Joseph's Birthday Party!

Joseph had his first "friend" birthday party this year and invited 6 of his most-talked-about buddies from nursery.

I am not sure exactly how we decided on the Cowboy theme, especially since Joseph didn't even know what a cowboy was-- Oriental Trading must have been having a sale on hats and western cut-outs. But once Joseph he saw his cowboy costume he was really behind it. 

Just before the guests arrived Scott put on a western shirt and boots -- dressing up myself hadn't even occurred to me before then, but I threw on my get-up too, strapped Helen in the baby carrier, and we were ready to party!

After putting on cowboy hats and bolero ties and taking pictures in front of a horse cut-out, the cowpokes flew around the world. Popular requests were flying to California and July.


Then we played "find the bandit" and Scott hid this outlaw teddy bear all over the backyard.


Watching the kids cover their eyes was hilarious.

They colored pictures of cowboys, and some of them did it while wearing mustaches.


And my personal favorite game, "Jump the snake". Scott made a cardboard snake head and a rattle (a really old bottle of vitamins) and attached them to a rope. We wiggled the ends while the kids jumped over it, over and over again.


Once cake was mentioned the kids couldn't think about anything else. It was funny how when one of the kids said "cake", the word would ripple through the whole group and they would all come asking for it. This happened several times.

This was probably the ugliest cake of all time. And since I used olive oil in it, it was also probably one of the nastiest. But sticking a plastic horse on top apparently made up for it!

It was really windy and the candles wouldn't even light. But after we finished singing Happy Birthday Joseph hesitated for only a second before "blowing" them out. 

Joseph had no idea his friends would bring presents -- boy was he pleasantly surprised! Ian has even let him play with some of the gifts. I thought it was so fun and so fitting for Joseph that every single gift was a car, truck or motorcycle. Perfect! I also loved that each guest arrived and said "Hi Joseph! It's a (insert contents of present)." Three year olds are so fun!

We are glad you had such a fun time, Joseph! We love you!