Lance's Birthday Celebration

Since we were up in Ashburn and all our family was there this past weekend, we decided to celebrate Lance's Birthday a little early. He turns 5 years old on September 14th, but he was more than willing to open gifts a week and a half early. 

It was a fun time! George's parents came with Callie and Bryce, Allen, and Der. Eric and Jen couldn't make it because Eric had sliced his thumb open with a box cutter and was at the hospital getting stitches. :( Aunt Linda and her girls came, too, along with the rest of my family (minus Chad and Stephen who were both in Utah). 

After a dinner of pizza and hot wings, we sang to Lance and he opened his gifts. He received some really nice presents, although the ones I liked best were probably not his favorites. Grandma got him a journal (yay!) and Grandmom and PopPop got him some really nice clothes, but of course he preferred the Transformers from the Scholz and the Legos from Amy and Aunt Linda. He's almost 5--what can you do?

When I asked Lance what kind of cake he wanted me to make, he had very specific instructions. He wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and brownies. He also wanted a smiley face made out of M&M's on the top and the cake had to be square. Great! I can do that! We bought a huge bag of M&M's at Costco and then separated them into colors. George and I had to keep reminding Lance not to hold them all in his hands while sorting or they would melt. It mostly worked. I was planning on covering the whole cake in M&M's, but the candy wouldn't stick to the icing for some reason, so this was the best I could do for the smiley face:

The cake was pretty tasty. It had a layer of brownies on the bottom, homemade chocolate cake for the top layer, and homemade chocolate icing inside and all around. I had left-over batter for everything, so I made a couple small round cakes and cupcakes, too. Yum! The M&M's were good for snacking and it was fun they were already separated into colors.

Jude getting all the attention as usual.

Amy, Jason, and Laura

Callie, Bryce, and Lance waiting for the party to start.

Me and George

Amy, Bethany, Kailey, and Jason

Jude was sad for some reason

George's mom, my mom, and Aunt Linda

Lance and his cake.

Funny story about the table cloth. I wanted the table to be fun and cute, so I made the Buzz Lightyear tablecloth in the picture. It really wasn't anything fancy--just a sheet with a couple yards of cute fabric applique-d on top. I knew Lance liked Toy Story and he was getting a Toy Story bed tent, so I thought he would be excited. I showed it to him before the party and his response was, "That's not really what I wanted." I had to laugh because George and I were talking earlier when I was struggling to sew it and I commented that Lance would probably never know or really appreciate how much time I put into something just to add a little extra to his party. When Lance told me he wasn't that thrilled about the table cloth, I came back and said, 

"Lance, let me tell you a secret. When someone gives you something, even if it isn't what you wanted, you always say 'Thank you'. It makes the person feel good and then they'll want to keep giving you things." 

He said he understood and then I said, "So, let's try this again. Lance! Look what I made for your party!" 

He looked at me with a totally straight face and in a monotoned voice said, "Thanks, Mom. I really like it." Lesson learned?

Yeah, I don't know what's going on, either.

R2D2

Legos!

Helping Lance read a card.

One of Lance's favorite things to watch is Alton Brown's "Good Eats". He was thrilled to get the full second season of episodes and his very own apron (with Star Wars characters on it, of course)!

King Jude. Feed me!

Aunt Amy helping transform "Sideswipe". Is it sad or cool that I know the names for most of the Transformers?

Don't eat the baby! Laura and Tyler. She's due this month! 3 weeks! Lance and Jude are finally going to have a cousin on the Allred side. :)

Glenn and Aunt Linda

Too much cake and ice cream? Jude got stuck in the Bumbo seat and had to be pried out.

Der and Jude.

Allen enjoying hot wings!

Lance is very good at transforming his Transformers. He likes to watch videos on YouTube where people review the toys and show how to do a full transformation. Lance tries to do the same thing and will talk you through the whole process: "This piece has great articulation. You need to rotate the arm and tab it into this part." It's a hoot.

After the party, we had a good time watching the last half of the BYU football game (we WON!) and playing games like "Angry Birds" on the iTouch.

Amy's been working on a neat costume for Halloween and had to make an exact form of her body. Jason and Bethany helped wrap her torso in tape and the Bethany cut her free. It required some intense acrobatics to reach all the places that needed to be snipped:

We had a great time with our families and Lance loved his gifts! We are so lucky to live so close to both our extended families. Happy (almost) Birthday, Lance!