PAR-TEEEEE!

We celebrated Ethan's birthday today. We invited our friends over to swim and eat cake and ice cream. I worked in the morning on the cake (plus I had done some preparations (some of the stars) on Thursday night). I invited my friend Paola over to help with some of it. She is the creative and crafty type and I thought she would enjoy it, plus with the two kids and Eric gone to two group meetings all morning I knew I would need the help (thanks Paola)! We had a great time and I think the cake turned out looking great: The gang sang "Happy Birthday",
Then Elia helped Ethan blow out the candle:
Ethan didn't know what to do with the cake and, with a very serious face, just squished and played with it. I think he loved the feel of it between his fingers. I guess we need to play more with texture stuff:
I finally put a little taste in his mouth and he got the idea. He ate some, but still was serious the whole time! What a funny kid. After eating a little, and squishing a lot, he wanted to go back swimming. He loved being in the water, being passed back and forth between Eric and me. He had a huge grin on his face the whole time.
We had a great turnout. We collected canned food instead of presents and were going to take it to a local food bank, but we've decided to take it to church tomorrow and ask the bishop if there is anyone in the ward who could use it. Thanks everyone for coming! In a few weeks everyone will be leaving. It was great to see everyone again!