Robbie is 4 years old!!!!

Robbie sure does know how to celebrate his birthday!  It started Friday when I brought cupcakes and juice to school so he could celebrate with his friends there.  Unfortunately his good friends weren't at school Friday and I was afraid they wouldn't be able to come to his party the next day.  It was nice seeing his classmates that he talks about, though.  I bought 2 dozen mini cupcakes because there are 11 kids in the class, plus the teacher, plus I thought I was going to have Alex and Catie with me, so I wanted to make sure everyone got a cupcake.  Matthew took Friday off and ran errands with Alex and Catie and there were only 6 kids present.  Luckily for them their teacher allowed them each to have 2 since I did have plenty (and I didn't want to throw them away).  We did keep them to just 1 juice box each, though.  My favorite part was taking a birthday picture with Robbie.  When the teacher counted down Robbie gave me a kiss on the cheek!  It was so sweet and spontaneous!!

Saturday was birthday party day.  Jim drove up the night before and brought us bagels in the morning.  The kids enjoyed a chocolate chip bagel and I loved my cinnamon crunch bagel.

Matthew had the awesome idea to rent a bounce house.  Apparently the company charges the same whether you have it for 1 hour or 12.  We rented it for 9 so Robbie could have some time before and after the party to play.  We didn't tell them what we were getting, so the boys were super excited when it showed up.  We all enjoyed some bounce time before everyone else arrived.  I was a little worried that Robbie would be over it by the time the party started, but I had nothing to be afraid of.  They pretty much bounced until they came to pick it up.

We expected 16 kids for the party and all but one came (Robbie said she was coming, but her parents never RSVP's so I wasn't 100% sure anyway).  We were happy that his school friends were able to make it.  Two are twins and their mom kept them home Friday to make sure they weren't getting sick or contagious and the other kid's mom was in a car accident Friday morning.  Luckily she is ok, just very sore and stiff.  I was very impressed that she came, but she said Niko wouldn't let her not take him.  Almost all of my Mom to Mom friends came with their kids.  It's been so much fun watching them all grow up together!  And it's nice that the kids get along when we want to have play dates...for the kids, of course! :)  The 16 kids also included 5 cousins.  Jonathan and Lisa brought their kids over for the fun, too.  We didn't tell Robbie that any of the family were coming, just that he had surprise guests and since no one arrived at the same time, the surprises just kept coming! :)

I guess I should add 2 more kids to the guest list.  My parents also enjoyed time in the bounce house.  I was quite impressed they got in and went down the slide!  But the biggest big kid had to be Jonathan.  He may have had more fun than any of the kids! :)

The bounce house!

Robbie loved it!

 This present received the best wrapping award.

Matthew was the master chef grilling up hamburgers, hot dogs and ribs.  He had 2 grills going!

Proof of mom's fun

After while the kids went down every which way but on their bottoms.

Mom and dad with the youngest grandkids.

Delicious cake from Costco.

Mia and Kayleigh

And Elise

Smile, Elise!

Kayleigh and Catie

Elise loved Catie!  She kept asking to hold her.

Big kid Jonathan

Elise also helped feed Catie.

Mia

Robbie

Nathan and Matthew

 Alex

Trying one of his gifts from Lisa and Erik

Proof of my dad having fun

Mia finally got a chance to hold Catie.

The original plan was to grill some chicken for dinner, but everyone was too pooped to cook, so we ordered pizza and the kids bounced and played until they took the bounce house away.  Neither Robbie or Alex took a nap and they fell asleep before I finished reading them a book after bath time.

Even though Robbie's birthday wasn't until Sunday he insisted he turned 4 at his birthday party.  We let him open his presents from us Sunday morning.  We got him 4 Transformers and he asked me why he got so many.  I told him it was so he had plenty to share when his friends came over.  He liked that idea.  Now I'm going to have to have his friends come over! :)

I love how he says Optimus Prime! (Octimus Crime)




Alex was eating his bagel while Robbie was opening presents.  Catie barely took her eyes off the bagel and would have grabbed is if Alex ever put it down.




Patrick and Mariruth got him a stomp rocket.  Of course, the first rocket to get shot off by Matthew went on the roof!  He was able to get it down easily and there were 3 more, so we didn't have to stop the fun.



Jim had to leave early to get home and everyone else stayed until after lunch.  Of course Robbie cried when everyone left because he was sad to see them go.  Hopefully we'll get to see them again around the holidays!