Happy Birthday Pirate Gavin!

Our little pirate just turned 4! It was an exciting day around our house trying to get everything ready for the big pirate party. Gavin was in his full pirate costume and I as able to round up enough pirate vests and eye patches for all the kids. The girls even got to wear little skirts so that they could be pirate princess's (Thanks Denise for the great pirate CD, skirts, and party favors!) I'd also like to give a shout out to Mom, Dad, and Brent for your help. I could not have hosted a party for six kids without you. Gavin now has his own personal sized pirate ship. Thanks Gram and Pal. My lungs got a good workout from blowing the thing up with nothing but my own hot air! To keep me going Gavin would stand by me and say "Good job Mom, you're doing great!" The ship has a flag, a cannon that shoots balls and has music. What more could a pirate ask for but to captain his own ship?
The party kids: Lizzy, Camden, Morgann, Gavin, Lacey, and Derek. Lizzy just wanted to wear the skirt, she didn't want to don a vest. But in the spirit of pirates, she still wore her hat that we made as a craft.
Gavin loved being the center to attention during opening presents. He got a wide range of gifts, from markers to rockets, games and even stupid underwear (private joke between Gavin and Pal). Surprisingly, Gavin even loved the clothes he got... did I mention that they all happened to be Handy Manny, Gavin's second favorite thing besides pirates.

The decorations and the cake. Yes... I made the cake myself. I am not a domestic diva or anything. Please don't enlarge the picture, the cake looks better from far away. I saw this pirate hat cat in a magazine and thought that it looked easy. It only had a few instructions and I thought to myself, "Hey, you could even do that." Well.... baking the cake is the only easy part. How could it take me almost 2 hours to frost and decorate a pirate hat cake? I don't know why I have to keep relearning that cake/cookie decorating will never be a talent of mine. All in all, it turned out fine and Gavin was very impressed with the cake, the decorations, the treasure hunt and all the presents. It was a very successful birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAVIN, I LOVE YOU!