A few weeks ago, Luke's biggest fan, Ava, turned 5. She had a super fun birthday party at a candy store called the Sweet Treat Boutique. This place is every kid's dream. Not only do they have every kind of commercial candy and chocolate that you could ever imagine, they also have homemade ice cream, cotton candy, snow cones, fudge, and caramel corn, plus little boutique-y gifts and things. This is seriously what heaven must be like.
Anyway, my sister, Anne, was in town so she and I took Luke to Ava's party. I was a little worried because the party started just an hour before Luke's bedtime, so there was no telling how he was going to behave. Thank God Anne was there is all I have to say. You know the saying "like a bull in a china shop"? Well synonymous with that would be the phrase, "like Luke in a candy store." He was ALL OVER THE PLACE and with so many things for him to touch and grab, it was a workout keeping up with him. I have never in my life been so thankful for candy wrappers. Especially lollipop wrappers. Luke must have tried to put half the lollipops in the store in his mouth. Poor Anne got stuck running after the Stinker for a good chunk of time while I gabbed with Ava's parents. She probably lost at least 5 pounds. He had a great time, but didn't really participate in the party at all. Here's a glimpse of Luke at the party:
We arrived a little late (surprise), so the festivities had already started. The kiddos were doing a scavenger hunt through the store. Ava was so excited to see Luke and wanted to hold his hand and drag him around with her as she went.
Ava was in heaven with Luke and all her friends. Luke was totally confused and wondering where the heck he was.
Ava tried explaining what was going on and what Luke was supposed to be doing.
Luke started to get overwhelmed and stressed and suddenly needed to find his thumb and his happy place.
It's hard to tell from the picture, but Luke was actually starting to panic and fuss at this point and was trying to pry his hand out of Ava's death grip.
Running away, he discovered the lone balloon attached to Ava's birthday sign, blowing in the wind outside. He was totally thrilled and told Annie about 147 times, "Boon!!!"
After acknowledging the balloon 147 times, he realized that there were about 1,000 plastic test tubes full of some kind of liquidy sugary goo within reach and oh, how fun it was to take them all out one by one. Lucky Annie.
Once he'd put about 14 different wrapped lollipops in his mouth, Mommy got smart and actually paid for a lollipop for the Stinker to eat, hoping that would keep him from touching every single thing in the store. She should have bought one for each hand.
(You can see his bruise on the left cheek from where he kissed the coffee table. You can't see the one of equal size on his right cheek where he kissed Daddy's nightstand the same day.)
Moving right along, the Stinker Man went on to explore the other side of the store, completely dissing the store owner and his request for a high-five.
The shiny seats grabbed his attention right away, and he was delighted to find that they even spun!
And then he stopped in his tracks....
To behold 3 of the cutest, older girls right there before him!
Deciding to go the nonchalant route, he made his way over to the girls' tables and pretended to play with the chair.
Annie followed him, trying not to get in the way of his mojo, but the Stinker quickly nabbed one of the girls iPhones, forcing them to direct their attention to him. Score!
After several minutes of blatant flirting, he returned the now-sticky iPhone for the chance to spin another chair.
Then, hoping the girls were still watching, he started spinning two at the same time.
Suddenly alarmed, he raced over to the cotton candy stand to point out that they needed to restock. Immediately.
Now that his work on that side of the store was done, he decided to go check in on the party.
While this picture makes Luke look left out and possibly even forgotten, he could have cared less about being outside the party room and had moved on to destroy yet another part of the store before I could even see this image pop up on my camera.
See what I mean. He was on the run....
...But not before I snatched him up and forced him to pose with the birthday girl!
We managed to make it out of there alive, having broken nothing that I am aware of, and having only ingested one Dum-Dum (Luke) and one retro Fla-Vor-Ice (all 3 of us) for old time's sake. Unless, of course, you include the 27 pieces of wrapped candy that Luke put in his mouth. Oh well. I still consider that a success. And Ava had a blast despite Luke's unwillingness to follow her around holding her hand and worshiping the ground she walked on.
Luke started to get overwhelmed and stressed and suddenly needed to find his thumb and his happy place.
It's hard to tell from the picture, but Luke was actually starting to panic and fuss at this point and was trying to pry his hand out of Ava's death grip.
Running away, he discovered the lone balloon attached to Ava's birthday sign, blowing in the wind outside. He was totally thrilled and told Annie about 147 times, "Boon!!!"
After acknowledging the balloon 147 times, he realized that there were about 1,000 plastic test tubes full of some kind of liquidy sugary goo within reach and oh, how fun it was to take them all out one by one. Lucky Annie.
Once he'd put about 14 different wrapped lollipops in his mouth, Mommy got smart and actually paid for a lollipop for the Stinker to eat, hoping that would keep him from touching every single thing in the store. She should have bought one for each hand.
(You can see his bruise on the left cheek from where he kissed the coffee table. You can't see the one of equal size on his right cheek where he kissed Daddy's nightstand the same day.)
Moving right along, the Stinker Man went on to explore the other side of the store, completely dissing the store owner and his request for a high-five.
The shiny seats grabbed his attention right away, and he was delighted to find that they even spun!
And then he stopped in his tracks....
To behold 3 of the cutest, older girls right there before him!
Deciding to go the nonchalant route, he made his way over to the girls' tables and pretended to play with the chair.
Annie followed him, trying not to get in the way of his mojo, but the Stinker quickly nabbed one of the girls iPhones, forcing them to direct their attention to him. Score!
After several minutes of blatant flirting, he returned the now-sticky iPhone for the chance to spin another chair.
Then, hoping the girls were still watching, he started spinning two at the same time.
Suddenly alarmed, he raced over to the cotton candy stand to point out that they needed to restock. Immediately.
Now that his work on that side of the store was done, he decided to go check in on the party.
While this picture makes Luke look left out and possibly even forgotten, he could have cared less about being outside the party room and had moved on to destroy yet another part of the store before I could even see this image pop up on my camera.
See what I mean. He was on the run....
...But not before I snatched him up and forced him to pose with the birthday girl!
We managed to make it out of there alive, having broken nothing that I am aware of, and having only ingested one Dum-Dum (Luke) and one retro Fla-Vor-Ice (all 3 of us) for old time's sake. Unless, of course, you include the 27 pieces of wrapped candy that Luke put in his mouth. Oh well. I still consider that a success. And Ava had a blast despite Luke's unwillingness to follow her around holding her hand and worshiping the ground she walked on.
