Jacoblog: February 2008

Jacob's Bday Part VI: Taking Jacob Out to Dinner Without Casey

After such a big party we really wanted to give Jacob some quality 2 on 1 time. We opted for the fancy restaurant right near our house, called the Park Cafe. According to some websites this is the best restaurant in Nashville! Josh and I had our favorite sushi grade tuna dish, and Jacob had delicious chicken tenders and fries. For dessert we went to Dairy Queen. Everyone remarked on Jacob's nice manners. It was a very special night!

Jacob's Bday Part V: Jacob's Own Little Bounce House

Uploading all these picture I'm beginning to think we went a little overboard for Jacob's birthday. Oh well! We loved blowing up this 6X6X6 bounce house for Jacob and watching him jump in it. We've blown it up and deflated it several times since his birthday. In these pictures Jacob is wearing a t-shirt that Santa brought him that says "I still live with my parents."

Jacob's Bday Part IV: The Pinata from Grandma Gregson

Grandma Gregson offered to bring a pinata to Jacob's party full of small toys and candy. She brought this beautiful, multicolored bull. Since it was so cold outside we hung the pinata from the end of a broom handle and had the whole thing in our big carpeted room in the back of the house. Josh held the pinata while about a dozen kids took their swings. The smaller kids got the first hits, and then the older kids started to swing away. It's a good thing there were some older kids there, because that was one tough pinata. It took about 15 minutes, but they were action packed. It was great party entertainment. The toys and candy were really fun, and the kids had a blast scrambling for their goodies. Thanks Kathy Gregson for this great contribution to Jacob's 4th birthday!

Jacob's Bday Part III: Eating and Bouncing

The party started at 11:00 AM. By 11:30 most of the 18 3+ year olds, 7 of their younger siblings, and their 26 parents had arrived. Kids and their brave, bundled up parents jumped in the bouncer for almost an hour. It was 33 degrees out. Chilly! Jacob was a little bit overwhelmed by the big crowd and so Nancy helped him to have a good time in the big bouncer. We ate fancy and plain pizzas and had the most delicious coffee in a box from Portland Brew. I had gone to a 3 year olds birthday party last year and I remembered how grateful I was for a really good cup of coffee. The party was set to end at 1:30 PM but a few families stayed to bounce in the bouncer. We were very happy that so many people came to help us celebrate!

Jacob's Bday Part II: Making the Cake

Jacob helped me to make the cake. We made the cream cheese frosting first. We made three different colors of frosting---one for each layer, with turquoise blue (which was sort of the party's color) on top. Since another goal of the party was to get Jacob thinking about letters, we had HAPPY BIRTHDAY candles and the number 4. The cake was a chocolate cake recipe from "Deceptively Delicious." It had some of Casey's sweet potato baby food in it, and it was fairly low fat. But with the frosting it was pretty good!

Jacob's Bday Part I: Making the Decorations

Decorations for the party were very simple and homemade. The theme was "jump and bounce." So we made a stencil of kids jumping and we used it to make the plates. We took white Chinet plates and sprayed them with food coloring in a little atomizer. We made a homemade banner with neon paper from Costco; Jacob helped me choose each letter before we printed it out. We bought wooden paddles with rubber balls attached and we stamped the name of each child who was coming to the party on the blank side of the panel. At TARGET (whose prices were much more reasonable than the party store) we bought brightly colored plastic table cloths and paper cups. The rental company that supplied the big bouncer rented us 3 kids tables and 20 kids chairs. That was a lifesaver, since we had more than 18 kids!