Cuteness Factor

We had a big, busy, long weekend this past weekend.

Central to the whole weekend was my oldest’s 4th birthday. The celebrations began on Friday when he brought ice cream sandwiches and a piñata to school. On Saturday, I took him and his two best buds to see the movie “Cars,” which was excellent, by the way.

Sunday was his actual birthday. Other than church and a last chance to get ready for his party, we had nothing planned except him opening his presents from us, which he loved, particularly the Mr. Incredible suit.

Monday was the big day. Fortunately, it was Queen’s Birthday holiday here, so I took advantage of having the long weekend as an extra day to get ready for the party – a Pirate spectacular.

As the kids arrived, they were fitted with bandanas and given an inflatable snake-sword and sent outside to splash in the wading pool until everyone arrived. Our activities included decorating their own treasure chests, which doubled as their party bag, pin-the-pirate-on-the-X, a water balloon toss, a treasure hunt for “gold dubloons,” and a peg-legged pirate piñata. We opened presents and enjoyed a yummy cake from the bakery.

By the end of the day, the kids had a ball. We had enough activities to keep them going all afternoon without getting bored and everyone thought it was a wonderful time. In fact, most of the other moms now want me to do their kid’s parties…

Of course, the baby, it seems, didn’t want to be out done and competed with his brother for cuteness factor. On the oldest’s birthday, the baby decided to achieve THREE firsts in one day. He cut his first tooth. He discovered the word “Da-da.” And he stood up in his crib for the first time.

I asked my 4 year old how he felt about Jonathan trying to “out cute” him on his birthday. He turned around and said, “But mom, he IS cute!” ‘Nuff said…