It's now finally official--Cole is 4

Of course nothing is official until all the candles are blown out, the balloons are popped and there are toys strewn all over the room.  Cole is now 4 years old.  We celebrated for the last and final time (I think) on Saturday with a fun space-themed party.  I've never done anything this "intense" for a party and it was just fun to kind of stick with a theme and run with it.  Danny helped with the execution of pretty much every aspect of the party and it turned out really fun.  I wasn't really stressed and I just sat back and enjoyed all the kids and their goofy selves.  Plus, you can't really control the turnout of a birthday party with 4 year olds.  You just have to go with the flow.

We busted out a very inconspicuous door sign so people who'd never been to the house before knew they were at the right spot.  If you look really closely you can see a little something on the door...

  I thought the alien idea was pretty cool.  Who doesn't like a little green alien? Especially a patriotic one.

Moon rocks with hidden prizes inside.  They went on a "hunt" to find moon rocks with jewels, glow-in-the-dark stars and aliens inside.  I think that was a highlight of the party for the kids.  Who knew that crumpled tin foil and plastic dollar-store toys could be SO AMAZING?!

There were a lot of aliens at the house.  I found this idea online of turning green balloons in to aliens and Danny did a great job of making it happen.

We also enjoyed spaceship cupcakes.  (Also by Danny).  I know it seems like I didn't do ANYTHING, but it's because I did all the behind-the-scenes lame stuff...like the invitations, coming up with the ideas for the games and then the craft.

These were the badges all the kids had to put on when they arrived.  It was for their safety.  Of course our staff was constantly checking to make sure that each of the kids had their training pass on themselves at all times.  This was serious business.

The Mission Check-in

The kids pinned the Astronaut on the rocket which of course--was on the moon.  This game never gets old to me.  Cole's friend Kyle did it EXACTLY on the rocket...it was almost creepy how right on he was.  Here's Cole pretending that he is doing the same thing.  Pretty convincing, huh?

This is the face of a boy who has thoroughly enjoyed a chocolate cupcake.

I have no idea how--but I figured out how to do some cool color tricks on our camera.  I seriously wasn't even trying to do anything fancy, but somehow I started taking pictures like this:

The kids made their own rocket ships out of plastic soda bottles (an idea that I found online and tweaked).

Cousin Spencer made the cutest card for Cole with his own hieroglyphics.

He also drew a picture of Cole which was really sweet.  I was really impressed, actually.

The kids looking through their moon rocks. 

This was probably my favorite part.  Getting a group shot of kids is hysterical.  I love how they're all looking different directions in every picture.  And if they all happened to be ready for the pic, it's only natural that somebody jump up right when the camera shutter closes.  Awesome.

Cole and Lexi are sharing a chair.  These two have always been so cute together.  He seriously lit up like a light when she walked in the room.  That sounds so cheesy (trust me, I know) but some kids just connect right from the start.  I don't mean this in a romantic way (obviously) but they're just so cute together.

Cole givin' some love to Madison.

A very happy and content Cole.  I'm sure he doesn't know which gift to play with first.  He had so much fun and kept talking about how it was still his birthday and how he needed to have another birthday party.  Judging by the fact that I found him with a sucker in each hand and talking as fast as the micro-machines man an hour after the party ended, I'd say he'd had enough fun, sugar and laughter for one day.