Brighton's 3rd birthday party

Ok, here is the last in my posts about birthday parties for this year. Wow, I outdid myself this year:) After the intense work for Savannah's and Irelynd's parties, this one felt like a cinch; it was lovely:) It was nice to do something simple and boyish. Brighton was SO excited for his party--he kept telling everyone about it for months beforehand. That may have been my fault, for talking it up. I was glad he was so excited, though. It made it worth the work and effort. Here are the little construction workers.

This is the invite. Brighton is obsessed with tractors so we had a construction party for him.

Everybody received a hard hat and apron, courtesy of Home Depot, when they arrived.

We played a few games, starting with Toss it, where they threw small balls into the back of Brighton's dump truck. SOme of those boys have great arms, for a three-year-old!

Then we played Fix it, AKA pin the scoop on the tractor. Yes, I drew it, and not Brighton, though he probably would have done a better job of it.

Connect it worked better in my head than in practice. What I learned from this game is that 1 set of PVC pipes + 5 3-yr-old boys= one big sword fight. We had to disarm the kids quickly and usher them on to the next game.

This was the biggest hit of the party. We made a wrecking ball with a small rubber ball, some yellow duct tape, some twine, and a banister pole. The kids loved knocking over the tower of empty boxes by throwing the ball at them. One of the boys helped me restack in between his turns so he could get a turn faster. They were hilarious to watch.

Last was Eat it. We sang happy birthday to Brighton and served brownie "cake" out of his dump truck and wrecking ball ice cream. I loved how my road table cloth came out.

It even had worms!

Here are my wrecking ball ice cream balls. I rolled them in sprinkles and added a licorice rope "chain."

Brighton had to be convinced to open everyone else's presents. He got a sneak peak inside Luke's bag and saw the set of mini tractors in it, and that was it for him. I was glad no other parents were there to see my son acting so ungraciously. Actually, after all was opened, this tool box turned out to be his favorite toy; it went everywhere with him over the next few days.

Dave having fun with the boxes after the party was over.

Dave's a little boy at heart still...

This has become my favorite photos of Brighton. What a face. This really captures him well.

And another. It was a fun day, and if nothing else, he loved his party. The party went exactly as planned; timing was good for everything, and all the boys got along and played the games as expected. (ok, if you don't count the pipe bashing game). I had fun with this one. I'm already planning his next one in my head. I think I have a mental illness...