the boys' birthday bash

We celebrated both boys' birthdays over Memorial Day weekend and lucked out with beautiful summer weather! We were also lucky and had both sides of our family plus some good friends celebrate with us. We grilled hamburgers, put out all of our yard games and toys and enjoyed time with our friends and family!

I always ask Jake about his birthday cake about a month beforehand because his answers change often, but with enough time I can figure out what he really wants by what he answers most often. ;) This year the options were almost tied between a robot, a jet, a dragon and a castle. I had to discourage the castle and dragon a little because my cake baking/decorating skills are pretty limited and thankfully he stuck with the robot idea the longest. So that's what we did! I spent the day before the party making the cake and it turned out exactly how I hoped!

So Jake really wanted the number 6 on his cake--even after I explained to him that usually you would put a number 4 on the cake for your 4th birthday, he was still adamant about putting 6 on the cake. So I asked him how people would know how old he was turning and he said "I'll just tell them!" And then I asked why he wanted the number 6 instead of number 4 and he said "Well, I really like being 4...but I really like the number 6!" So we ran with it, and I love that little detail.

Easy decorations-- just taped photos on cardboard numbers cut from the many moving boxes we have! I got a little carried away choosing photos and printed out about double the amount I actually needed, but I love displaying photos at our house so they'll be put to good use!

Reid got his very own cake and I really expected him to go all in with it. Surprisingly he took his
time mashing it in his fingers and didn't eat much, but he had just eaten a huge lunch. Guess I should have told him to save room for cake. ;)





The afternoon was plenty warm and the kids were thrilled to run back and forth between the very warm hot tub and the very cold pool while the adults went back for seconds on the birthday cake. ;)

The adults and bigger boys played quite a few rounds of Kuub. I've honestly forgotten how to play it but sometime I'll have to relearn because they had a lot of fun!

And now--somehow-- we've got a 1 year old and a 4 year old!