The Big Four

Rhode's fourth birthday was fast approaching and I was ready to go all out for my little guy.

Big boy themed party, lots of guests, lots of pinterest research... the whole thing.

But then I had an epiphany.

"Rhode, who would you invite to your birthday party?"

"Ummm.... Blaze & Bennett." (both do not live in LV)

"Okay, not sure they will make it... who else?"

"Well, Jane & Ellie & Scarlet &..." and he continued to name all of Scarlet's friends.

And then I realized, Rhode doesn't have any friends!  Well, that's not entirely accurate but there is a definite lack of boys his age in this area.  They are all older or younger... mostly younger.

And then I thought, am I seriously going to put all of this time into pulling a fun boy themed party for Rhode and all of Scarlet's girl friends?  Heck no.

So we went with plan B.  The best part was Rhode doesn't know this was all plan B and he thought it was the most awesome day ever.  Scarlet has already planned her next birthday celebration around the Rhode birthday fun.

The secret to my success, a little place called Chuck E Cheese.

My kids had never been there before.  We showed up with our friends Jane and Simon on a Friday morning just as they opened, bought $25 worth of tokens, found hundreds of tickets just laying around (did you know that all the machines spit out tickets when they turn them on in the morning?) and had the place to ourselves for two whole hours.

They recommended two people only in this picture.  We were never ones to listen to rules.

Chuck E Cheese came to visit us twice during our stay, each time handing the kids about a hundred tickets.
We were also hooked up with two wands of cotton candy by a very friendly employee.

They ran with pure, blissful freedom the whole time.  Asher got to run free as a bird and touch anything he wanted.  Then sometimes someone would hook him up with a token and whatever fun car he had found would take him for a ride.  He cried a lot when we left and I didn't blame him.

And it was a good thing the kids were hooked up with all of those free tickets because they were terrible at earning them.  I had to correct them at the art of skee ball more than once but to no avail.  And yet they somehow ended up with 150 tickets a piece.  Do you know how much cheap crap that scores you?  More than want, less than you think.

So Chuck E Cheese was a huge success.  My chosen meals of the day were also big winners.  The day started with his favorite breakfast,  donuts.

And we followed Chuck E Cheese to a trip to the best food in the world (according to Rhode and only Rhode), McDonalds.  

Rhode was EXHAUSTED after the morning's festivities and so I talked him into a little birthday snooze before we continued with cake and presents.  Plus I actually had to get the cake finished.  So I laid him down and headed downstairs to get my fondant on.  About 20 minutes later I headed upstairs for a missing ingredient only to discover this.

Told ya he was tired.  I picked him up and carried him straight into bed without a single movement from him.

While he dozed, Scarlet and I put the finishing touches on his cake.  His request, a Transformers cake.

 One of the attendees pointed out that I didn't actually need to write his name on the cake since there was actually a road on the cake.  Ha ha ha...

Rhode LOVED it!  As you can see the car is in fact a transformer. 

The kids took a little timeout to put on some dress up clothes before we opened presents.  Which was kind of ironic.  As you can see, his boy dress up clothes are getting a bit on the small side....

So we hooked him up with some new ones.  Rhode's favorite super hero?  Robin.  

His name starts with an R too.

My three dress up guys.  Asher looked adorable as a tiny ninja but that doesn't mean he wanted to be captured on film.

You might be thinking, Wow Kacey you are totally set for Halloween!  Superheroes... nope.  Too easy.

Rhode got a lot of fun presents for his birthday that he has put to good use.  He even scored a lot of cash and he is saving every penny for our upcoming Disneyland trip.  The kid could buy his own park ticket at this point... I am terrified to let him loose in Disney stores as I know the outrageous marked up prices are going to give me an aneurysm.  

Rhode is a fantastic four year old.  He is sweet and brave and so so funny.  Scarlet is still his best buddy and he is (finally) playing nicely with Asher now that he is big enough to adventure with him a little better.  Rhode is so darn tough.  He had to get four shots the other day and he seriously laughed after each one.  

Happy birthday buddy!  We are definitely excited you are one of us!