The birthdays that we are still celebrating...

Many of Sean and William's friends were away for vacation during their birthdays so we combined their party with another boy's from our cup-de-sac and had a neighborhood summer party to celebrate all three birthdays.  As far as simplicity of planning and executing, this was the easiest party ever, and as far as everyone having a great time, probably the best party!  One afternoon, we all pitched in and rented a giant blow-up water slide and provided snacks and cupcakes.  We were nervous about the weather with rain and thunderstorms the morning of the party, but it all cleared up just in time for the party and the lingering clouds kept the parents comfortably cool.  The slide was a lot steeper and much faster than we had thought it would be, so it was a little more traumatic than fun for the little ones, but the big kids (including some of the dads) had a blast.  And, there were only a few injuries, nothing major, and only one bloody incident:)

Two of the three birthday boys

Oh, and we had three different pinatas- tons of candy!

Then, after everyone had gone home, gotten dry, and had dinner, we all joined up again after dark to have a giant campfire with three fire pits.  We did s'mores and the adults had some drinks and talked by the fire while the kids explored the outdoors with head lamps and flashlights.  When all of the sugar was burned off, the moms headed inside, while the dads camped outside in tents with the kids.  I am typing this over six months after the fact, and we (adults and kids) still talk about what a great day that was.  

Super Six!.,, b

We celebrated Sean's birthday with a free tickets (thanks to the Read to Succeed Program) to New Jersey's six flags adventure park.  The park is only 20 minutes down the road, but it was our first visit.  It was a great day of family fun and the boys especially loved getting SOAKED in the torrential down pour that began as we were leaving the park!  After a quick dinner of Sean's choice, we rushed him and Henry to soccer practice.   Josh and I had the selfishly brilliant idea that we would hire a baby sitter to put the boys to bed and return to Six Flags to ride the big rides.  In doing this, we had to postpone Sean's cake, but he gave the okay for it, so we kissed the birthday boy goodnight and left.  It was a very fun date, especially for Roller-Coaster-Lovin-Josh.  It had a been a very long time since I had ridden rides of that caliber, and I am almost certain it was the last.

The next night we cashed in on our promise and finished our birthday celebrations!

A little about Sean....
He can be summed up by simply saying, "he is a good person."  He really is.  He is easy to please, and he is almost always the first to volunteer to assist with anything.  I think for a six year old, he is extremely dependable and very often responsible beyond his years.  If in a pinch, I need someone to monitor the twins while I have to run upstairs or outside, he is the guy I turn to.  I return to find him patiently orchestrating them in some sort of activity, usually sport related.  While playing, Sean is almost always the brother to compromise his wants for the sake of another brother.  In this rowdy bunch, he could be easily overlooked, but taking even just 10 minutes to throw the football with him or shoot hoops with him absolutely makes his day.  I often tell Josh that he is a coaches dream....he will observe (usually from TV) some sort of sport technique or skill and then he will practice it over and over until he feels he has accomplished it.