Coop's Party Zone!

Due to the birthday boy contracting the flu, groundbreaking for Coop's 3rd Birthday Party was delayed until this past weekend. It was worth the wait! As requested, Mommy constructed the cake with "lots of trucks". After lots of research online on some very helpful sites, here's how it turned out:

More on the how-to's for the cake in another post, for those who want to know.

Just as we were revealing the cake to Cooper, the first guests arrived.

He was a little distracted at first...

but I think he approved!

After all guests had arrived and the kids had some time to play, we kicked things off with a rousing game of "Pin the Hard Hat on the Builder". (Another idea from the Internet). I took a picture of Coop in a flannel shirt, jeans & boots wearing his Bob the Builder tool belt and holding his tool box. Then I had it blown up to poster size. (Thanks, Walgreen's for running a 40% off posters special at just the right time!)

Coop wanted his twin cousins to go first, then he was finally willing to don the blindfold and try his luck.

Then it was Jillian's turn (no blindfold, please!)

The aftermath...(L to R: Kaitlyn, Coop, Kennedy)

By the way, these were not the actual game results. Apparently, Pop sneakily rearranged things just before he left. Gotcha, Pop!

It did make for a cute picture, though.

Time to eat!

Chris made it easy on me, grilling burgers & hot dogs for everyone.

(Thanks, Babe!)

Anyone surprised that the kids wanted to eat

at the table where the cake was located?

Pa kept a watchful eye on the cake. It was so tempting to grab those trucks!

Look at all of those presents!

Test your observation skills: Can you find the present that Daddy wrapped?

Demolition time! (Tear those gifts open!)
I love my boys!


Hard hat cuties.

The twins, who are very girly, as you can tell from their pink, fru-fru outfits, were such troopers. They "Ooohed" and "Aaahhed" over every purely boy gift that Cooper opened and were genuinely excited for him. They love their cousin. :)
Jilly preferred to toss her hard hat in the air as high as possible. :)

Sweeeet! A motorcycle from Aunt Lindsay & Uncle Tony.

Grandma and her girls.

An awesome garbage truck from Gran & Pop--and yes, that is a "coon skin" cap. Pop ordered that for him.

He wore it on our family walk Sunday afternoon; we got some interesting looks.

Chris is now teaching him the words to the Davy Crockett song.


A cool remote control fire truck from Mommy & Daddy.

And new trucks for the sandbox (coming soon)--a front end loader and a dump truck from Grandma & Pa.

Time to blow out the candles.

(Side note: Coop's holding the new flashlight he got from Pop. It looks like a shot gun shell; he ordered it from the NRA. Start 'em young!)

The flashlight was a little distracting. Coop was focused more on shining it on the candle than blowing. He had to keep blowing several times!

And then we all had cake & ice cream while Cooper went right back to play with his new toys. Nope, he did not eat one bite of the requested "truck" cake.

He told me the day before that he wouldn't, so I wasn't too surprised. When I asked him, "Then why do you want me to make the truck cake?"

His response, "For all the other people to eat it!"
So selfless... ;)

Turn out the lights, the party's over!

Here's what was left of the cake.
The party must have worn him out; he took a 2 hour nap after everyone left. Now, that may not seem like a big deal initially, but this was the first time in 8 days that he took a nap at all. I almost cried! But instead, I took a nap, too.

Immediately afterward, he went right back to playing. Here's his new fireman outfit. It came with a walkie-talkie, fire ax, hat, inflatable hose, and fire extinguisher (that really squirts water!).

We love you, Cooper Ryan Chaddrick!