Calling all Superheroes.....

It is time for Ryan's 4th birthday party!! Ryan had been telling us for a long time that he wanted a superhero birthday party and that is what he got! We decided to have the party at a park next to our building on October 16th and I panicked up until the morning of the party about what we would do in the case of rain. Luckily, we woke up to a sunny, albeit windy and kind of chilly day. The kids didn't seem to notice though, especially the birthday boy who was so surprised when he came out to the park and saw it decorated with all of his favorite superheros.
Ryan had mentioned repeatedly before the invitations went out that in addition to the party having a superhero theme, he also wanted a his party to be a costume party but the other kids could only dress up as superheroes. Knowing that I would have no friends left if we made everyone get a superhero costume, I came up with what seemed like a great idea at the time: I would make all of the kids superhero capes that they could decorate. Ryan wasn't happy with the idea and after trying on a few capes I made, he declared he didn't like them. I felt a little discouraged and was starting to worry if I was wasting my time but, in the end, I think that the capes were a hit: the kids loved decorating them, were running all over the park like they could fly, and even Ryan said he loved his SuperRyan cape!

All of the kids put a lot of effort in to the capes and I really think they ended up being adorable. As the Superhero Crew protected the park (aka played with chalk, went in the tree house, played hide and seek in the dinosaur, and played on the swings), a villain was spotted lurking in the bushes: Oh no, it was Dr. Doom!!!!

As Dr. Doom started coming in to the park, Ryan ran over and started screaming "Who are you? Who are you? You can't come to my party. No Villains Allowed" and blocked the way.

During the very heated showdown, Dr. Doom offered up a present (and reveled himself to be Uncle Brian in disguise) so Ryan allowed him admission to the party. Ryan did tell him to put his mask back on though and the battle of good vs. evil began.

Of course, the good guys prevailed and then it was time for cake. No party would be complete without Costco sheet cake , especially one with enough balloons to make every kid yelling "can i have a piece of a balloon?" happy.


Ryan's favorite part of the party came at the very end when he finally, after weeks of anticipation got to hit the Spiderman pinata! The night before the party, he helped me stuff the pinata and let me tell you, it was busting at the seams. Luckily, the pinata held up long enough for all the kids to get in a few whacks each, avoiding any tantrums or unhappy kids.

When candy started to come out of the bottom of the pinata, all of the kids jumped on the ground and started scrambling and screaming (which gave me time to rip off the bottom so the rest would fall out).

When the bottom opened, all of the candy poured out on Ryan's head which he thought was one of the funniest things ever.

Jay and I were so happy that so many of Ryan's friends and family were able to come to his party - his face lit up every time someone else walked in to the park.

In my mind, the party was a huge success - a few times throughout the day, I caught Ryan across the park laughing with his friends, or spinning his cape or saying something about the "webs coming out of my hands" and then I would see Dylan running behind him, trying to catch up and all I could think was "man, do i love these kids!". There is nothing better in this world than watching them have a good time. By the time the party ended, we were all pretty wiped out, one of us more than the rest

Even though the party is over, rest assured that SuperRyan, SuperDylan and all of their superfriends will continue to protect the city, at least until next year's party. Who knows what that theme will be....