A2's Fourth Birthday Paaarrrrty

A2 turned 4 a couple of months ago (yes, I am quite good at keeping this blog up-to-date) and requested I focus on his new obsession: Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  So I pulled out the construction paper and got to work.

As we are new to the neighborhood and A2 isn't in school yet, he doesn't have many automatic friends.  So we decided to invite his Primary class (all the kids his same age at our church) to help us in celebrating.

We decorated treasure chests to hold our pirate booty.

Then we had a cannon ball fight: I taught the kids to hold the balloons with one hand, pull back on the knot, and let go; this made the balloon fly across the room, but softly enough that no one would get hurt.

I think this was their favorite part of the whole party!

And we had food, of course.

I had a blast coming up with all the different foods (and no one found them nearly as funny as I did, but I've known for a long time that I'm the only one who thinks I'm hilarious).

Walk the Planks (pretzel sticks)

Catch o' the Day (goldfish)

Cannonballs (Whoppers)

Cannons (Rolos)

Scurvy Dogs (hot dogs, cut and heated through to make them curvy (because scurvy makes your bones curvy like this) (yes, this was my favorite food pun and, no, nobody thought it was nearly as funny as I did))

While the kids were distracted with eating, Captain Hook snuck in and stole the treasure. I didn't get any good pictures of the treasure hunt that ensued, but the kids had a blast running around and around the house and backyard looking for the giant treasure chest, filled with gold doubloons and candy.  The kids split the treasure and returned for cake.

The making of this cake deserves a post all by itself.

It was a great party, and we loved having all the friends who celebrated with us.  And A2 received a couple of long-desired presents:

a lunchbox so he can pack lunches just like his big sister

a two-wheel bike

A2 is such a happy and helpful boy.  He is extremely smart and enjoys learning about the world around him.  We love you, A2, and are so happy you are part of our family!

Can you believe I made it all the way through this post without one corny pirate joke?  Okay, just one (because I can't help myself): What is a pirate's favorite pair of socks? Aaarrrgyle.