A Birthday Party and an Open House

What does a person do when they have a kid turning 5 and a newly painted/decorated house?  Throw a party, of course.  I figured the guest list would be the same for both parties, so rather than do the work twice, I decided to have it all together.  This also gave me a deadline for painting.  I'm still not completely done, but I had a few big rooms that still weren't done at the time the party was planned.  So I went to work painting, cleaning, planning and unpacking.  I got it done the night before.  I was tired, stressed and, to top it off, I had a horrible kink in my neck...but I did it.

My mom came in town a few days before to take John to A Day Out With Thomas and to help me with odds and ends.  My mother and father in-law drove in the night before to have a nice dinner with us.  Oh yeah, it was also our anniversary.  So, Hans and I spent our anniversary riding Thomas and having dinner with my mother, mother and father in-law, our kids and our nieces.  Other than the horrible kink in my neck I had a good time.  It is always nice when we can all get together.

On to the party.  The morning started off nice and sunny and quickly became gloomy and then it rained.  Not a light drizzle, but buckets and buckets of water.  My plan for the guys taking the kids to McDonalds while the girls finished getting the house ready were foiled but Hans and his dad still braved the treacherous weather to drive to McDonalds to get food.  Because you can't tell kids they are getting McDonalds and then not deliver McDonalds...that is just cruel.  In the end it all worked out just fine.  The kids got McDonalds, the house was clean, food was ready, and guests arrived.  I'm pretty sure I sent my nieces back home tired and  hyped up on chocolate milk, junk food and cake...my auntly duties were fulfilled.

Before the party started, John and Solveig brought gifts for all of the kids.  Machara got a camera and she loved it.  She wanted a picture taken with Anders and she wanted it taken with her camera but she wasn't ready to hand it over.  She settled for this...but then we couldn't get these two to smile at the same time

(of course) 

 Our house was filled with family and friends.  It was a wonderful way to spend the day.  John had a blast.

 I don't think I ever posted a picture of sweet Adeline.  We stayed with Addie and her parents when we first moved here.  Addie was a good sport about all the noise in her house.  I think she had fun.  Here, Addie is meeting her new friend Nathaniel for the first time.  I think he is only a month or two old.  Isn't he precious?  I love how he is looking at her.

 Gifts were given.  John enjoyed it all.

 Trying to keep John still long enough to read cards was a task.  Grandma Fiene did her best.  He truly loved all of his presents and we sat down and read all of the cards again after everyone left.

 Then it was cake time.  Gus got to the cake before a picture was taken and I'm just thankful he only managed to disturb John's name and not the cake itself.

 Singing Happy Birthday.

 I think the kids liked the birthday cake.  Machara is sitting behind John and actually smiling for this picture.

When I went to get a shot with Machara, she didn't feel like smiling anymore but she did pose for me.

 John's actual birthday fell on a Monday this year.  He requested that we save some presents for his actual birthday.  He was ready to open the presents right after we woke up.

 Anders discovered the singing cards.

 After we all got dressed, my mom and I took John to get his first library card.  John has enjoyed having a library card. 

After the library we had to say goodbye to Grandma Huebel.  Hey!  Everyone is looking at the camera!

It was a fun-filled weekend.  John had a great party and birthday.  Thank you to everyone for coming and making his day special.