Happy Birthday to Carly and Andy!!!

Carly and Andy's birthday party was today! There are a bazillion pictures! The weather was perfect and we had the best time with our friends.

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These are our party favors - beach buckets and flip-flops! I think Maria and I had more fun putting them together than the kids had taking them home...but they are pretty cool, especially in Carly's brand new awesome wagon.

Carly's funny favorite gift from Peace-Peace and Kaynin and Tummy (Tommy). This afternoon, after her looong nap, she said hey to her new goldfish, Fred and Ginger, then chomped on some goldfish crackers right in front of them. =)
The walkway leading up to the park
Carly, looking less than enthusiastic...Andy looking really cute but pretty curious...and Paisley hamming it up with the mega blocks.
Andy found a ball! He looked so cute in his patriotic swim trunks and flip-flops.
Carly and Mommy arriving to the park.
Cute dress! She kept saying "so cute" yesterday when we were laying out her clothes, but then today she was NOT EXCITED about getting dressed. You can see she was still a little mad about the wardrobe change.
But lots of balloons and a bubble monster fixed that right away.
Andy and the pinwheels!
Silly Carly!

I looooove this photo! The sky really was that blue and that clear. It was perfect.
Maria's idea to include water play in our party was the very best idea out of our many, many fun ideas and it totally made the party. All the kids had a blast splashing around.

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Star-spangled buddies

Patchoo - such a handsome little guy.
And (not really a) Baby Ray! He's the sweetest little man!
Maria's mom gave Carly a bag full of super fun water toys including these squishy worms...which EVERYONE LOVED!!! Marina, especially! She had such a good time playing with the "wirms!"

So did Carly and Paisley. This is the water table and Andy gave Carly for her birthday and she had such a great time with it! It has two wells for different stuff, like sand and water or whatever and then the top closes right up. Carly got such a kick out of the "weerms."
I love the retro color on this one!
In case you never get to meet Paisley, and you're wondering what her personality is like - THIS IS IT! She's soooo funny!
Our neighbors brought out this big awesome pool (that we are going to buy as soon as we find one like it!) and Carly left the baby pools for the little kids and spent her most fun time splashing around with our neighbors, who are 2, 5 and 7. They were jumping and falling down and spraying eachother with the water hose and she was holding her own! It was a proud moment.
Neveah

Coolest cake ever.
Closeup of the coolest cake ever.
Carly - diving in!
Andy tried to do some diving in of his own! Everyone was gathered in the picnic area and he just TOOK OFF! All the grownups said "oooohhhhhhh, WHOA!" when ran off and got one leg in the pool right before his mama grabbed him! He was NOT happy about being stopped...
But when I held out the rice krispie treat to him, he stopped crying immediately and reached out to bite it. So funny!

The birthday kids
Andy and the cake.
Peace-Peace and the cake!
Carly gave Andy a basketball goal like the one she has. He sat right in front of it for about two full minutes (which is a LONG time when we're talking about Mr. Zoom) and told us all that it was basketball.
Cutie pie Corinne!

And the World's Biggest Diaper!!!
Carly was really excited about her last present from Mom and Dad...a soccer ball and a green "recess" ball.
Right up until the part where Andy opened his "Choo-choo WAIN" present. Carly was very, very excited about it, in case you can't tell. =)
We had such a good time! Thank you SO MUCH to those of you who were able to celebrate with us today! We had so much fun!