Bradyn's Birthday Party

Our little boy is growing up so quickly. He's not 6 for another couple of weeks, but we had his birthday party this past weekend. Since Bradyn's birthday is the day before Thanksgiving, we didn't think anyone would be around to celebrate on the actual day and so we went ahead and had a little party a bit early. He decided to have a "pirate party" and wanted to hunt for treasure. We did the best we could with limited space due to some pretty chilly weather. It was alot of fun for me, and I think the kids had fun as well. I racked my brain for weeks trying to come up with some pirate-like games, and finally settled on a few. Actually, my favorite idea came from my aunt 2 days before party time. It was refrigerator box "boats" and a cannonball fight. We also did the traditional pin the tail on the donkey type game with a map and treasure chest. That went well until Ken realized they were peeking under the blindfold. :-) The kids dug for plastic jewels in sand, "walked the plank", made a pirate hat and sword, and hit a pinata. It's always amazing to me how so much work boils down to something that is over so quickly. All said and done, it was all worth it when Bradyn said "This is the best party in 5 years, mama!"He had missed out on the whole part experience too often because of Thanksgiving, so I really wanted this to be special for him. Thanks to all of you who helped make his day happen! :-)