Slip n' Slide Party take 2!

The last weekend of July we celebrated the boys birthdays a little early with a Slip N' Slide party (just like last year). They loved it so much last year that James has been talking about his slip n ' slide party he was planning on having this year for months. He has been sooo excited about turning 4 where as John-Mark must really love being 2 because if you ask him if he's almost 3 he'll say, no, I'm 2 and if you ask James how old he is he will tell you "I'm 3, almost 4 on August 11th!"
Aside from being a crazy hot day I think all the kids had tons of fun at the party and the parents probably sweated off a couple pounds :) I think next year we need to make it a family affair and make a super long slip n' slide for everyone to cool off with :)
Most of the boys favorite friends were able to come to the party which makes them happiest of all. They LOVE getting to see and play with their friends. (For my memory, here is who came to the party - Cooper, Beau, Nally & Fallon, Ava & Naomi, Mary Claire, Jeremiah & John Daniel, Zach, and Blake)

John-Mark and Naomi getting ready to double slide :)Jeremy added some bubbles to add some extra "slip" :)Some of the crew hanging out in the poolNothing, absolutely nothing makes this boy happier than being in water - pure joy!Some of the girls enjoying their pizza lunchGracie with her two favorite girls, Nally and Fay Fay

Blowing out the candles on their homemade icecream sandwiches. I decided to do something a little different this year and made these yummy desserts. I don't know if I will do them every year because they aren't as easy as icing some cupcakes but they were a hit - probably more so with the adults than the kids - but who doesn't love cookies and icecream :)Daddy's Girl for sure!! This girl loves her Daddy (or Dadden as she often calls him). He had to run out to get the pizza's and the pic below is of her standing in the driveway yelling, "Come Back" as he drove away. How cute is that ruffle hiney :)

Over the past couple of months whenever you would ask James what he wanted for his birthday he would tell you this, "party hats, cupcakes, balloons, party chairs (?), and slip n' slides. Somewhere along the way he started adding in presents as well but they were always the last on his list. When you would ask what presents he would tell you motorcycles and monster jam trucks, which was pretty crazy since that is what his mom-mom and papa steve had already gotten them - they know him too well :)

John-Mark opening some cards and presents. He was so funny - everything he opened he would say "ooooh" like it was the greatest thing ever!

Playing their new Gone Fishin' game with Mom-Mom

Trying to figure out how to make their motorcycles race!The Allen's :)
The gang with Mom-Mom and Papa Steve

The boys actual birthdays are this Thursday and Sunday. We have special traditions of giving them their presents from us as soon as they wake up and then making an extra special birthday breakfast (chocolate chip muffins for James and Chocolate Peppermint Pancakes for John-Mark this year) for each of them. We also have a fun birthday Mexican Fiesta planned!

The weekend we did the boys birthday also happened to be my birthday weekend. Jeremy did an AMAZING job this year and even wrote me a super cute riddle about all the fun things we were going to do which included dinner with some of our favorite friends at one of our favorite restaurants (Chuck's), a movie, and he also took me to see the play Hairspray! I LOVE anything that has to do with the theatre so it was perfect! On my actual birthday he also got me all of my favorites, peanut M&M's, a flashback Pepsi, and a People! :) It was a perfect birthday weekend!