Dino-Four

We celebrated Jack's big number "4" dinosaur style this weekend. And it was dino-mite!

I could go on and on about how this Mommy stressed as soon as the 10 day forecast came out. Rain was in the forecast, then it wasn't, then it was, and so on. I debated postponing it, moving the day, the time. Finally Thursday arrived before our Saturday party and I got the hour by hour weather report. It looked as though we would be safe by 11:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, but not before we were pummeled by a severe storm Friday evening. Luckily, Saturday was just what I ordered...sunny, clear skies, and breezy {okay, I did not order the breeze/wind, but it was better than that rain}.

Friday night was the night I did not order. I hope Jack knows how much I love him and I am writing it down in case he forgets one day. I spent Friday evening driving around in severe weather/tornado warnings picking up food and cupcakes, which ironically were not even ready. I spent the duration of the tornado warning in Publix while the deli scrambled to get my order toghether {all I could think was 'this is the safest place I could be', right?} I then delivered that, along with all of the decorations, to the clubhouse {our dinosaur venue}...still in the midst of a massive storm. I came home soaked from head to toe and battered and bruised {from the golf ball sized hail falling on my head}. I've yet to check the shape my poor car is in.

And all of that was in the name of love for my favorite 4 year old. In turn I realized how much God loves me because he answered both of my prayers (1) to return home safely to my family Friday evening and (2) to give us a beautiful day to celebrate my amazing Jack. {okay, it looks like I did go on and on about the weather...but, please excuse me, I'm still a little scarred from it}.

Now on to the party. Back in January, Jack requested a "dinosaur party" complete with "digging for dinosaur bones" and a bounce house. And yes, you better believe it, I started working on this thing the day after he asked. Here we are 3 months later and I did it and I even have lots of pictures to prove it.

We will start with the decorations {always my favorite part}...

Jack's party invites {excuse the yellow glare}...I searched high and low for invites with this color scheme--blue, brown, and lime green. You wouldn't think it would be that hard, right? It was.

The guest entered the party to a welcoming table. There they recieved a green bucket to carry their crafts/goodies in and were given a label for their bucket that read-- "Paleontologist___". They filled in the blank with their name, obvioulsy.

Jack's dinosaur birthday banner. I cannot take credit for the paper mache dino eggs {so cute}--sweet Erin let me use them from Matthew's 1st birthday party, but I did make the banner.

Dino table decor. He looks pretty scary, huh?

These were the table centerpieces. They are in a bit of disarray because these picutres were taken post use. I realized I had forgotten my external flash for my camera {that's what a rain storm will do to you}, so the picutres under the pavillion at the party have a serious shadow. So I got a shot when we got home. And that is moss and tiny plastic dinos in the pot--if you can tell through the ruffled use--like I said, "post party".

These pots were on the food table. Hence the 'herbivore diet, carnivore diet, and sweetivore diet'. The herbivore food was a fruit tray and veggie tray, the carnivore food was dinosaur chicken nuggets and subs, and the sweetivore food were the cupcakes and dino cookies. Yum!

A little sampling from the Sweetivore table.

The entire Sweetivore table...I'll spare you the pictures of the veggies and meat.

Now on to the activities. We had 4 "dino"tivites for the kiddos to do...

Number 1 and certainly Jack's favorite...the dinosaur bounce house.

Number 2....Dinosaur excavation kits for all of the kids.

This is what was inside--individual fossil kits. The kids chiseled away to get to the dino skeleton.

Number 3...dinosaur suncatchers. The suncatchers are in the basket in the back. The kids used paint pens to color them and then hung a suction cup to place them in their windows at home. Jack has a Pterdactyl in his bedroom window.

And number 4...a dinosaur egg hunt. And yes, I spray painted all of those eggs. They were filled with dinosaur goodies like, stretchy dinos, dino tattoos, dino stamps, and candy.

I have saved the best for last...all of the fun! I have lots of pictures to share of the festivities. Jack was having so much fun that he was constantly on the move. {not neccesarily a bad thing since this day was all about him}. So there might be a few blurs in some of these shots that are the Birthday Boy--I promise it's him! A lot more decoration pictures and some fun cupcake pictures. Enjoy the show!

Also, a sincere thank you to all of you who helped make my sweet boy's day so special. Jack was flooded with friends, fun, and lots of gifts. We feel so blessed to have shared in your company. And a huge thank you to my Mom {grandma}, we never could have done it without you. You are a fabulous babysitter, cook, weather woman, and party assistant!