Andrew's party

Even though our plans for a party outside at Fork Kidd fell though we still had a blast. We just moved Andrew's party to our home and planned a Pirate Theme party in 2 days. At Andrew's request we invited lots of boys and 2 girls. Andrew's best buddies were there: Parker Fox, Preston Ruth, Nathan Smith, and Noah Cormany but this year we extended the group to invite some new friends. Andrew wanted two girls there, so Isabella Sanders and Sara Beth Erickson were invited. Bella and Sara are two girls who will be five next month. We've known their families for years. There's even a picture at my baby shower of all us mommies lined up sideways showing off our big bellies with Nathan, Bella, Sara and Andrew inside. They've grown up together in our church and it has been a blessing. Sibling also came, we had both girls bring along their younger brother and sister. Andrew also requested that some big kids come. Who better than to ask Noah's two big brothers Samuel and Josh? These two boys are the best mannered and fun loving boys around. Oh and Andrew wanted one more little boy there besides Ethan. His Care Group buddy Mason was invited. In all there were 15 kids here, a full house!

As everyone arrived this morning at 10, we were greeted with snow flakes! We first played a fun game of "Freeze Dance." The two hams in the group (who do not perform on command) just froze the entire time. Nathan standing with a finger in his mouth and Ethan sitting in the midst of chaos on the floor hugging a balloon. This game was followed by a "Treasure Hunt." I split the kids in to 3 group. Each group was given a treasure map with their first clue on it. The groups all split up running through the house in a mad dash. Some were looking in the ice maker, others in the boys bookshelf and others in the fake ficus tree. From there they went down and upstairs in different directions to clue number 3 where I had hidden a box wrapped in silver foil. Each boxed was clearly labeled with an X and was filled with chocolate coins, pencils, bouncy balls, glow sticks, and jewels. These precious jewels were of the dollar kind from the local Dollar Tree store gently placed in necklaces, rings and bracelets for the girls. :) Of course we had to remove them from some of the boys bags and necks.

Next was time to load up on more sweets. Chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and ice cream were offered with juice boxes. My children weren't hungry for lunch for hours. Andrew actually stood in front of everyone as we all sang "Happy Birthday" with a grin on his face and was able to blow all 5 candles out at the same time. That's great progress since most of the other years he cried.

Present time was filled with army men, coloring books, stickers, legos, money and his favorite gift of all a 150 piece set of Gears from the Cormanys. This is a learning/educational toy that is captivating. Since the party, this game has been played by Andrew, Ethan and Hannah nonstop. You can rearrange the gears horizontally or vertically to all move when turned by a little yellow handle. Great for little minds. Thank you Cormany family!

We missed you all being here who are reading this post from out of town. But, hopefully my descriptions made it seem like you were.