Happy Birthday Maddox!

This year Maddox wanted a pirate birthday party! So a while back we got him dressed up in his pirate costume (a Christmas present from PaPa and Mary - thank you) for his invitation photo shoot. Cutest pirate I've ever seen (though I am quite biased)...





This is the pic that was selected for his pirate invitations...



So Sunday was the day of the big party. We had gone crazy with pirate decor...





Grandma Nita came through once again with an amazing cake!





Plus Grandma Nita surprised Maddox with is very own special pirate cake that we saved for today...the "actual" birthday.



Once the party got started - it was difficult for me to take very many pics. Tough to be the photographer and hostess. ;-) But I did manage some. Here's a pic of Olivia winning the "Pin the Eyepatch on the Pirate" game. (#5 was a cheater ;-)



There was also an extremely chaotic treasure hunt to find their goodie bags. It was a lot of fun watching them run around finding the clues, piecing together the map, and hunting down the treasure. Here is Maddox enjoying his loot...



This pirate is pretty stinkin' cute too...



The pirate suckers had an unfortunate side effect.... Sorry parents. ;-)



For some reason, Maddox was very uncomfortable with all of the attention being focused on him for the cake/candles/Happy Birthday portion of the party. He avoided eye contact and kept shrugging his shoulders - like, why is everyone looking at me?! He also said he did not want to make a wish, but was at least willing to blow out the candles.



I offered Evey some cake and she seemed uninterested. But when I left the room Grandma Donna was bound and determined to get some cake into the girl. Because she needs MORE to eat. ;-) She definitely seemed to enjoy the cake once she got going...



I like how her technique evolved from the delicate, dainty, pinky-out method...



...to cramming it in by the fist full.



After the cake, several of the little ones headed outside to play. It was so miserably hot on Sunday, I felt like I was going to melt everytime I was out for a few minutes. But those kids were running around and having a grand time! Though this one looks like he might explode or something...



Not surprisingly, Maddox was exhausted after his party and passed out on the couch. That's one sleepy little pirate...



However, today is the actual birthday. Maddox is officially 4 years old today! Four fabulous years of Maddox...what a blessed joy. 90% of the time. ;-) So tonight we will be heading out to celebrate...