Dylan's Party

Sunday started off normal. Shane and I hopped in the car by 9 AM to go to church (and passed the normal debris cleanup crews).

But instead of volleyball we detoured. We went to Dylan's birthday party!

I'd been tempted to go to volleyball first and show up late, but birthdays are once a year. Shane may do volleyball for a season, but I'm hoping his friendship with Dylan will last much longer (And if I'm honest, going to volleyball would have been about me getting childcare rather than thinking about the boys).

Dylan opened some presents and then everyone was outside for one of the main attractions of the day: Nerf battles.

Notice all the coats? It was cold out!

Running around helps with that, though.

We'd had warmer weather the week before, but there was ice on the ground today. "You never know what kind of weather you'll get around Dylan's birthday," Krista said.

The kids didn't seem to mind.

And by being outside we spotted the pizza man right away.

The kids all piled back in the house to refuel on carbs.

The adults hung back to let the kids have first crack at everything.

No shoes were allowed on the carpet, but someone didn't get the memo. Krista's mom went to work cleaning while the kids ate.

I can vouch it wasn't my kid. He was running around barefoot for some crazy reason.

I sort of recognized a kid or two from visiting Dylan's house years before the divorce. Don't ask me names, though (Especially since I'm writing this over a month and a half after going to the party!).

Krista was smart. She did birthday donuts! No cutting required.

Dylan got two since he was the birthday boy (and conveniently made an 11).

The phones came out and everyone sang (and for some reason, Dylan chugged).

I captured John giving Dylan passionate advice (about birthdays or eating donuts, I know not). 

PS - They were Duck Donuts. My favorite!

After donuts, kids lined up for the piñata. 

Instead of hitting it, each kid took a turn pulling a ribbon.

It was a more equitable way of doing it.

Each kid hoped they'd pick "the right one" and everyone else held their breath with every pull.

I suspect the strings are layered somehow, so that it's impossible for someone to get it right on the first pull.

Shane was thrilled the candy spilled on his!

Only a smattering of candy came out, but the feeding frenzy was in full.

More strings were ripped and candy spilled everywhere.

I maneuvered to the stairs for safety and a better vantage point.

Dylan was the big winner. He dropped into a crawl and scooped a treasure trove underneath him.

In the heat of the moment, he protected his stash like a dragon covets gold. Once the excitement died down he gave away handfulls.

Krista was prepared and handed out Among Us party bags.

Not everything made it into the bags, of course.

Hopefully, no chocolate was mooshed into the carpet.

The mess got cleaned up quickly.

Then it was time to open all the presents that weren't needed for the earlier Nerf battle.

I'd given Shane cash to hand discretely to Dylan. Shane announced it loudly and proudly.

Everyone else had beautifully wrapped gifts (We'll pretend I'm more environmentally friendly). Dylan enjoyed opening them to claps and cheers.

Random: The woman in this picture is actually the next door neighbor. The kids were all over her backyard earlier. She's helped Krista out some with watching the boys some. I thought it was a cool enough fact I remembered talking about it when I saw this picture.

But back to the presents, because this was a good moment: Eli gushed over one of the Lego sets Dylan got.

So Dylan handed it over and said, "It's yours."

Dylan and Eli are brothers, so don't always get along. But that was a cute moment that builds family bonds. Good job being and older brother, Dylan.

This picture is ripe with foreshadowing. Can you guess what the kids did after presents?

They cleaned up...

...and went out for Round 2.

Donuts have sugar and sugar adds speed to childrens' diets. They needed to run it off!

Random: Sometimes I can't pick between a set of pictures. If Carrie was around, I'd ask her opinion. She's not, so I kept both!

I've been trying to get pictures of all the kids. Photographer became a niche I embraced long ago.

It's easy to just get Shane pics, but I planned to upload my photos to the party website later (it took a month and a half....oops). 

Krista rand down with the boys to get a selfie and I got a picture of it.

And I got her picture, too, because she uploaded it to the aforementioned site!

I grabbed this picture from online, as well, but the rest are all mine.

It started off as a free for all.

Shane turned into a zombie.

But all the kids dug it.

So the nature of the game changed.

Rules were made up (and constantly changed).

Roars were made.

No eyes were lost (Who needs safety glasses anyway? This isn't airsoft!).

The game continued as parents pulled up and kids left.

The party was from about 11 AM to 1 PM. We could've headed out to volleyball for the last hour, but there was so much packed into those two hours I needed a rest afterward. 

Shane and I were some of the last to leave. Krista's boyfriend came after everyone had gone, so I had a chance to meet him before we said our goodbyes. It was a fantastic time and goes to show you don't need to rent some crazy expensive place to have an amazing party/memory. Happy Birthday, Dylan! Thanks for inviting us!

PS - I had some other action shots I pulled from here and cropped from there I intended to use. However, they uploaded out of chronological order since they're edits. I was going to intersperse them into the story, but that takes time and I have so many more posts to write. You can click to see more action shots if you'd like!