PIRATE PARRRRRRRRTY....

Elijah doesn't turn 3 until the 28th, but we had his party on Saturday while my mom and sister were in town for Renée's party. Although Heather ended up getting sick on the way down and stayed in bed the entire weekend, the kids felt like she was here! And my mom helped with all the madness AND left me with a clean kitchen/empty sink!
Elijah's party was supposed to be at Audubon park, but as soon as we had everything loaded...the rain started! At least, the rain was heavy, and made me feel justified in moving the party indoors! "Captain Elijah" and his little friend "cannon ball cooper" jumped right into action with the swords..."old fish owen" fearfully watched! Luckily he made an escape before the real action started...
Doesn't cooper know that the captain/birthday boy should always win?! I guess he didn't get the memo.
Or maybe it was because Captain Elijah wasn't wearing his captain's hat!
When we were home last month, Mimi took Elijah shopping. He was SO excited when he found this pirate outfit! He told me daily that he was going to wear it for his pirate birthday party. I guess the last days of Elijah in smocked clothes is quickly approaching!! {sad!}
here the cap'n had his mouth full of the cannon balls off the cake plate.

"Peg leg pete" and "sea dog mike"...mike saved the day with his little grill! he and orum were in charge of lunch, and they did a really great job! thanks mike and orum!
and of course, some personalized party garb...
X-marks the spot...
we even had a pirate ship! orum did the hard work. i just painted it....and of course I ran out of time, so it was rather plain.We have a running joke in our house that I'm the one that always fixes/puts together everything, but here's the proof! {I know that it was exactly what he wanted to do when he took a break from studying that day.}Elijah was SO excited about the candles! He kept asking if his cake was going to have fire...and yes it did! the candles were the cannons but no cannon balls by this time...which were just tootsie rolls rolled into balls.
I REALLY missed having my personal baker, Erica around for this party! She made their cute cakes last year! I still have to more years of birthdays to survive alone. I was just going to make cupcakes with some "pirate money" on top, but Elijah spotted a pirate ship cake in Micheal's. He asked SO sweetly and with LOTS of excitement...I didn't buy the pan, but I did attempt to make this one. Not Erica quality, after all it was all from a box, but it pleased a 2 year old!
Renee was telling him how many candles were on the cake and when to blow them out. He blew them all out on the first try...with a little help from her, of course!
don't forget about "mast-huggin hazel!" possible the sweetest pirate ever! she was such a good sport and left it on for a while!
"First Mate Renée" was not thrilled about having a pirate party...until i made the pink do-rags. She insisted for weeks that she was going to be Tinkerbell or a mermaid. She wanted it to be a peter pan party...not just a pirate party, but the cap'n had spoken, and pirates it was.
I had to mention...I DID NOT have anything to do with the socks! He would not take them off, and I'm not sure why!? We have never worn socks with crocs,but for some reason he thought he should...
Here's "Bootleggin Daniella" with Hazel. She and Elijah are in nursery at church together and LOVE to play with each other!
Elijah has been asking for a bike for SO LONG!!! Probably more than a year, and the day has finally come! We defintley have no where by our house to ride, so I guess our trips to the park are about to become more frequent!! It really is THE cutest trike ever! Renee's friend Elsa had one the last time I went to Utah, and after seeing it I could never buy another one! It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow, so hopefully I will get some cute pictures of it in action!
Mimi gave Elijah this tool table...he "built" a birdhouse for 2 hours! HE LOVES IT!!! The drill is definitely his favorite part! It "drills" out holes...he would drill and then pop the part back in over and over!
I guess the fact that Elijah has asked "Is today my pirate birthday party?" everyday since Saturday would be a good sign that he enjoyed it! We may just have to have another pirate party on the 28th. I don't think either of the kids wants the birthday marathon to end!