May 18 Cal's Party

Saturday:  Dylan and Kelly threw a birthday party for Mr. Cal today and invited a lot of his little friends and family over for the celebration. I took a pile of pictures, but I'll try to post only the best of them here. Kelly asked if I could bring some of my bubble stuff, and thankfully I was able to find a bunch of it out in the shed.

I have a special bubble solution that I obtained off the internet that is supposed to "better" with age. However, the only batch I had available was one I made more than two years ago. I stirred it up really well, but I think it actually made bigger bubbles last year. I'll have to mix up a new batch for the summer. Brendan, however, is very good at bubble making--his strongest point is his patience, which allows him to size up a situation, wait until his bubble wand is completely covered in the bubble mix, and then very slowly move the wand and let the bubbles emerge. He makes the biggest bubbles ever.

This is the string wand I ordered off the internet. You have to be especially patient to get this to work; but if you are careful with it, it can make gigantic bubbles.

Here is our birthday party boy ... his face is revealing how he is feeling presently. You see, his friend Carter, very badly wants to drive this "fire truck". In Cal's defense, he had only JUST gotten seated himself, like one second ago; and Carter was quite annoying in his persistence that he wanted "a turn." Cal was not moved in any way, shape or form!

Until Kelly announced it was time for birthday cake! Then Cal climbed out of his fire engine and ran up to the deck. Carter was then able to have his turn in the fire truck!

Cal blew all four candles out ... the 4th one was a little bit stubborn, so it took a few more "huffs" and "puffs" from Cal to blow it out.

Kelly also served Oreo ice cream cookie bars (yum) and other frozen treats to go along with the cake. Everyone really enjoyed it. Cal was quite decorated with chocolate afterward. We convinced him to use his shark napkin to give the sharks a little lick off his face (in order to clean his face up).

Here is Aidan enjoying some cake too ...

Erin chose a coconut ice cream treat that I had never heard of or seen before. She gave me a little taste. It was really good.

And THEN it was time for GIFTS! Right away, Aidan ran to get the package he had wrapped up for his brother. I thought Aidan had already given Cal his present on Wednesday--and he did! But this was something Aidan made all by himself for his brother. Aidan had taken Origami paper and made a whole bunch of cool paper airplanes for Cal to play with. On some of them, Aidan even drew dinosaurs. !!! What a guy you are, Aidan!

I love Aidan's creativity and his obvious love for his brother. Super sweet.

Cal got a bunch of really nice gifts from all of his friends. He did really well opening them up and showing them to everyone. Kelly prompted him to say "thank you", which he did!

Here is Cal looking at the card I made for him. Watch his little face ...

Cal was very pleased with it! 

I bought a few HotWheels vehicles for Cal--a garbage truck, a cool airplane, and a cement mixer. I also got him a little suitcase car shop/garage that I hope someone can figure out how to put together, as well as some outdoor airplanes to fly.

Brendan and Aidan stayed close by so that they could see everything. Aren't they so cute?

Erin was sitting back on the couch ... but here are the 3 boys with Dylan and Kelly.

Dinosaurs were a big hit this year. Cal growls super loud like a T-Rex, and he loves dinosaur WARS.

It sure was fun to be at Cal's party today. It turned out to be a perfect outside day for the party too. It was great to be able to have the kids be able to play in the backyard with the bubbles and toys. What a nice little family this is!