it a reality. I saved the cone candles from Jet's 4th "Bob the Builder" party. They worked great with Atom's Cars theme, too!

I made these place tags that look like traffic lights. The boys gobbled them up, of course!

Coloring cars at "Ramone's House of Body Art."

Rolling tires at "Sally Carrera's Cozy Cone Motel."

"Pit Stop" at "the Racetrack."

Tossing beanbags into tires at "Luigi's House of Tires." That's Atom's cousin, Zane, and his friend, Marcus.

They loved the racing game with pit stops. Those are Atom's friends--Parker, Daniel, and Caleb.

Singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles on the cake.

Daniel and Jet help Atom open presents.

I think everyone had a great time, and I know I did, too, although I can't say I'm sorry that the party is now a happy memory!