happy birthday, jake!

Happy Birthday to cousin Jacob--6 years old on monday. John's cousin Brian (Jake's dad) was a groomsman at our wedding and had a beeper on that day since his wife was already a couple of weeks overdue, and we heard about Jake's birth on our honeymoon. Sunday was his party in a park with a rented gigantic bounce house that everyone loved.

Here's the birthday boy and his brother Brayden, nearly 4 years old. It's great having cousins nearby who are close in age to the girls.

Tons of snacks were layed out on the picnic tables and Kate and Allison took advantage of this almost immediately. Allison claimed one table and started chowing down undisturbed while most of the kids were either in the bounce house, or playing soccer in the open space, or taking wagon rides. Kate claimed another table and did the same. I do feed these children. I even fed them that day, twice, by the time we arrived there at 10am. But rarely are they given free reign with bowls of tortilla chips and pretzels and goldfishy crackers, all of which I also buy but the frequency and amount of distribution is usually tightly regulated.

They ate so much that neither one of them had much of an appetite for lunch, but no way in the world were they too full for cake. Along with cousin Brayden, it took every ounce of their self control to keep from diving right in there with both hands, I think.