a park party

yesterday, we celbrated gabe's birthday with friends and family. one thing that i have always said (and plan to hold out on) is that we will always keep birthday parties in our family simple. this year, we opted to go to gabe's favorite park and let him ride his scooter, feed the ducks and kick the soccer ball around. there was a zoo cake and a hippo pinata and we invited his grandparents, our gospel community and few other church families that gabe particularly loves to come along and just hang out. it was wonderfully laid back and exactly what we needed.

there was one little thing this year, though. both of our boys were sick. we have been battling various illnesses for about two weeks now, and rather than cancel the party entirely, we were grateful that it was outside so that the boys could do some much running around and we provided gabe with a cupcake with candles to blow out so that he would not contaminate the cake. both boys were so happy to be outside for the first time in what feels like weeks. and although it has meant that they have been particularly whiny and sad all day today, i am definitely glad we went through with it.

in the end, it was a great time and gabe was so pleased to have so many of his favorite people there.