M's 4th Birthday Party

We had over forty people at our house for M's 4th birthday party.  We don't usually see that kind of crowd unless my husband's family is visiting!  We had a great time.

We started out with a monkey craft, thanks very much to Uncle M's friend M for prepping that craft - it was a huge hit:

Then we began our Dora adventure.  We had to swing through the jungle vines (jump ropes), then cross the river (blue paper), then go through the hoola hoop maze to find our "backpacks"

Friend F, crossing the river.

Fourteen children attended our party and participated in the events!  Wow - I didn't know we knew that many children!  We had great representation from all of the various social groups that Mary has - school, two day cares, random kids of mom and dad's friends, etc.

Swiper the Fox paid the group a visit, trying to swipe our backpacks!  But we told him "Swiper, no swiping!"  Uncle S was a good sport, even though he didn't want to fill this role.  He fulfilled his god-fatherly duty.

C gets his turn to be Swiper The Fox.

Once our backpacks were decorated, we proceeded to collect prizes out of buckets spread out around the yard:

Friend F claims his prize.

Lastly, we topped off our backpacks with the candy from the Dora pinata:

C takes a swing.

We were all exhausted at the end of the night.  But my little girl had a great time:

My little girl is growing up!

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