Planning Jake's birthday party this year was lots of fun because it was pretty much the first time he had real opinions about what he wanted to do. At first, he told me wanted a soccer party...I started planning and then in true pre-school fashion, he changed his mind and wanted a firefighter party. All his previous parties were at our house, but since he was getting older and we moved to a smaller house, I really wanted to find some place to have his party. The Plano fire department doesn't allow you to schedule birthday parties at their stations, which is ideally what I wanted to do. Thankfully, we have a family connection nearby at the Frisco fire department. My stepbrother-in-law is a lieutenant at Frisco Fire Station #5 and he hooked us up and scheduled a party for us (even though we aren't Frisco residents) A huge THANK YOU to Uncle Deuce for allowing Jake to have such an awesome party!
Here are the invitations I made and sent out. Usually we invite the whole family, Jake's friends, our friends, church friends, etc, but since his party was at the fire station, we needed to keep the number small this year, around 10 kiddos. Again, Jake had definite ideas about his party this year and wanted to invite all his friends from school, 15+ kids, and then some friends from church and his other friends as well. Convincing him to trim down the list was a big challenge, but it was also fun because before it was pretty much family and our friends and their kids at his previous birthdays. Now that he is growing up, he has HIS friends that he wants to invite. I have to say it was really nice to not have to worry about cleaning and prepping our house for a party this year :)
Cupcakes! I told myself I was going to order his cupcakes this year, but in the end I wound up making them again. I really don't mind because I love baking. I looked everywhere for some little firefighter guys to go on top of the cupcakes, but I couldn't find firefighter birthday stuff anywhere! I ordered pretty much everything off of amazon for the party. I finally found some firefighter matchbox cars on clearance at Toys R Us and put those on top of the cupcakes and then the kids each got to take one home. They didn't look amazing on the cupcakes, but they worked fine and the kids loved them which was all that mattered. I used red, orange, and yellow sprinkles to make "fire" on top of the cupcakes.
You can't have a party at the fire station and not have fire hats for everyone to wear and take home :) You can see the goody bags in the far corner as well. They had fruit snacks, fire engine tattoos, and a firefighter party blower inside.
We got to use the fire house kitchen to set up in. Jake thought it was really cool to sit at their table. I let Jake pick the snacks for his party. He wanted pretzels with marshmallows and M&Ms, which turned out to be a big hit. He also wanted apples with honey, which is one of his favorites. I made an easy fruit tray with strawberries, grapes, and apples. Instead of honey, I made a caramel apple fruit dip that I thought the kids and adults would enjoy. I picked up a little cheese tray and that was it. Simple and easy this year. We also had a cooler with juice boxes and water bottles.
We had a little time to kill because the firefighters had to participate in a parade until 10:30 and our guests started arriving at 10:00. It worked out great though because it gave the kids time to snack and time for everyone to find the fire station.
Jake and Caleb playing, waiting for more friends to come. Caleb is one of his good buddies at school.
Tyler, he and Jake have been buddies since they were babies. They are only 4 weeks apart in age.
Jake and the McKinney boys munchin' on snacks
Caleb and Marcie decided to have some snacks too.
Jake, Caleb, and Marcie sneaking a peek out the window at the fire chief car out back.
Good buddies from school :)
Auntie Seana and Kacie came, Uncle Jason was home sick.
Jake and Amariz, another buddy from school. Amariz's mom, Ms. Alma, was Jake's teacher at school when he was in the 2 year old class. We love Ms. Alma!
BFF picture: Mommy and Auntie Seana with our 'babies'
Caleb and Jake putting out the 'fire' on Josiah (Amariz's big brother) Jake loves to play with him.
Uncle Deuce, ready to tell the group all about fire safety
Jake moved to Daddy's lap, big surprise, and was listening carefully.
Uncle Deuce taught the boys and girls about 'stop, drop, and roll.' He asked Jake to come show everyone how to do it, but Jake was being shy. Stephen took one for the team and showed the boys and girls how it was done :)
Little Grayson McKinney gave it a try too :)
Next, Uncle Deuce, put on all his gear for the kids. They firefighters love having the kids come in because it gives them a chance to show what they look like all suited up. Once they get their mask on, it could seem really scary to kids, especially if they saw them in a fire situation in their home.
Deuce suited all up and had all the kids come give him High-5s showing that he was still a helper and that they shouldn't be afraid of a firefighter even if he looked a little scary. He said that with all his gear on it adds 75 lbs, plus any other tools that he carries with him, wow!
Jake wouldn't go try any of the gear on, but Tyler was all about it, cutie!
Jake didn't want to try the hat on, but I got a great picture of him and Stephen with the hat.
Next, we were off for a tour of the fire station.
We got to go in the firefighter's bedroom.
Uncle Deuce showed us his bed.
He also showed the kids his thermal imaging camera, which was pretty cool. It was pitch black when I took this picture, but he was showing the kids how the camera allows them to clear entire rooms during a fire.
And then the really cool part, we got to go out in the truck bay and check out the ambulance and fire engine.
First, all the kids got to climb up in the ambulance
Jake, next to the Quint, or ladder truck.
Emily and Amariz checking everything out.
Deuce opened up the Quint and showed all the tools they have on board. It's amazing how much stuff they carry with them out on a call!
The kids did a really good job of listening politely.
The "jaws of life"
The Carlo family (Christy is one of my best friends and was a college roommate)
After Uncle Deuce showed us everything on the Quint, the kids all got to climb through, super cool!
Jake loved it!
Tyler...Stephen was helping the kids down really fast at first, so I couldn't get great pictures.
Amariz and Emily
Kacie
Tyler and Jake
The Quint
Super cute McKinney boys: Grayson and Tyler
The other teachers kids from KDO: Amariz, Emily, and Ella
Grandpa and Granna with Deuce
All the grandparents
Jake with the Quint...we also have a family picture on Grandpa's camera that I will add later :)
McKinney boys with Daddy, Mr. Chad
After the tour it was time for cupcakes!
Happy Birthday to you Jakers, he wasn't so sure about everyone singing to him!
Blowing out the candle
Everyone chowing down on the cupcakes
Jake was so excited to hand out his goody bags as his friends were leaving. He was so sweet about it :)
As we were pulling out, I realized I didn't have pictures of the outside of the station, so these aren't the greatest, but here they are.
Happy boy on the way home!
We were missing some sweet friends at the party; our good friends, the Owen Family, moved to California several months ago. Jake was really sad Carter and Nathan couldn't be at his party, but they sent him a special birthday present earlier in the week and he was so excited to get it. Thank you Nathan, Carter, Ms. Leanne and Mr. Jon. We really missed y'all!
