Aaargh!!!

Grant turned 5 last week!  Time seems to be flying by with my kids right now.  We have entered a new phase of life.  No one is in diapers, or naps, or throws (major) temper tantrums in public places.  Next year they will all be in school.  I am warming up to this phase, but I don't feel old enough to have them all be getting so old!  I wish I could slow it down a little bit.

This was Grant's year for a birthday party and he requested the pirate theme.  We invited 20 kids.  I know, I know.  I'm crazy.  I didn't want to leave any of his preschool friends out, plus a few neighbor friends, plus a couple of cousins, plus three older siblings.  Voila!!  It's easy to have it add up so fast.  One kid couldn't come, so we had 19 little pirates running around for an hour and a half, complete with hats, eye patches, pirate tattoos, face paint and swords.  Except I didn't give them the swords until the end.  I'm not a complete fool.  Captain Hook had taken our treasure and hidden it.  But we had a treasure map that showed how to get it back.  We had to walk the plank, pop the Captain's dropped cannonballs (balloons), dig for the money that he accidentally dropped while he was hiding the treasure and then find the big X where he buried it.  And if they were successful they would be true pirates and earn their swords.

 Helper pirates got their swords a little earlier than others.

One of us seems a little too smiley about stabbing the other...

With three little helpers I made pirate cupcakes.  I nearly had a pirate aneurysm.

Didn't you know that girl pirates also have facial hair?  Well, they do.

The tattoo artist #1.

And #2.

Thank goodness it was a beautiful day.  I'm not sure what I would have done if it had been raining.

Apparently even old women were forced to walk the plank.  That dastardly Captain Hook!  Will he show no mercy?!

Ahh, but we were able to gather some of the treasure that he accidentally dropped.

Now it's the girl's turn to search for gold.

More walking of the plank.

We did it!  We found the treasure!  But it was buried so well that Dustin had to help pull it out.  Oops.

Cheers from everyone when they opened it up!

And here is our crew.  It was a fun, exhausting day.

Did you know that Grant is a twin?  Well, he's not really, but he did have a little cousin who was born on the same day (3 hours earlier, to be exact, and we were exact because we had a race going and I lost and had to send Monica a package of goodies.)  Independently, both boys decided that they wanted to have a Pirate Birthday Party this year.  What are the odds of that?!  Especially since we live 20 hours away from each other and the boys rarely (to never) talk on the phone.  So we shared ideas and pretty much planned duplicate parties for our kids.

The next day was Grant's actual birthday.  He got his crown in preschool.  Then he and I went to Kindergarten Roundup.  That night Jen and her kids came over for another little celebration.

 He wanted another jello cake.  And I was happy to do something easy.

Grant has a lot of personality.  He can't seem to stop himself from being friendly with everyone he sees: the cashier at the store, the people in line around us, the worker at the post office, etc.  He loves to say hi and chat with people.  He is a very loving boy, especially to me.  He regularly hugs and kisses my cheeks and he tells me about 40 times a day that he loves me.  He has a really inquisitive mind.  He loves to know how things work, take things apart, put legos together and build with blocks.  He loves to play tag and jump on the trampoline, and he is a good little backyard baseball player.  He is a smart thing and has an excellent memory.  We sure love him!!