Get your Hot Dogs, Popcorn, Cotton Candy!

Kids birthday parties can be so much fun. Especially when they are at someone else's home. Since having kids and putting together parties for them I have a deeper appreciation for all the work that goes into the whole production. I can honestly say that this one was so much fun for the kids, and am thankful for all the work that Mark and Cindi put into it.

It was Lanah's 3rd Birthday. She is the daughter of our good friends. Mark and Cindi are awesome! We have so much fun when we hang out with them. Friendship is such a wonderful thing. We have known them for a little over 7 years now. Looking back we have alot of good memories. They are one couple that it doesn't seem to matter how much time has past since we saw them we can just sit down and shoot the breeze and have a good time. It is as if we saw them yesterday. Mark and Shawn have the same birthday, and our kids are the same age. In fact, Sydney and Payton (I hope I spelled that right) are only a day apart. A couple of years ago they moved out to Peoria, which is almost an hour drive from our house...so we don't get to see them that often.

This was actually the first "friend" party that Caden has been invited to. I wanted to get him excited to go so I took him to the store to help pick out a gift for Lanah. Cindi said that they already had enough toys so we thought we would pick out some books for her. We went down the book aisle and asked Caden what books he thought that Lanah would like. He looked at alot of the books. We finally settled on a "Little People" and Elmo book. They were flap books. Ones that you lifted the flap and there was something under it. Caden was so excited, but also wanted to play with the books. I had to explain to him that they were for Lanah, and we couldn't play with them. He was upset because he really wanted to read them. Then he kept asking when we were going to Lanah's house for her birthday. I don't know if it was because he wanted to see her, or if he just wanted to read the books. Either way he couldn't wait to go!

When we finally got there Caden had a blast! They really made it fun. It was set up like a carnival in there back yard. They served hot dogs, popcorn, and cotton candy...and then had a bouncer & different carnival games they could play to win prizes.

On a side note, Caden had a few accidents while we were there. As for the potty update, he is doing pretty well...except for the poop part. We went through two pairs of pant while there. I think he was just too excited with all that there was to do that he didn't want to take the time to go #2. He had me take him to go pee, but did the rest of his business in his pants. *joy* It has gotten a little frustrating, but I am trying to get through it. I looked into some things on the internet and hope to use that information to get him fully trained. Cross your fingers for me!

It was great to hang out, and catch up a little bit on how they were doing. As soon as Lanah 'opened' our present, Caden promptly took them over. I may just have to get some for him. Hopefully she will enjoy them as much as Caden did.









Sydney had a lot of fun too. More than anything I think she loved the popcorn. She was too little to go in the bouncer, but I got her to toss some bean bags, and balls. We were even able to take some pictures of Sydney and Payton together. They are two cute girls. I am really looking forward to watching both of our kids grow up together. I even came across some pictures of them when they were only a few months old! Look how much they have grown.









Lanah was as pretty as ever. She got this really cute princess dress...and just had to put it on. Shortly after she crashed from exhaustion and I was able to snap a couple of pictures. What a beautiful little girl. Happy Birthday Lanah!