Mykenzi's Birthday Party

We had Mykenzi's big 5th birthday party on Saturday, and it was great! In the past we've alternated years between small parties (cake/ice cream) with each side of the family and the other years just doing something special with her as a family and having cake/ice cream with just us. We decided long ago that we'd have a big party for her 5th if she was interested, so during the last year, we talked to her about it often, trying to find out what she'd want to do at her party. Earlier this year she told us she wanted a circus party. She doesn't like clowns so she didn't want one unless someone we knew dressed up as the clown, but we never really found anyone to do that. She wanted pony rides, a bounce house (that part may have been my suggestion), chicken wings on the grill, clown cupcakes, and we added a big top style tent since it's the middle of June and we knew it would be hot. That's an understatement! About two hours before her party it poured and thundered, and when it cleared an hour before the start of the party, we went outside to finish setting up and found that it was so humid, it was miserable. We had some fans for the tents, but in that humidity they didn't provide much relief unless you were right in front of them. During the party it rained several times, but everyone stayed under the tent (except the kids who were busy having fun with pony rides and the bounce house) and after a few minutes of rain the sun would come out again. Overall, it was a wonderful day and Mykenzi really enjoyed getting to spend time with her favorite preschool friend! Unfortunately I didn't get to take a lot of the pictures I wanted to take because my camera fogged up everytime I went in/out of the house, and I couldn't leave it outside to defog with all of those kids running around, so most of these pictures are from Jonmark's dad. Some are mine, but they're just snapshots because at 36 weeks 4 days pregnant in that humidity and all the cooking/baking I did that morning, I was exhausted by 2:00 (actually, long before that). Jonmark did most of the work for the party with a ton of help from his parents and even the party guests.

Mykenzi wasn't happy about the bounce having a sports theme, but when the bounce house was originally reserved we requested one just like this that looked like a castle with the slide on the side. A week or so before the party I mentioned to Jonmark that the bounce house I thought we reserved was no longer on their website, so he called to confirm. As it turns out we were put down for the wrong bounce house, and the one we had reserved had been ruined at a party. To make up for the sports theme at a little girl's birthday party, the own gladly threw in a sno cone machine, which was also a big hit at the party!

Eating a snack at the start of the party, and already looking tired.

Camden decided to ride the pony, several times. Unfortunately Mykenzi never rode the pony, she was too afraid even though she requested the pony rides, but all of the other kids definitely enjoyed Frank the Pony!

Riding again.

Waiting for his turn on the pony, again!

I wouldn't have posted this because it's an awful picture of me, but then I don't like any pictures of myself (who does?) and I figured I'd post it anyway because it shows how absolutely HUGE I am. My favorite comment/question from people that Jonmark and I both get a lot, "is the doctor going to to do anything about that?" As if I'm just so ridiculous looking, and the baby is possibly so large, that the doctor needs to induce me now. I am worried he might be bigger than Camden (who was only 7 pounds), but I honestly carried all out front like this with Mykenzi (6 pounds 6 ounces) and Camden and we all thought they were both going to be huge. As of yesterday my weight gain was only 1 pound less than my total weight gain with Camden, though I'm sure I'll continue to pack on the pounds until the baby is born so my total weight gain will most likely be more, but so far it's not too bad.

Sno cone time!

I took a picture with my fogged up lens anyway. These were the cupcakes that Mykenzi wanted with the little clown heads on top. I made a batch of chocolate and a batch of vanilla for variety, even though vanilla is Mykenzi's absolute favorite!

She had to have a big 5 candle!

Nice look! I think this was when she was getting impatient waiting for Jonmark to come over so she could blow out the candle and eat her cupcake!

Eating her cupcake and ice cream while blowing her party horn, which she was very disappointed did not make noise like the ones we get on New Year's Eve. All the kids were disappointed because they were silent, but I'm sure the adults appreciated it.

Opening presents.

Mykenzi giving Chloe some love! One of Jonmark's cousins is always saying he wants Chloe, and Mykenzi was convinced that day that he was taking her. At one point during her party she even cried on my shoulder because everyone was forcing her to give away her dog. Not sure who, but that's what she said. At the end of the party his cousin told me before he left that Mykenzi had just asked him if she could keep Chloe! Poor girl!

Enjoying the bounce house with her friend after all the guests left and it was much cooler out.

What an awesome 5th birthday party! Jonmark and I got present that night as well when both Mykenzi and Camden slept all night long in their beds!