The Wild West Birthday Bash!!!

Well....I am still cleaning up the straw from the party, but it was so much fun!!! The kids had a blast and everyone enjoyed themselves. We had about 25 people (including kids and babies). It was a full house. We were very fortunate that it didn't rain at all (or snow) during the party. The kids even got to play the games outside.

I spent about three days decorating and moving furniture when I accepted the fact that the weather was going to be awful. A gal from our youth group let us borrow her real saddle and Mark bought a couple bails of straw. We set up the saddle over the straw and took Wild West pictures. They were too cute. We had a BBQ despite the rain. Mark BBQ'd Costco hot dogs and polish dogs. We had a to-go order from Hooters for their absolutely wonderful hot wings. There were many laughs to go along with that :) My mom (Mimi) made my favorite beans and also mac salad (the kids call it noodle salad). We also had chips and dip, fruit salad and corn on the cob. The kids had these adorable boot shaped mugs filled with either Root Beer or Cherry 7-UP with real red cherries. (It reminded me of the time the cousins went to Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor for one of David's famous birthdays and had the cherries and the animals in the soda pop.)

Anyway, Gracie was quite attached to her boot mug and carried it around. Luke was so hyped up I don't know if he even ate anything. He was just beside himself that all his friends were at his party (to which I kept reminding him it was for him and Grace). Then we played games. That was the one thing that Luke really wanted to do. So games we played!!! We panned for gold outside. I had sand and aquarium rocks painted gold. I used pie pans and slit holes in them. I was surprised how much work it took like really panning for gold. Well, not that Knott's Berry Farm is really what panning for gold is like, but it took a long time their too. We played "There's a snake in my boot" where we threw plastic snakes in the boots. We had a Tattoo Parlor with cute western pictures. We had a Guess the Number Win the Candy Stand. There were a couple of jars filled with dum-dums and bubble gum balls. The kids enjoyed the Cowboy boot pinata, and my favorite was the "Pin the badge on outlaw Luke." I blew up the kids picture from the invitation at Kinkos and posted it on the wall. The kids took turns being blindfolded and pinning the badge on Luke. Luke ran around saying, "It's time to pin the badge on me."

The kids loved opening their presents. They got some great presents. It was just the right amount. Most of their presents from us (mommy and daddy) were re-gifted from Christmas and they didn't even know. Mark and I started a Dahl family compact where we are not buying anything new through the end of the year. I will share more about this later. We are almost a month into it now.

Finally they blew out the candles on their cake. I spent about 4-5 hours making it from start to finish. It was a two layer cake (one vanilla one chocolate). I decorated it with the wild west scene. I thought it was pretty cute. All in all it was a great party. I had so much fun planning their party. Yes, it was hours and hours of planning and work. Yes, I was up to 1:30am the morning of the party. Yes, I loved every minute of it. My kids are so special to me and I am so thankful for them and what they mean to me. They are special gifts to me to treasure and every birthday is so important to me. They are only little once. I like the idea of having them together. We will continue to do this until they insist on separate parties. Believe it or not, I am already thinking of next years party. . . Mmmmmm Maybe a Circus theme.