5th Birthday Party 2012: Bounce House Edition

A 5 year old boy ought to have a rad birthday party. We settled on the "bounce house" (Jefferson's term) as a location. We asked Jefferson what sort of party he wanted. With all the excitement surrounding the Cardinals Caravan, Jefferson settled on Cardinals/baseball as a theme. Behold: the cupcakes. (Note the model baseball in the background.)









Jefferson is a shockingly easygoing dude. By the end of last summer, we lived in a different house, went to a different church, and Jefferson started a new school. He adapted happily and quickly to all of it. When we asked him who he wanted to invite to his party, he mentioned his pre-k class. He also insisted we invite Landon and Ella, friends from his old daycare. Having not seen either of them for 5 months, we wondered how this would go. This is how it went. Mom overheard them all talking about how they missed each other.









The birthday boy gets to sit in a big inflatable throne. It's big and lonely in that throne. Bring a buddy.









As it turns out, this party was extremely cruel. Right outside the door was the bounce house. But we made them wait around until all the kids arrived and they'd had some cupcakes. Look at the crazy anticipation on these mugs.









There's a Seinfeld in which George is upset that his fiance Susan is interacting with Jerry, Elaine and Kramer. Worlds collide. We wondered what would happen when worlds collided at the bounce house. Answer: nothing. New school on the left, old school on the right.









That's me surveying the wreckage in the background .









Here's what you do. Sugar these kids up. I know that seems counter intuitive, but it works. It led to a furious, frantic pace in the bounce house. But Jefferson burned out after about an hour and a half. Then it was naptime. What about sugaring up the rest of the kids, you say? Not my problem.









All the kids brought Jefferson excellent gifts. Here's Landon opening the gift he got for Jefferson.









That extend-a-claw was the hit of the party.









All of the kids and most of the adults tried it out.









These kids all have a similar expression on their faces. Is it confusion or concern?









This is the only photo we took of Jefferson in the bounce house. His face was the color of his shirt and from this point on he was just a red blur running from one inflatable monstrosity to the next.









Happy birthday, buddy!