Gavin's 4th birthday party

On Friday, March 1st, we celebrated Gavin's 4th birthday.  He was really looking forward to this birthday because we've been stressing how big he would be at 4 years old.  Gavin had no idea of the surprise we had for him.  Last week my mom had called and told us that her and my dad were coming to Gavin's birthday party as a surprise.  A few days later I found out that Titi Maribel and Isa would be coming up with them to surprise Gavin too.  They came up late on Thursday night after the boys had gone to bed so Gavin had no clue they were all in our house when he woke up on his birthday.

On Friday morning, Gavin woke up at his usual 7am, walked through the floor of balloons we had set up for him the night before and into our bedroom.  He said, "I forgot it was my birthday but then I saw the balloons and remembered it's my birthday."  Since my parents and Maribel and Isa were still in their own bedrooms we didn't want Gavin to walk around the house and find them without us being there to watch his reaction.  So, we let him lay in our bed for a while. I felt so bad when Nick told Gavin to lay next to him, Gavin said "thanks daddy, I always want to lay in your bed but you never let me."  Nick and I are pretty strict about the no sleeping in our bed rule because when we did let him sleep in for "a little bit", it always turned into a meltdown to get him out of bed so now we don't allow it at all but when I heard him say that it did break my heart a little.

We opened presents at the house before the party because we had asked guests to not bring any presents.  We had talked to Gavin for weeks prior and told him there would be presents at home from his family but not at the party.  He didn't seem to mind one bit.
There are 16 kids in his class (including Gavin) and we get birthday invitations all the time which means the parents are out buying presents all the time.  I didn't want someone to not come to the party because of not affording or getting a present in time.  It gets expensive over the school year!  Anyhow--here's the opening of presents at home.

 We Facetimed the Guittar grandparents so they could see Gavin open their presents.  So that's Nick holding the iPhone on Facetime.

 My mom had mailed her gift a few weeks ago and it came in a diaper box.  This is Gavin's face when we told him it was diapers, size 3, for him.  He said "I think she got confused.  Those are for Liam."  There's another picture my mom took that shows a pitiful face on Gavin--just pure disappointment that Abuela confused his gift with a diaper box for Liam.

 Then he opened the box and was ecstatic to see car stuff inside.

 Ellie watched it all from her playard...such a good baby!

Then off to the party.  We held the party at a bouncyhouse place that Gavin loves and is nearby his school.

Fun for everyone...even the BIG kids! :)

 Liam was awesome at this small trampoline.  Bouncing like a pro.

I think he's showing his friend that he is now FOUR years old.

 Here's Gavin chasing his "best friend" Macy....

 and more chasing after her....

 When she showed up at the party, all I saw was little Macy running around saying "Gavin, Gavin, Gavin"...so it seems she likes him too. :)

 We love how Liam just walked into the party room behind the other kids, picked a chair, sat himself down and STOLE a piece of pizza from the little girl next to him.  Who said this party wasn't for him too?

 Oh, and he wanted a goody bag too!  I did not count him as a "guest" for the goody bags....good thing I made extras. :/

This picture cracks me up....my little boy among the big boys. 

 As you can see I had to let go a bit of my food obsession for the party.  I did at least find cupcakes without food coloring in their frosting.  I was upset the place wouldn't allow me to bring my own juice boxes that we had bought and forced me to give the kids the Capri Suns (if you haven't heard about the mold found in the Capri Sun pouches, google it or read about it here).  I did cringe when I saw Liam and Gavin drink the stuff but luckily none of the kids complained of the taste.

 After we sang happy birthday and ate cupcakes, everyone went back out to bounce some more.  I couldn't find Gavin so I went back to the party room and my mom tells me that he never left because he had not finished his pizza or cupcake.  WHAT?!?!?  This is the child that we have to beg to stay at the table long enough to eat some of his dinner.  Oh, wait- as Gavin says "this is tasty junk" so of course he was going to eat ALL of it even if it meant missing out on bouncing for a bit.  :)

It was a GREAT day for everyone.  We all had SO much fun.  I am eternally grateful to my parents and Maribel and Isa for coming up.  Nick and I could have managed it but it was SO much better having them there, the extra hands and eyes helped us be better hosts and we actually got to socialize with the other parents.  I wore Ellie the entire party and she slept the whole time.

What made their trip even better was that on Saturday morning we woke up to snow flurries and later it actually started snowing and accumulating a bit on the ground.  My mom had been dying to see snow falling- she'd never seen it I don't think.  My dad was a bit on panic mode because they had to drive back and he was afraid of the road conditions but it was all good.  They drove for 20 minutes in the snow and then it stopped.  It got too warm for it to keep so by mid-day it had actually all melted and it was like it never happened.  But it gave them a very "scenic route" as Maribel had requested the night before!

I can't say it enough--thank you to my parents and Maribel for coming!  Gavin felt so special when he realized you had all come just for him and be at his party.  He is still talking about it and you know that he will continue to talk about it "when I turned 4, Abuela and Abuelo came to see me...."