Razz and Tazz Par-to-the-tay

Last Saturday we had a joined party for Skylar, Jaxon and JJ since they were all going to be celebrating their birthdays on the same weekend. We went out to the Razz and Tazz farm in Gibsonville, and it turned out to be a great place to have a younger child's birthday party (although don't go by what the manager tells you… go ahead and get tix for everyone at the beginning of the party instead of waiting to pay at the end. They will hunt you down periodically throughout the party and make you feel like you are doing something wrong). That being said, it was a beautiful, albeit windy day and the kids had a blast.

Skylar started off with her favorite game: catch. I'm 99% certain that Pa-paw slept really well that night!

Ruh-roh- she got caught!

They all had fun on the swings. And the corn bins. And haystacks. And tractors. And corn-maze. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of those activities!

But, I did take my camera when we went to ride the cow train! First up: Mackenzy and Aftynne!

Me thinks Aftynne was a lil' bit more excited than Mackenzy! ;) Actually, from what I hear, Kenzy was super excited about the cow train!

Then Skylar rode with Bella. Ya think it might've been a little bright that time of day? The sun was setting right into their eyes!

Grey was also really excited about the cow train and kept yelling out "cow" and "moo" while waiting for his turn. He also loves to wave bye-bye to everything and everyone. He has a royal wave.

Next up: Mama and Grey get to ride! He tried really hard to get his little feet up on the sides of the cow to lounge during the ride, but sorry charlie, Mama's belly has gotten a little too big for all that. Belle didn't have the largest stomach as it were.

I did manage to capture these pictures of Aftynne and Mackenzy on the hay-tractor. The light was perfect for these!

Skylar was back and forth between wanting me to take pictures of her and then not. When she did, she had to come over and see each one. This was her modeling shot.

At some point, we had food and cakes. A few years ago, we combined birthdays like we did this year and all three moms got cakes for their child. Huge mistake. Skylar ate one cupcake from her cake, but then only one cake was served to everyone else. My students were thrilled the next day with all the leftovers. So, this year, Michelle made a cupcake cake for JJ and Nikki made browny-cake for Jaxon and I went super cheap and made just a couple of super-easy cakes-in-a-jar for Skylar. I wasn't going to do anything, but she really, really wanted a blue cake. And then she saw a picture on my pinterest account of a rainbow cake in a jar and wanted that, only just have one color in each jar. Done and done, very easy!

Present time! Skylar got money from some of her grandparents and was like, "oooh, look mom, tickets!" But, I did take her on Sunday to the store to pick out some candy with her birthday money. Still not sure she totally gets it, but she's working on it. Its a lifestyle hazard since I hardly ever have or use cash on me.

But, betcha bottom-dolla that she knows what a debit card is.

This isn't the best picture of Skylar, but I love Grey in the background! This is what happens when your youngest chases your mom around all night stealing sweets off of her plate. Sugar high anyone?

And, just a side note: I have not found a good niche for hosting parties. I feel like you either have to be an active participant with your children, or you have to stand guard by the food to organize the food table and keep everyone on a schedule. I did that with Skylar and Grey's birthday parties last year, but really missed most of their parties. This year, I left the food table and went around with the kids… and the food time was chaotic. One day, I learn the art of hosting!