Free to be Three!

Brody is three years old!!  Can you believe it? His birthday party turned out to be so much fun, despite the weather predictions that it would rain.  I tell you, I think I am done with planning outdoor parties for his birthday.  Every year we have to deal with the threat of rain, and it is SO stressful!  Thankfully, this year the rain came early and Saturday shaped up to be a very nice, albeit cool and windy day.  It was perfect for a party in the park (not perfect for a rather precarious cake, but we'll get to that in a minute!)

Food and Decorations:

We did a Hawaiian luau theme this year, and it turned out to be really cute!  Each guest was greeted with a lei from Brody, who had the best time passing them out to all his friends.  I bought palm tree and monkey skewers and we made fruit and cheese kabobs to serve alongside tropical punch and cake.  For favors we did hibiscus cups with fish bubbles, shark squirters, and candy inside. The cake was a hit again this year, but I wasn't so sure it was actually going to happen. You see, I get these brilliant ideas but sometimes they are a little over the top! This year I wanted a cake inspired by the ocean and beach.  I did lots of research on the internet and found tons of different ideas.  Then I enlisted the help of my sister Allyson, a.k.a. Ace of Cakes, to help with the baking, stacking of layers, and decorating.  We made a double layer white cake with berry blue jello swirled in. Then we stacked the layers on top of each other and put gummy fish in between the layers. We then iced the whole thing in blue "waves." On top, we made a smaller double layer chocolate cake iced in white with crushed up vanilla wafers for sand. We added plastic sea animals and a palm tree on the top to complete our masterpiece. I honestly couldn't believe how good it looked in the end. We had to nix a third layer when it completely fell apart, and then our second batch of icing was really hard and didn't spread all too well, not to mention that the whole cake was a little bit lopsided and had to be filled in with a LOT of icing on one side!! After spending many hours creating Brody's cake, we set out for the park.  As mentioned previously, the wind was horrific that day, and we soon realized that our cake might not make it for the arrival of the guests!  Ace of Cakes came to the rescue by blocking the wind with a box. It did the trick and the cake was enjoyed by all!

Just moments after the finishing touches!

A very excited birthday boy can't wait to dig in!

Ace of Cakes to the rescue!

Bethany holding down the fort, literally!

Favors

Games:

All toddler parties need games, and we had no shortage of fun activities. First, we did the Limbo, and it was truly hilarious to watch the smaller ones try to figure out what we were doing. Everyone got in the grove, though, and I think even Brad showed his stuff out there. Then we moved on to a water balloon toss, which quickly escalated into "Smash Your Water Balloon on the Nearest Person." When Brad nailed me, soaking my hair and dress, the kids thought it was hilarious and then they all came after me! We had such a fun time. I was so unsure about the water balloons but now I am really glad we did them! They were the highlight of the party!

How low can you go?

Water Balloons!

Leyton is very happy to have escaped the water balloon fight!

Cake:

These pictures speak for themselves! Yum!

Happy Birthday Boy!

Presents:

After the games and food, Brody opened his many wonderful gifts. He was delighted with everything he received, and we are so lucky to have such generous friends and family. We are especially happy that Granddaddy and Grandma Matthys, along with Aunties Ally and Bethany, could be there from Texas to celebrate the occasion.  It was also fun to have Grandma Smith there, too!  Brody was one lucky boy!

Nora and Declan look on as Brody rips into his goodies!

Happy Birthday Little Man! :)