Memories in the Making: The Notorious Jack Wilder is turning 5!

The Jack Man

I should probably be napping. The kids are both conked out in their beds, Adam is passed out on the couch with football on the TV… and I'm too busy paying bills and panicking about all our recent expenses to just relax! Don't you hate when you pile a bunch of unnecessary expenses into one month? For us it has been 3 months of house renovations, leading into a rather large and over-the-top birthday party for our favorite little man (and the Big man in the house too). So now we move into recovery mode (also known around here as "quit buying crap"! )

Some Adults enjoying a game of horseshoes (and some beer)

Anyhoo… the birthday party was pretty fantastic. We had a nearly 90% turn out from our original invite list. Which I think is pretty impressive. The bad news? I'm really not that great at hosting. In fact, I rarely host anything at all. All week leading up to the party I was stressing more and more realizing that nearly 60 people were coming to my house- and I wasn't sure I could pull it off. We were working until the last minute finishing the party barn (we literally took it from a dusty old shed to a finished off space in the last week before the party). I was working on the menu, shopping for the food, and racking my brain on how a person who does NOT cook was going to provide edible food for 60 people. Thank GOODNESS other people in my family were willing to sacrifice their time to come and help me! The morning of the party I was in tears over the stove as I was burning a quesadilla and my kids were dumping bowls of cheerios on the floor. At that point I was convinced the entire day was going to be a disaster. But my Mom, Dad and in-laws came to the rescue. Pealing the squashed play-doh off the counters and floor (that Jack and Nona had decided they should play with while I was frantically wrapping little smokies in crescent rolls to make their favorite pigs in a blanket). I had a list of "To-Do's" a mile long, and felt like there was no good place to start. But sure enough, step by step (and with a whole lot of help from others) the decorations got put out, the food all got made, the piñata was hung, the bounce house was erected, and the party begun. Ready or not.

Relaxing and enjoying the party barn

Turns out, we had absolutely PERFECT weather. A cool 70 degree day, sunny, with a calming breeze. The bounce house was a HUGE hit as it was occupied non-stop for the entire 24 hours that we had it out. (In fact, Adam, Jack, his cousins, and good friends the Corley's even SLEPT in the bounce house. Mainly because they were too lazy to put up their tents, and the bounce house was basically a giant tent. So what the heck?) When the kids woke up in the morning, they just kept bouncing. NonaJane would only get out of the bounce house long enough to tattle that somebody made her mad. Then she would retort "I go Jump" and off she would go. We even ended up renting a porta-potty for the event. And honestly, it was the nicest porta-potty I've ever seen. Super clean, even came supplied with hand sanitizer :) I think the majority of the party goers didn't mind using it at all (I even chose to use it rather than hiking inside). We figured with that many people, and being on a septic system that we had better be safe than sorry. Plus, we all know that I am pretty fanatical (paranoid, obsessive, particular, and annoying) about my carpet. It is brand new, and I don't let people where shoes in my house. So who would be monitoring all the people coming in and out to use the pot?? Too much stress for my little heart to handle. But honestly, I think we will rent the porta-potty again anytime we have a large gathering, it was handy!

Gift time! So many kids you can't even find Jack in this picture :) If I was smarter I would do one of those cool arrows to point at his head for you. But I don't know how to do that. He is on Grandma's lap, just above Nona's head :)

Beginning to gather as we start the camp fire for S'mores

Of course there were a few who just couldn't part with the bounce house for long enough :)

Jack and Adam seemed to be on cloud 9 all day and night. They loved the big turn out, they loved the excitement and mess. Jack had been suffering from an asthma attack on Friday, and I was pretty nervous as to whether he would be able to handle the day- but come party time you wouldn't have known that the kid couldn't breathe. My friends reported they noticed him occasionally laying down in the bounce house while the madness jumped and bounced around him. But by-golly he didn't miss a minute of it. He received a table full of presents- definitely more presents than he has ever seen. (we generally don't do a lot of gifts. In fact, we didn't even buy him an actual present. I mean, we DID rent him a bounce house AND a porta-potty!) Jack opened each gift with genuine excitement, and has been dying to play with them ever since. After the presents we shuffled the kids right over to the piñata that Jack had so sweetly requested. A cowboy boot stuffed with noise makers and bags of pretzels. I thought for sure the kids were going to be disappointed when bushels of candy didn't fall out- but not a single kid looked phased. They grabbed their pretzels and commenced their annoying noise making immediately.

Getting ready for the night-Henry, Ethan, Jack, and Adam's empty spot

Madison, Emma, Dakota and Christian on the other side (8 in total, sleeping in a bounce house of dreams)

By the end of the night, there was not a single morsel of cake left (between the two that I made!) the food was well picked over, and 5 gallons of lemonade had been consumed. I went to bed feeling strangely drunk, and decided it must have been the extreme fatigue and a release of stress. The party did in fact happen, and it seemed like everyone there did in fact have a fantastic time. Adam is already talking about the "next time" and all I can think is… you're crazy!