Stone is 5!

We had a really fun birthday party yesterday for Stoney's special day! He invited about 10 of his friends, and then of course 6 of their little siblings, and the mama's and papa's that go with each. It was a free-flowing party, he opened gifts as people arrived, which was so nice! He really got to 'get' what he was getting and focus on it, instead of being bombarded with the pile staring at him. He opened 2 of his gifts from us first thing upon waking, then waited to open the other 2, which was great, because then Dad got to see him open those. We didn't think John would make it home for the party. He was stuck in Roger's, MN waiting to hear the where/when/how of his next move. He got the call at 7:00 pm Saturday night to go ahead and take the truck he had back to Rapid City in the morning. He fell asleep, woke up at 1:00 am, felt refreshed, and hit the road! He got here a bit after 10:00 am, what a man! His boys were thrilled to see him, he'd been gone for nearly 3 weeks.
Ok, back to the party! :)
Stone wanted a 'messy party', so we did! We had 25# of flour poured onto a tarp with various tools and toys to play with there. We did a pinata, which got smashed quite nicely! We had 12 cans of silly string emptied into our yard, colors a flurry, and grinning children. I like to say that was the 'primer' of the real mess to come! Next, we had whipped cream pie fights. Each child had 3 little paper plates loaded with whipped cream, we counted down from 10, then...fire!!! We were all covered with the stuff, but I'd have to say John got the worst of it! Super cool fun!
We made 3 cakes (boxed, yeah, I'm a bum!) and ate most of them at the party. Now there's a partially eaten cake sitting on our counter, which I visit often in true Karen style, with fork in hand! It doesn't really count if you don't actually cut yourself a piece, y'know! :)