Gabe's 6th birthday party swimming with his classmates

One of these days I'm going to learn to say no or realize when I can't really accomplish all of the things I optimistically thought I could. Days like this teach that lesson.

We "only" invited Gabe's classmates and two soccer teammates (also from his school) to a swimming party at one of our favorite swimming spots. It was my bright idea to use the invitation I'd worked on for hours last year as well as the leftover favors (from the swim party that took place on a rainy day). Later I was admonished for not inviting everyone to this party, but at the time I was just doing what I thought I could handle.

We found out after invites were out that he was invited to one soccer teammate's birthday party at a bowling place as well as a class picnic that evening. Stupidly, I let Gabe go to the other party before his own, which ended up making him late to his own party (and making me late, too).

Gabe was almost as excited to blow up the inflatable signs from last year's party as he was to see everyone.
I was occupied with party stuff and Eva from the time we got there--and I hadn't eaten all day, so I was famished from nursing. So I'm thankful that David got these shots!
Gabe swimming with Jake (the other soccer teammate, whose dad was the assistant coach)
Sean, our neighbor and friend
The whole crowd--this year, the theme was roads & signs... not to venture too far from cars, of course.
That's Jackson, Gabe and Spencer, who swam despite a broken arm.
Gabe chose a stop sign for his cupcake.
This is Taylor, whose mom Paula was in band and graduated with me.
I made David pose with one of his cute "Slippery When Wet" cupcakes.
And this was my other favorite, the traffic light cupcakes.
We did the same favor bags from last year complete with license plates, but this year I also did drivers' licenses because I had all of the kids' pictures from school events.
Carmen begged for a second cupcake. She is eating so much these days, you'd think we starve her. But she's growing a lot!
Paloma was there, but I have little evidence of her or Eva's presence. My favorite part about the pool we went to is the little kids can't accidentally get into a deep part; the bigger pool is separated by 40 yards or so and stairs. And you can see all of the shallow kids' pool, which is reassuring for parents trying to keep an eye on more than one kid.
Eva stayed in the shade the whole time because it was sunny, hot, hot, hot and sticky!

Almost everyone left at the same time because they were trying to be on time to the class picnic at another park. We had to clean up and take lots of stuff home first, so we were pretty late, but didn't want to miss the opportunity. This is his beloved kindergarten teacher, Ms. R.
The kids played on the playground for a little bit and we ate S'mores as appetizers for dinner. (Timing is everything, right?)
Afterward, we went to Red Hot & Blue and split two entrees five ways.
Then we went home and Gabriel got to open his presents from the party and from us (because we couldn't find the time to do it before this).
A Jaw-dropping reaction about the contents of this sack--
more Cars cars!
A Waldo book he doesn't have memorized (yet)...
A book called Made You Look, which Carmen is constantly demonstrating (as in this picture)...
One of two large water guns... his first guns of any kind, and what fun!
Ahh, Moon Sand. One of those gifts Mommy would never buy, imagining the mess. But the mess doesn't overwhelm Jackie, so he'll get to play with it sometime.

When telling someone he liked their gift, I heard Gabe say, "I'm not going to return it, even though there was a gift receipt!" Yikes, the things they pick up.