The Williams Family: Our Big Boy, Samuel, is 4!

We had Samuel's birthday party yesterday, though he won't actually be 4 until tomorrow.

He requested a pirate party with pizza and cake, so Pirates, Pizza, and Cake are what he got (it's good to have simple requests!).

I was so busy with work during the week that I asked Darin to help me prepare. I did the grocery shopping for the food, and Darin took care of ordering the cake. I had big plans to make the cake on my own then decided that it would end up being a headache (since it's not something that I enjoy) and that I'd probably end up frantically finishing it at 2 or 3 in the am. So my wise husband said, "just order one.". Darin took one of the pirate plates up to the grocery store and asked that baker to be creative. She said, "don't worry, I'll make it look good.". And she did! And it WAS NOT expensive either (gotta love that!). Ahh, so I'm off the hook on cakes and I don't even have to feel guilty for spending the $$! OK, so enough about the cake...

We had Samuel's buddies Evan and Mitchell over and my nephews Joshua and Michael. The weather was so nice the kids got to play outside. It's funny actually - last year in Houston it was in the 50s and SO windy that our outside party was moved indoors. This year, in Maryland, it was in the low 70s and sunny. Go figure... We had a great day.

When I figure out how to get video on here without locking up my computer I'll give it a shot. Samuel was so fun and excited while opening his gifts... he's going to be a blast on Christmas morning!

The kids singing happy birthday to Samuel. Darin and I got him with Silly string at the end, but I don't have any pics of that... maybe someone else does.

Samuel got a scooter - can't wait to try it out!