Rylie's 5th Birthday Weekend

It has been a week since Rylie's 5th Birthday, and I feel like I'm still recovering from our super fun weekend. Well, maybe that's because I'm still tripping over Christmas and birthday gifts that haven't yet found their proper "homes". Yeah, I should have timed her birthday a little better, right?

Anyway...Rylie had a great birthday weekend, and I wanted to share a few photos from our celebrations. Well, OK, maybe more than a few.

The first event of the weekend was her party at our favorite birthday place. It's a gym that holds private parties on the weekends, complete with bounce houses, slides, trampolines, a giant foam pit, gym equipment, and Rylie's favorite - the rope swing.

The kids all had a great time swinging, bouncing, and even hanging upside down!

Bryce did a lot of running back and forth on the trampoline track...

...where he gained speed for his final decent into the foam pit. It was also a great place to relax.

There were also times that he flew through the air into that giant pit, thanks to some help from Uncle Danny.

Rylie especially enjoyed going down the big slides with Aunt Melissa and Mia!

Not only did the kids have a great time, but some of us adults did too. As usual, I couldn't resist jumping on the trampoline. Who can? It's even more fun when my "baby brother" gets next to me and gives me an extra boost!

Rylie is quite the popular girl. We ended up with 35 kids at her birthday bash, and I loved every second of it. She is so lucky to have so many friends who wanted to celebrate her special day with her!

While the kids played, a few of us decorated the party area with Hello Kitty decorations. We had another personalized birthday banner made by my friend Tiffany from Uniquely Me. Oh, and a ginormous Hello Kitty balloon!

The kids played in the gym for an hour and a half, and then it was time for pizza and cake. I made four batches of Hello Kitty cupcakes in different flavors, and I thought they came out great! I'm not a baker by any means, so I love when I can actually make desserts that taste good. Rylie chose a strawberry cupcake with chocolate icing for her special cupcake with the "5" candle in it.

She was all smiles while we sang "Happy Birthday".

Raina and her family were also in town, so Bryce got to enjoy a cupcake with his cousin Haley. Like Haley's grandfather said, "Nothing like a good cupcake to bring cousins together."

Of course there were many messy cupcake faces, and some smiles to go with them. Mia looks a little unsure, though, but I think she liked it!

After we passed out goody bags and thanked all of our friends and family for coming to the party, we headed home so Rylie could open her presents. She couldn't wait to see what she got!

We ended up having a little mini party at the house, so Rylie had some help with the present opening. She got so many awesome gifts - a gumball machine, a camera, lots of baby dolls, some Barbie and Monster High dolls, craft kits, clothes, and even a Hello Kitty blanket and some gum!

The after party lasted until like 11, and the kids finally settled down for the night. Uncle Danny, Michelle and Grayson spent the night, so it took a little while after that even to get them to go to sleep. Needless to say, they were tired on Sunday and their little sleepy bodies had to be carried through the Downtown Disney parking lot when we arrived for lunch at T-Rex Cafe.

We had a bit of a wait for a table, so after the boys decided to wake up, we headed over to the LEGO Store for some play time while we waited.

Bryce wasn't a fan of the huge T-Rex inside the main entrance, and I was a little worried about what his reaction would be to the "meteor showers" that happened inside the restaurant every 20 minutes. Not only are they noisy, but the dinosaurs throughout the restaurant come to life.

As I figured, his reaction to the first meteor shower was less than pleasant...

...but Mama was there to protect him. My poor mom had to have one hand on him at all times. After the first few, though, he seemed OK with them. Now he just tells me all the time that "dinosaurs are fake" and he was just crying because he was hungry. Sure, kid.

Daddy was certainly in the party spirit during lunch. I think he needed his adult beverage after the previous night!

The staff at all of the Disney restaurants are always so awesome with food allergies! They ask while you are being seated if anyone has one, and if you do, they always send the chef out to talk to you. This time I asked him what desserts would be OK for Rylie to eat, because she needed a special birthday treat. I ordered her some chocolate pudding with Oreo cookies on it, and she was thrilled when the servers came out and sang to her.

Bryce got the same dessert, and the kids had fun getting pudding all over their faces. Hmmm, do you think one of these was a little intentional?

After our delicious dinner and dessert, Rylie and Bryce had fun digging for fossils in the Paleo Zone at the front of the restaurant.

Monday was Rylie's actual birthday, and she got to choose where she wanted her birthday dinner. She chose IHOP! I guess a birthday isn't complete without a Funny Face Pancake. I gave her the option of opening her presents from us that morning, or that night at dinner, and she chose to open them at dinner while we waited for our food. She even wore her Hello Kitty princess tiara that we forgot to bring to her birthday party.

We all had such a great weekend celebrating Rylie's 5th Birthday! I want to thank all of our family and friends who came out to celebrate with us and made her birthday absolutely fabulous!

There, now I don't have to send out Thank You cards, right?