Cole's Birthday -- The Recap!

Every veteran parent knows that kid's birthday parties are fun fun fun, but work work WORK! It is for this reason that I decided to outsource Cole's 3rd birthday party to Gymboree. It's a little pricey, but totally worth it because cleaning up after 20 kids aged four and under plus their loving parents is not my idea of a good time. This way we can focus on the Fun and not the Work. And you will see, Fun was had!

The boys wasted no time getting down to the business of play. We were there less than three minutes and this was the scene. Just the two of them in the play area....

Swinging...

...and climbing....

....and monkeying around.

Cole loved this little tunnel thing. Later they made a "train wash" out of it (since the party theme was trains) and they blew bubbles in there.

A Motley Crew

They played a maraca game where they doled out maracas to all the kids. That in and of itself was immediate fun. But then they instructed them to BANG on this tube thing, which was a fan favorite. They played a song that during the chorus said "Pause" and all the kids yelled "Happy Birthday Cole."

Check out Cole's face....

Lila with her maracas...

The cake was eagerly anticipated by Cole. I made cupcakes and arranged and decorated them to look like a train...

As soon as they put the cake in front of Cole, he blew out a candle. Mason was so annoyed that Cole had upset the order of things. (This is a testament to their personalities--Mason's regimented, orderly and controlling while Cole is free spirited and easy-going.)

Ms. Carla relit the candle...

...and Mason restrained Cole whilst we sang.

(Cole's getting a little testy with Mason's hand on his shoulder.)

Free at last!

One...

Two....

THREE!

The sweet taste of patience!

Back to playtime... They brought out the parachute AND.... (drumroll please....)

BUBBLES!

It was like Manna from heaven. The happy happy happy faces on these kids while they played and danced around to this bubble song were a visual delight.

As the song wound down, the lyrics told them all to lay down and sleep. The girls were all about this--they boys were like "What? Stop? Are you kidding?" And they took off.

And just to prove I was actually in attendance, here's a picture of me and Cole. All the mothers out there know--you're never in the pictures because you're always taking the pictures!

P.S. Here's a shot of Rey and Cole during the Special Birthday Breakfast. Cole was so excited for this--when they went to leave for the restaurant he walked out of the house with a swagger like you've never seen before. Mason is already talking about his birthday on "Ontover Fourteen" (October 14th) so he can have Special Breakfast.