Jack Turned 3!!!

Oh to be turning 3 again and have all of your hearts desires come true!

Jack turned 3 on March 31st and since his birthday landed on a Thursday we waited to have his party until the following Saturday. Of course I can't let the actual day pass without some acknowledgment so I got a couple of my friends to bring their kids with me to Jumpin' Jack's Bounce House (yes, that's the real name. Kindof perfect. :)) and he had so much fun! He ran around like a maniac for hours jumping on all the blow up toys, the trampolines, playing with the toys, and of course pretending to play arcade games...his favorite.

 Jack with his buddy Fischer

 That night when Jeff got home we all went to Chick-fil-a for dinner. Jack always loves playing in the play land and eating their delicious chicken nuggets. He also got to open 1 present from us (Spiderman PJ's) and one that Grandma & Grandpa had sent. He was pleased as can be repeating over and over again, "Thanks Mom, I love it!"

Now on to the party. Jack is REALLY into superheros right now so of course that's the kind of party he wanted. The invitations:

At first it was all about Superman. He didn't want anything to do with any other superhero...just Superman. So I made Superman capes for all the kids.

Of course I didn't want to leave poor Miya (the only girl coming to the party) out so I made her a Wonder Woman cape!

About a week before the party Jack decided he LOVED Spiderman and no longer cared much for Superman (of course). All he would talk about was wanting a Spiderman cake. I kept pushing for the Superman cake (how easy would a large S in a triangle be?!) but no luck. So the night before the party I bought a Spiderman cake mold, frosting bags & tips (up to this point the fanciest I got with my cake decorating was putting the frosting in a zip lock bag and cutting off a corner), and went to work baking the perfect Spiderman cake. When Jack went to bed that night the last thing he said was, "When I wake up my Spiderman cake will be done?!" Yep, it was done. It took me until 2 in the morning to get it done, but it.was.done.

The cake in process...

 This is my 2am "I never want to make another cake in my life" face. :) Aren't I lovely?! haha

Tada!

When I showed it to Jack he was THRILLED! His reaction totally made the late night of baking (and sore hands...kuddos to you cake decorators) worth it!

All set and ready for the party guests to arrive.

As the kids arrived I had them each decorate their own superhero mask.

(These boys are only about 4 months apart, but Emerson is on the tall side & Jack is on the smaller side so they look about 2 years apart. I'm waiting for those tall Lind genes to kick in any day now. :))

Once all the kids had their masks I told them it was time to start their superhero training. First off, saving a duck from out of the tree. You know, because ducks are always getting stuck in trees. ;) (Okay, so we don't own any stuffed cats.)

Next, onto the backyard for an obstacle course.

First up, a balance beam.

(My original intention with this was to put a kiddie pool full of water and dry ice for a nice smoke effect that they had to cross over. Then, the pool I was going to use was broken, so I settled for buckets of dry ice. Then the morning of the party when Jeff went to get the dry ice they didn't have any. Whoops! So they crossed over super scary empty buckets!)

Next, they had to roll the balls down the slide, through the hoops, and into the bucket.

Then a kryptonite carry. (There is a green glow stick ((kryptonite)) inside that bucket.)

And onto breaking through these tall buildings to get to...

...the Green Goblin where they were handed silly string to kill the goblin with.

After each kid had a turn running the course the superheros battled it out in a tug of war.

Finally, they were each presented with their Superman capes as they were now officially superheros!

After all that hard training they were hungry. Pizza & root beer never disappoint 3-5 year old kids! (The adults seem to like it too.)

Present time

All of the adorable little superheros.

I think Jack's favorite part was the birthday cake. He loved the singing, blowing out the candle, and of course...

...eating the cake!!! 

(He chose Spiderman's head.)

Addie slept through the entire party! I even had her dressed in an adorable pink Superman shirt, but no one ever saw it. Then I forgot to take a pic until late that night when she was already in her PJ's. Bummer. 

A few days after the party I emailed each kid a couple comic book pages from the party. Here are a couple examples:

 

Entertaining 7 crazy boys & 1 girl for an afternoon is sure tiring, but to see Jack having SO much fun & still weeks later talking about his party makes it ALL worth it!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my favorite buddy! 

PS Jack is now over Spiderman (he got SO much Spiderman loot at his party) and onto Iron Man! Ugh, I can't keep up. :) We'll have to see if the Easter Bunny has any Iron Man gear. ;)