Happy Birthday, Big Boy!

I recently noticed that of the four categories that I sometimes label my posts with, the recipes category has an overwhelming lead.  (Those four categories are listed in the right side barof my home page.)  So I guess that means I better get busy with posting in the other three categories.  I'm planning to add to the other categories a bit over the next few posts.  To start things off, I've got a post on a recent celebration to share with you.

Just a few weeks ago, our Little Man celebrated his 4th birthday.  We all had a great time hosting a party for his friends from Bible class.  I usually don't like to have party themes centered around tv characters, but sometimes it happens.  This time, however, we came up with something that we were confident we'd both be happy with.

Remember this photo from June?

Something I ran across on a  party planning website, made me think of this picture and our Little Man's love for camping.  A few weeks before his birthday he had started frequently asking me a series of questions.  This is usually how our nearly daily conversation went...

LM: Momma, when did we move to this house?

Me: Before you were born.

LM: Wow, our house is getting old. We need to move to a cabin, because the cabins are really nice.

 

The cabin he was speaking of, is the one we stayed in when the photo above was taken.  He loved the handful of times we camped at nearby forest service cabins this past summer.  So much so that he wanted to move to one of  the cabins--and he still does!

So we went forth with a camping themed party.  We had the party in our church's annex or fellowship hall, and set up a full campsite right inside.  We used all the campsite components to have a picture scavenger hunt.  The kids loved it.  (And the Little Miss loved helping the younger kids find all the items once she had checked them all off her list.)

After the scavenger hunt, we played a mosquito bite game.  Each kid was given 6 bright garage sale stickers and the object was to be a sneaky mosquito and get your "bites" on people without them catching you or you had to take back your "bite".  They thought that game was quite fun and ended up having their backs covered in bright neon circles! :)

The third game was a basic fishing game since our Little man also loves fishing and it's often a part of camping trips.

At the end of each  game, each player got one of three things they'd need for the final activity...roasting s'mores!  (Notice the neon circles all over the back shoulder of the little girl in the left corner of the photo.)

We (my brother-in-law) set up our small grill for the kids to roast thei r marshmallows on.  I think all he kids enjoyed this part of the party.  It probably helped that it's not your normal birthday party activity.

 

The Little Man wanted cupcakes--chocolate with chocolate icing to be exact.  But I wanted something to decorate a camping scene on.  So we compromised with a cupcake pull-apart cake.  I was pleased with how it turned out, especially for how quickly I put it together.

 He's getting SO big!

 

 

Then it was present time.  What birthday boy doesn't like present time?

 

Uncle Lee was quite proud of his present--a new toilet seat with a smaller kid sized seat that flips inside the lid when not in use.  He even installed it the next day, too!

After the afternoon party, we came home for pizza and a movie with a couple of friends.  And, of course, while the pizza was baking, they needed to open one of the games the Little Man received at his party and try it out.

We had a great time celebrating this fun boy.  

Here's a look back at his previous birthdays.

Three years old 

Two years old (look at those chubby cheeks!)

 

 One year old

 First BIRTHday