The Party

Rylan's party was a lot of fun.  It was sunny and not terribly hot (only in the upper-80s) which was much better than last year when it was in the mid-90s.  It started at 4:30 and ended up lastly about 4 hours - we all had a great time!

While waiting for the party guests to arrive, the boys got their dinosaur tattoos and colored some dinosaurs.

We invited 11 families but summer vacations and family visits always make it difficult for a lot of people to come.  We ended up with 5 families being able to make it, but it ended up being a good size.  We ended up with 10 kids (plus our 2) ranging from 1 to 10, but most kids were 2, 3, and 4.

Digging for fossils:

Some of the kids didn't have swimsuits, but they still dared to run through the water!  We eventually found enough extras of our clothes that everyone was able to get wet and still be dry on their drive home.

Maddie, Will, and Chase:

Radnor and Rylan had fun playing with the bubbler rock!

Our youngest guest, Hutch:

We managed to get all but 3 of the kids in a group shot before doing the dinosaur egg hunt.  From left to right: Charlie, Luke, Rylan, Radnor, Carson, Chase, Will, Carter, and Riley.  We had a lot of blondes at the party - and the 3 missing from the picture (Brennan, Maddie, & Hutch) are all blonde too!

Brian went to go pay for the pizza that had just arrived before we started the hunt and it was over before he got back.  I think it lasted just over a minute.  It's amazing how fast kids are egg hunts!

Silly Luke with an upside down mask!

Love this picture of Rylan and Charlie!

We don't get to see Charlie much at all now that his mom works full time (and they live in Murfreesboro which is 30 minutes away).  But we promised to get together soon!

Instead of eating his dinner, Carter got all his dinosaurs out of the eggs and lined them up.  He was definitely the most aggressive egg hunter and got the most.  He's not competitive at all :)

After everyone finished eating, we headed to the garage to do the pinata.

Rylan:

Carter:

Will:

Chase:

Radnor:

Charlie:

Carson:

Luke:

Riley:

Even one-year-old Hutch gave it a try!

I told Radnor's older brother, our oldest guest, that if none of the littler ones broke the pinata, he'd have to do it for us.  Brennan took one swing and the dinosaur didn't have a chance!

Candy, candy, candy!!!

Charlie and his family had to leave then to go to another party.  But the boys shared a sweet hug!

After some more playing, it was time for cupcakes!

Brian had gotten the fire started in the firepit after the pinata so we were ready for s'mores after cupcakes (we just kept that sugar coming!).

Family picture - Chase, Hutch, and Riley with their dad (Ryan):

Missy and Luke:

All the kids did great and stayed out of the fire (always a little scary with so many little ones!).

Yummy!!!

After all the sugar, the kids had plenty of energy to play for another couple of hours!

Carter got a little aggressive with the flower here!

How many kids can you fit into a baby pool???

We didn't have to worry about the kids getting near the fire for long.  They discovered they could use their water guns to put it out!

Getting more ammo!

Notice the two kids outside of our fence?  They stood there during a good portion of our party just staring at us.  We don't know them or their family.  But we know that they only live here with their dad part-time.  They are pretty young and we never saw their dad.  I didn't feel comfortable telling them they could join us.  It was weird though having them just staring at us.  The little boy even returned with his swimming trunks on and stood as close as he could to the wacky flower sprinkler trying to get wet!

The water guns made good canons too!

The inflatable dinosaurs gave good rides apparently!

I love Luke's smile!

The last family left around 8:30 and then we proceeded to pick up just enough so nothing would get wet overnight that couldn't and all the food was put away.  Then we got the kids to bed and relaxed.  We thought the party went great!

The next morning Rylan opened his presents.  It took him most of the morning to even notice them on the dining room table!

He got lots of awesome gifts from our super generous friends!

And Carter is already asking for a dinosaur party at the house for his birthday too!!!