judah turns 3 on friday. i suffer from crippling event-planning paranoia (that no one will come), so to avoid a potential memorial day exodus, we had the party this past sunday.
it was amazing.
we had it at jesse's parents BEAUTIFUL home, and after 2 years of torturing ourselves and our guests with dry outdoor parties, we wised up, banked on may in georgia being a scorcher and went with a WATER party.
the weather complied, pinterest came through, about 40 people showed up, and this little dukes family had the time of our lives celebrating our judah-bug.
and now a hundred million photos.
the main attraction:
a MONSTER water slide. home-made. 100% reusable. over 50 feet of slippery goodness.
daddy + the birthday boy
mommy + the little man of the hour
an utterly squeezable little sis
a BITCHIN' cake
not just one gorgeous cousin...
...but two! (i mean seriously)
"uncle" rick manned the grill
we ditched tables and chairs in favor of blankets on the grass.
we had friends from all over the place:
school friends
bruncle friends
baby and mommy friends!
this is judah's "benignly bewildered" look and it is a spitting image of many of jesse's sweet baby pictures. ADORE!
he gets the furrow/scowl from his momma.
g-ma vincent showed up with water balloons and squirt bottles left over from her school's field day
the kids lost their minds over the dukes' "hillbilly hot tub."
they could NOT get enough of this thing.
seriously, like 9 kids in that thing at once.
sophie is armed and dangerous. layla is just eating her ammo.
when layla wasnt poolside, she found herself inexorably pulled back towards the fun
since layla was too young to protest (like judah did), jesse was able to chuck her down the slide.
best moment of my life. check out jesse's follow through and layas face and tiny wet pigtails!
judah had to be taken down buddy-style. after running onto the slide a few times and biting the dust and bonking his head he was a little gun shy. "wow, mom and dad, you made me a treacherous surface that injures me for my birthday, thanks!"
daddy did not hold back
yes!
ah-murzing
more action shots:
with not a cloud in the sky, SPF was crucial. some parents opted to rub it into their kids skin
other parents went a different route :)
and some whities tried to catch a little pigment
i guess i was embarrassing her in front of her friends.
i must say the cake became my little idol. jesse and i stayed up until 2 am the night before the party making this thing by hand. i had cannibalized a few ideas for monster truck themed cakes from pinterest and melded them all into one monster monster truck cake.
i was 100% in love with the thing and needed everyone else to agree with me. so presenting it to judah was a grand affair.
he has spotted the cake and is bee-lining towards it (that would be my 38 weeks pregnant sister in law. it's not even fair how hot she is.)
i could just kick myself for putting superman in the wrong place. he's supposed to be finishing up crushing the little cars and be half on the green one and half on the graham cracker path so that you can see the candles perfectly. DRAT!
his current "cheese face"
i mean really, those flipping donut tires freaking MAKE the cake.
iron man ramping up into the arena
my love for this cake cannot be overstated (one gross thing: the sun was so hot that the icing letters started to leak grease due to the fat being rendered out of them...butter and shortening border!)
our fam celerating our firstborn!
jesse was whistling to bring everyone over for the blowing of the candles, and judah wanted to help. he just put his fingers in his mouth and screamed. perfection
a donut tire, cake and either birthday cake confetti or chocolate trinity ice cream for all!
the patches of shade were the place to be
diaper changing station in the barn office
oh, i let them eat cake. yes i did.
hahaha goobers
sissy went DEEP into extra innings, staying up about 5 hours past naptime and partying HARD the entire time.
and then the presents were opened. it was kind of obscene. so. many. toys.
hahahahaha. the other kids could NOT resist encroaching on judahs personal space as he was showered with gifts. and regan ordered the chocolate ice cream, for the record.
beyond happy that he joined us
the consensus is that we will just keep repeating this party every year. this kids will think of new and more dangerous uses for the slide, we can add more advanced water games and activities, and we will get really good and efficient at this exact event. practice makes perfect. plus, if it's not broke, why fix it?
happy birthday party, judah man!
at
12:25 PM
