one sand-tastic birthday party!

ever since ethan has known his birthday was coming up, he has talked about having a "beach party". as far as i know, he came up with this idea all on his own, and he never wavered in his choice. i wasn't at all surprised because this boy loves the beach. now if we lived in like oklahoma or missouri, i suppose that a beach party would consist of turning your backyard or fellowship hall or in-laws' living room into a festive beach scene, complete with colorful buckets of sand everywhere and beach balls and plastic fish hanging from the ceiling. well, this florida birthday boy wanted his party at the beach. and we happily granted his request. this will be easy, i thought. i'd need very few decorations, no games, and my mom gave me the cutest invitation idea.


our favorite beach spot has five "first come, first serve" pavilions, so we planned to get there early to snag one and we'd be good to go. we even braved the depths of our garage to dig out a big tent/canopy thing that i bought on a whim at a garage sale a few years ago. our only true concern was the weather. like florida weather for most of the summer, there was a big chance of rain all week. last saturday, we were so thankful to wake up to a beautiful morning that was supposed to stay beautiful all day.


thank you, Lord, i whispered, as we drove out to the beach. we got a later start that we wanted (which was pretty much to be expected with us), so i was a little antsy on the way out there. i wanted the pavilion closest to the beach. i hoped it wasn't taken. well, it was. and so was the next one. and the next one. and the next one. they were all full. my heart sank and i started to panic a little bit. where would we feed 30+ people? where would we set up all this food? i can't believe we didn't get here earlier. we should have planned to get here by 8:30. it's already 9:30. i can't believe i didn't plan better for this... i pitifully attempted to beg two measly tables for an hour out of the occupants of each pavilion. but apparently, in order to hold a family reunion, you have to have "over fifty people comin'" and you have to have it the same weekend as several other families with "over fifty people comin'". so i took a deep breath and called a friend who i knew was already on her way out there. she did exactly what i needed her to do. she told me it would be ok and we could just do it all on the beach. she let me cry and she told me it would be great. and then she called back to say that they'd stop and buy a card table to put the food on. i've already thanked her a thousand times, but seriously, jen and sam saved the day. or at least saved me from much more stress!

so we had this beach party literally on the beach. we were there early enough to save plenty of room for our big birthday crew. i was so so so thankful for my garage sale tent (it was our first time to put it up, and whew! all the parts were there!). and i even got to hang up the beach balls.


everybody was so great about our sudden change of plans, and i think it turned out just fine to be down on the beach. it probably worked out better for the kiddos because we didn't have to spend anytime in transition. they just went from the beach to the food to the beach to the cake to the beach to the presents to the beach! i spent most of the time setting up and cleaning up, but everytime i looked out at the water, the kids were having a blast. brace yourselves, we did not get any pictures of the birthday guests playing at the beach. i know. our kids were so excited to have daddy at the beach, and he was busy playing with them in the water the whole time. and i was up to my ears in what was to come next with the party and did everyone have something to drink? and where is the honey mustard? and honey, did you put sunscreen on ethan?. so the unscheduled fun just didn't get documented. but just imagine a dozen happy children donned with floaties, hats, and good sunscreen splashing with their daddies and friends in knee deep water.

and while everybody else was occupied with sandwiches, sandcastles, and swimmies, nana and gram gladly shared amelia duty. she was patient and happy and stayed in the same diaper all day long. woops.



everyone eventually got hungry and helped themselves to sub sandwiches.



and refreshing watermelon.


and then they went back out to the beach. a little later, we called everybody back in to sing happy birthday to ethan. the smile on his face made it worth the stress earlier that morning.



here's a close-up of his "cake". ethan has been so excited about his sand cake. he has loved explaining to anyone who would listen that "it's cake but it looks like sand, but it's really not sand..." i found the recipe here and was really happy with how it turned out. (though i would recommend making 1 1/2 of this recipe so that it will fill the bucket! i figured that out at 9:45 the night before the party!) my mom helped me make the little candy shells, which might just have been ethan's favorite part of the whole party. (he takes after my grandma and spends most of his time at the beach collecting shells.)


my favorite part of the party was the adorable little buckets that we used to serve the cake...


we put a candy shell in the bottom and filled the wee buckets with "sand". i think they were a hit.




i don't know if caroline is pledging allegiance to the cake or saying, "my oh my, this is good!"




"mommy said to clean off my hands."


"and i'd better obey my mommy!"

it looks like the adults kinda liked the cake, too...

here's the tent that was so worth the $5 i paid for it! and while everyone was finishing up their cake, brian realizes that he should have put sunscreen on his feet. (and on his face. and on my son's face...)



the party ended with ethan opening up gifts from his sweet friends.



and as everyone packed up, we sent them home with their little buckets, complete with a miniature rake, shovel, and scoop.


we stayed for a little while longer so that i could relax in the water. it really was a beautiful day that was full of fun. we couldn't have asked for better weather, and i am thankful for our friends that were all so easy-going about the sudden change of plans. a little sidenote: during one of my many trips to the car for something, i ran into a friend whose workplace had occupied the two small pavilions. she told me that they were there before 7:30 that morning to secure a pavilion and that they were stuck with the last ones... that was the best news i'd heard all day. there is no way i'd have been out there by 7:30. rediculous. and she was right: it was better down by the beach.

so my little boy is four. there is so much about him that is not so little anymore... the way he want to go on dates with mommy, the way he enthusiastically requests to do schoolwork, and the way he ponders the meanings of words like "modesty" and "caffeine" (what daddy drinks, if you're wondering.). he is interested in legos and action figures and collecting bugs. he can get his own water from the fridge and can dress himself. he can strap himself in his car seat, and he can quickly draw perfect squares with an etch-a-sketch. he watches over his baby sister with extreme care, and he has also been caught on occasion playing peacefully with his other sister. he is indeed growing up. but i still see little glimpses of my baby when he twirls that hair and snuggles up in my lap to read make way for ducklings. his desperate plea, "mommy, i want you!", rings loudly in my heart. i love you, my big-little four year old. i hope you enjoyed your beach party. 'cause we're never doing that again!