La Vida Loca De Flores

This year for Kolt's birthday, he had his very first real birthday party. In the past, we would normally just have a family get together, very simple. But this year, he was a little more "informed" thanks to his brothers and sister, that having a party with all of his friends could be fun! So he decided that he wanted a "Backyardigans" birthday. I made Backyardigans invitations and Kolt was so excited to go and deliver them to all of his little friends from Primary. He was so anxious for his party that every morning I would have to tell him how many days were left until the party and then he would show me that number on his fingers all throughout the day.

A couple of weeks before the party I found this really fun website where you can get your own specially made M&M's, so I ordered yellow and blue (The colors of Pablo), that said "Happy Birthday" and "Kolt." It was so neat to see his name on the candies, but now all of my kids want them...oh no, what have I started??!


Then, for the "Knight" Backyardigans theme, the kids made crowns to wear and there was a castle jump house, which I think was the favorite of all except for our tiniest guests....little (oops, I mean "big") Monterey was in for a few minutes and came out a little shaken and VERY worried that "Somebody is going to kick me in there!" But, she didn't hold out for long and when I pointed out that there were no "big" kids in there, she went in and had some fun with a jump or two. I was very happy to see that some of the adults enjoyed the jump house as well, and I don't blame them because once all the kids left, I had a great time in there myself!


For the "Pirates" Backyardigans theme, Blaze and I painted a Treasure Island backdrop and "buried" little candy filled treasure boxes in wood chips, so the kids could get a "buried treasure."


This activity was very fun for the kids, but I did learn that wood chips, kids, and pools don't really mix! A couple of the littler ones thought that wood chips floating on the surface of the pool was really pretty, so they threw a few handfuls of it in, giggling all the while. Thankfully, the pool is back to normal without too much fuss....I managed to scoop up most of it and the skimming filter got the rest...that little basket probably had 3 or 4 cups of wet wood chips stuck in it...yuck!

Then, I was a little disappointed to learn that I have a long way to go with Kolt and his manners. At "Gift" time, he (with the encouragement of Jett) ripped into his gifts with no thought for others or who gave the gift, etc. and he refused to say "Thank You!" I don't know why he is this way in "public" because when he is with me, he'll say thank you for every single thing right down to tying his shoes or putting a straw in his cup, so I know he is capable of forming the words and he knows what they mean, but he just will not say "Thank You" (or "Sorry") in the presence of others...strange. I suppose I can't expect a 4 year old to behave perfectly, but it looks like we have some "Please, Thank you, Sorry" lessons in our future!

Next, we had a little "Pablo" cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to Kolt, and I managed to get all the kids in one place long enough to get a group photo...

(Maya, Monterey, and Samantha had already gone home)
Top row: Reagan, Tavin, Isaac, Jett, Nekiah, Blaze, Aubrey
Bottom row: Kataya, Kolt, Chloe, Jolie, Ammon, Brooklyn