The Burrus Family: Happy Birthday Charlie!

For months now, Charlie has been talking about his birthday. This much-anticipated event had been carefully directed by the birthday boy, who informed me innumerable times that he needed a "Ranger party." This presented a few challenges, since Party City does not exactly have a "Ranger" themed birthday party pack, and the Ranger itself wouldn't fit in our backyard. The whole birthday was so fun this year. I don't think I've been so excited about a birthday since I was a kid, and Charlie's reactions did not disappoint. My parents were in town and had the day off, which made it all the more fun.

We started out with streamers and balloons. Both the birthday boy and his partner-in-crime were so pumped to wake up to these. They must have run through the streamers 20 times. :)

Charlie was so excited about finally being the birthday boy that I heard him calling to my mom, as he headed downstairs for breakfast, "Ahhh, there's a birthday boy coming down!"

And he was so excited when he got down and saw...presents!

He immediately jumped on his bike...

(which Evie "rode" when Charlie wasn't looking)

...and then dove into the presents!

These swords have been a huge hit.

But the biggest hit of all (of course) was his very own Ranger! Thank you Papa and Ahh!

Not sure how Miss Mousy managed to get her hands on these...

Loading the Ranger ON A TRAILER (if you don't know Charlie, you may not be able to understand how exciting this is).

After breakfast (which included waffles with candles!), we took the new (balance) bike for a test ride. I think Charlie likes it, although he has reminded me several times that "on my next birthday, I need a bike with pedals." Got it, buddy. Love the gratefulness. :)

After a trip to Safety Day (post to come) and an attempted nap, it was party time! Here is the "Ranger party" set up.

My Charlie's Ranger cake. After working on this until 1 a.m., I was making sure this was prominently displayed! :) Charlie LOVED this cake--he found it impossible to nap because "I can't stop wondering what my Ranger cake is doing!"

It took some fast talking to convince Charlie that these favors should go to our friends, not into our pockets...

The bounce house arrived early, and we had so much fun playing it. Charlie and Evie were in heaven! (And Clint and I were too...I still love a bounce house :).

The big three-year-old! He ran around like a drunken sailor for 3 hours.

Miss Mousy, ready for the party to start.

Our family.

Charlie and Nico were wild men!

I think we ended up with 30+ kids, but between the bounce house and the playscape, it didn't feel too crazy (except for meal time, but luckily, that was relatively quick :). I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but I had a really great time at the party. I actually got to visit with a lot of the guests, and was so glad so many of our fun friends and family were able to come!

Charlie was a blur for most of the party, but I could usually find him on the swing with Blythe, playing wild games with Uncle Sam in the bounce house [this was one of Charlie's favorite parts of the party; at the end of the day, he told Sam, "thank you for playing with me in the jumping castle. It was so fun!"], or running between the two. He was sweated down at the end, but SO happy.

Sweet Colin.

Palmer.

Some of our younger guests.

Cake time! It was amazing to me how the kids gathered around like flies as soon as the cake appeared. :)

Soooooo excited. He had been waiting all day for this!

Sweet Erica, helping Charlie out. Once he figured out that she would rush around for him, he was thrilled. He ordered water, more cake, and then napkins to clean off. :)

Napkins, please!

Charlie and Blythe, his very fashionable dining companion.

Charlie LOVES a party and was so happy during and after the big day. Evie, on the other hand, was a bit overwhelmed. She was not so sure she liked 30+ kids and their parents invading her backyard, and let me know of her disapproval by insisting that I hold her the entire time (well, not the entire time, but she did become remarkably more clingy after Clint inadvertently left her in a swing :). This face (below) exemplifies her feelings about Charlie's wild birthday party:

You know how you don't know what a good thing you have until it's gone? That's how Evie felt about her quiet house and yard. She was really, really happy after the party ended, and celebrated with some alone time in the bounce house. She had so much fun!