splish splash!

Today was birthday party day!!  We decided to do another combined birthday party this year since all the kids' birthdays are are so close together.  Our theme for this party was definitely inspired by the girls' love of ducks.  Will likes ducks as much as any other 4 year old, but the girls reallllly love them right now!  Since we live so close to a duck pond, I originally thought we might attempt to orchestrate a walk down to feed the ducks, but in the end, we decided to just stay here and enjoy the bounce house, slide, roller coaster, and beautiful weather.  I had fun decorating this year.  I loved the cheerful colors, cute duckies, and especially the yellow flowers!  

The kids' cupcakes with duck candles

I was happy to find a way to reuse our old baby bathtub!

I found this cute idea on pinterest, and even though jello is kind of a random party food, I had to do it!

Our party favors were rubber ducks that the kids can paint and use in the bathtub.

I wish I had fresh flowers around the house all year!

The kids started partying before anyone arrived.

Miss Caroline was really not interested in pictures, so I took what I could get.

We lucked out with BEAUTIFUL weather.  It was cold earlier this week, and tonight an arctic front is coming through, dropping the temps into the teens and bringing freezing rain...but we sure enjoyed the 80 degree day today!

Have you been wondering where Will is in these pics?  There he is...bouncing the whole time!

So I decided to grab the kids before the party started and take a few pictures.  I got one with sweet Will...

And then I was able to pull a reluctant Emily in, although she was eyeing the bounce house.  You can see that Will is already distracted and wondering why I haven't let him go yet...

And Caroline was NOT interested in pictures!

Maybe not the best idea to take three happy kids away from their toys for pictures?

 Everyone was happy again when we started the bubble machine.

This year's party was definitely calmer {and less messy!} than last year.  We invited a smaller group in an effort to keep it simple, and then several families with kids weren't able to make it, so we ended up with a lot more adults than children. {and maybe it was also calmer because we didn't have a ginormous table full of candy?!}  Will, Emily, and Caroline loved all the attention, time with family, and fun times playing with their friends.  

Cupcake time!

It's been a year since someone gave Caroline a whole cupcake...I think she was a little excited!

We headed back outside after cake!

And maybe my favorite picture:  Emma and Will kicking back and enjoying juice boxes after all the bouncing.

What a fun day of celebrating, and good news for the kids....we get to do more celebrating and cake eating tomorrow, when Caroline and Emily officially turn TWO!!