Because my last check yesterday morning said 100% chance of t-storms from 1-6pm...the party started at 2. I was like "whatever dude"...well...it did not rain that whole time and the sun actually shone at points! The kids did not have to stay confined to the tent, they got to run and play and have fun. Here is dh's niece in a tree:

And the pizza truck was AWESOME! They kept cranking out all this delicious amazing organic fantastic fresh hot baked on the trunk's own wood burning oven pizza.

My friend painted faces.

Everybody had a really nice time and donated over $300 to the charities we chose to donate to in E's name in honor of the occasion (in lieu of gifts) My SIL bought this cake, it was as decadent as it looks (though a teeny crooked b/c as she was driving it here a buck ran onto the highway and she had to swerve..thinking to herself, "oh no! the cake!")

A little after 5 when a bunch of people started to leave and the pizza truck packed up, the rain started up strong...but then stopped after 30 minutes or so. The remaining revelers either went inside at that point or stayed out in the tent with us where my dh cleared a bunch of the tables so they could play this yard game inside the tent. Ds got prepared by dressing like this:

Our closest friends stayed the longest, natch, and when they all finally left the kids were brushing their teeth and ds' tooth fell out! It was the TINIEST bit loose the day before...it is unbelievable it fell out already. But it was a great end to a great day.

"balmy" is the best word to describe today...also "dreary", though.

exactly what I was going to say!

ta~da! And it has a heater that really keeps it warm.