The Forrester Family: Ethan's 4th Birthday Party

When you think of July in the South you typically think of hot temperatures, bright sunshine, and high humidity. At least, that's what I think anyway. And it was exactly what I was thinking when I planned Ethan's party months ago. Our theme was a "Big Splash Backyard Bash." When it was all set up, we had 3 water tables, 2 kiddie pools with slides, one baby pool for the little bitties, a triple lane slip-n-slide, a sprinkler ball, a sprinkler caterpillar, and a "waterbed" to bounce, slide, and jump on. We also made homemade bubble blowers and the kids had to dig/squirt the bugs out of giant sea colored ice cubes. Tons of activities to keep the kids cool in the hot summer sun. I also planned to do the party mid-morning before the heat got too unbearable for the adults and set up all of the chairs under the shade of the deck. NOW...having said all of that, this last month has been more out of whack than any summer I have ever experienced. Some days are hot and sunny, but most have been overcast and rainy. Such was the case on Saturday morning, Ethan's big party day! Luckily, we only had a few sprinkles here and there while we were setting up and by party time there was no rain. But it was a little cool especially since ours was a water party. And even though the children got a little chilled, the adults loved the temperature. All in all, I think everyone had a good time even though there wasn't any sunshine. It kind of put a damper on the theme and color scheme, though.

I am so extremely thankful for Mimi and Uncle Chad and Aunt Ashley who spent the weekend with us and was able to help with the set up and take down of everything! The show would NOT have gone on without them :-)

We had neon orange, lime green, and bright blue colored kettle korn served in matching sand pails, sugar cookies in our matching colors, and a summertime snack mix to munch on while playing.

The party path to the backyard

Squirting and digging the bugs out of the giant ice cubes

Ethan and his school friend, Jacob, on the slip-n-slide

I placed inflatable boogie boards in a laundry basket with a squirt bottle of baby shampoo to make them slide extra fast ;-)

Woohoo!

It was a full house :-)

After water play, we moved to the front for lunch. BBQ pork sandwiches for the adults with hot dogs and Uncrustables for the kiddos. To go along with that, pretzels, chips, cole slaw, potato salad, cheese cubes, fruit were served as sides.