a pirate birthday

This weekend we had Nolan's birthday party. The theme was pirates. The boys had a pirate hat, bandana, and two eye patches that they had at home, so they brought those for the party. It was a long drive, but it's always well worth it. To finally get to Kelly's house and be able to relax and have a good time with family is the best. We stay up late, play games well into the night, laugh at jokes, tell jokes, and laugh at things that aren't really funny but they seem funny at the time because we're so tired. :) Those are the kinds of weekends we have when we're at Kelly's. Oh! And the food! I can't forget the food! There is so much food to be eaten it's crazy! Kelly is a GREAT cook and her fridge and pantry is always stock piled to the top with food. And it's the not-so-good-for-you kind of food too! Yumm! I secretly think it's a sabotage for my weight loss because I always end up gaining weight when I'm at her house. And it's totally not because I eat like a pig either. lol It's all Kelly's fault. :) Her fault she saved a monstrosity of a bowl of kettle corn for me, her fault she made fettuccine alfredo, her fault for making that delicious dip for the bread. See? All her fault. And not because I ate WAAAAAY more than a normal helping of those things. Ok. Enough of the food. I'm getting hungry.

Anyways, Chris and I actually got Grant's room to ourselves for the first time in I don't know how many years. Both our boys were big boys and slept in the basement with the big kids. :) I couldn't believe Mason lasted all night down there, but he did. Of course he was up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and woke all the other kids up too, I'm sure of. But they were all super excited to play with each other and excited for the party. Mason was so happy to be with Haley. As soon as we got there and I was getting him out of his booster seat, he said, "I so sited to see Haley. She's my favorite girl!" :) He LOVES his Haley.

The party was a hit. The kids were super excited. They got all decked out in their pirate attire.







Mason walked around playing the recorder. It reminded me of the pirate who sits on the ship playing music and singing. lol He was the entertainer. :) It was even funnier when he had his pirate hat on, but he talk it off right before I took the picture.





My! What big teeth you have!

Corn hole is a popular game when you go to Kelly's. I like the game but I'm TERRIBLE at it. It's quite hilarious when I play.



lol All the picture reminds me of is a pirate stealing some one's bike. I don't know why.




Gordy came prepared for the party!

Everyone was downstairs talking and some of the guys were playing the Wii, when all of a sudden I realized Mason had curled up on the couch and fallen asleep. It was so noisy! I don't know how he slept, but he was so tired and he just couldn't take the excitement anymore. :) We had a fun time trying to wake him up for the games.



We brought our Moto GP game and Tiger Woods game for the Wii. Chris, Brian and Craig played the motorcycle game a lot. I think the guys really enjoyed that.



Game time!!!! We just picked Mason up and took him outside for the games. He was kind of grouchy cuz we woke him up, but I knew how disappointed he would be if he knew he had missed the fun and games. The first game was digging for buried treasure - money! We brought down 300 lbs of sand we had in our garage so the kids could dig through it for coins that Kelly buried in the sand. Mason didn't want to do it. He was whining, he was itchy - well, he was just plain miserable. I tried my best to get him into the game. I think he collected $1.05.





Next up was Cole and Grant. I love the next two pictures Chris took of them. They are so cute together!





I think they're all digging to see if there's anything else left in there.





The last game - which I think was super fun - was a scavenger hunt. Each child had an adult to help them out with the clues. Poor Mason got stuck with me. :) We had an envelope with pieces of paper folded up in them and they were each numbered. We started with number 12 clue. Each room in the house had one pice of black paper that had a number on it. When you found that number, you pulled out that number paper in your envelope to get your next clue. I was hopeless at that game! I watched Pirates of the Caribbean, but I didn't really know all the "pirate talk" and so I think I had to ask Dad the answer to just about every clue. lol Except the port hole clue! I was washing my hands at the kitchen sink and saw the clue taped to the window and I knew that a port hole was a window. I know! Amazing! :) The very last clue was to go ring the bell outside and there you would find your treasure. The treasure was little treasure boxes filled with candy. I think the adults had more fun than the kids with this game. The adults were running through the house, practically running each other and other kids over trying to race to find the next clue. The hard thing was that there were people every where you went so you would try not to be obvious when you found the clue, but people would see and so you kind of helped other teams out too. It was still fun though.







It didn't take the kids long to dig into their treasure!












Rylee or Cara kept staring at Chris so he decided to make faces at them. :)





lol Rylee and Grant ganged up on Chris.



Cole borrowed Uncle Gordy's pirate gear.



Since we were all dressed up on Sunday after services, Kelly wanted some family photos. Well, I had to pull out my camera too! :)





lol I crack up every time I look at that picture and Mason's face. Too hilarious!







I like Grant's smile. :)







Fun Fun weekend! Wish it didn't have to end. We said next time we go down there, Chris will just have to take a day off work so we can stay an extra day. :)

We had a blast, Brian and Kelly! Thanks again!