This year we decided to throw Tess a party at the house on
her actual birthday. It was a way to show off the new house to family and
friends and get to know some of the neighbors that we hadn’t met yet. We were
one of the first ones to move in on our street so it was nice to get to meet some
of the others that had moved in after us. 
We bought Tess a big blow up water slide for her birthday.
We blew it up a couple weeks before her party to make sure it worked and to try
it out. She loved it and wouldn’t stop talking about her slide. It is actually
the perfect size for our backyard and for her and a couple of friends to play
in. It’s a pretty big slide that has a pool that fills up overtime. The only downside
is that it does take some time to dry out after you play.
There is a weight limit but Clayton had to make sure it was
safe for the kids.
I had a lot of help setting up for the party, I can only
throw parties every couple of years because I have to forget how much effort it
takes to get ready for them. Since we had the outdoor slide we went with a
beach ball theme party, everything was multi colored. We were running around
all morning getting ready. Everything
looked good and I was happy with how everything turned out. 
The kids had a lot of fun and didn’t even mind that it
rained a couple of times and the adults made them come inside. We laid out a
picnic blanket and gave them sugar the first rain delay and then opened
presents the second. After the second rain delay we sent the remaining kids upstairs
to play and they were perfectly happy to play with someone else’s toys. Tess
was just happy to have friends over to play.
Tess loved having everyone sing Happy Birthday to her, the
smile on her face was so big. That smile makes everything worth it.
This kid is very loved, she got a lot of wonderful presents
and could not wait to open each one. I had a lot of trouble keeping up with the
cards and telling my mom who gave us each one. I think all in all it was a great day and I can’t
believe that my baby is getting so old, I can’t say big because she is still so
tiny compared to kids her own age.