Jake's 4th birthday party

As you know, Jake turned 4 on Monday, and he couldn't be happier about this turn of events. He was a little perplexed about the fact that his birthday party was two days BEFORE his birthday ... When someone told him "Happy birthday!" he would say, "WELL, I'm not ACTUALLY four yet."

His cousin John Bart's birthday is just one week before his (although John Bart is a year younger), and I love that they get to share their special days so close together.

Our cake lady Vickie had a huge event for 400 people on the day of Jake's party this year, so she wasn't able to make his cake. (WE WERE ALL DEVASTATED.) I had to go with a Publix cake.

It didn't measure up to our high standards (we're so spoiled by Vickie now), but it was serviceable. I bought a pack of Wonder Pets and put them on the top to give it a little personality.

Our birthday boy woke up excited about the day!

I also had Publix make a mini-cake for John Bart (who goes mostly by "Johnny Beeeee") ...

And I bought some little sugar bees separately to add to it.

We sang "Happy Birthday" to each of the boys separately, and then Jake blew his candles out and John Bart spat his out.

I'd say Johnny Bee enjoyed his cake.

The kids mostly just ran around and played, and I was thankful we had great weather for the party. Anna, one of their other cousins, loved the slide.

Our Other Anna, our intrepid babysitter, loved on Amelia for a good bit of the party.

And speaking of Miss Amelia, she was a total champ and great hostess.

She was all smiles the whole time.

Jake was quite the host, himself. He played and grinned and laughed and even exclaimed happily over each of his gifts.

My favorite part of the party was probably the party favors, which were made by my friend Jamie of Jamie's Rabbits.

She used the Wonder Pets logo as inspiration for the design.

They were SCRUMPTIOUS. I ordered half butter cake and half chocolate cake, and everyone raved about them.

Another successful party on the books! Hard to believe I'll be planning Amelia's first birthday party in just a few months ... I can already taste the cake pops.