Ethan's 9th birthday rockin' eve (and birthday -- updated)

Ethan had a great time with a whopping 15 in attendance, where they ate BBQ for dinner, played a ton of basketball with his new hoop, and played backyard games. I unfortunately took no pictures of the b-ball, but the rest shows you some of the fun they had. Some highlights:

the line up of the usual suspects

water balloon toss -- the first of many water balloon games. It was great to have these games because it was a very warm evening -- had hit 90 degrees at the heat of the day -- it took great discipline for these kids not to waste our balloons on a water balloon fight. (Meaning: it took a lot of great discipline to make these kids not waste...)

Ethan's teacher even came for the festivities (lovely lady on the left hand side). Her son is a friend of Ethan's from basketball. We had basketball buddies, school buddies, neighborhood buddies, and church buddies -- and everyone got along very well. Elliot did the "Happy Birthday Ethan" sign posted in the window. It was so much fun to have a backyard party -- and hardly any clean up!!
Cort was 'da man' at this party -- he was great!

Ethan blowing out the candles... or at least thinking he blew them out (trick candles)
One of the older kids said to me, "I can't believe you would put trick candles on your own son's birthday cake." Still looks pretty happy about life -- all in all.

Here's pics of Ethan's actual birthday the following day:

This is Claire busted for licking icing prior to candles, singing, etc.