4th Birthday Party: Was It Just a Smashing Success or Was It HEAVEN???

It was everything the boys wanted. Their wildest 4th-Birthday-Party-Dreams-Come-True. It feels so amazingly good to me to be able to give them that once a year. How amazing is it, as a mother, to be able to make their wildest dreams actually realized??? So amazing. This is a short little period in life. Soon all hopes of me making all their dreams come true will be long gone. So, I want to indulge them -- and myself -- while I can. I personally believe that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. The truth is, if they were entitled-acting little buggers, or if they weren't so dang appreciative, I probably wouldn't do it... but when they say things like "Mommy, you think of everything!!!" (Kyle) and "Mommy, you made me the best birthday party ever ever ever!" (Owen) and "Thank you Mommy for the best birthday party in the whole wide world!!" (both, numerous times throughout the day)... well, it just makes me so glad to be able to do it, so gratified that at least for a tiny spell of their lives I can be that Mommy to them. I could go on and on about this topic, but I'm too exhausted. So, in lieu of a deep poetic post I'm going to let some of the stats do the talking -- here are the basics:

• 1 "bouncing thing" mega 'combo' moonbounce with 10 foot slide
• 2 "candle cakes" precisely as requested (all white frosting with 'KYLE' and 'OWEN' in blue and orange) with 1 "number four" candle and 4 "cake candles" per cake
• 6 large tubs of ice cream in assorted flavors
• 2 huge vats of rum punch for the parents -- made and served by the proudest grandfather of two Caribbean boys that ever lived
• 40 helium balloons blown up by the most amazing grandmother that ever lived
• 1 pinata with 100 lollipops inside
• 16 person ensemble from the Lehigh University Marching Band marching and performing in the backyard
• 1 impromptu pick-up baseball game, after the performance, with assorted party guests and marching band members
• 80 "squeezy drinks" (Honest Kids brand juice drinks)
• 80 snack size bags of "cheesy popcorn" (Smartfood)
• 3 minor injuries to young guests (cured quickly by -- in chronological order of injuries/cures: 1 bandaid, 1 ice pack, and 1 small bowl of gummy worms)
• 25 party favor bags filled with various musical instruments and sound-makers
• 60 "owie hats" (birthday party cone hats)
• 1 perfectly gorgeous Sunday afternoon
• 25 of K & O's best friends forever, each one of whom came with 1-4 family members to join in the fun (you can do the math re: total number of guests)
• 1 tired Mama, 11 days from Baby Sister's Due Date
• 1 proud Papi
• 2 deliriously happy turning-4-year-old-boys who got to experience their own version of Heaven-On-Earth for a sweet and blissful 3 hours
• infinite moments that can only be captured in the mind's eye

For another post about the party, click here. An old student of mine who is an exceptionally good photographer came and acted as documentary photographer again for us this year for the third year in a row! I'll post more photos when he gets them to me. :)