i've seen fire and i've seen rain...

yesterday we held quentin's 3rd and final 5th birthday party.  just about the entire world showed up, resulting in us having 14 people staying in our house on friday night.  good times.  this final 5th birthday party celebration was angry birds themed.

got this idea on pinterest

i love how Q lined up his plush angry birds like they do in the game

this was still during party set-up. then things got crazy.  the wind started blowing, making citronella candles and paper table coverings a bad combo.  while i ran inside to look for tablecloth clips, disaster took hold.  a table cloth and several balloons / balloon weights perished in the great angry bird fire of '12.  i didn't actually get to see it.  i'm sure that would have really helped my stress levels.  not long after the accidental pig roast, a big thunderstorm came rolling through.  which is totally awesome when your main party activity includes a zillion cardboard boxes and playground balls with pig faces poorly glue-sticked on to them.  sigh.  but we persevered, and eventually the sun came back out.

decor

the saggy, waterlogged level of angry birds

the portion of the birthday banner that survived

gotta love when toys you already have can serve as decorations

my favorite balloon

guarding the "eggs"

the citronella candle that started the blaze

quite a haul

even our awesomely tacky welcome bear got in on the party

caroline's healthy lunch choice of watermelon and jelly beans

the youngest guest

we tried to build a slingshot for the live-action game of angry birds

but it was not successful

but it didn't matter

we just threw the birds/balls at the pigs instead

baby cousin logan is totally involved

maybe the small one will work?  nope.

baby cousin logan wants to know what all the fuss is about

we played several "levels"

pickle finally gets in on the action

but surprisingly, ginny (the wrecking ball) never gets involved

and then the beautiful part... the recycling truck will be here on wednesday to take it all away :)

cake!

i think he liked it!

blowing out the candles and knocking over the pig tower.  5000 points!

not surprisingly, he got a lot of angry birds.  i foresee some really intense levels getting constructed in my living room

really excited about our piggy pillow

he was very excited about presents this year.  even books and clothes got positive reactions.  (as opposed to last year, when anything that wasn't a monster truck was immediately dissed.)

millennium falcon!

he really liked this grave digger card

awesome legos, uncle matt!

jake and the "everland" pirates

purple grave digger.  i rule at parenting.

more birds!

and bugs!

Q's pinata did not have easy-pull strings like caroline's had.  first, he tried punching it...

then we got out the bat

lilly gave it a good shot

and so did gin

and pickle too

after a 2nd round, no real damage had been done, so daddy took over

scavengers!

hey!  what did i miss?