Ninja Turtle Birthday Party

We had a great time at Miles' party on Saturday.  What a crowd.  Between daycare & school, it's very hard to narrow the list at all.  We had just over 50 kids & adults.  On Saturday morning, it was a little cloudy.  I started getting nervous.  There was only a 30% chance of rain, but what were we going to do with everyone if it rained??  Thankfully it didn't.  It was hot, but not as bad as it could have been.

Our good friend, Travis, took my camera over about 30 minutes into the party.  I had so many pictures that it was hard to decide between them.  I think this is the most pics I've ever had on one post.

It was hard to get Miles to be still for a few birthday pics before the party, but we managed...

With that out of the way, it was time for the party to start.  His friends started arriving...

Travis & Rachel are SUCH good friends.  How great is this?? When they showed up, they looked puzzled and said, "What? This wasn't a dress up party?"  Kidding, of course.

It was a major hit with the kids...

  

Everyone ate pizza...

...and sang Happy Birthday...

 

Miles loves the spotlight on his birthday.  Every year, the pics from his party have pure joy written all over them.

After eating, it was time for some serious jumping...

 

Some of the kids played in the tree house too...

Helping Miles open presents every year completely stresses me out.  I feel like we don't adequately thank everyone b/c he just tears them open one after another. Plus, all the kids are excited and want to "help" and get everything out of their packages.  He had more presents than I've ever seen at a party.  It was crazy.  I was sweating by the time we got through all of them.  He loved every minute of it.

Aunt Crystal, Uncle Steve, Olivia, and Ava got him the Octopod.  He's been wanting it so badly. His reaction was priceless.  The next day he randomly said, "I can't believe Aunt Crystal got me the Octopod."

Opening the Batman jail from Marmee...

 

He couldn't wait to tear into this big bag from Granny & Pa...

A baseball bat, glove, ball & tee makes for one happy little boy...

Several of the volleyball girls came to wish him a happy birthday.

One of the girls & her family got him a Chicago Bears jersey.  Thank you???  Totally kidding, he loved it and that's probably all it took to make him Bears fan. Darrin & I aren't that easy, just so you know.  It's going to take some Garrett's popcorn or something.

This gun was a hit.  Uncle Steve helped put it together...

It looks like I'm in a stand off with a bunch of 5 year olds...

If you are opposed to kids playing with guns, our house is probably not the place for you.  The kids loved the jumpy, but next year, I think I'll just throw a bunch of weapons out in the yard and call it a party...

 

I think the adults had fun hanging out too...as much fun as you can have a 5 year old's birthday party...

 

After everyone went home, we were playing with some of his new toys and Miles said, "Thank you for my awesome birthday party." And...that's why we do it.