Andrew's birthday

My Andrew turned 4 years old on September 18th. I was unsure about a party  b/c September was a crazy month and I didn't feel ready for it. Then the guilt set in and I decided last minute to throw a party for Andrew. He wanted it to be a Toy Story birthday since he is obsessed with Buzz Lightyear. I'm bummed I  didn't get a lot of pictures of the decorations or anything "toy story." There were too many  kids to entertain and it was pretty nuts. We had a lot of fun though, especially Andrew and that is what I wanted. We had a lot of food (pizza, caesar salad, tomato and cucumber salad, fresh peaches, strawberries, watermelon, and  pasta salad.) We played a lot of games and the kids did great, Andy has a way to make any game seem fun.  

 We started the morning off with alien pancakes and I dyed them green like the aliens on Toy Story. He wore his special birthday hat that he got from preschool all day until his party, he was soaking up his special day.

 The first game we did was a soldier search and rescue. The kids had to find little army men, like the ones in Toy Story. They were hidden all over my parents back yard. They got candy for every single one they found.

 Andy made up his own Toy Story game of throwing Buzz Lightlyear into space. He got a water balloon and put stickers of Buzz all over it and the kids had to try and to throw the balloon/Buzz really high up in the air with a sheet. This did not work but was very amusing to watch. We never thought it would be that hard to get a bunch of kids to follow simple directions such as throwing the sheet up at the same time, but it was that hard. The looks on their faces are priceless though.



We decorated cupcakes like the Toy Story green aliens and Ham. I wish I would have gotten pics of each cupcake up close because they were adorable. The girls of course wanted to make Ham since he was pink and the boys loved making the 3 eyed green aliens.

We also played a Woody's shooting game that I didn't get a picture of.  The kids got to put on their sheriff badges and line up to shoot water guns and try and knock over stacked cups. They pretty much just shot each other with water guns rather than the stacked cups. Go figure.

 Some of the cool dads hanging out

 And the hot Moms hanging out

 A lot of running around

Andrew insisted on a costco cake so that is what he got, and I must say it was very good. Here he is blowing out his candle.

These kids were more excited about ice cream than cake. I don't think I've ever felt so overwhelmed as to who wanted what flavor and on what Toy Story plate since some of them had different characters on them. My mistake...next time everything will be the same. Everyone was yelling out what flavor they wanted at the same time, saying it was their turn etc...Apparently I was taking too long so the kids started dipping their fingers in the ice cream before I could dish it up! It was craziness. Luckily, Scarlet came to the rescue and helped these kiddos get their ice cream, and didn't give anyone choices anymore. She is more experienced with birthdays than I am.

 Andrew enjoyed his cake

 Andrew was spoiled with lots of fun stuff for his birthday. Jesse gave him these Buzz pj's and he thought they were pretty cool.

 Andy and I got Andrew his first 2 wheel bike for his birthday. Andy being into bikes as much as he is had to get Andrew a Trek for his first bike. He spent a lot of time researching what bike to get Andrew. I'm glad he took it to heart b/c it  meant a lot to Andrew to see his Dad so excited about his new bike and vice versa.

 Talia made off with the silver bow that was on the bike

 Tara and Ashley were having a great time socializing, and Andrew made it a point to tell them the party was over, and it was time to go home. I had a little talk with Andrew afterwards on how to treat our guests. He says the funniest things sometimes.

Andrew was so too excited to sleep after his birthday bash. He turned into Buzz before bed with his new pj's, and wanted to sleep with his new Buzz too. It was really cute. I'm sad to say this but Lightening McQueen and the rest of the CARS characters have been replaced with Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Rex, Mr. Potato Head, and Jessie to name a few.

Birthday parties always end up being so much work, but so worth it in the end.