a FOURTH birthday!

birthday parties exhaust me. i have cried tears over party preparations. i have stressed more about birthday parties for than i have about work projects. this year i decided to take a more laid back approach and have the party someplace where i didn't have to worry about too many details.

well wouldn't you know that the one time (probably all winter) that it decided to snow in oklahoma was the morning of ethan's birthday party. lance also got called out of town last minute and was off on a plane so i couldn't even call him to get his take on things. thankfully my parents were in town and are used to driving in real snow...not just the heavy flurries we were actually getting (i don't want you to think it was a real blizzard out there by any means...) so we decided to keep the party on. so we trekked up to oklahoma city for the party and barely hit any snow.

the little gym ended up being the PERFECT place for a party! we had the entire place to ourselves and the kids had a blast jumping, running and playing games. there was plenty of space to spread out and helpers to lead the playtime and set-up and clean-up. all we had to do was show up with the cupcakes (which my mom and i had a GREAT time making using this recipe and this frosting - amazing!) best part, we got to visit with friends and family and finish celebrating ethan's fourth year. thank you to everyone who braved the cold to help us celebrate!

*special thanks to my good friend dawn for sharing some great pictures of the party with me...i think i would have only had about 4 pictures of the whole thing if it hadn't been for her.