Mario Party Highlights!

I planned and crafted like crazy for this party and it turned out great! Mostly becasue the kids had a blast - I don't think I actually had that much to do with it. Two of Nolen's friends from school showed up and all the neighborhood kids were there. The kids had a great time playing toys, a few video games and I believe there was some kind of war that was played in the backyard.

Here are the pirhana plants, mystery boxes and Mario hats that I made for the party.

All of the kids ready to sing happy birthday to Nolen. I didn't get a good shot of the cupcakes, but they turned out cute. There were chocolate frosted ones with colored stars on them for Luna and there were "mushroom" cupcakes that were green or red with white polka dots.

Nolen got lots of wonderful gifts from his friends. He got a Ben 10 watch which I know he was thrilled to get, an Alien Chamber from Ben 10, Spiderman Yhatzee, a Matchbox pop up car playset (we love these!), a giftcard to GameStop, and the biggest hit of all....

Mario Super Sluggers from Grammy!!!! He can't stop playing it! This morning I called him up to open his birthday presents from Max and Dad and me and he came up, opened them and ran back downstairs to play more Sluggers. Sheesh! Looks like we'll be instituting a Wii time limit this week!

I think Nolen has already had a great birthday and the day isn't even half over. He loved having all of his friends here to play yesterday and the kids behaved pretty well. We did have a parent monitor in the basement with them (Thanks Fran!!!) which was a lifesaver! Fran said she caught one of the boys poking at the TV (yes the big expensive one) with a lightsaber and swiping the game controllers from other kids. SHEESH! Disasters were averted though and overall the party went really smoothly. We played "kill the turtle and get coins"...pop the green balloons that have butterscotch candies (Coins) in them. We also played pin the nose and moustache on Mario.

I can't believe my big boy is SIX years old! I am so proud of him. He is growing up to be a smart, kind, and caring boy!