October 1 + An Angry Birds Birthday Party

James' birthday morning was really special.  He ran into our bathroom while I was still bleary-eyed and barely awake, jumping around with excitement.  He was so cute.  We made him wait until Ella woke up to open his presents.  We seem to have a tradition of opening birthday presents in the morning light as it streams through our front door windows. 

First Birthday

You can tell from Ella's face that she is figuring out what it is before James.

One of the highlights of our familial year was keeping the kids out past their bedtime one night and going with friends to see The LEGO Movie, which was so fantastic.  I was actually really pulling for a LEGO party this year.

Below is probably my favorite picture of the morning.

He's such a beautiful boy.

As much as he loved the new LEGOs, he was just as excited about the 99 cent Angry Birds coloring book he picked out.  He spent the entire morning coloring each page while watching The Great Mouse Detective on Netflix.

He got to hear the Birthday song from England over Skype, went out for a birthday breakfast with KJ, and after a quiet morning at home we went over for a birthday lunch with the cousins, which ended in a birthday jump on the trampoline.

I drove the kids across town to Target in the afternoon, thinking James could fall asleep and get a little nap in before his party that night, but he was so busy coloring he didn't fall asleep.  So, we walked around and looked at books and toys for a little while before going back to the church to set up for his party, at which point I discovered I left some important things at home, at which point KJ saved the day again by taking James to go pick up the left-behind items, as well as the cake and pizza.  

As you can well imagine, there are just a few things swirling around in my mental to-do list, so as I was setting up for his party I was feeling kind of low, feeling tired and not very put together, hoping James would have fun.  But you know what?  It was just the sweetest and best little party.  There were screaming, happy kids running everywhere, and our sweet church family brought him birthday cards with $5 bills in them.  Five is the best age for that.  James had so much fun.

KJ and our good friend and neighbor, Justin, pretended to be the pigs who stole the birds' eggs (making them angry of course).  We then let loose the mad hoard in the playground, hunting for their missing eggs.  It was really the perfect party game for James, because he LOVES hunting eggs.

I bought these little Angry Birds disc launchers that ended up being a lot of fun.  All the kids had one and just went crazy chasing the "pigs."  It took me awhile to notice that James had come outside without his shoes on, so barefoot on October 1 it was, heedless of dirt and ant beds.

After everyone got good and dirty we joined the adults for ice cream and cake.  KJ warned the kids about shooting launchers at grown-ups and hitting them in the eye, forcing them to wear an eyepatch the rest of their days.

Ella's Angry Bird banner was my favorite party decoration.  It was made with such love.

It was such a fun night, another thing in a long list to be thankful for.       

And those sweet pictures of James and I were all I really wanted out of the day.