Roar! Roar! Caleb's Four!-- Caleb's Monster Birthday Party

We invited the families of Caleb's Sunbeam class (Sunday school class) to celebrate his birthday with us.  We decided to make it a monster brunch.

We started out with brunch.  We had blackberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, zucchini bread, bacon, and orange juice.

Then everyone dove right in to the main event-- an obstacle course.

It started with a slip 'n' slide (or dish soap covered tarp),

then on to a tunnel and a couple pop-up tents,

then a balance beam.

We didn't have any old tires around, so we used old cement forms for the kids to hop through.

Mike pounded lots of stakes in the yard, then tied a rope web between them.  Some kids went under,

and some kids went over.

The highlight was the mud pit at the end.  

 Actually, Mike made one mud pit and one rinse-off clean water pit (hence the tarp lining the pit above), but he left the pile of dirt next to the clean water pit.  Between throwing handfuls of dirt/mud and jumping off the pile into the water, the clean water looked like chocolate milk in no time flat!

 

 The birthday boy made quite a splash!

 

Once everyone rinsed off on the slip 'n' slide, we had cupcakes and ice cream.  Each kid got to decorate his or her own monster cupcake, though I don't have pictures of all of them.

 I made a giant one for Caleb (but he decorated his own too).  It was nearly impossible to keep four candles burning all at once with the wind, but eventually it happened.

While Mike served ice cream (yummy rainbow sherbet cones),

I read a couple of favorite monster books (which was not only fun, but really helped everyone be patient).

Look at that filthy four-year-old face!

I used some fleece I already had to make plush monsters for our party guests.  Each one is unique.  Eliza and Caleb helped me stuff them.  It took more time than putting together treat bags, but it was also healthier, cheaper, and will last longer.

The kids really liked them!

Caleb got some really fun gifts.  He opened them monster-style, taking mouthfuls of wrapping paper as he went.