A Weekend of Parties!

It's Tuesday night and I'm still recovering from a whirlwind weekend of parties. (Wow... it occurs to me that "partying" is much different now than it was before children. It's a different kind of recovery entirely!)

On Friday Ray had a very nice birthday, including a Lego/pizza party with family and friends.

He had a wonderful time decorating the house and preparing prize boxes for all of the children. Here he is waiting for the party to begin!I decided to turn the main wall of our school room into a "Wall of Ray" with pictures of him from birth through age six.After dinner we had some Lego-building time and also some relays and other Lego games. We played our family's famous "marching game." (Basically, we tape down pictures related to the party theme and then we play music and march around the circle. When the music stops, we randomly select one of the pictures and whoever is standing on that picture wins a prize.) I should have taken pictures of the Lego pictures Jon and I hand-drew the night before. They were pretty silly. The children loved marching and winning prizes. Then I made the adults march too. They all got lottery tickets, but I don't think anyone won anything!Uncle Mike and Christian were the winners of the "Guess How Many Legos Are In The Box" game.A lady from our parish made this delicious - and very green - Lego cake.After most of the guests left I realized that I totally forgot to have them do the craft I planned. Ava, Carter, the boys, and Mamaw had fun filling hollow ornament bulbs with Legos and other craft items. Here's Ray opening his presents. He got several cool Lego kits that should help keep him busy this winter. A special gift from Mamaw:
A cool gift from some friends - A LEGO Rosary!
Daddy and Ray trying to figure out a neat robotic erector set from Pappy -
On Saturday the fun continued with a new tradition, a "cousin party" at my sister's house. We decided to get together for an afternoon of fun, food, games, and crafts instead of buying presents for one another this year. A great time was had by all!

More marching....Christmas Bingo...

A table full of prizes...Craft time.... The coolest craft: We made small holes in the bottoms of ping pong balls, placed them on top of battery-operated tea lights, and then decorated them with markers. They really glow and look like snow globes.
And last, but certainly not least, we took part in a wonderful circus-themed party to celebrate the first birthday of my Goddaughter. More games and prizes and presents and cake and fun! She was so adorable and I can't believe she's already a year old!
And so, we're into another school week now... but there's a table in my living room that is overflowing with party paraphanalia of all types: hats, treat bags and boxes, crafts, treats, prizes. Thank you, God, for so many wonderful reasons to celebrate. Thank you for the gift of life, for family and friends, for days filled with laughter and fun.