Wilson Family Monster Farm: Birthday Bash!

This weekend we were blessed with sunshine, and for the first time EVER Jax was able to have his birthday party outdoors! Nolan makes fun of me because every year my birthday parties get more and more elaborate, and with the help of Pinterest this year was no exception! Even though I spent three days straight baking, organizing, running all over town, and was essentially on the brink of exhaustion the day of the party- it was a blast!

We had a few catastrophes... we showed up a little later to the park than we had planned, and when we arrived another family had already set up camp where we had intended on having our party. It would have been perfect... three tables under a pergola covered in flowers... BBQ's onsite... steps from the playground...

Sigh...

Alas, we relocated to the other side of the park, where we enjoyed a patch of dirt with tree roots sticking out everywhere, and two tables. No BBQ's.

Problem #1- We had bought enough hamburgers and hot dogs for 30 people, and now had no where to BBQ them. When asking if we could use the park BBQ's near the original party location I was met with your typical bay area paranoid mom response:

"I really don't want my kids around the smoke."

To which I replied

"Well, since it's first come first serve, and you're not using them, we're going to. I have to be able to feed my guests. Sorry!"

Although I was set to be "that mom" that ruined another families birthday party, my husband, the bigger man, went home and got our tiny travel BBQ and brought it back to our site.

Problem #2- All of the decorations that I had worked so hard on were planned around that stupid pergola. What a waste!!

Problem #3- The BBQ issue delayed the cooking and partying, and guests ended up showing up as I was frantically trying to set up, rather than showing up to freshly made food and relaxed hostess!

All this aside, it really was a great day. Jax had a BLAST, his friends seemed to have a lot of fun, and Nolan and I got to catch up with family, old friends, and get to know some new ones! It's a pretty good sign of a fun party when the two hours you had planned on stretches on to three hours, and then four. I couldn't have asked for a better afternoon!

Luckily my mom and our friend Tegan were thoughtful enough to take some pictures, because we forgot our cameras all together!

Outdoor Bowling Set

These were on the gift table, but I forgot to take a picture of them while we were there! I loved having pictures of him at all of his previous birthdays :)