FOSSIL EXPEDITION

Oh, what a wonderful party we had!

 

Jay made enough plaster T-Rex bones for 14 dig sites!

Making piles over the bones and flagging the plots

Dirt in between plots and roped-off dig squares - we're ready to go!

Tree "cookies" to use as cupcake displays

Chocolate rocks on top of grey frosting (I'd been aiming for black...)

Buckets filled with "goodie bags" containing trowels, brushes, and fossil dinosaur toys

The cake: red velvet (of course) with a chocolate T-Rex fossil and Oreo cookie crumb dirt

Ready to feed the masses!

And this year's party brew: Jay's first Roggenbier. It's delicious! (Sorry about the sideways photo... It was fun being able to skip the coolers this year and just set up a keg next to the fridge, where the soda and juice boxes were kept)

Trucks and digging toys at the large dirt pile, because you KNOW those kids wouldn't be able to resist that mountain of dirt, so we figured an open invitation was the best way to go!

Our little paleontologist, ready to lead the Fossil Expedition!

Welcoming the first arrivals

Let the digging begin!
(Lauren, Gabriel, Mason, Cora, Will, Coltin, Bridger, James, Manu, Grady, and Leo)

Cora, James, Bridger, Manu

Buster did awesome with all the kids, and a few of them were particularly fond of him (that would be Miss Emma here, and little Seamus, Azure's brother)

Who's ready to dig up some bones?!

"I found the stonehead mama!"

A lot of the kids attempted to assemble full skeletons (but none of the plots had each and every piece needed). Coltin was the first kid to find all his pieces though!

Done with the bones and back to the mountain of dirt!

Time for (dinosaur) candles and the birthday song!

Look at all these cuties lined up for cake!
Front row: Mason and Emma (school buddies!), Lauren and Isaac (school buddies), Manu and James (school buddies), and Will. Middle Row: Jacob, Cora (sitting right between her buddies), and Bridger, with David and Coltin off to the side. Back Row: Grady, Azure, and Gabriel. And Leo joining at the very back. John was off eating blueberries, Seamus was probably petting Buster, and baby Mary Claire had gone to mass with her mama. It was quite awesome seeing all these kiddos together, and I especially liked seeing kids dispersed all over the front and back yards, everyone doing their favorite activity and playing with their friends - really fun stuff!



Finally getting to blow out some real candles!

Quick, mob Jay to get your cupcake!!

Daddy finally hung up the horse swing we inherited from a friend who's kids had outgrown it

Ending the party with gifts (and some more digging, and teeter-tottering, and zip-lining)

Quick present recap, in case I actually write out real thank you notes for once (no promises...) A Lego semi-truck from the Hancocks, an ant farm from the Sanchez crew, a dinosaur figuring painting kit and dinosaur stencils from the Kennedys, an awesome family puzzle (different sized pieces for little kids, big kids, and adults all in the same puzzle!) from the Hollingsworths, a giftcard and sea monkeys from the Jungs, a froyo giftcard from the Foshee-Fields family, spending money from the Bournes, a Spiderman Lego car and punching bag from the Hopkins, and his first set of big boy markers (and something arriving via mail) from the Mitchells. And a set of glow-in-the-dark dinosaurs that snuck past me - who gave him those? That's two gifts of living animals, in case you're counting... ;-) James is loving everything and will be very busy playing with everything over his spring break!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who was able to make it to the party today! We all had so much fun and we really appreciate you coming out to celebrate our boy with us! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends here and it really makes us feel special to have you participate in these big events! Many thanks to Jean for helping us with all the party prep last night and today too. We completely forgot to take a family photo, so we'll just have to catch one later this week...

And that's a wrap! Happy Birthday to James!!