Birthday Party!

I had to put an exclamation point in the title because, when you put this many kids together, things get lively.

This afternoon, we celebrated Evie's birthday with 16 of her friends. After the trampoline place we reserved unexpectedly closed its doors 3 weeks ago, we found a solid Plan B solution at our gym, Life Time Fitness.

There was a bounce house.

There was a giant parachute.

There were those little scooters that I remember riding around on when I was a little kid. 

And there were friends. A whole table full of kids.

And an overflow table, with more kids.

And even some grown-up friends, responsibly eating salads while the kids enjoyed their pizza.

There was cake, of course. Evie picked her favorite from last year - Byerly's chocolate cake with chocolate roses - and had them write her name in her new favorite color, blue.

This year, she insisted on opening presents at the party. In the past, we've convinced her to open the gifts at home, quietly, over the course of a few days, and to send really excellent thank-you notes. She wanted to thank her friends in person. We knew it would be chaos, but the kids handled it well.

All told, it was a pretty great day.

I told Evie that when she's older, we'll tone it down a notch, we'll have parties at home with a few friends and maybe a sleepover.

But, for now, it's fun to be a party animal. Party!