How old are you?

"FOUR"

{insert slightly excited but exasperated eye roll}
**and please note the way he holds up his fingers....he hasn't quite figured out how to hold up four fingers without assistance from the other hand.  Every time I see this it makes me want to give him a big squeeze because he looks so deliciously cute and innocent; and yet he wants so badly to be so mature and grown up ;)**

{and this is about as good as it gets when trying to get a picture of this cutie}

I am such a birthday kind of girl.  I literally get jittery myself just thinking about how much fun we will have on each of my kids birthdays {and let's be honest, mine as well}.  It's just that I remember my birthday being so magical as a child and I want my own children to feel the same excitement.  This year I was so excited to be able to give Robby a real friend birthday party of his own.  I was also looking forward to having it be a day all about him.  The only downer was that Daddy had to leave to go out of town that morning for a business school interview.  Here's some of our fun we did have: 

Loaded up in the car early that morning (6:30ish--yuck) and drove Daddy out to go to the airport. 

Had birthday balloons tied to Robby's chair in the kitchen {Thomas the tank engine and Cars of course}.

 Sang Happy Birthday to Robby while we drove, complete with our festive "cha cha chas". 

Robby decided he wanted homemade Buttermilk pancakes and hot cocoa for breakfast, so we quickly hurried home and cooked his specialty and got kids ready for school.

Off to school for Miss M and preschool for Robby.

Picked up Robby several hours later.

Frosted the frozen cupcakes and put together the party goody bags.

McDonald's lunch per the birthday boys request with HAPPY meals {loves the current monster trucks they give away in the boy meals--mom doesn't love all the stickers that go on them though, takes forever}

Pick up Miss M from school and load up for the party!

Bounce House fun with Robby's buddies, siblings and cousins complete with fun bouncing/playing, birthday song singing, balloon playing, present opening, and cupcake eating.

{He was in heaven to be able to have his own special party at the Bounce House}

Ate Chicken Noodle Casserole {again per R's request).

Opened family presents and ate some leftover cupcakes from earlier!

R's Party Pictures:
{the kids were all super excited to go into the bounce rooms}

Maddie decided she wanted to do the "spiderman" suit and jump on the wall. Too bad she was just a bit too small for the outfit. One of the girls helping with R's party assisted in sticking her to the wall after several of her own failed attempts.  I think it actually scared her a little when she was stuck and couldn't get down :)

Eli eventually got brave enough to climb up this slide and go down.  Notice the traffic backlog behind him, it took him multiple attempts before he successfully climbed his way to the top.  I was so proud of the way he never gave up and his face was priceless when he finally made it all the way.

Our cute neighbor boy, Luke, taking a swing at the baseball bouncer.  Robby pretty much considers him his BFF for life.  They love digging in the dirt together, racing their bikes up and down the street, pushing each other in the wagon or on Daddy's longboard, playing trains/cars/geotrax, the list can go on and on.

I love this picture of all the boys lined up waiting for their turn to play baseball.

{Jude, Robby, Matthew, and Asa watching Luke play}

Eli, Maddie, Kaylin, Ellie, Zack, and Aunt Lori

Luke, Matthew, Asa, Robby, Jude, and Peyton

{The girls running the party clearly did NOT have kids of their own.  When they were filling up drink cups for the kids they filled them almost completely to the brim.  Needless to say, Eli practically took a bath in his root beer...}

Birthday Night:
I have to admit it was a LOT of fun doing something small and simple for Robby's birthday in the evening.  Normally we have our big extended family party where I am in charge of cleaning, cooking, entertaining, and directing the flow of the party.  It's always a lot of fun, but also can be sort of stressful.  This year with just us home, we went completely simple on dinner plans and then did an easy present opening/cupcake eating evening.  It was relaxing and fun to open a few gifts, play with them and then head off to bed!

All in all a fun day for Robby and the best part is we had one more party for him four days later with some of our extended family :)