Eric's 6th Birthday Party

Eric's birthday was earlier this month, on the 9th, but we were still recovering from Spring Break and trying to schedule Anthony's college visits. Because Eric is so dinosaur crazy, we booked a party at the Witte Museum Dinosaur Exhibit. It was a pricey choice, but we thought well worth it. At the time we booked it, they didn't have an opening until today.

This is the dinosaur cupcake cake that we got from our local HEB--one half was chocolate and the other half was vanilla. We thought the dinosaur bones theme was perfect to go with the museum exhibit. We had no idea how many kids were going to show up, because only four RSVP'd that they were coming. Three others said they couldn't come. The rest of Eric's class didn't respond one way or another. We had to rely on the teacher to distribute the invitations since Eric was sick most of last week, but because we did get SOME responses, we knew that they kids had to have received the invitations.

One of the kids got sick today, so only three made it. Because one of them was Christopher, one of Eric's "best friends", we knew that he would have fun no matter what. Luckily, there were two girls and two boys, so they each had someone to hang out with.

The very first thing in the exhibit is this "sand pit" where you could dig for dinosaur bones. This was by far the kids' favorite spot. I think it's because they could interact with it rather than just see the dinosaur models and read about them. At one point, Eric lay down and wanted his friends to cover him up. He only asked that they not cover his face. Of course, what does one of the kids do but throw "sand" on his face--not on purpose, but still. Anthony went over there to help and he exclaimed, "Wow! Look what I found! An Eric-osaurus!"

There was also this little photo op set up in one corner of our huge party room. All the kids (including Natalie and her friend Margot) took turns posing there. Most of the time the kids were in the Treehouse part of the museum including the rock climbing wall. Eric's friend Emma got scared just as it was her turn to go, but she waited there until Eric and Christopher finished. Eric didn't go up very high, but he did it. While the three kids were rock climbing, our neighbor Sophia was in the Treehouse playing with Anthony and Alex. She loved the attention and the boys seemed to be enjoying themselves too.

My sister Melissa talked about how this was the last celebration of Eric's birthday "month". My sisters and my parents arrived on Friday for a visit. They originally thought they might be attending Eric's party, but because the party was on Sunday afternoon, they had to leave by then. Still, Eric got even more presents from them. At one point, Eric was giving his Aunt Melissa a very nice, big hug. She told him, "Do you know what this makes me want to do?" He answered, "No." She said, "It makes me want to buy you things!" Eric got the biggest grin on his face!

I made some really great treat bags--dinosaur grabbers, stickers, stuffed animals, and tattoos. His classmates that couldn't attend didn't know what they're missing. Doesn't this look like the face of a boy who is having a great time at his birthday party? That was the most important thing and thankfully he enjoyed himself and so did his friends who celebrated with him.