celebrating six!

Hewitt is six years old! He wanted to invite all of his friends from school to a birthday party. We compromised by inviting just the boys in his class. We decided to go with a "pirate" theme and had the party on Friday evening (birthday eve) to avoid conflicts with soccer games and general conference on Saturday. I spent much of the week and all day Friday prepping for the party. Tosh "helped" me with some simple decorations while the boys were still at school.


Rob came home early from work to help put together the treasure box before the boys got home. We filled a wooden crate with all sorts of pirate loot and candy.



We poured birdseed over the loot to resemble sand, and Rob dug a hole in the backyard so we could bury the box.




When the boys got home, they dressed up in pirate gear. The birthday kid was looking very tough and pirate-y. I convinced him that pirates smile sometimes (you know, for special occasions):

Joined by his favorite mates:

We started the festivities by having the boys color a pirate page and then Burke taught each boy how to make a pirate hat.




After dinner of pizza and grapes, it was time for the scavenger hunt (highlight of the party). Rob was quite successful at getting the little pirates excited about finding the burrrrried trrrrreasure!


The hunt led them throughout the house; eight clues later, the boys made a discovery in the backyard: X marks the spot!

Each boy filled up a goody bag with loot, and then we headed inside for cake and ice cream.


My friend Brooke gave me a great and simple idea for the cake, and even came over on Thursday night to help me out. The finished product:


(That's brown sugar sprinkled over the island. Genius! Thanks, Brooke.)
The pirate party was a hit! I was glad that Hewitt had such a great time and was relieved when it was over...

Today (Hewitt's actual birthday) began with donuts and then we headed to Hewitt's soccer game after Burke's. Hewitt scored three goals today! The first one was about 60 seconds into the game.

Love this method of defense here. :)


After the game, we all jumped in the pool to cool off and then ate hot dogs (Hewitt's fave) and pasta salad for lunch. I love this shot of the four kids eating together:


The kids acted like we were torturing them by making them wait until after lunch to open the family gifts.

Tosh picked out this car for Hewitt, and couldn't wait to give it to him:

One of the favorite gifts was a set of 30 Lego people!

That's one happy six-year-old, and lots of Lego people!

We surprised ALL of the kids today by announcing that we are going on vacation next week to San Diego (and to Lego Land in particular). Hello 70 degree weather! We are all very excited (I think maybe me most of all).