A Fishy Party

Since this was the first year Calvin really understood and had been looking forward to his birthday I wanted it to be extra extra special. He's gone to lots of friends' parties and was so excited to have his own. Of course, with a new baby, everything is sometimes a little harder to accomplish than normal, so although I still really wanted to throw a super fun party for our little man, I tried to keep it as simple and non-overwhelming as possible. Which meant email invites, easy food, at our house, and a pretty small guest list. Cal has so many wonderful friends and I wish we could've had them all but since we did it in our backyard to make things easier, and our backyard is on the smaller side, we decided to just invite family and a couple close friends that are near Cal's age. Of course, I still stressed out over everything....as I ALWAYS do...haha, I think things turned out so great in the end and I couldn't have been happier with the result. Simple. Fun. Lots of smiles and laughs from the kids. And one super thrilled birthday boy. 

Thanks to Dan's good ideas, we decided to stick with the summer/August theme and do a fishy/pool party. Cal loved it and thought it was great.

Here is the spread.

Oh, and Dan decided to get a REAL Beta fish at Walmart for Cal just to add to the fun. So he was our centerpiece.

And just in case you were wondering, Cal decided to name him "Dan". Yep, that's right. :) It still confuses me when Cal calls his fish by name. But I have to admit, it makes me smile every time.

I had a lot of fun making this fishy cake and it was so surprisingly easy! The kids were pretty excited about it.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

We put up two little pools in the grass and the kids went wild. They LOVED swimming together and running around.

Cal was over the moon that all his friends were there with him and couldn't get enough. 

He LOVES these girls.... A LOT!

Some of our favorite friends.

Sweet little Madison.

Kate and Olivia.

Party throwers.

Cal and Alex enjoying the grub.

"Fishing" over the fence for surprises. I told all the kids that there was a real fish that came to visit and was on the other side of the fence. They threw the pole over and a prize came back over to them attached to their line. Cal was pretty amazed and the next day he still thought there was a fish behind our fence. :)
It was so great too that my Dad was able to stay and be here for Cal's party. He was such a huge help the whole weekend and it made it extra special for Cal!

Sydney and Cal lovin' their ring pops.

Okay what kid doesn't LOVE ring pops??

Cal sportin' his new shark swimsuit from Grandma A for his birthday. I pretty much just LOVE them and so does the mister.

Doing a "Fish Walk". Like a Cake Walk but no cake. :)

Birthday cake time.

He REALLY wanted to hold his cake for a picture.

Cute cousins. Alex and Michael. Cal just idolizes these boys. The are favs for sure.

I think it's safe to say, fun was had by all. Happy birthday to my favorite 3rd year old boy ever! 

THE END.