Birthday Party Weekend

Colby has officially had his big 5th birthday party weekend! Well actually we have pretty much celebrated since Wednesday. Friday afternoon Austin's family came into town. They came over after the kids rest/naptime. The kids enjoyed running around and playing with Colby's toys! Its fun for him to get to play with his cousins here. They only get to come down once or twice a year! Colby looks up to them so much! I think the girls like Lindsay b/c she's the baby still too! They are 9, 6 1/2, 5, and 1 1/2. After letting the kids play for awhile we got everyone ready and went out to eat. Again another tradition we usually do is go out with them the Friday night before his party. We chose to go to Da Wabbit this year. We wanted to stay on the westbank and we had recently tried this place so we thought his parents would all like it. It was a nice evening but it did take a little longer so the kids got antsy. But they all did well considering. Colby was really fine and he ate excellent. Lindsay is still at that age that its a lot of work to go out to eat but again considering we were there like an hour and a half she did great! She no longer sits in highchairs so she actually does better b/c she can move around more. After dinner we picked up the cake and came home to prepare for the party.
Saturday morning we were up early and hit the ground running. Austin's family got here around 9. The party started at 10. We were excited about having his party here but man its a lot of work. We invited 20 kids. Anyway I think 14 showed up. We had Shelbi, Maggie, Colby, Lindsay, Sophia, her little sister, June, Christopher, Boston, Max, Jax, Christiano, Addison, and McKenzie. Most of the kids were ages 3-5 with the exception of his cousins which are 6 and 9 and a few 1 year olds. The kids loved the blow up water slide. We also had 2 little kiddie pools. The big kids had the pool and slide and we had a baby pool for the little girls. We let the kids play for about an hour. Around 11 I knew we needed to corral them to eat. I brought Lindsay in at that point and changed her also so my mom was a big help in feeding her lunch. Everyone enjoyed eating and visiting until about 11:30. We then did cake and presents. By this point most kids were changed and ready to go home. I thought everything flowed very smoothly. We finished up right at noon and everyone went home! All the kids did so well and got along great! I am so thankful for his sweet little group of friends. It was so nice seeing a few of his old school friends but also sad knowing that group of kids may never be together again. Our families stayed for a little while after the party helping us clean everything up. By 1 we were all exhausted. Austin's family left around that point to give us a little time to rest and finish cleaning up. It was nice to have a little down time. The kids also needed it! They came back around 3. Colby, Shelbi, and Maggie got to enjoy the water slide for a while longer. I stayed inside with Lindsay. At that point I had had enough heat and I was still tired from the party and busy weekend. We sat around and watched WipeOut and visited. My mom made us all chicken spaghetti to enjoy that night. It was nice that Colby and Lindsay got to play with their cousins more one on one that night. We also all enjoyed visiting and having some down time with family. They left around 7 though and by then we were all wiped out! We quickly got the kiddos into bed so we could have some time to rest!
Sunday it was so great having Austin home again! Having him off 5 days in a row was awesome! I had to work in the clubhouse though so Austin had to go to church alone. I am enjoying my new class of littles! I miss Colby but I feel like I can really focus more on other children now without my own in their to distract me. We had 7 kids. The kids range from 2-4. It was a very busy morning but I love it! Preschool is where my heart is! After church we came home ate lunch and let the kids play before naptime. After their naps we spent the majority of the afternoon just being lazy and playing with the kids. It rained most all day so it forced us to stay in and just relax which was MUCH needed! That night we ate dinner and took a walk which was nice to get out! I think by that point we all needed the fresh air!
It was a great weekend! Its bittersweet that his b-day has come and gone! I think we all had a blast and hate for it to end but also glad the hard work is over! I think all in all Colby can say he had an awesome 5th birthday!