Harper had a blast at her party! It was the best! She loves all her friends. Hunts, Helms, Hebdas, Piazzas, Pillows, Spiegels, McCools, and all our family. They all get along, she seems to be friends with some sweet kids. She had a blast running around and being crazy. She had been begging to play with the water squirters. I forgot that we had them in the barn so she hadn't gotten to play with them since last summer. It was a bit cloudy so the adults weren't sweltering which was nice, but the kids got cold faster and were done playing in the water quicker than I thought. But they still found lots of stuff to play with. I loved watching Thomas play because he walked around with his fabulous diaper hanging about 6 inches lower than normal. But he was so happy to be adventuring on his own now that he is walking that it was precious! Harper was excited to give horses to all her friends. She had helped make them and watched me work on them for weeks. She picked out every detail of hers, from the navy blue hair, the rainbow ribbon, the blue and white eyes, and the rat tail in the back (her "braid").
Last year, we had a big tarp set up that all the kids could run around on. However it also posed a fall hazard. This year, we just got a simple slip and slide and thought it would be great. The kids loved it, however only about 3 of the older boys were even able to master the concept of throw yourself down just right to slide to the end. They all enjoyed it though and it was a fun part of the water day.
I wanted something fun for some of the little kids to do at the party as well. I gave Cody the job to make a basic water wall. However, Cody doesn't do anything sloppily so the water wall turned out pretty awesome. It was like 5 feet tall with a few different ways for the water to travel. It was pretty cool. However, it was also too big and most of the kids weren't able to reach the top to pour the water in. This is going to be great to just pull out every now and then when Harper wants to play. I think Cody did a great job, he's become the master woodworker.
These were our cowboy and cowgirl picture booths. I think they turned out so cute! Taylor drew them and Carleigh and I painted them. Most of the kids didn't want their picture taken at first. I think the horses took quite a bit of pictures. My favorite one is of Paige - I'm sure she didn't even know what she was doing. But she's stinking cute!
Just like every time, the bubbles were a hit. I'm not sure what the fascination is, but kids love bubbles. Even if she is just playing with them at home, Harper can watch bubbles for like an hour. I found some big bubble wands and they were the best purchase. They made huge bubbles and the kids could wave them around instead of having to blow, so it was much easier. Towards the end of the party, Kristen walked up on Reese and Harper getting themselves completely immersed in the bubble bucket. She said the look of surprise and naughty on Harper's face when she found them was priceless!
Grayson of course played baseball for at least half of the party. Brian doesn't bring Grayson's baseball stuff to anything anymore because G will play for hours and never stop. However, that doesn't stop the grandparents from bringing it and playing with him. So Mark and Gary played with him for a long time. It was perfect though because Quinlan is the same and had the best time. Matt pitched and both boys had a blast playing for like an hour. At the end of the party, he was enjoying his stick horse and then proceeded to turn it into a baseball bat. Such a boy!
